Oregon Wildfire Destroys Homes, Forces Evacuations

Nineteen homes burned to the ground Saturday when a wildfire swept through a residential area in the sagebrush southeast of Bend.

Three trailers also were destroyed and five more homes were damaged. About 450 residents forced from their homes checked in with the Red Cross shelter at Bend High School. No injuries were reported.

Sparked by lightning Friday night, flames jumped a fire line Saturday morning and raced across 8,000 acres. By early evening, the fire had shifted away from Bend towards the east and southeast, fire spokesman Greg McClarren said.

A giant plume of smoke rose above the central Oregon town as firefighters from surrounding communities raced to the scene.

The state fire marshal’s office invoked the Conflagration Act, clearing the way for aid to be sent from across the state. Deschutes County declared an emergency and asked for National Guard troops to assist police.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency agreed Saturday night to pay for 70 percent of the state’s costs above $1.149 million. Damage was estimated at $1.5 million, and was expected to grow.

Joy Currie and her family already had begun packing when they were told to evacuate about 10:30 a.m. Saturday.

“You’re nervous because you don’t know when you go back whether your home’s going to be there. So you just have to leave and hope for the best,” said Currie, who was at the high school emergency shelter set up by the Red Cross.

More Oregon homes have burned in wildfires this summer than in any fire season in recent memory. At least 40 homes have been destroyed by fires that have swept across more than 400,000 acres of Oregon land.

The Skeleton Fire mimicked the Awbrey Butte fire of August 1990, when 22 homes were destroyed west of Bend in a fire that cost $14 million to fight.

Some 500 homes in the Sundance and Conestoga Hills subdivisions were evacuated Saturday morning.