MONROE, Ore. — A combine overheated while thrashing oats west of Monroe and sparked a fire that spread through farmland and threatened three homes.
Monroe Fire Chief Rick Smith said Friday that the blaze started around 6 p.m. Thursday spread to a field of oats and then to a timber farm in the area west of Interstate 5 between Salem and Eugene.
Residents were told to prepare to evacuate late Thursday but about 50 firefighters were able to contain the blaze overnight.
Elsewhere, a 1.2-square-mile blaze in Crater Lake National Park was 12 percent contained and another fire to the east, near Unity, was 5 percent contained after charring more than 10 square miles.
A smaller blaze near La Pine was 80 percent contained.
