Firefighters Attack Blaze Unreachable by Vehicle With BNSF Help

Fire

A woodland fire unreachable by vehicles was quickly doused by Benton County Fire District #1.

Crews responded to the fire near the Oregon border Thursday night. A Umatilla County Sheriff’s Deputy saw the blaze at about 9:20 pm just east of the McNary Dam, near Berrian.

A driver in a high rail truck provided by BNSF transported the crew of firefighters to the location of the fire. Crews could not reach the fire by vehicle. It was located in an isolated area between the train tracks and the Columbia River.

The crew carried tools, hose packs, and a pump which allowed them to pump water from the river to extinguish the flames. The fire was quickly stopped from spreading. The crew remained on the scene overnight to monitor the area and mop up hot spots. According to the BCFD #1 Facebook page:

BNSF responded from Pasco with a crew and its fire train at around 5:00 a.m. Friday and were able to make a few passes spraying down the burned area before transporting the fire crew back to their vehicles.

It’s unknown at this time how the fire started. No structures were threatened. Without the assistance of the BNSF fire train, crews would not have been able to get to the location of the fire.