The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

Thursday, August 17, the Deschutes National Forest and the Type 1 Incident Management Team managing the Milli Fire will host a public meeting to provide information about the fire.

The Milli Fire is located eight miles west of Sisters and approximately 1.5 miles southwest of Black Crater Lake. It has been burning within the Three Sisters Wilderness since last Friday. As of today a Type 1 Incident Management Team (Southwest Team 2) took over management of the Milli Fire and the Belknap fire on the Ochoco National Forest.

The public meeting will be held today, Aug. 17 in Sisters from 6 to 7 p.m. at Sisters Middle School on Highway 242 west of downtown.

At the meeting, the public will hear from Forest Service and fire management staff about the current status of the fire, strategies for managing the fire and the resources at risk. The public will also learn about how to stay informed about the fire.

For more information, contact the Sisters Ranger District at 541-549-7700.

Due to the fire burning partially in the fire scar of the 2006 Black Crater Fire, all crews on the ground are using extreme caution in areas with dead, standing timber. Because of increased fire behavior this afternoon, we are unable to report on size and containment at this time.

There was heavy fire activity today with winds up to 35 mph in the fire area. The fire moved by torching and spotting toward the east and southeast. Due to the dangerous conditions caused by the winds, crews were forced to cease suppression actions directly in front of the fire front and move to flanking positions. Some spot fires have crossed to the east side of Forest Road 1018. The fire also grew on the west flank and moved north toward Black Crater Mountain.

Tonight crews will work to control the spot fires that are east of Forest Road 1018 and will also conduct burnout operations to strengthen and hold the containment line being developed along that roadway.

Three Sisters Wilderness closure area includes the following: The Willamette National Forest has closed all trails south of Highway 242 into the Three Sisters Wilderness on the Willamette National Forest with the exception of Proxy Falls, which remains open. Also closed is the Obsidian Trailhead and Obsidian Limited Entry Area.

The area closure also includes Deschutes National Forest managed lands within the Three Sisters Wilderness that are threatened by fire activity.

The northern closure area border includes trails south of Highway 242 and west of Forest Road 1018 and east of the Three Sisters Wilderness Boundary on the Willamette National Forest down to approximately Scott's Pass Trail, which is also included in the closure.

In addition, the closure area contains trails north of Cascade Lakes Highway, west of the South Sisters Climber Trail and includes all of the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from Elk Lake north to the PCT Trailhead near Lava Camp Lake Campground.

For up-to-date information on closures on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) and trail reroute options, visit https://www.pcta.org/discover-the-trail/trail-conditions-and-closures/.