As he stood along a recently cleared access road south of Archer Mountain, Chris Werner’s eyes remained glued to a few small flames that crackled as they danced on the forest floor about 10 feet away from him.
“At any time, anything can happen,” he said. “You always have to be ready.”
It’s tedious work, but Werner spent Wednesday keeping the flames from getting too high and spreading past the south line of the wildfire, which has grown to about 75 acres in the two days since it sparked from the Eagle Creek Fire raging in Oregon.
Werner and 65 other firefighters with the state Department of Natural Resources battled steep terrain, falling ash and heavy smoke to keep the fire from spreading. Their main goal was to stop the blaze from spreading south toward houses, but they also were working to minimize the damage to the forest green backdrop of the Columbia River Gorge.