Crews Tackle Wildfires In Oregon Two Blazes Contained, But Street Canyon Fire Near Town Of Monument Still Out Of Control

A small wildfire near picturesque Paulina Lake cut short some tourists’ sightseeing Monday, while crews contained a 160-acre fire on Bessie Butte and a 300-acre range fire on the Crooked River National Grasslands.

The fire in the Paulina Lake area was first reported at 3:57 p.m. Monday and quickly spread through 60 acres of lodgepole pine 6-1/2 miles east of La Pine, said Phil Rapp, assistant manager at the Central Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville. The cause was unknown.

Sightseers and hikers along the road that leads to Paulina Peak were asked to leave, but there were no other evacuations, Rapp said.

“We also had for a time the road into Paulina Lake roadblocked by the county sheriff,” he said.

The quick attack paid off, he said.

“It looks great. We have reduced some of the staffing off of the fire and we’re beginning mop-up procedures,” Rapp said. “Most likely, full containment probably will occur by noon tomorrow.”

By Monday evening, crews had contained the 160-acre Bessie Butte wildfire southeast of Bend on the Deschutes National Forest.

The fire, reported about 5 p.m. Saturday, burned through ponderosa pine, juniper and brush. It was believed to have been caused by arson.

Firefighters also had contained a lightning-caused range fire that swept across 300 acres of juniper, sage and light grass on the Crooked River National Grasslands near Lake Billy Chinook.

Meanwhile, in Eastern Oregon, a brush fire continued to burn out of control in the rocky canyons outside the little town of Monument.

The Street Canyon fire had burned across 1,000 acres of juniper and sagebrush on a ranch three miles northeast of town.

Crews set backfires, but steep, rough terrain made it tough to link fire lines across the rimrock in the area around the North Fork John Day River, said Oregon Department of Forestry spokeswoman Colleen Conlee.

“It’s burning in steep canyons,” Conlee said. “Rimrocks are causing a lot of control problems.”

Two 20-person crews, five engines and a small air tanker worked on the fire, which started Saturday, apparently from some human cause.

There was no estimate of when it might be contained.