On Sunday afternoon at about 1:49 pm, the Curry County Sheriff’s Office received the first of several 911 calls from the Lobster Creek Youth Camp located about seventeen miles east of Gold Beach.
The callers from the camp there stated there was a fire in the meadow below the camp and that they were not able to contain it. Dispatch was advised that there was a large group of juveniles and adults camping at the location associated with The Next Generation Climate Justice Action Camp who had a combination of adults and youths who ranged from fourteen to seventeen years old.
Sheriff’s Dispatch sent Deputies and toned out several fire agencies to include Coos Forest Protective Association, The Gold Beach Fire Department, the Cedar Valley/North Bank Fire and notified other local fire agencies. Cal Ore Life Flight sent three ambulances to stage at the request of CFPA in case of injuries or heat exhaustion to responding firefighters.
Lobster Creek Fire Dry Mop 7-3-18
Firefighters extinguish hot spots with hand tools and dirt–a technique known as dry mop up. Mop up ensures that the fire won't escape the control lines when conditions change.
Posted by Lobster Creek Fire on Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Sheriff’s Deputies were first on scene and safely evacuated all campers to include the camp hosts. The fire had quickly grown due to high winds which pushed the fire and caused spotting out front of it and was on a path down the creek. Fire crews immediately arrived on scene and began fighting the fire. The fire had spread into the Rayonier Timber Property and within a couple hours had jumped the main Lobster Creek Road.
Meanwhile, the camping group had left the area and congregated at the Port of Gold Beach. Deputies attempted to interview members of the group but upon advice from their attorney, they did not provide any detailed answers to how the fire started although it was evident that they attempted to extinguish the fire initially. Deputies ultimately were only provided very basic information from a few campers on what they saw and any efforts to extinguish the fire.
On Monday, July 2, 2018, a Type I Incident Management Team arrived and assumed command of the operations and continued a full frontal assault on the fire. The team felt confident that fire crews would have the fire under control quickly. Fire investigators worked all afternoon and again into today to try and determine the origin and cause of the fire. This information will be released when determined.
Sheriff John Ward’s press release goes on to give credit for the fast response of local CFPA and fire agencies along with the logging companies and their equipment that got on top of the situation that saved the Lobster Creek Youth Camp from destruction.
Sheriff Ward went on to commend our Sheriff’s Dispatch for getting and giving the information out quickly, coordinating resources to combat the fire and our Deputies who were first on scene and safely evacuated the entire camp of about fifty people.
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