“We had resources in place to fight the fire as it ran to the northwest within a half hour, the fire changed direction and was running to the southeast,” Chavarria said. Matt Chavarria, the team lead for the Kingsley contingent, said it was the most difficult fire that he’s fought. “That’s the worst fire I have ever seen in 20 years of firefighting in Oregon,” said Rees Thomas, a Kingsley firefighter. When he and two other Kingsley Firefighters arrived at the Two Four Two Fire north of Klamath Falls, it was anything but routine. 7, the Kingsley Field Fire Department, part of the 173rd Fighter Wing of the Oregon Air National Guard, received a dispatch call for assistance for a wildland fire burning near Chiloquin, a neighboring community north of the small town in the southwest corner of Oregon.įor one firefighter, that meant a wake-up call just after 1 a.m., something he said is totally routine at a fire station. Kingsley Field firefighters returned from helping a neighboring community fight a wildland fire, Sept.
