Planned fire goes out of control

A Forest Service prescribed burn in the Metolius Research Natural Area about three miles north of Camp Sherman escaped last Thursday and became a wildfire.

The blaze roared up Green Ridge, threatening the lookout tower on top of the ridge, as firefighters attacked a blaze that was driven by gusty winds.

While no structures were threatened, residents of Camp Sherman and the greater Sisters area were angry that the Forest Service would ignite a fire in dry fall conditions with winds in the forecast. Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony expressed concern and apologies for the incident and said that a team will investigate what went wrong (see related story, page 8).

Incident Commander Kenneth Paul's ORCA Type 2 team took over fire operations on the Wizard Fire on Monday.

"The change from a Type 3 team to a Type 2 is due to the number of firefighters associated with the incident, the size of the fire camp, and support issues, not because of fire operations" said District Ranger Bill Anthony. "The Central Oregon Type 3 Team of John Wells, Incident Commander, did a great job on managing the fire".

The Type 2 team is gathered from Oregon and California. So far they have spent approximately 155 days fighting fire this year. On Monday morning the team was in good spirits, eager to get after the fire and put it down as quickly as possible.

There are 449 personnel fighting the fire, aided by four helicopters and other firefighting aircraft.

The Wizard Fire remains on the east side of Forest Road 14. Fire crews successfully extinguished a number of spot fires that had started on the west side of the road, keeping the fire away from campgrounds, the Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery, private lands, and the Metolius River.

Fire crews are challenged by the steep terrain on Green Ridge, limited road access to some portions of the fire, and dry and windy conditions.

An Area Closure has been established along Forest Roads 1419, 1120, and 11, including trails near the Metolius River downstream of Canyon Creek. Wizard Falls Fish Hatchery, as well as Allen Springs, Pioneer Ford, and Lower Bridge campgrounds are closed. Fire and law enforcement officials are requesting that people stay away from the area at this time to allow fire personnel safe access in to the fire.

The Nugget will continue to post updates on progress on the fire at http://www.nuggetnews.com. Information is also available at http://www.inciweb.org.

Bruce Merrell contributed to this report.