Green Ridge Fire contained; new ones caught small

In what’s almost become routine, initial attack crews continue to tackle sporadic small lightning-sparked fires around Central Oregon after the latest round of thunderstorms — with more storms on the way.

Three new smoke reports were taken Wednesday at the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m. Wednesday — all contained at a quarter-acre or less.

One new fire was reported Thursday to the dispatch center, having been spotted just before dark Wednesday near Windy Point, about a mile east of Spanish Peak on the Ochoco National Forest. Crews were responding to the fire Thursday, with an initial size report of about a quarter-acre.

But you might say just about everyone could make a “smoke report” this week as smoky, hazy skies obscure or partially hide the mountains. Officials said the smoke is coming primarily from fires in Northern California and Southwest Oregon, with winds primarily blowing from south and southwest.

Meanwhile, the 2-week-old, 1,510-acre Green Ridge Fire near Camp Sherman was declared fully contained Wednesday evening. Fewer than 200 firefighters and support personnel are assigned, still doing mop-up and repair of firefighting damage.

Seven smoke reports were taken by Tuesday evening as lightning-sparked blazes continued to be tackled at small sizes, officials said.

A cluster of new smokes cropped up Tuesday in the North Fork Crooked River drainage and the Horse Springs Prairie area, all north of Paulina Road, where a thunderstorm cell stalled Monday night and hammered the area with lightning.. All were either single trees or less than 1/10 of an acre in size.

A new blaze 1 1/2 miles northeast of Three Creek Lake was stopped at about a quarter-acre Wednesday morning. A helicopter dropped water in the area and a crew was on scene.

For the second time in four days, Central Oregon saw a severe thunderstorm warning Monday afternoon.

The National Weather Service in Pendleton issued the warning around 7:25 p.m.

“This afternoon, we started to pick up some thunder cell activity South of Bend and East of Bend,” Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center spokesman Nick Mickel said.

The storms quickly built and moved up the eastern side of the county, dropping hundreds of lightning strikes.

It was a similar situation last Friday.

“Between Oregon and Washington, there were in excess of 19,000 strikes,” Mickel said, “which is just phenomenal for that level of a storm coming through.”

Mickel says the last time the Pacific Northwest saw a storm that intense was nearly a decade ago. Fortunately, rain — heavy in places — literally damped the outbreak of new wildfires — for now.

“We have had so many lightning strikes out there, and they hide really, really well,” Mickel said.

Fire officials say we aren’t out of the woods yet, as many of these strikes could hold over for weeks, even a month before they flare up.

“With that many strikes out there, it’s inevitable that we’re all in this together,” Mickel said. “Oregon and Washington are going to be chasing smokes from that lightning for weeks to come.”

Monday evening, crews tracked down and put out two small fires north of Bend, near Pronghorn Resort, and east past Bend Airport.

The Green Ridge fire has transitioned back to local fire managers, and the emergency closure area will be reduced Tuesday morning to include only the fire perimeter. Also, three campgrounds – Allen Springs, Pioneer Ford and Lower Bridge – reopened Tuesday morning.