About 600 people evacuated from Crossroads area

Strong winds pushed the Milli Fire across a containment line Friday afternoon, pushing the now-7,000-acre fire two to three miles east-southeast toward subdivisions on the western outskirts of Sisters and prompting an evacuation of about 600 residents, officials said Friday night.

The Red Cross and Salvation Army were on hand to help, but one resident of the evacuated Crossroads community said he is worried about his collection of over 100 tropical fish tanks in his home.

“It’s what I do, and it could be gone,” David Soares said Friday evening outside the closed, then reopened Red Cross shelter at the Sisters Middle School. “And that’s not good, but that’s life.”

While some evacuees settled into the middle school gym – and many others found other places to stay — some Sisters-area residents not living in the Level 3 evacuation area were at the shelter, too, to help in any way they could.

“These are people that we live around,” volunteer Laura Chew said. “This is our community. We live in (Camp) Sherman, so we’re close by here. We just care about everybody and what’s going on here, and we just thought we’d come out and help in any way at all.”

Dave Isbell is moving into a home in Crossroads from Sandy, Oregon, and came for two weeks to do some construction on it before he moves in. Now, because he can’t travel up through Madras or Eugene without extreme traffic, thanks to the eclipse, he’s stuck.

“What else can you do, you know?” he said. “It’s just one of those things.”

The Salvation Army also was on hand to help feed evacuees, officials said Saturday.

Officials confirmed Friday the fire was caused by a lightning strike a week ago.