PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — On Labor Day Weekend 2020, hurricane-force winds swept out of Eastern Washington and Oregon and into Santiam Canyon.
When they got there, the winds found an established fire burning near Detroit, Ore. and turned it into a fatal firestorm.
In the course of 30 hours, more than 100,000 acres had burned, hundreds of homes had been destroyed and several people had been killed.
Now, KOIN Meteorologist Steve Pierce, Forest Service fire scientist Bret Butler and fire historian Steve Pyne join the KOIN Podcast Network for an in-depth look at the combination of factors that turned the Beachie Creek fire into a monster and, why a firestorm more than a century ago still echoes today.