KPTV - FOX 12Residents question response to Dollar Lake Fire

Residents question response to Dollar Lake Fire

As the wildfire burning near Mount Hood continued to grow on Wednesday, U.S. Forest Service officials faced questions from residents about why the fire wasn't contained earlier.

The Dollar Lake Fire, believed to be lightning-caused, has now burned about 1,700 acres north of Mt. Hood.

It was first reported Saturday morning, but some believe it may have started earlier.

"I saw it Thursday, watched it on Friday. So yeah I felt they could have responded sooner and I don't understand why they didn't," said Lynda Corson, who says she spotted smoke in the area of the fire from her home near Laurance Lake last week. 

Corson was one of a few dozen people who attended a meeting at the Parkdale Fire Station Wednesday evening.

Forest service officials told the audience they did their best to assess the fire Saturday, but held off calling in more resources.

"We knew it was steep, unstable ground, dangerous for firefighters," said Gary Asbridge, the acting district ranger for Hood River Ranger District of Mt. Hood National Forest.  "If someone got hurt, it's hard to get them out. We also knew there was a cool forecast weather trend coming in."

He continued, "All those things taken into consideration, we decided to take a wait and see approach."

On Sunday, the forest service began dropping water on the flames. They also called for smoke jumpers, but the teams were not able to jump because of the wind. The, those teams were called to respond to a larger fire elsewhere in the state.

"We could not fight the fire effectively Sunday. We did what we could with the resources we had on hand but we couldn't get enough people up there to get it out," said Asbridge.  "Of course, Sunday night, we all go to bed, it's five acres in size, roughly. We wake up Monday morning, it's grown exponentially and basically led to where we are today."

By Wednesday night, there were around 320 firefighters responding to the Dollar Lake Fire.  Because of the steep terrain, crews are having a difficult time creating a fire line. The majority of the fight against the flames is taking place by air.

More crews and two more helicopters are due to join the fight on Thursday.

"Nothing can be done about that now and I understand why, now," said Corson. "It's sad, it's a lot of acreage burning that I feel could have been done sooner."

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