Sisters Country faces down major fire

The Pole Creek Fire six miles southwest of Sisters roared to life on Sunday, September 9, quickly throwing up an ominous plume that was visible across Central Oregon.

The fire, first reported at 6:30 a.m. Sunday morning, was estimated at 4,300 acres as of Monday evening.

Emergency personnel escorted 35 people out of the forest and no one remains unaccounted for.

There were 21 cars parked at the Pole Creek Trailhead when the fire erupted; four were destroyed and several others damaged. Sheriff Larry Blanton reports that all of those vehicles have been retrieved.

Pre-evacuation notices remained in place for Crossroads and homes in the Forest Road 16 area, but no residents have been evacuated. For more information on the status of evacuations call 541-550-4886. Citizens who use a cell phone or a VoIP phone who live in the affected area should go to http://www.deschutes.org/citizen

alerts to register those devices to receive emergency notifications.

A Type II Incident Management Team took over command of the fire Monday night. Brian Watts, Incident Commander for Oregon Interagency Management Team 4 spoke to local folks at a public meeting Monday evening at Sisters Elementary School. He assured the packed house that firefighters were going to go all-out on tackling the blaze.

"This is a full suppression incident," he said. "We are attempting to put this thing out."

Suppression efforts will be complicated by limited resources.

"Resources are at a premium across the nation," Watts said, noting that there are major fires underway in Montana and Idaho. "We are competing for the resources available to help us."

Watts said firefighters will attack the fire directly even in the Three Sisters Wilderness - subject to evaluations of firefighter safety. The terrain is full of dead-and-down material and snags that can pose a serious threat to life and limb.

Much of the area between the fire and Crossroads has seen fire treatment, according to Sisters Ranger District fire management officer David Robinson, who commanded the initial attack on the fire. That should make the fire lie down should it move in that direction.

"Fire behavior is going to drop down drastically," he said.

The fire grew explosively on Sunday, moving through thick stands of timber with a heavy load of dry, dead material. Hikers in the area reported watching trees "explode" as the fire hit them. Mass torching of stands sent up thick, black smoke.

Stiff winds expected for Monday were not as big a problem as anticipated and the fire grew at a much slower rate.

Weather forecasts call for warmer temperatures and lighter winds through the week. Fire officials note that the fire is "fuel-driven," which means it will spread as long as it can reach the tinder-dry fuel in the area. This means the fire is likely to burn for a considerable time.

People in Sisters Country, wary after a decade of major fires that have forced multiple evacuations, remain watchful.

Residents of Crossroads moved horses out of the subdivision Sunday afternoon.

Crossroads resident Shorty Haugen was in Madras at an equestrian event and saw the pillar of smoke.

"I got a call from Alan (her husband) and he said, 'There's a big fire!'" she said.

She moved four horses to her brother's property in Tumalo and another to another safe place.

Annie Ogan, who also lives in Crossroads, said that the homeowners association has plans in place for notifying livestock owners of a fire threat and everybody got their animals out smoothly. The broader Sisters equestrian community pitched in to help.

Ogan reported that Cappy Lewis and Shawn Biggers, who live east of Sisters, showed up at Crossroads with horse trailers and helped people get their animals moved.

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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