Lightning sparks yet more fires across Sisters area

A lightning fire flared near Edgington Road on Monday. photo by MacGregor Anderson Just as firefighters were mopping up 31 fires sparked by last week's thunderstorms, another powerful cell rolled over Sisters, bringing yet more thunder and lightning.

Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch reported numerous fires scattered around the Sisters area. Blazes erupted south of Sisters on Crown Pacific land and at least one fire flared up near Edgington Road. The Squawback Ridge area northeast of Black Butte again saw numerous strikes and fires and there were fires reported in the Metolius River Corridor.

"All the fires are contained at this time," a dispatcher reported.

Firefighters will keep a wary eye out over the next few days as warm temperatures create perfect conditions for hold-over "sleepers" to erupt.

"We will be patrolling daily from the air and all our lookouts are on extended hours," the dispatcher reported. "Early detection is how we're going to keep these small."

There were a total of 112 fires from the recent series of thunderstorms.