News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Sunday, 12 noon -- Although the Cache Mountain fire grew to 3,300 acres overnight, firefighters were optimistic that they would get the upper hand on the blaze by mid-day Sunday, July 28.
"We're poised right at the turning point today," said Incident Commander Bob Sandman.
The fire has burned in dry timber -- much of it dead -- to the west of Black Butte Ranch. Winds kicked up spot fires on Saturday evening and caused the fire to run to the northeast, toward Highway 20.
Firefighters set a successful backburn to rob the fire of fuel last night.
The fire approached an evaluation "green line" near Highway 20. The Oregon Department of Transportation is monitoring conditions and could order piloting of traffic or a road closure if smoke becomes so dense that visibility levels become unsafe.
The fire has not yet reached the evaluation line near Black Butte Ranch. Although the fire is, in some spots, 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile from the Ranch perimeter, no evacuation warnings or orders have been implemented.
BBR Police Chief Gil Zaccaro said the Ranch is on heightened alert, but is nowhere near an evacuation at this point.
"If it was me, I'd pack my photo albums, but I wouldn't put them in the car," Zaccaro said.
Ranch officials will continue to keep a close eye on the situation.
"The weather and the fire are directing us; we're not directing it," Zaccaro said.
Wind is the critical factor. If the wind stays down, firefighters may well have the fire in hand.
"We're optimistic that some time around the middle of the day, we'll have a control line around the entire fire," Sandman said.
Forecasts call for winds of three to seven miles per hour, but with gusts up to 15 miles power hour. According to firefighters, the winds are heavily influenced by the topography and are hard to predict. It's those unpredictable gusts that can cause trouble.
Spot fires could cause the 14 crews working the fire to lose control of the blaze.
To deal with that possibility, retardant tankers are available to attack any spot fires with the thick red slurry that smothers flames.
"If we get a spot fire we need to paint it red," Sandman said.
The incident commander noted that the Cache Mountain fire has the third highest priority in the nation for retardant tankers.
Tankers will be used to "pre-treat" some vulnerable areas along the perimeter of the fire as well, Sandman noted.
Sandman noted that the cooperation between federal firefighting teams, Oregon Department of Forestry, Black Butte Ranch police and the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office has been vital in controlling the emergency situation.
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