Nearly 300,000 acres in Oregon forests are on fire as of today. The Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia Gorge has grown to nearly 10,000 acres, simultaneously closing I-84 between Troutdale and Hood River. At around 8:30 this Tuesday morning, the fire jumped across the Columbia river to the Washington side, starting another fire near Archer Mountain. The Corbett school district and the Cascade Locks Elementary school in Hood River County school district will close Tuesday because of the danger of fire. The Department of Environmental Quality has sent out an alert for areas to the east and to Portland that the air quality is extremely unhealthy, especially for people with breathing problems, small children and the elderly. Stay indoors. Evacuating cities include Warrendale, Dodson, Latourell, Bridal Veil, Larch Mountain and eastern parts of East Corbett. Some cities like Corbett are being told to get readt to leave at a moment's notice. A young adult male is in custody currently, whom is a suspect for causing the fire. At Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, an evacuation center has been set up for displaced persons. For more information on areas under evacuation orders, call 541-387-6941 in Hood River County or 503-823-2323 in Multnomah County. Currently the fire is 0% contained.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake hit in southeastern Idaho near Soda Springs close to the Wyoming border on Saturday evening. Since then, more than 100 aftershocks have been felt, all less than magnitude 4.2. The initial earthquake no Saturday has been felt by more than 17,000 people, some as far as Salt Lake City in Utah. This initial earthquake (and its aftershocks) have reportedly caused little damage and little to no injury. Small magnitude earthquakes like this are relatively common in central and southeastern Idaho, mostly because of the fault lines scatter throughout. However, the largest quake that ever hit in Idaho was in October of 1983 when a 6.9 magnitude earthquake was recorded near Mackay in central Idaho which lasted about a minute, killing two students in a structure collapse.
- KBOO