Fire officials aren't yet sounding the alarm about the number of structure fires in Columbia County over the past several months, but the trend is disturbing.
In October, two people escaped a burning trailer that had erupted in flames in Scappoose. In mid February, nine people were displaced following an apartment fire in St. Helens.
In the past two weeks, Columbia River Fire & Rescue (CRFR) crews have responded to four additional home fires, three in St. Helens, one in Warren and a shop fire in Rainier.
While the fires are a disturbing trend, CRFR said they aren't seeing a large increase in the number of fires recently.
"Some incidents come in short waves like we experienced in the last couple days, CRFR's Jennifer Motherway said. "In 48 hours we responded to a number of fires, several are still under investigation. We did not experience any civilian or firefighter injuries during these events."