Month: July 2014

Cascade Natural Gas Company has begun work on Phase III of the Bend Gas Line Replacement Project. For the next few weeks, pipeline replacement crews will be working on SE Second Street, between Scott and Wilson. Pipeline crews have completed installing a 2″ steel gas main on SE Scott St and began installing another 2″

A week after thunderstorms ignited numerous wildfires around the area, Marks Creek residents east of Prineville got news they they can go home after four days — but some Warm Springs Indian Reservation residents were told to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. Another sign of good news later in the day, on

The Central Oregon District of the Oregon Department of Forestry, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and the Central Oregon Fire Management Service said late Sunday they have opened a Multi-Agency Coordination Center in Prineville in response to the numerous wildfires currently burning in the area. The Coordination Center will focus its attention on the

Red Cross volunteers from around the region — Salem, Bend, Portland and southwest Washington — are gathered in central Oregon to assist communities affected by the swath of wildfires across the region and state. Teams have been conducting outreach at grocery stores, community centers, parks and other areas, armed with wildfire preparedness information including coloring

A fast-moving southeast Bend duplex fire Saturday afternoon that spread to neighboring brush and trees, threatening nearby homes and prompting evacuations, was traced to a tenant’s lit cigarette disposed of in a plastic can on the back deck, investigators said. Bend crews responded around 12:35 p.m. to the reported structure fire at 1631 and 1633

At 6,300 acres, the Bridge 99 Fire has put residents of one area on high alert with the flames heading north — and thinking back to 2002, when 18 homes in their subdivision were destroyed by wildfire. Residents of the Three Rivers subdivision and other neighborhoods near Lake Billy Chinook were preparing for the worst-case

Firefighters have made progress containing the Shaniko Butte Fire, so fire officials said late Saturday they made the decision to re-open the Lower Deschutes River beginning 6 a.m. on Sunday. Although the area will be open to day and overnight use, officials say rafters should use caution. Helicopters will still be using the river for

The Ochoco National Forest late Saturday issued a new, wider area closure that encompasses not just areas south of the Bailey Butte Fire but also areas around a group of fires known as the Ochoco Complex. The closure encompasses all National Forest System lands from Highway 26 on the west to Forest Road 12 on

Current as of Saturday, July 19, 2014 10:13:33 PM Incident Type Wildfire Cause Lightning Date of Origin Sunday July 13th, 2014 approx. 08:45 PM Location 15 miles north of Warm Springs Incident Commander Ross Williams Ic, Carl West Deputy Ic, Shawn Sheldon Ic-t Total Personnel 622 Size 42,000 Acres Percent of Perimeter Contained 50% Percent

Blue skies in Sisters but the huge smoke plumes on the horizon tell a different story. The Bridge 99 and Bear Butte 2 Fires tripled in size overnight. “We weren’t expecting it to grow this much,” said Eric Knerr, deputy incident commander who was a the incident command center at Sisters Middle School. Around 6

A growing army of over 1,200 firefighters kept at it Saturday, battling the fast-growing Buzzard Complex group of fires that have now raced across nearly 369,000 acres of rangeland this week, amid word that livestock have died from the fast-moving flames. The fire’s growth has included burnout operations to stop the advancing flames, one of

The firefighting army tackling the 27,000-acre Shaniko Butte Fire grew to over 560 Friday and the containment figure also doubled, to 20 percent. They reported progress Saturday on the north end and along the river, but still have concern the blaze would soon jump the Deschutes River and move farther east. Four Oregon National Guard

A fire-weary week drew to a close Friday with little rest, watery eyes and lots of hard work ahead to contain numerous wildfires burning around the High Desert, including a group of four fires battled as a new complex around Big Summit Prairie on the Ochoco National Forest east of Prineville. Residents around Central Oregon

Wildfires sent thick smoke streaming across northern areas of the High Desert Friday, sending DEQ air pollution readings soaring to “hazardous” levels in Madras and “very unhealthy” in Prineville late in the day. Here’s a DEQ release issued earlier in the day People in Deschutes, Jefferson, Crook, Wheeler, Grant and Harney counties should protect themselves

It was an historic battle for Central Oregon. The 2003 B&B Complex Fire would test the limits of firefighters and the. In August of that year, the Bear Butte and Booth fires, both sparked by lightning, started within hours of one another. The two fires would eventually merge in the central Cascades to become the

The federal Bureau of Land Management announced Friday that it is making sage grouse habitat protection a high natural resource priority, focusing its hazardous fuels program on areas where fire management for sage-grouse habitat protection is most critical. The BLM said it was doing so “as an integral part of its collaborative efforts with the

The FORCE Lab, the biomechanics laboratory led by Oregon State University – Cascades and private partners, is seeking subjects for two research studies examining how knee braces effect individuals with knee joint pain. The first study focuses on patellofemoral (anterior knee) pain and requires participants between the ages of 18 and 40 who currently experience

If you haven’t registered any of your vegetables or flowers for the Deschutes County Fair, there’s still time to register them in person on July 29. Although the Deschutes County Fair Association encourages early entries of most exhibits, the land products and floral departments do not require pre-registration. That means if the broccoli, zucchini or

A witness to a bike theft in NE Bend Wednesday afternoon chased the suspect while police were called, leading to a 26-year-old Bend man’s capture by police K-9 “Haras” and arrest on charges in a half-dozen other recent bike and car thefts, criminal mischief and shoplifting cases, officers said. Police were dispatched around 4:30 p.m.

The Waterman Complex fire was at 35 percent containment among the three blazes, fire officials said late Thursday. The fire has burned over 6,000 acres and there are nearly 700 people battling it. But heat, wind, and flames aren’t the only things causing headaches at the Waterman Complex Fire. Communication troubles could make matters worse.