Umatilla County Sheriff's Office is seeking information from the public about a brush fire June 28, 2025, in the Warehouse Beach area in Hermiston. (Umatillla County Fire District No. 1/Contributed Photo)

HERMISTON — The Umatilla County Sheriff’s Office is seeking information from the public about a brush fire June 28 in the Warehouse Beach area in Hermiston.

Umatilla County Fire District No. 1 reported it received the call-out for the fire at 3:36 p.m.

The fire required an extensive amount of manpower due to its remote location, according to the fire district, which restricted the ability of traditional fire engines to reach the site. A “saw team” — a specialized group of firefighters trained in using chainsaws to strategically clear brush and create breaks in the fire — was formed on-scene to stop the fire’s forward progress.

The sheriff’s office on June 30 on its Facebook page posted the request for public assistance, asking anyone with information related to the cause of this fire or of the person or persons involved, to contact the county’s 24-hour dispatch center at 541-966-3651 and reference case No. 25-0783.

Sheriff’s Capt. Sterrin Ward said there was a report someone had set off fireworks in that area and then ran away, so the sheriff’s office is asking for the public’s help to determine what might have caused the fire.

The National Weather Service issued a heat advisory through July 1 for Umatilla and Morrow counties and much of north-central Oregon as temperatures reach into the upper 90s. The temperatures decline after that, but the NWS has forecast highs on July 4 of 87 degrees in Pendleton and 89 in Hermiston.

Given the higher heat heading into the Fourth of July, Ward urged people to “pay attention and be mindful of fires.”