Black Butte Ranch weathers fires

Three fires in two years, plus one evacuation and the threat of two others, have plagued Black Butte Ranch (BBR), but it is still doing fine, although hit with some financial losses.

Loy Helmly, the executive manager of the 1,800-acre Ranch complex, said that he estimates the Ranch lost between $50,000 and $75,000 during the Link fire.

"And we'll probably exceed that during the Booth Fire scare," he said.

"Part of the problem this time is that Highway 20 was closed for a number of days and that affected our day-use business, such as golf, lunches and dinners," he said.

He pointed out that the tourist part of their business has not been affected too badly as those with long-term reservations are staying or arriving on schedule.

"People figure that if they are going to vacation at a mountainous spot in the forests, then the potential for fires is something to accept," he said.

One temporary resident, who preferred not to give his name, said that after planning this family vacation for six months they were not about to go home.

"We'll stay here until they burn or kick us out," he said.

Black Butte Ranch, with some 1,200 property owners, is virtually 100 percent occupied during the summer months. Those who do not use their houses themselves rent to tourists.

"We have a 'sold out' condition for almost every weekend from Memorial Day to mid-September and most of the weekdays, too," said one of the reservation clerks at the Ranch.

"Interesting," said Helmly, "but we have 150 golfers scheduled in here for this weekend (August 23/24) and only one canceled. His place was quickly filled with a person on the waiting list."

The Cache Mountain Fire last year, which actually rolled onto the Ranch taking out two homes, cost the Ranch "about $250,000," Helmly said.

The losses were offset by intangible gains.

"One of the benefits that came from that disaster, a thing that can't be measured in money, is that it brought us together as a community," he said.

Helmly maintains a personal outgoing telephone message machine 24 hours a day during critical events, with continuous updates that he receives from the Black Butte Fire and Police Departments as well as the Pacific Northwest Forest Service Incident Command Team #3.

His voice, on the tape, is modulated and many have said he adds a calming presence to what could be an anxious situation. He even ends many of his messages with, "Stay Calm. Stay Cool."

BBR has a "home" TV Channel 3 on which it keeps those in the Ranch, who are on Bend Cable, continuously updated as to what is happening, where problems exist and what to do about them.

Kate Thomas-Keown is the person who keeps the private TV channel updated.

A three-pronged alert system was devised after the Cache Mountain Fire to tell residents pictorially what the conditions are and what to do to prepare for the next stage.

Stage one notifies that a potential problem exists. Stage two is to prepare for an eventual evacuation. And stage three is to evacuate at the sound of the police and fire horns ("High/low, time to go") .

During the week of August 19-26 the marker got to Stage Two with an additional "elevated" notice.

Some residents evacuated voluntarily, but there was no mass exodus.