Grass fire along Alsea River in Waldport covers two acres before extinguished Saturday

WALDPORT – Firefighters from Central Oregon Coast Fire & Rescue and five other agencies snuffed out a two-acre grass fire between the Alsea River and Commercial Street Saturday afternoon.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, said Lt. Erich Knudson, COCF&R public information officer.

The fire was reported at 3:05 p.m. and had covered a half acre when firefighters first arrived. It was extinguished three hours later after growing to two acres. The fire got to within 20 feet of the nearest house, Knudson said.

Because of the location and nature of the fire, it drew eight firefighters and volunteers in four pieces of equipment from COCF&R, three firefighters and two pieces of equipment from Yachats, four personnel and three pieces of equipment from Seal Rock, three personnel and two pieces of equipment from Newport, and two firefighters from the Oregon Department of Forestry.

The Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office sent four deputies and Oregon State Police sent two troopers.

Knudson said that following heavy rains in the spring, grasses and trees have started to quickly dry out, causing new underbrush to be more susceptible to fire.

“Today was a harsh reminder of this fact,” Knudson said in a COCF&R statement. “It is very important to keep your recreational or cooking fires very small and to have a water source very close to you. This could have been much worse and grown much quicker had we been later in the fire season.”