Tractor operator killed battling Oregon wildfire

PORTLAND, Ore. — A tractor operator who was killed in a wildfire that scorched 70 square miles in little more than 24 hours in the Pacific Northwest appears to have died trying to restrain it, police said.

The blaze east of Portland, Oregon, and near the city of The Dalles started Tuesday and spread into a rural farming area with vast wheat fields.

Authorities found one person dead Wednesday near a burnedout tractor. The person was likely trying to use the heavy farm machinery to create a fire break to hold back flames, the Wasco County Sheriff ’s Office said.

Dozens of homes have been evacuated because of the conflagration about 80 miles east of Portland.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown declared a state of emergency Wednesday, marking the unofficial start to a Pacific Northwest Fire season that’s expected to be worse than normal.

Firefighters crept into the fields in water trucks and attempted to douse the leading edges of the fire from behind as it burned through acres of wheat, with everything behind the flames charred black.

The news of the fatality also came as authorities on Wednesday ordered additional mandatory evacuations in the small communities of Moro and Grass Valley and closed U.S. Route 97 in that area. Grass Valley’s evacuation was eased Wednesday night as firefighters focused on saving structures in that area, Substation fire spokesman Stefan Myers said.