A dark plume of smoke rose not far from the Clark County Event Center at the Fairgrounds in Ridgefield on Sunday. The smoke came from tires burning in a wooded area, fire officials said.
At about 2 p.m., callers reported smoke just east of Northeast 15th Avenue near the fairgrounds, said Scott Taube, shift commander at Clark County Fire District 6. Because of the amount of black smoke, officials sent about 20 firefighters, he said.
The crews had trouble finding the fire, which was far from any structures.
Eventually, they found what appeared to be illegal logging activity in the wooded area, complete with a makeshift cooking fire, which had apparently ignited some old tires that had been dumped in the woods, Taube said.
Firefighters called the Department of Natural Resources, which cut down some trees near the fire.
