Smoke blankets Cloverdale area

A blanket of smoke lay on the fields of Cloverdale late on Sunday and early Monday.

The smoke came from fires set by the Forest Service to remove flammable material from the woods near Sisters.

These "prescribed" burns reduce the chance that a fire later in the summer will become an inferno, according to Forest Service officals.

In a "second entry" burn near Three Creeks road one and one-half miles south of Sisters, the agency torched 65 acres of pine needles and other material that had fallen to the ground since that area was first burned in 1995.

A second plot of 13 acres three miles south of town had its "first entry" of fire at the same time.

"During the burning the smoke was going up toward the Three Sisters. But then we get that overnight smoldering, and smoke collects in the low-lying areas," said Mark Rapp, Assistant fire management officer with the Sisters Ranger District.

"It is unfortunate that smoke tends to collect where people live, but communities and smoke both tend to congregate in lower areas."

The Forest Service is under directions not let heavy smoke go to Bend during these prescribed burns. Doing so might put the Bend area into non-compliance with state health standards.

The Oregon State Smoke Management program actually determines how many acres and how many tons of material may be burned, according to Rapp.

In general, the Forest Service tries to send the smoke to the least populated areas.

Near Sisters, that can mean Cloverdale.

Four more "second-entry" burns are planned for this week.

A 70-acre fire will be set in Section 17 south of the Patterson Ranch, and 80 acres will be burned west of Crossroads in Section 2. Two units are also planned near Black Butte Ranch.

"I would like to do all four this week. We can either try to spread it out or try to get it all done and limit the time we have to put up with the smoke," said Rapp.

Rapp wanted to get started right away, but a weather front was expected to move through the area on Monday, bringing higher winds.

"That may disperse smoke, but it is not desirable to light (an area) on fire and then try to hang on to it," Rapp said.

"If the winds were expected to be 10 to 15 miles per hour I might try it, but 25 miles per hour makes me a little nervous." Rapp suggested that those allergic to the smoke or who suffer from lung ailments or allergies could stay inside until the smoke starts to thin.

The inversions that cause the smoke to hug the ground usually only last from midnight to around 8 a.m., he said.