News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Virtually everyone who lives in or visits the Sisters country cherishes good times at Suttle Lake.
As the powerful Booth Fire bore down on the Suttle Lake area, the local community held its breath, fearing the worst.
People worried about the youth camp facilities that dot the shore and they feared that this beautiful spot would be horribly scarred by a voracious fire.
The worst of those fears did not come true, thanks to a dedicated firefighting effort by firefighters from all over Oregon.
"We were so fortunate," said Ronda Sneva, who owns Suttle Lake Resort. "We have no damage to the forest or the buildings."
Sneva credited structural task forces from Bend, Sisters, Benton County, Albany and Sweet Home with saving not only her property but all of the lake area. She also noted that Sisters Ranger District personnel, Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies, Oregon State Police and Oregon Department of Transportation personnel were all very helpful to her and other Suttle Lake facility owners and operators throughout the crisis.
A firestorm swept along the ridge south of Suttle Lake on Thursday morning, August 21, charring everything in its path.
The wind-driven firestorm threw out spot fires that threatened youth camps, campgrounds and the Suttle Lake Resort. The task forces specializing in structure protection saved all the buildings in the area -- and preserved much of the beauty of Suttle and Blue lakes.
Looking at a map of a fire area can often lead people to think everything inside the thick red lines is burned. But wildland fires burn in a "mosaic" pattern -- some areas are devastated by fire storms while others are left virtually untouched.
In more open forest, fire will creep along the ground, burning underbrush and leaving trees -- especially older, larger ones -- unharmed.
Spot fires will burn a patch of ground and a few trees while the surrounding woods are untouched.
While the ridge to the south is charred into an eerie, nuclear-holocaust landscape (see photo opposite page), the shores of Suttle Lake and the Blue Lake caldera are only burned in spots. About 20 percent of those areas were hit with fire, leaving most of the big trees and much of the greenery unharmed.
"We kept a green belt all along the edge here," said Captain Gary Lovegren of the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District as he drove along Suttle Lake Road near Camp Davidson at the far western end of Suttle Lake.
Lovegren was a task force leader on Thursday morning when the Booth Fire blew up and roared along the ridge above the recreation area.
Five task forces from Central Oregon fire departments and task forces from Polk and Marion counties fought the fire as it threatened the camps and campgrounds that surround the lakes.
"Everybody up here worked really hard," Lovegren said. "They were awesome."
The Division Leader during Thursday's battle was Brett Smith of the Black Butte Ranch Fire Department.
There was a 30-minute period of intense combat as the fire marched along the ridge.
The powerful blaze completely consumed large trees, leaving them nothing but burnt, blackened sticks.
Firefighters have a hard time exactly describing the incredible sound.
"It's just a rolling roar," Lovegren said. "It's like a jet engine."
After the initial onslaught, firefighters fought all day long against the spot fires that blossomed where the fire threw burning embers.
It was a very close call.
Sneva said that around 2 p.m. on Thursday, a task force member contacted her with bad news: the fire was so intense that they might have to pull out; the resort might not be saved.
Yet they fought on and, Sneva said, "at 6 p.m. they were calling saying they were cooking salmon in the (resort restaurant) kitchen."
Lovegren's own home near Blue Lake was threatened by the roaring blaze and his property upslope was devastated. The house and the area immediately around it were saved. Fire burned along the southern shoreline of Suttle Lake to Highway 20, but the lake-edge Suttle Lake Resort escaped harm.
Fire burned very close to new cabins at nearby Camp Tamarack, but firefighters saved them. Camp Caldera and the Weiden family home on the shores of Blue Lake got a close call, but they, too, were spared.
The area inside the Blue Lake caldera itself, like the shores of Suttle Lake, remains green, with a few spot fires among the trees. The slopes above the southern caldera rim were ravaged.
For all the damage done and the close call among the camps and campgrounds, the areas around the lakes are surprisingly undamaged.
Campers and local residents who love the area will be relieved to return to their favorite spots and find them roughed up by fire but still beautiful.
"There's still some beauty left," Lovegren said.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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