Lightning storms spark blazes

Thunder crashed and bolts of lightning spiked the sky last Sunday evening as a powerful thunderstorm rolled up the spine of the Cascade Range. Thousands of lightning strikes pummeled the landscape and 40 to 50 fires broke out.

The largest of these was the Summit Springs Fire, which reached 1,200 acres in the "Little Akawa Butte" area (formerly Little Squawback) near Tai Flat (formerly Squaw Flat) some nine miles northeast of Sisters.

The fires grew with startling speed Sunday night. One witness said the Summit Springs Fire was "like a thermonuclear blast." The blaze reddened the sky for miles around, mushrooming from a single torched tree into a thousand-acre blaze before the eyes of local residents and fire officials.

The Oregon Department of Forestry reported on Tuesday morning that fire crews had completely lined the fire. They were to continue working on reinforcing those lines through Tuesday.

A Type 2 team was mobilized to take over management of the fire, headquartered at Sisters Middle School. All the fires north of Sisters were brought under the team's jurisdiction and designated the Summit Springs Complex.

That included a 40-acre fire on Green Ridge north of Black Butte. That fire was burning about 2.5 miles downstream and up on the ridge from the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery. The terrain is steep and inaccessible and helicopters were mobilized for water drops on Tuesday.

A small fire on the west slope of Black Butte was expected to grow no larger than a half-acre.

Firefighters continued to chase reports of lightning-sparked fires. Weather forecasts called for rain by midweek, which was expected to help quell the fires.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

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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