Oregon wheat farmers try to stop fire that’s consuming crops
PORTLAND, Ore. — Farmers rushed to save their livelihoods as a wildfire roared through vast Oregon wheat fields Thursday and crushed their hopes at the peak of what was expected to be one of the most bountiful harvests in years.
Farmers used water tanks on the backs of pickup trucks and tractors to battle flames whipping across fields for the third straight day. One man was found dead near his charred tractor Wednesday, apparently overrun as he tried to clear a strip of land to protect a neighbour’s property.
Farmers who grow tens of thousands of acres of soft, white wheat typically bound for Asia said they are confronting walls of fire up to 30 feet (9 metres) high and wind so strong that it tosses embers ahead of the fire’s leading edge. The conditions threaten farmers working to stop the blaze from reaching the wheat.
“It’s been day after day after day of pretty horrendous winds and then the fire creates its own wind,” Alan von Borstel, who has battled the flames with his son, said by phone. “As the fire gets closer, you actually start to feel threatened, and if it gets too close, we realize we can’t do it, (and) we get the hell out of Dodge.”