Firefighters Work Overnight on Fire South of Bend

Deschutes County Oregon -- 8/24/2011 --

Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center
4550 SW Airport Way
Prineville, OR 97754
Contact: Media Desk, 541/416-6811
http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/fire

Firefighters worked overnight on a new fire reported yesterday by Lava Butte Lookout. Incident #440 is located approximately 3 miles south of Bend in a 70-acre island (originally reported as a 40-acre island) of ponderosa pine completely surrounded by lava. The cause is under investigation; however, the cause is believed to be human as no lighting has been reported in this area recently.

This island is in a remote, walk-in area east of the Deschutes River that has not burned in many decades and has accumulated a large amount of downed woody debris and deep duff. Due to this heavy layer of wood and pine needle debris, crews focused their suppression efforts on the sides of the fire as it approached the edge of the lava field. The fire was originally backing through the area, when an evening wind shift pushed the fire toward the south end of the island, eventually burning about 60 acres.

The plan for today is to clean up the remaining 10 acres that haven’t burned and to continue to mop up the edge of the fire where it approached the lava flow. A Type III helicopter will be available today to provide bucket drops of water to help with mop-up efforts.

Smoke from this fire is likely to be visible from Bend, Highway 97 and recreation sites in the area for several days.

Crews will also continue to patrol and mop up the Elk Lake Fire that burned four miles west of Madras looking for any remaining hotspots. The fire was contained yesterday at 9 p.m. and the State Fire Marshall Task Force turned the fire back over to Jefferson County Rural Fire District #1.

Additional firefighters will continue to work on the Free Bridge II fire burning along River Mile 6 of the Lower Deschutes River. This 1,500-acre fire was 80 percent contained last night and only grew by three acres yesterday. All campgrounds along the Lower Deschutes River in this area remain open.

Firefighters are also preparing for a lightning storm expected to pass through Central Oregon today. The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning for thunderstorms with abundant lightning over parts of Central Oregon through this evening. Firefighters will be pre-positioned around the area to respond to any new starts from this storm, and lookouts and reconnaissance planes will be up when the storms allow, watching for strikes and new fires.