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Early this morning at 3:54am, Gaston Rural Fire District was dispatched to a barn fire on NW Kiacut Road. While responding, dispatchers gave information that there was a confirmed fire and crews made it a full structure fire response. When crews were closed they saw flames from miles away and upgraded the call to a 2nd alarm. Due to the rural location and no fire hydrants available, we had to bring water to the scene in trucks, known as water tenders. They would shuttle 3,000 gallons of water from the closest fire hydrant to the scene and dump it into portable tanks.
When firefighters arrived, they found a 1,000 square foot barn fully engulfed with fire. Crews began their attack on the flames, but were halted due to live power lines falling to the ground. At this time a 3rd Alarm was dispatched to bring in additional crews.
A few minutes after the 3rd Alarm was requested an incident occurred on scene involving a citizen with a gun with possible shots fired. Fire crews on scene retreated to safe areas and requested immediate assistance from law enforcement. Multiple law enforcement agencies from Washington and Yamhill counties responded. After the initial request for assistance, the scene was deemed safe about 20 minutes later. With the scene deemed safe, crews began to extinguish the flames. About an hour and a half after initially being dispatched, the fire was under control.
Even with the challenges on scene, firefighters were able to prevent the fire from spreading to a very close home as well as the nearby forested area. One firefighter experienced heat exhaustion, they were treated on scene. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Please contact Yamhill County Sheriffs Office regarding the incident involving a gun.
Gaston Rural Fire District wants to thank Washington County Sheriffs Office, Yamhill County Sheriffs Office, Forest Grove Police Department, Hillsboro Police Department and McMinnville Police Department for their swift response to helping protect our firefighters.
We also want to thank Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, Cornelius Fire Department, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Banks Fire District, Carlton Fire District, Dundee Fire & Rescue, Oregon Department of Forestry, McMinnville Fire Department, Dayton Fire District, Metro West Ambulance and Portland General Electric for their assistance on scene.
Scene Information:
Engines - 7
Water Tenders - 6
Chiefs - 3
Ambulances - 3
Total Fire/EMSPersonnel: 50
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