Authorities investigate fire near Sisters

U.S. Forest Service investigators are probing the cause of a four-acre fire that ignited on Tuesday afternoon, June 1, near a campground west of Sisters.

According to Incident Commander Michelle Renfro of the Sisters Ranger District, the driver of a Forest Service patrol engine spotted smoke and called the fire in at about 2:30 p.m.

The fire was near Cold Springs Campground off Highway 242.

"It wasn't in the campground," Renfro said. "It was in a dispersed site east of the campground and east of Cold Springs Road."

While the fire is still under investigation, Renfro indicated that it was likely started by a camp fire or warming fire that was not completely out.

Four Forest Service engines responded to the blaze, along with two Oregon Department of Forestry engines, a water tender from the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District (RFPD) and firefighters from the RFPD and the ranger district.

They knocked the blaze down by 5:35 p.m., Renfro said.

The fire was not especially severe.

"It didn't do too bad," Renfro said, noting that only a couple of small ponderosa pines "torched out."

"It was mostly ground fire," Renfro said, "a little underburn."

Despite recent rains, Renfro said conditions in the woods are fairly dry.

"Around here it doesn't take much to dry out," she said.

Renfro said patrols mopped up and monitored the site for two days after the fire.