A fire at the WM Hillsboro Landfill sent embers into a dry grass field Saturday, Aug. 8, igniting a 25-acre brush fire that forced two homes to evacuate and injured a firefighter.

Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue, the agency that protects Bethany, Cedar Mill and Oak Hills, led the multi-agency response on Minter Bridge Road in unincorporated Washington County.

Dispatchers began receiving 911 calls about a large column of black smoke around 4:20 p.m., according to a TVF&R incident report. Firefighters arrived to find flames at the landfill and quickly spotted embers landing in a 40-acre field of cut grass south of the facility.

The spot fire grew fast. Gusty winds pushed flames through the dry grass and threw off additional spot fires, the agency said. As the brush fire advanced toward nearby residences, crews evacuated two homes as a precaution and set up structure protection around them. Neither home was damaged.

KGW reported that by about 7 p.m., the trash fire had been contained with bulldozer lines but the brush fire remained active in challenging wind conditions.

The landfill fire itself burned just over one acre of trash and tires. Two bulldozers carved containment lines around it. By Saturday evening, firefighters had stopped the brush fire's forward progress and shifted to mop-up operations.

One Hillsboro Fire & Rescue firefighter suffered minor heat-related injuries from overexertion while working the landfill blaze. The firefighter was assessed on scene and did not require hospital transport.

TVF&R was assisted by Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Cornelius Fire Department and Forest Grove Fire & Rescue. The Beaverton Police Department provided a drone for aerial size-up, and the Washington County Sheriff's Office handled traffic control. Minter Bridge Road was temporarily closed during the response.

A TVF&R fire investigator is working to determine what caused the landfill fire. The cause remains unknown.

Saturday's blaze marks the second significant brush fire along the Minter Bridge Road corridor in roughly 14 months. On June 30, 2025, a three-alarm brush fire near the same stretch of road burned 3 to 4 acres and spread into a nearby orchard before crews contained it. No structures were threatened and no injuries were reported in that earlier incident.

Washington County residents dealt with Grasshopper Fire smoke as recently as Aug. 5, a reminder of the ongoing wildfire-season conditions across the region.

Residents who notice smoke or fire can call 911. TVF&R's public information office can be reached at (503) 649-8577 or [email protected].