Cougar Butte Fire human-caused, investigators say
(Update: More comments from forest spokeswoman, firefighter)
Central Oregon saw its first major wildfire of the season break out just as Memorial Day weekend began, growing to 170 acres west of Bend before it was fully contained on the holiday.
Crews were still working Wednesday on Cougar Butte, 11 miles west of Bend, monitoring the burned areas and pouring water on any smoke still emerging explained Incident Commander Trainee Creed Pendleton.
“Crews are finishing mopping up the edge, 200 feet in, making sure everything is secure and starting to pull hose later in the day,” he said.
The fire prompted closure of forest roads in the area and the access to Tumalo Falls, also bringing a Level 1 pre-evacuation notice for the Skyliners subdivision that was lifted as the fire was contained.
So far, investigators can only say the fire was human-caused. They say they need to keep looking at the evidence to determine if it was malicious or accidental.
Kassidy Kern, a public affairs specialist for the Deschutes National Forest, explained, “It could be very quick. We could see that a campfire ring has trailed out and started a fire, or (we) could have to painstakingly trace something back to a matchbook.”
Although it was the earliest such fire in recent memory — about two weeks earlier than the 2014 Two Bulls Fire — officials said the response went smoothly.
“We sent a lot of different resources, including Bend Fire, the sheriff’s department — all those people have been coordinating for a lot of years now, and so it was maybe shaking off the cobwebs,” Kern said. “But everything (went) exactly as it should.”
Pendleton added, “We got a good response from the forest on it, and things went real smooth for everyone involved.”
Officials acknowledged they weren’t expecting a major fire so early in the year, due to all that winter snow. But they also said it’s not necessarily an indicator of a severe fire season to come. The predictions are that this year’s fire season will be about average.
