An active weekend for local firefighters

Extreme heat and dangerous fire conditions made for an active weekend for local medics and firefighters.

Medics retrieved a hiker who had fallen ill, and firefighters knocked down a blaze in sagebrush.

On Saturday, June 27, at about 12:30 p.m. firefighters from Cloverdale Fire District were dispatched along with Sisters-Camp Sherman medics to a report of a lost hiker with a medical problem in the area of Fryrear Road and Cascade Estates Drive.

The caller reported that a man had gone for a hike that morning at about 7:30 a.m. and had not returned. As firefighters responded to the area, a neighbor reported that he had found the victim, who was incoherent, but the neighbor was not able to provide a specific location for the victim.

As resources from the two fire departments, Deschutes County Sheriff's Office, and the U.S. Forest Service began to assemble, Cloverdale Fire District Lt. Clint Weaver made phone contact with the neighbor and hiked into the roadless area following the neighbor's directions. After hiking and marking trail for approximately a half-mile in the 100-degree heat, Weaver found the victim partially shaded by a small bush.

Firefighters and sheriff's deputies followed Lt. Weaver's trail and arrived to assist in getting the patient out of the rough, rocky country, which was only accessible by off-road vehicles.

The patient was hauled out of the backcountry on foot and on an ATV to a waiting LifeFlight helicopter which transported him to St. Charles Medical Center in Bend.

On Sunday, June 28, at about 1:20 p.m., firefighters were again called out in the extreme heat, this time to a brush fire on Jericho Road. Cloverdale firefighters arrived to find approximately a quarter-acre of brush on fire in a large area of sagebrush. Cloverdale Fire District Captain Michael Valoppi credited the lack of wind and a forceful and fast response from area firefighters for helping to keep this fire small and away from homes in the area.

Cloverdale firefighters were assisted by the U.S. Forest Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, and the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office. The cause of this fire was determined to be spontaneous combustion of organic products used by a homeowner for landscaping.

Firefighters were on this scene for approximately one hour.