CRESCENT, Ore. -- Jeremey Wren is one of six people staying at a Red Cross shelter in the community of Crescent, Ore.,

A fast-growing forest fire forced him out of his home near the Willamette Pass Inn as night fell Tuesday, an evacuation order for homes, resorts and campgrounds that displaced 120 people.

"It was pretty crazy there to begin when we had to evacuate," he said. "It was getting real smoky and ashes dropping out of the air and stuff."

Officially dubbed the Royce Butte fire and measured at almost to just more than 400 acres, the inferno is one of several firestorms pumping smoke and ash into the air -- and into towns near the fire and as far awy as the soutern Willamette Valley.

Eugene, Springfield and Creswell commuters reported thin layers of ash on their cars Wednesday morning. Evidence of ash fall adorned car hoods in south Eugene, and the local air quality monitor saw pollution creep up -- a combination of smoke, ash, dirt from farm fields and car exhaust trapped under a high pressure system.

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Minor inconvenience compared to Oakridge, Ore., directly in the smoke's path aboard westerly winds. People with trouble breathing there have been advised to stay indoors and keep their windows closed.

In Crescent, a visitor from Portland found himself at a fork in the road: fire blocking Oregon Highways 58 and 138, leaving long detours through Bend or Medford and interrupting travel to Crater Lake National Park.

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Jesse Lambert from Portland was just visiting his cousins when the blaze broke out.

"It's like you see it on TV and on movies and stuff, but you never expect it to happen to you," Lambert said of being caught in one of Oregon's September firestorms.

Kim Quintero contributed to this report on assignment from Crescent, Ore.