Lightning sets Black Butte ablaze

Here we go again.

That was the sentiment repeatedly expressed as lighting rolled across the Sisters Country Sunday night, sparking a blaze on the southeast slope of Black Butte that turned into an eerie halo of fire in the early hours of Monday morning.

By daylight, the blaze had grown to 100 acres and Travis Moyer's Type 3 incident response team was heading out to battle the blaze in the face of gusty winds.

Significant air resources were available and were deployed to hammer the fire from the air. Tankers made repeated runs dropping scarlet clouds of retardant while helicopters dipped water from Phalarope Lake at Black Butte Ranch and dumped it on the advancing blaze.

By late afternoon on Monday, the Black Butte II Fire was estimated to be 350 acres and was 10 percent contained.

The Black Butte Lookout Tower was evacuated, though not immediately threatened, and Indian Ford Campground was also evacuated due to safety concerns due to heavy emergency vehicle traffic in the area.

A Type 2 emergency management team under Mark Rapp of Sisters took command of the fire on Tuesday, setting up a command post at Allingham Guard Station located two miles north of Camp Sherman.

Firefighters continued reinforcing retardant lines, constructing hand lines, and tying in with existing roads to utilize as containment lines overnight on Monday, battling to contain a series of spot fires created as the wind blew embers in front of the main body of the blaze.

One of those grew to 42 acres, according to Janice Madden of Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville. She said firefighters were able to completely contain those spot fires overnight on Monday.

No private land was threatened by the blaze, which moved in a generally northeasterly direction, away from Black Butte Ranch.

As of Tuesday morning, the fire was being engaged by a significant force: a strike team of five engines, a strike team leader and a water tender. Assigned resources on scene included four air tankers, seven 20-person hand crews (four hotshot crews, two contract crews and a 20-person hand crew), five helicopters, one dozer, five engines, three water tenders and miscellaneous overhead for a total of 199 personnel.

Madden noted that the air tankers will be used as available.

"The thing about air tankers is, they're a national resource," she said.

As long as there are no other high priority fires, the tankers will remain available, but it is possible that one or more could be diverted if other high-priority fires break out.

The weather was expected to remain relatively cool through mid-week, giving firefighters an opportunity to make good progress on the blaze - always subject to topography and wind.

While a warning trend is expected for next weekend, temperatures will still be relatively mild.

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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