Evacuations remain in place and 1,500 alerted as Vitae Springs fire burns

9/10/2022

A least two dozen crews are responding to a fast-moving vegetation fire on Vitae Springs Road South, south of Salem on Friday evening.

The road is closed in the area, and firefighters have evacuated homes and businesses in a two-mile radius.

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office has ordered Level 3 (Go Now!) evacuations for the following areas.

Vitae Springs Road between Skyline Rd S to River Rd
West side of Skyline Rd from Vitae Springs Rd to Cole Rd S
Orville Rd S
RIversprings Rd to Prospect Ridge

Late Friday night, the sheriff’s office put into effect Level 2 (Get Set) evacuation orders for the following areas.

Marion County:

River Road S at Sawmill Rd
Sawmill Rd S
South side of Ballyntyne Rd S
Stonehill Ave S
Jory Hill Rd S west of Elmhurst Ave S
Elmhurst Ave S to Nehalem St S
Cole Rd S west of Bates Rd S
West side of Bates Rd S to Bunker Hill Rd S including the Chinook Estates neighborhood
Bunker Hill Rd S to Riverside Dr S
Riverside Dr S from River Rd S to Sidney Rd S
West side of Sidney Rd S to Buena Vista Rd S

Polk County:

East of Corvallis Rd from the Independence Bridge to Davidson Rd
North of Davidson Rd and Wigrich Rd east to the Willamette River

Evacuated people can gather at Judson Middle School located at 4512 Jones Rd SE, Salem. Those with livestock are asked to get in touch with officials at the school so arrangements can be made for livestock to be kept in safe places.

The sheriff’s office said some of the Level 3 evacuations are likely to be in effect through the weekend.

Marion County Fire District No. 1 says at least one structure is on fire and more are threatened.

It’s unclear how much has burned so far.

Crews say they have requested help from surrounding counties.

“We have three of our task forces out on it. We have quite a few crews out. And as you can see from the number, it’s a big event for us, so we are actually putting a lot of resources toward it,” said Greg Walsh, emergency manager for the city of Salem.

“We’re actually getting mutual aid help from Marion County, we’re actually looking at getting help from the surrounding counties as well to take care of this.”