Sheep Springs Fire Smoke Still Visible As Crews Continue Mop Up

Crews Continue Mop Up Operations on the Sheep Springs Fire While Maintaining Firefighter Safety

 

As crews continue mop up operations on the Sheep Springs Fire, interior pockets of vegetation will burn creating smoke in the area. Yesterday, final burnout operations were successful at completing blackened line around the perimeter. The entire fire size is approximately 700 acres with sections of the interior currently unburned. As fire progresses into these unburned sections, pockets of vegetation will continue to burn.

Over the next few days, the objective is to secure the containment lines while maintaining firefighter safety. Crews are extinguishing fire and hot spots along the perimeter and are being attentive to overhead hazards such as snags. Fire officials are managing the Sheep Springs Fire for full suppression using existing roads to create containment lines.

There are currently no closures in effect for the Sheep Springs Fire. There will be increased fire traffic in the Metolius Basin area and around the town of Sisters. Access to roads around the fire perimeter may be limited this weekend as crews continue to work in the area.

The Sheep Springs Fire, burning in an area previously burned by the B & B Fire in 2003, is located in an area predominantly covered in snags, which are often structurally weakened and pose a serious hazard for fire personnel. Due to the extremely hazardous nature of the incident’s location, Deschutes National Forest leadership and fire officials are implementing tactics that, most importantly, provide for firefighter and public safety.

A local Type 3 Incident Management Team took command of the fire on Tuesday morning. The fire, a result of two lightning-struck trees, is burning approximately 20 miles north of Sisters in the Brush Creek drainage less than a mile northeast of Sheep Springs Campground and roughly a half mile west of Forest Road 12.