A multi-day prescribed burn in Deschutes County jumped containment lines on Thursday, prompting fire agencies to declare a wildfire.
The Pine Mountain Fire as of Thursday at 4 p.m 14 miles southeast of Bend, Ore.
Image courtesy of Oregon Hazards Lab Pine Mountain Camera https://alertwest.live/cam-console/11130
The fire on Pine Mountain, about 14 miles southeast of Bend, grew to 2,483 acres by Friday morning with the perimeter listed as 15% contained. The fire was mostly burning on federal land, as well as some private land.
The wildfire declaration should help the U.S. Forest Service and local fire agencies tap into additional resources — like equipment and extra hands — as they dig containment lines around the fire’s perimeter.
The high-desert area is mostly grassland and ponderosa pine.
While smoke may be visible from Bend, the fire didn’t appear to have a major impact on air quality as of Friday morning. Federal monitors ranked the city’s air as “good” as of 9 a.m., with air pollutants measuring at 18 out of a scale of 500.
That morning, the smoked appeared to be petering out, based on camera footage from the Oregon Hazards Lab’s wildfire camera networks.
The Pine Mountain Fire as of Friday around 9:40 a.m. 14 miles southeast of Bend, Ore.
Image courtesy of the Oregon Hazards Lab Pine Mountain Camera https://alertwest.live/cam-console/11130
On Tuesday, the U.S. Forest Service announced it was planning a multi-day prescribed burn to cull flammable brush and small trees on about 2,000 acres on Pine Mountain. The burn was scheduled to last until Friday.
On Thursday morning, the Forest Service announced it was canceling the burn “due to unfavorable conditions.” The agency declared the burn had turned into a wildfire that afternoon, after multiple spot fires appeared outside of the burn’s boundaries.
“We experienced conditions that were unexpected,” said Jaimie Olle, Central Oregon Fire Management Service spokesperson.
Olle said fire officials were still investigating the fire and how weather may have played a role in its spread.
Prescribed fires are intended to cull flammable brush and trees to prevent larger fires later on. But they need the exact right kind of weather, otherwise they can spread and become a wildfire.
