Lightning ‘holdover’ fire burns acre near Deschutes Jct.

A tree struck by lightning in Sunday’s thunderstorms apparently sparked a “holdover” fire tackled by fire crews north of Deschutes Junction Tuesday evening, officials said.

The Bend Fire Department responded, assisted by BLM and Alfalfa Fire crews, to the reported fire in the 21000 block of Morrill Road, Bend Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki.

Smoke was spotted by a Forest Service shortly after 5 p., and a neighbor called in the fire a few minutes later, Derlacki said.

Crews arrived to find a fire in brush behind a home at the address, and the neighbor who called it in using hand tools to help keep it from spreading.

The fire was stopped quickly at just over an acre and kept well away from any structures, Derlacki said.