About 5 acres of a partially cut and uncut wheat field burned Tuesday afternoon near Roy, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said.
According to a press release issued Tuesday evening, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue was dispatched to reports of a field fire in the 41400 block of NW Greenville Road near Roy.
Minutes later, crews found two acres had already burned in a cut portion of the field—and were spreading towards uncut areas.
“While crews were working on extinguishing front of the fire, it had spread through a drainage ditch and into an adjoining field with a barn nearby,” FGF&R said.
The fire was upgraded by an incident commander to a second alarm fire, which brought in neighboring agencies — the Cornelius Fire Department, Banks Fire District, Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue and Washington County Sheriff’s Office — to fight the flames.
“Due to [the] quick actions of the firefighters on scene, they were able to quickly stop the fire from spreading,” FGF&R said.
At 4 p.m., the fire was deemed under control, and additional units heading to the fire were canceled.
The cause, according to FGF&R, was a combine processing the wheat field.
“It is unknown if the machinery malfunctioned or hit a rock, causing a spark,” FGF&R said.
This story has been updated with information and additional photographs from a Forest Grove Fire & Rescue press release.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
