The raging Eagle Creek fire forced Oregon fish officials to release more than 600,000 hatchery salmon on Tuesday, some were dumped six months earlier than expected.

Oregon's Department of Fish and Wildlife had to evacuate the 26 employees at the three hatchery facilities in Cascade Locks as a result of the Columbia River Gorge blaze.

The Bonneville, Oxbow and Cascade hatcheries are home to some six million fish (mainly Coho and Chinook salmon). Bonneville's Hatchery is also the home of the Sturgeon Viewing Interpretive Center.

The state was forced to either release hundreds of thousands of five to six-inch hatchery fish now or risk losing them altogether, according to spokesman Ken Loffink.

Tanner Creek, one of the water sources feeding a hatchery facility, was "literally engulfed in flames," Loffink said, and the intake pipes were clogged with ash and debris.

"Without that water, those fish are going to die," he said.

Some staffers have been able to return to the facilities to try and monitor the remaining hatchery stock.

Firefighters have used the locations as staging areas and a rendezvous spot for the more than 140 hikers originally stranded by the fire.

None of the three hatchery locations has been damaged thus far, but the situation is still serious.

Fishery officials released more than 400,000 tule fall Chinook that were originally expected to be released in October on Monday night. Another more than 206,000 fall Chinook were dumped into the river Tuesday morning.

The red and blue dots indicate hot spots detected by satellites. The dark red area is the Eagle Creek fire first reported Saturday. The pink area is the Indian Creek fire that's burned since July 4. Sources: U.S. Geological Survey, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, NASA

Loffink said while it's earlier than the state had hoped to release the hatchery fish, it's not a death sentence. He pointed out there are young native fish of similar size in the river. "There's a high probability those [hatchery] fish will survive like they normally would."



-- Andrew Theen

atheen@oregonian.com

503-294-4026

@andrewtheen