Officials: Abandoned campfire started 2,000-acre Tepee Fire

(Update: Fire estimated at 2,000 acres; abandoned campfire cause; spot fire stopped)

The Tepee Fire near Horse Ridge southeast of Bend, which broke out Friday, grew to an estimated 2,000 acres by Saturday evening and was still zero percent contained. Officials said it was started by an abandoned campfire and declared a temporary area closure around the blaze, which earlier prompted evacuation notices.

Fire officials said it appeared people were having a party and left their campfire behind. Anyone with information that could help in the investigation was asked to contact the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office.

Even though it’s getting a bit cooler, officials said caution is still needed in the very dry conditions.

“We still are in fire restrictions because, we are very hot and dry,” Fire Information Officer Lisa Clark said. “Days are hot, even though the nights are cool. We haven’t had precipitation in a long time so we’re definitely looking at people to still use caution and only have campfires where and when you’re allowed.”

Gusty winds caused the fire to spot outside fire lines Saturday, and bulldozers and single-engine air tankers (SEAT planes) quickly responded, holding the spot fire to about 50 acres.

Crews also finished putting a line around the fire with bulldozers, crews and retardant drops. They’ll work through the night and Sunday to hold and improve the line and continue mopping up.

It was one of two major blazes burning in the region, the other being the 400-acre Willow Fire northwest of Madras. But the region does have one advantage, in terms of air resources.

“One of the benefits to having a fire in Central Oregon is we’re really close to the Redmond Air Center, so we get a very fast load and return from our heavy tankers as well as our single-engine air tankers,” Clark said. “We’ve been getting great response from them on both of the fires.”

For public safety, the Deschutes National Forest’s Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District issued a temporary area closure around the fire, which was reported late Friday morning about 10 miles southeast of Bend.

The district temporarily closed all trails and roads in the northwest section of the East Fort Rock OHV Trail System.

The closure begins on Forest Road 18 at the junction of 1820 and continues south to 1825. The southern boundary of the closure includes Forest Roads 1830 and 1835 to its junction with Forest Road 25.

Forest Roads 25 and 23 remain open but represent the eastern perimeter of the closure area and public lands west of those open roads cannot safely be accessed by the public, officials said.

The northern perimeter of the area closure is Forest Road 18 to Forest Road 2015, which remains closed.

“Public lands managed by the Prineville District Bureau of Land Management including and adjacent to the East Fort Rock OHV Trail System cannot be safely accessed,” the announcement said, “and all road closures should be heeded unless otherwise exempted by emergency personnel.”

A map of the closure area is at http://centraloregonfire.org.

The Tepee Fire was being managed as of Saturday by a Central Oregon Type 3 Incident Management Team and Incident Commander Cameron Danison.

The wildfire was putting up another big smoke column Saturday as firefighters spent a second day tackling the blaze, which late Friday prompted evacuation notices over a sparsely populated area and closure of Forest Road 18 (China Hat Road).

Officials said the warming temperatures brought increasing activity on the fire Saturday with a smoke column again visible from Bend as the fire kept pushing toward the east, in brush and timber.

The fire was named for Tepee Draw, a valley in the area.

Crews also began mopping up containment lines on the west side of Forest Road 18, which remained closed Saturday from the 1820 to 1830 junctions for public safety.

Firefighters worked to build containment lines on the east side of the fire and secure the lines off Forest Road 18.

On Saturday, the Tepee Fire had 15 engines, five water tenders and 10 crews working, along with six bulldozers, an air attack plane and two single-engine air tankers. The total personnel on the fire was 264.

Evacuation notices issued late Friday night for primarily sparsely populated areas near the fire were kept in place Saturday.

“We anticipate it remaining the same through this afternoon, to give (crews) an opportunity to get some more line in and test the control features,” said Deschutes County sheriff’s Sgt. Nathan Garibay, the county’s emergency services manager.

Here’s the map provided by Deschutes County late Friday night and the notice from Garibay:

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is currently assisting Central Oregon Fire Management with the Tepee Fire off of Forest Service Road 18 (China Hat Road).

After consultation with fire managers, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is issuing evacuation notices east of the fire in the area of Evans Well and the Millican Valley. This is based on an increase in fire behavior and movement of the fire towards the east.

Current Evacuation Levels:

Level 3 (Go Now!):

All areas south of Forest Service Road 2015 (Ford Rd), west of Forest Service Road 2016 outside the forest boundary. (Garibay told NewsChannel 21 there are only a few homes in the Level 3 Zone.)

Level 2 (Get Set):

All areas south of Forest Service Road 2015 (Ford Rd), west of Forest Service 23 (Spencer Wells Rd), east of Forest Service Road 2016 and north of the forest boundary.

Level 1 (Be Ready):

All areas east of the north/south section of Forest Service Road 2015 (Fort Rock Rd), south of Hwy 20, west of Forest Service Road 2017 (Pine Mountain Rd) and north of the forest boundary.

The Sheriff’s Office will continue to coordinate with fire managers and will adjust evacuation levels as appropriate. Residents are asked to remain vigilant and ready to leave if conditions worsen.

The Tepee Fire, reported around noon, had five engine crews, two bulldozers, a hand crew and heavy helicopter responding, as well asr two heavy air tankers and smokejumpers who were called out to the area southwest of Horse Ridge where the fire was burning in brush and timber.

An initial perimeter map of the fire Saturday morning was among updates at the Central Oregon Fire Management Service Twitter page.

Kern said the Tepee Fire and the new 80-acre Willow Fire near Lake Simtustus were human-caused and under investigation.

Meanwhile, lines held Friday on a 19-acre fire reported Thursday south of Walton Lake on the Ochoco National Forest that authorities said began from an escaped campfire. Crews worked Friday to secure containment lines.

Officials reminded that Central Oregon public lands are in public use restrictions, with campfires only allowed within designated campgrounds.

The region is still in extreme fire danger, she said, and fuels are very receptive to ignition sources. Be diligent with such sources, she said, and know the use restrictions in the areas where you plan to recreate.

Meanwhile, the Terwilliger Fire near Blue River on the Willamette National Forest has grown to 10,677 acres as more than 700 personnel have brought the forest fire to 41 percent containment as of Saturday. There are no evacuations due to the fire, but winds from the east pushed it farther into the Three Sisters Wilderness on Friday.