Grasshopper Fire Pushes Toward Highway 35 as Mount Hood Communities Prepare to Leave
Seattle Today Newsroom
August 6, 2026
Grasshopper Fire Pushes Toward Highway 35 as Mount Hood Communities Prepare to Leave
Picture Credit: Viola Kovacs
The Grasshopper Fire which has been burning east of Mount Hood since a lightning strike on July 23 has now forced Level 3 “Go Now” evacuations at Mt. Hood Meadows and across a swath of Hood River and Wasco counties, and also now moved into Clackamas County. Fire officials reported roughly that 35,000 acres of the areas burned Tuesday and more than 39,000 by Wednesday, with containment near 19 percent. More than a thousand firefighters are assigned to the incident.
Clackamas County has issued Level 1 “Be Ready” warnings for Rhododendron, Government Camp and the surrounding Mount Hood corridor, an area covering roughly 200 properties. The Level 3 zone runs along Highway 35 and takes in Hood River Meadows, Bennett Pass, Elk Mountain, Tamanawas Falls and the Cooper Spur area. Timberline Lodge sits outside the evacuation orders, though a Level 2 “Be Set” order is posted immediately to its east. The lodge closed outdoor operations Wednesday, and Mt. Hood Skibowl shut for the day because of smoke.
Fire managers said Wednesday that the blaze remains very active as it advances toward Highway 35 and the Meadows resort, and that structural task forces have completed triage around the resort property. Meadows president Greg Pack said he received notice of the Level 3 order around 5 a.m. Tuesday, and that staff had spent days relocating equipment and vehicles and setting sprinklers in anticipation. Unusual easterly winds, rather than the prevailing westerlies that normally carry smoke away, pushed the fire toward the resort. The fire destroyed the Flag Point Lookout tower over the weekend, a structure that had stood on Flag Point Butte since 1924.
Smoke has become the wider regional story. The Portland metropolitan area ranked among the five worst places in the world for air quality this week, with readings near 400 recorded at Government Camp, driven by the Grasshopper Fire and by smoke carried south from the fires burning in Washington. The Grasshopper Fire is the closest active blaze to Portland and one of 32 burning across Oregon.
The season itself is approaching a record. The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center reported that large fires have consumed 2,026,810 acres in Oregon so far this year, against the 2,081,661 acres burned in 2024, the current single-season high. Crews have made progress elsewhere, with the Bench, Akawa Butte and Rowe Creek Complex fires reaching 84, 85 and 60 percent containment. On the Grasshopper Fire, red flag conditions and dry fuels continue to govern the outlook, and officials have not indicated when residents under warning orders might stand down.
