TROUTDALE, Ore. (KATU) — Jurisdictional dynamics at play in the Sandy River Delta state forest contributed to a municipal fire department’s decision on Wednesday night to pull back from extinguishing flames that burned a homeless camp, leaving residents of the camp to squashed the flames alone.
“We have one of those temperature gadgets that will tell us how hot it is when you point at something. So we had it all under 100 in the whole area. Taking trips back and forth to the river with buckets of water. The only fire extinguisher we had didn’t work,” said Benny Bales who has called the camp home for 12 years.
The fire was confined to an area of approximately 200 to 300 square feet, according to eyeball estimations from KATU crews visiting the site on Thursday afternoon…