A woman who was hiking in Oregon’s Eagle Creek Canyon over the weekend claims she witnessed a group of teens giggling as one of them threw ‘a smoke bomb’ that is suspected of causing the massive 10,000-acre fire to ignite.
Liz FitzGerald said that she’s pretty certain she heard the teenager’s friends laughing as the firework dropped down a cliff and into the trees below in the Columbia River Gorge, The Oregonian reported.
The 48-year-old woman said one of the boys was recording video on his cellphone of the encounter.
‘I saw this shorter kid lob this smoke bomb down into the canyon,’ FitzGerald told the newspaper.
‘I was probably 4 feet away from him. I said, ‘Do you realize how dangerous this is?… This place is so dry.”
She said the teens didn’t respond to her warning about their behavior.
‘They kept on walking down the trail,’ FitzGerald said.
Liz FitzGerald was hiking in Oregon’s Eagle Creek Canyon over the weekend and claims she witnessed a group of teens giggling as one of them threw ‘a smoke bomb’ that is suspected of causing the massive 10,000-acre fire to ignite (above)
The horrific fire spread 13 miles in 16 hours, pushed by winds overnight that ranged from 30mph to 40mph in tinder-dry conditions (above)
FitzGerald said she saw one of the boys was recording video on his cellphone of his friend throwing the firework. Oregon State Police say that a 15-year-old boy from Vancouver is suspected of starting the fire, but they have not arrested anyone
Another hiker filmed video of the moment authorities stopped a van from leaving the area with a group of teens inside as they had detained one of the boys (circled above). It’s unclear if this is the same teen who is suspected of starting the fire
FitzGerald said that she noticed the van above and saw a teen girl (circled left) who looked like one of the girls she saw on the trail along with the boy who she thinks threw the firework (circled right)
Oregon State Police say that a 15-year-old boy from Vancouver is suspected of starting the fire, but they have not arrested anyone.
They also have not released the boy’s name since he is underage.
‘It was a whole group of kids that was completely complicit,’ FitzGerald said.
‘They were all in on it. He (the 15-year-old boy) threw it. But they all shrugged it off. They had no discernible problem with what he was doing.’
Authorities are asking anyone with information to call 503-375-3555.
FitzGerald told police what she witnessed during her hike to Punch Bowl Falls.
She said that she encountered the group of teens nearly two miles up the trail that starts near Cascade Locks.
She added that she looked down into the canyon after the boy threw the firework.
FitzGerald said she saw some smoke but thought it was from the firework, as she hadn’t seen any brush or trees on fire so she kept walking.
FitzGerald said: ‘It was a whole group of kids that was completely complicit. They were all in on it. He (the 15-year-old boy) threw it. But they all shrugged it off. They had no discernible problem with what he was doing’
FitzGerald told police what she witnessed during her hike to Punch Bowl Falls in regards to the massive fire starting
Moments later, she ran into another group of two hikers who she told what she witnessed. The two hikers said they also saw the teens and said they were walking back down the trail to ‘rat them out,’ FitzGerald stated.
That’s when she decided to also report what she saw, but didn’t have her cellphone.
‘I started to run,’ FitzGerald said before adding that she passed the area where the she saw the teens.
‘At that point, it was so obvious to me that it was a fire. I could see all of this smoke billowing up.’
She then said she saw the group of teens not too far away and addressed them again
‘My adrenaline is through the roof,’ FitzGerald said. ‘I said, ‘Do you realize you just started a forest fire?’ And the kid who had been filming with his cellphone said, ‘But what are we supposed to do about it now?’ And I said, ‘Call the fricking fire department!”
She explained that she didn’t think the teens understood the gravity of the situation, as they were calm.
People living in about 700 homes in and around the Columbia River Gorge have been forced to evacuate due to the massive blaze that’s 16-square miles
Others have been warned to get ready as flames burn trees and brush in one of the state’s biggest tourist attractions
‘There was complete indifference,’ she noted. ‘It was weird. I was just like, ‘You’re not getting this on any level. You’re not getting this at all.”’
While making her way down the trail, she warned other hikers to turn around.
FitzGerlad ended up finding a U.S. Forest Service officer and reported what she saw.
She added that she told the officer she was concerned that the teen would drive off undetected.
But she then spotted a minivan drive by with a girl in the front seat who looked excited and she thought she was apart of the group she saw earlier.
FitzGerald then joined the officer in his SUV as they followed the van before giving chase.
‘The kids tore through the parking lot,’ FitzGerald said.
She said the officer stopped the van minutes later just as the driver tried to get on Interstate 84.
A video shared to YouTube from other hikers show police interviewing two teenagers near the Eagle Creek Trailhead, as they are next to a minivan.
Hiker Kevin Marnell told the newspaper that one of the boys was detained by police.
Gov. Kate Brown (above) visited the fire scene Tuesday as ash fell around her
She said: ‘It looks like there has been a devastating impact on the Gorge.’ Pictured above is the Columbia River Gorge prior to the fire
The growing blaze east of Portland is just one of dozens of wildfires in western U.S. that sent smoke into cities from Seattle to Denver – prompting health warnings and cancellations of outdoor activities for children by many school districts
People living in about 700 homes in and around the Columbia River Gorge have been forced to evacuate due to the massive blaze that’s 16-square miles. Others have been warned to get ready as flames burn trees and brush in one of the state’s biggest tourist attractions.
Gov. Kate Brown visited the fire scene Tuesday as ash fell around her.
The fire spread 13 miles in 16 hours, pushed by winds overnight that ranged from 30mph to 40mph in tinder-dry conditions, Brown said.
‘It looks like there has been a devastating impact on the Gorge,’ she said, speaking of the renowned Columbia River Gorge, famous for its hiking and spectacular vistas.
And embers from the fire drifted across the Columbia River – sparking blazes in neighboring Washington state. People shielded their faces and authorities in the Northwest urged drivers to use headlights during the day to increase visibility.
A total of 600 Oregon National Guard troops have been called up to fight more than a dozen blazes across Oregon, including a much larger blaze in southwest Oregon in a rural area along the California border.
The growing blaze east of Portland is just one of dozens of wildfires in western U.S. that sent smoke into cities from Seattle to Denver – prompting health warnings and cancellations of outdoor activities for children by many school districts.
‘I haven’t seen ash fall like this in the Portland metro area in my 18 years as a firefighter,’ said Damon Simmons, with the fire incident management team for the Oregon State Fire Marshal.
Joanna Fisher walked to work Tuesday at a Troutdale, Oregon, naturopathic clinic with Calla Wanser, who was wearing a red bandana around her mouth.
‘You can’t really stand outside without getting rained on’ by ash, Fisher said.
The only comparison people could come up with was the eruption of Mount St. Helens in nearby southwest Washington more than 35 years ago.
‘In 1980, we had a couple of significant ash falls here in the Portland area and this is very reminiscent of what we saw in the ash fall in those days,’ said Don Hamilton, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Transportation.
‘The particulate matter that shows up on the cars, it gets in your hair, it gets in your eyes, it?s all over the place like it was in those days.’
A closure of one section of Interstate 84 because of thick smoke and falling ash was extended 30 miles east of Portland while the U.S. Coast Guard closed about 20 miles of the Columbia River in the same area.
The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho, a federal agency that coordinates wildfire-fighting, said 80 large fires were burning on 2,200 square miles in nine Western states.
A fast-moving wildfire in northern Utah swept down a canyon Tuesday morning – destroying structures, forcing evacuations and closing highways.