More prescribed burns on Deschutes, Ochoco forests
Fuels specialists on the Deschutes National Forest on Friday planned to conduct a prescribed burn about 12 miles southeast of Bend in the vicinity of Company Butte, near the intersection of China Hat Road and the 1825 Road.
Smoke from this 138 acre fire will be visible from Bend, Sunriver, La Pine and Highway 97, with residual smoke lingering in low-lying areas for the following days.
As smoke lingers in the area of the Kipuka Burn conducted Thursday, the Hoffman Island Trail and FS Road 9720 will remain closed between FS Road 800 and FS Road 9710 through the weekend.
The burn conducted in the Metolius Basin Research Natural Area near Camp Sherman Wednesday and Thursday is in mop-up and patrol status and will also produce smoke through the weekend.
On the Ochoco National Forest, specialists will continue with the two operations that were initiated Wednesday: 1) 15 miles northeast of Prineville near Wildcat Campground; and 2) 12 miles northeast of Post, and 6 miles south of Big Summit Prairie.
Additionally, specialists will initiate a multi-day prescribed fire 15 miles south of Mitchell, and 2 miles east of Big Summit Prairie.
Fuels specialists will follow policies outlined in the Oregon Department of Forestry smoke management plan, which governs prescribed fires, and attempts to minimize impacts to visibility and public health. Once ignited, units are monitored and patrolled until they are declared out.
For more information, visit the Ochoco/Deschutes website at www.fs.usda.gov/centraloregon and follow us on twitter @CentralORFire. Subsequent news releases and “tweets” will follow to provide updates on these potential operations.
