News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Three crews from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire District, two from the Sisters Ranger District, and two from the Oregon Department of Forestry responded to a call from the Black Butte firetower at about 2 p.m.
It took crews about four hours to extinguish the blaze just north of the campground using water and a fire line for containment. Firefighters did not evacuate the campground.
The official cause of the fire is still under investigation, but it appeared to be an accident. According to Deschutes County Sheriff's Lieutenant Greg Brown, the fire is not being investigated by the Central Oregon Arson Task Force.
Fire manager Rock Gerke of the U.S. Forest Service indicated that things could have been much worse.
"By the time we got there it was starting to flare up pretty good," Gerke said. "We had just enough resources out there that we caught it. It was a little tight there for a while, but we didn't get any wind on it and we were able to pick it up."
Gerke stressed the need for fire awareness in the wilderness.
"People need to be really careful with their smoking and their campfires because conditions are such right now that almost any fire gets up and rolls on us," he said.
Officials expect extreme fire conditions to continue through the month of September.
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