Brush fire along I-5 produces big smoke plume

Emergency dispatchers were flooded with calls Friday morning as a fire destroyed an apparent homeless camp near Interstate 5.

Firefighters were called to a brush fire on a hill between the freeway and Highway 99, near the Bonneville Power Administration’s Ross Complex, at about 11:45 a.m.

Fire officials said that Clark County sheriff’s deputies were the first on scene, scaling the hillside and trying to quell the blaze with extinguishers that they keep in their patrol vehicles.

Crews from Clark County Fire District 6 responded next, working with Vancouver Fire Department to run more than 300 feet of hose line to put out the fire. Firefighters had the blaze under control in about 20 minutes.

The fire was contained to an apparent homeless camp, an area 20 feet by 20 feet perched on the ledge of a steep ravine. Trash littered down a hill also caught fire along with several trees in the area. The fire created a plume of black smoke that prompted as many as 100 people to call 911, one dispatcher reported over the emergency radio traffic.