‘Dread’ in The Dalles as fire threatens beloved Columbia Gorge museum

As thick smoke from the Rowena fire

began to fill the air

Wednesday afternoon, Cheryl Ragar, executive director of the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, took a head count of everybody inside the building, then took action to get them all out.

Ragar, who has been at the helm of the beloved Columbia River Gorge attraction for a little over a year, said she wasted no time in getting staff, visitors and the museum’s four raptors out the door, clearing out the building before the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office ordered an evacuation for the area just west of The Dalles.

“It was incredibly unsettling. It was scary. I felt a lot of dread,” Ragar said. “The smoke was really heavy, I was seeing ash in the air.”

Late Wednesday, staff got word that their 48,200-square-foot museum and surrounding buildings were all intact, despite

fires burning

all around them, destroying neighboring homes and scorching the banks of the Columbia River. The museum announced the news Thursday morning, as the fire still burned and uncertainty lingered.

“I am feeling relief,” Ragar said Thursday afternoon. “Not only because I know the building’s standing, but because as the day’s gone on, I’ve heard more information that makes me think that the area around it is as secure as it can be when there’s a fire raging.”

The Rowena fire

spread from 50 acres to 3,500 acres

in about 24 hours, fire officials

said at a news conference Thursday

. It’s not yet clear how many homes or structures have been destroyed. There are no reported fatalities.

A wildfire continues to burn near Rowena in the Columbia Gorge on Thursday, June 12, 2025, forcing evacuations.

Vickie Connor/The Oregonian

The fire, which started Wednesday in Wasco County just below Rowena Crest, closed Interstate 84 between Hood River and The Dalles for several hours as winds of up to 30 mph fueled its spread, officials said.

The Oregon Parks and Recreation Department shut down several park sites near the fire Wednesday. As of Thursday, Mayer State Park and the Rowena Crest Overlook remained closed, while the department issued new open flame bans throughout the Columbia Gorge.

Meanwhile, staff at the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum are still waiting to hear news on when they’ll be able to return to the property, where they’ll assess the damage and begin the process of cleaning up. Their raptors – a red-tailed hawk, an American kestrel and two bald eagles “who don’t appreciate being put in cages,” Ragar said – are currently on their way to the Sunriver Nature Center after spending the night at a nearby farm.

In its news release Thursday, the museum thanked “the heroic efforts of the emergency responders” as well as messages, prayers and assistance from the community. It also offered condolences to neighbors who lost their homes, calling the losses “heartbreaking.”

Ragar said she feels lucky that the museum appears to have survived the blaze, though she acknowledged that it will still be a tough path forward.

“Everything will be all right, but it’s going to take work,” she said. “It is going to cost us, we already know that.”

Anyone who wants to support the Columbia Gorge Discovery Center & Museum, financially or through volunteer work, can find more information at

gorgediscovery.org

. More information about the museum’s status will be posted on the website and

social

media

pages.

Wildfires

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Wildfire funding is a ‘must do’ for the session, legislative leaders say. So what’s the plan?