Coastal Code Three

04/11/2026

03/05/2026

01/27/2026

Western Lane Fire and EMS Authority would like to acknowledge Oregon's Firefighters and thank them for their service. We appreciate all of the men and women who dedicate themselves to the service of their community.

01/11/2026

For the first time this year we busted out the camera and got right to work.

USCG Air Station North Bend helicopter 6514 conducting some early morning basket training in the channel with one of the 47ft motor lifeboats from USCG Station Siuslaw River.

After completing training 6514 made its usual refueling stop at Florence Municipal Airport before heading back down south.

📸: 1-9-26

10/07/2025

I mean who doesn’t like 🍕

Who wants a free pizza?

Western Lane Fire and EMS Authority is partnering with Florence Dominos, and you could receive a free pizza. If you order a pizza from Dominos on Tuesday, October 7th from 1-4pm, you could randomly be selected for us to deliver your pizza in a fire engine. If your smoke alarms are working, the pizza is free. If the alarms are not working, firefighters will replace them or install new batteries.

To participate, customers can call Florence Dominos at 541-901-3030 to place an order and be eligible for fire engine delivery.

08/04/2025

Semper Paratus — 235 Years Strong! 💪🏼

Honoring the United States Coast Guard on their 235th birthday. From sea to sky, their commitment to saving lives and safeguarding our shores never wavers.

📸: 5-27-25

07/04/2025

The Siuslaw National Forest is implementing Stage I fire restrictions beginning Friday, July 4. All campfires, charcoal or briquette fires, pellet fires, and any other open fires are prohibited outside of designated recreation sites or campgrounds under a Forest Order. Portable cooking stoves and lanterns using liquefied or bottled fuel are allowed as they can be instantly switched off.

Campfires are still allowed inside developed campgrounds and other developed designated recreation sites

More information: https://www.fs.usda.gov/r06/siuslaw/alerts/temporary-fire-public-use-restrictions-are-effect

07/02/2025

Images from the CC148 Fire. A fast moving beach grass fire that started over night last Saturday and burned into Sunday morning scorching a total of 15 acres. Originally responded to/handled by , with operations later being handed off to .s.forestservice crews.

📸: 6-29-25

06/23/2025

Aerial Ops:
N82W a Weyerhaeuser Bell212 helicopter out of Eugene on assignment at the Rice Fire in Mapelton this past Thursday.

N82W flew for almost 5hrs that day conducting dozens of bucket drops, playing a huge role in fire suppression efforts.

*On a side note as the sun started to set the smoke took on most of that color and provided that peachy style lighting you see in some of the pictures. Smoke is always hard to work with while editing, but I think these turned out pretty good*

📸: 6-19-25

06/21/2025

The Rice Fire:

Yesterday afternoon just after 2:00pm multiple agencies responded to reports of a fast moving grass fire that was extending up the hillside into heavy vegetation. Unfortunately, the fire made its way up the hill and quickly scorched 4 to 5 acres, and with afternoon winds the fire grew in total to about 8 acres.

When the first ODF resources arrived on scene they requested a hand crew and aerial resources. When the hand crew arrived they went to work on fuel reductions and running hand lines. Shortly after their arrival, a Weyerhaeuser helicopter (Bell 212) arrived on scene and began bucket operations filing directly out of the Siuslaw River. While flying for 3+ hours it conducted 20+ bucket drops. After aerial ops concluded the hand crew remained on scene throughout the night.

Initially there was a level 3 evacuation (Leave Now) notice for Mapelton residents (all areas of Rice Road, all areas of Hillcrest Road, and all areas of 1st Ave.) but that was decreased over the span of the evening to a level 2 (Be Set) and is now at a level 1 (Be Ready) as of 9hrs ago, per LCSO’s page.

As of right now, according to Watch Duty, the fire is at 4.6 acres. I’m assuming they have it lined and are moving into mop up operations since there has been no increase in fire size and no other resources have been ordered.

The exact cause of the fire remains under investigation at this time; there is some speculation that it could have been started by railroad crews working on the train cars (personally I have not heard any direct confirmation of that).

📸: 6-19-25