VIDEO: A week of summer adventure and faith was cut short for hundreds of teens after a fast-moving wildfire forced an emergency evacuation from the Washington Family Ranch, a Young Life camp in rural Wasco County. Just four days into the weeklong retreat, camp leaders made the difficult decision to send nearly 600 campers and staff home as the Cram Fire, which ignited July 13, grew rapidly and approached from the north. At the time of evacuation, the fire had already exploded to nearly 28,000 acres. As of July 16, it has more than doubled in size, now burning 64,296 acres with zero percent containment—making it Oregon’s largest wildfire so far this season.
“Campers really look forward to this time,” said Ron Sauer, a volunteer leader with Young Life. “They worked to get there, so whenever the camp announced it was cut short, the first response by campers was very emotional—anger, sadness, confusion, ‘Why do we have to go?'”Though flames never reached the campgrounds themselves, officials say rapidly shifting winds and extremely dry conditions made the area too dangerous to remain. Level three “Go Now” evacuation orders were issued for parts of Wasco and Jefferson counties, and fire officials remain concerned about more difficult fire behavior in the coming days.
