Local crews fight Warm Springs fires

Firefighters and equipment from the Sisters area were called up last week to assist in fire control efforts on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation.

The Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District dispatched a water tender and two people to assist on the 1,200-acre Rattlesnake Fire for one long shift.

The Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District sent a task force leader and staff car along with an interface engine for the same fire and time period. Rounding out aid from the local structural fire agencies was one interface engine and four personnel from the Black Butte Rural Fire Protection District.

The Sisters office of the Oregon Department of Forestry sent one engine and a five-person hand crew also to the Rattlesnake Fire. The Sisters Ranger District also dispatched personnel as part of the total Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management contribution to the fire control resources.

Sending personnel and equipment out of the immediate Sisters area did not significantly reduce the firefighting resources available here for taking initial attack on local fires.

By the end of the weekend, three of the Warm Springs fires were still not contained or controlled. The 4,150-acre Wolfe Point fire located between Warm Springs and Kah-Nee-Ta Resort was contained.

Crews were still working to contain the 2,500-acre Rattlesnake Fire east of Kah-Nee-Ta, the 1,200-acre Schoolie Rim Fire northwest of Kah-Nee-Ta, and the 400-acre Shitike Creek Fire southwest of Warm Springs.