Firefighting vehicles line up on the road for addressing the Dixon Fire near Tiller, Oregon, in this undated supplied photo.
Courtesy of the Oregon State Fire Marshal
Dozens of people living near a small town in Southern Oregon are under evacuation orders due to a rapidly growing wildfire, which has triggered Gov. Tina Kotek to declare an emergency.
The Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office estimated the Dixon Fire, formerly known as the Tiller Trail Fire, was burning 3,000-5,000 acres near Tiller, an unincorporated community in Douglas County about 28 miles southeast of Roseburg. The fire was reported Saturday around 3 p.m. and was listed as 0% contained as of Sunday morning.
More than 30 people living at homes along Crume Ranch Lane and Devil’s Knob Road are under a Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation order announced by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office Saturday evening. They were asked to leave immediately and go to an emergency evacuation shelter at Canyonville School on 124 North Main Street, about 17 miles west of Tiller.
The sheriff’s office has also given Level 1 and 2 notices for areas further east of the fire. A Level 1 alert means residents should be aware of the fire and should begin making arrangements to evacuate. A Level 2 alert means residents should be ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice due to the significant danger of the fire.
On Saturday night, Gov. Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for the Dixon Fire, allowing the state fire marshal to mobilize state resources to assist local firefighters. The fire marshal says three task forces have been assigned from the Rogue Valley to address the blaze.
The Dixon Fire is the latest addition to the 70-plus blazes that have scorched more than 1.4 million acres of land across Oregon, according to Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. That’s the most since reliable records began in 1992, and surpasses the previous record set in 2020.
Correction: The story has been updated to say Tiller is an unincorporated community. OPB regrets the error.