Akawana Fire Update, June 10, 7:30 a.m.

Akawana Fire Update, June 9, 2pm

The fire is looking favorable as we enter the witching hour and increased afternoon winds. There has been substantial cloud cover and a trace of precipitation over the fire in the last few hours. A southwest wind has been testing the north-northeast corner of the fire, where a concerted effort with dozers and hand crews have focused their efforts. Fire behavior has been described as creeping, but still pushing. We will have more information later this evening after our night shift briefing around 7pm. 

Tom Fields

PIO

ODF Team 3

Central Oregon Lightning Maps, June 8

These two maps represent lightning strikes (in blue) in the past 72 hours (as of 12pm, June 8, 2016)

Update on Akawana Fire, June 8, 2016 - 12pm

UPDATE:

News Release

Oregon Department of Forestry Central District Office

News Contact: Erik Pronold

Cell#: 541-588-2232

Email: epronold@gmail.com

FOR IMMDEDIATE RELEASE

Wednesday June 8, 2016

Akawana Fire Triggers Level 2 Evacuation Notice for Three Rivers

Sisters, OR – Oregon Department of Forestry Central Oregon District is responding to a several hundred acre fire on Akawa Butte 13 miles north of Sisters.  The Three Rivers Subdivision is on a level 2 evacuation notice.  Level 2 indicates that residents should be set for a potential evacuation.  Residents must be prepared to leave at a moments notice.

The lightning caused fire was reported on Tuesday June 7^th at 1400 hours.  The 5% contained fire is currently burning on private forest land.  Heavy dead and down fuel along with 15 to 20 mile per hour winds are causing torching and spotting of the fire.  The winds have been picking up as the day has progressed.  Two fire suppression handcrews, three fire engines, and three bulldozers are working aggressively on direct fire line with the aid of a variety of aerial support helicopters and planes. 

ODF Declares Fire Season in Central Oregon District

Fire Season 2016 will begin Friday June 3rd at 12:01 am for ODF’s Central Oregon District (COD).  Warm spring temperatures have quickly melted the winter snowpack and dried wildland fuels.  District fire managers have monitored fuel indices over the last few weeks to determine fire danger and the risk of fire spread.  Long term weather forecasts indicate a pattern of above normal temperatures with minimal possibility of precipitation, further drying fuels.

June 28, 2015—Sugarloaf Fire in Grant County

With implementation of fire season, burn permits issued earlier this spring may not be valid, check with your local ODF office before burning.  Industrial slash and debris burning will no longer be allowed on ODF protected lands.  Landowners are encouraged to check burn piles/areas which were burned earlier this spring or late last fall for any hold-over heat.  In addition to these restrictions, logging and other industrial operations must meet requirements for fire prevention, such as fire tools, water supply, and watchman service when those operations are occurring on lands protected by ODF.  Contact your local stewardship forester for more information.

Recreationists are asked to put fire prevention into practice, be deliberate with your actions.  Make sure campfires are DEAD OUT!  Never leave a fire unattended.  Clear the area around your campfire, removing flammable material outside the campfire.  Fully extinguish cigarettes and properly dispose of them.  The public is also reminded that sky lanterns and the use of tracer ammunition or exploding targets is illegal within the District during fire season. 

COD had sixteen more human caused fires in the 2015 Fire Season than the ten year average (2005-2014), which accounted for 60% of the total fire starts in the District for 2015.  “We can’t predict when and how many lightning fires we will get, but we can reduce the number of human starts by being smart and deliberate in our actions,” says Central Oregon District Forester, Mike Shaw.  For additional information on ODF’s Central Oregon District, including contact information and unit offices, please visit www.ODFcentraloregon.com.

Prescribed Burns Planned Outside of Sisters

Sisters– Fuels specialists on the Sisters Ranger District plan to ignite two prescribed burns outside of Sisters beginning as early as Wednesday.

If conditions remain favorable, 83 acres within the SAFR NE Unit boundary will be ignited on Wednesday. These units are 2 miles west of Sisters on the north side of Highway 242, immediately west of Tollgate Subdivision. A second prescribed burn is planned 2 miles west of Camp Sherman for Thursday. Fuels specialists are looking to ignite 143 acres within the Wildland Urban Interface.

These burns are designed to decrease hazardous fuels accumulations within the Wildland Urban Interface adjacent to Tollgate Subdivision, Camp Sherman and Sisters.  The project will also reintroduce fire into a fire adapted ecosystem, increasing the resiliency of the forest.

Residences and businesses near these burn areas are advised to keep their windows and doors closed during the night hours to minimize any potential smoke impacts. While there are no road closures anticipated with either burn, drivers may experience smoke impacts on nearby roads.  If smoke drifts onto roads, motorists should slow down, turn on headlights, and proceed with caution.

Fuels specialists will follow policies outlined in the Oregon Department of Forestry smoke management plan, which governs prescribed fires (including pile burning), and attempts to minimize impacts to visibility and public health.

Keep up with prescribed burns in Central Oregon by visiting this live map: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/webmaps/deschutes/cofms-rxfire/

Several Prescribed Burns Scheduled This Weekend

Ignitions planned south and west of Bend and outside Sisters

BEND– If weather conditions remain favorable, the Deschutes National Forest has several prescribed burns planned for the weekend.

Beginning on Saturday, burning will take place in the Metolius Basin outside Sisters, and south of Bend, one mile west of Horse Butte. On Sunday, fuels specialists will be igniting a 130 acre burn west of Bend near the new Cascade Lakes Welcome Station on Cascade Lakes Highway and a small burn outside of Sisters.

The first burn of the weekend will take place on Saturday, south of Bend. This 240 acre burn unit is near a prescribed fire that was completed on Thursday. Both burns are intended to treat hazardous fuels around the community and lessen the impacts of large scale wildfire events.

Also on Saturday is the 212 acre burn outside Sisters, two miles west of Camp Sherman. This burn is designed to decrease hazardous fuels accumulations within the Wildland Urban Interface adjacent to Camp Sherman and surrounding communities by reintroducing fire back into the ponderosa pine ecosystem.  

Burning in the West Bend Project area will likely begin late Sunday morning. Approximately one and a half miles of the COD trail from junction 20 to 21 will be closed during burning operations and will open again when forest officials feel the area is safe.  If there are periods of heavy smoke, flaggers will be in place on Cascade Lakes Highway to safely guide traffic to the other side of the fire area. The winds forecasted for the burn area are expected to push smoke up and over Bend, which will limit impacts to the community. However smoke will be highly visible from the Bend and the surrounding areas.

The final burn of the weekend will be ignited Sunday, mid-morning if conditions remain favorable, approximately six miles west of Sisters near Highway 242. As with other burns near communities, the purpose of this burn is to decrease hazardous fuel accumulations and reintroduce fire back into the ponderosa pine ecosystem.

Fuels specialists will follow policies outlined in the Oregon Department of Forestry smoke management plan, which governs prescribed fires (including pile burning), and attempts to minimize impacts to visibility and public health.

Keep up with prescribed burns in Central Oregon by visiting this live map: http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/webmaps/deschutes/cofms-rxfire/