Hwy. 126 reopens after brush fires W. of Redmond

(Update: Adding video, highway reopening)

Three brush fires broke out within about two miles of each other along state Highway 126 about five miles west of Redmond Friday afternoon, prompting closure of a six-mile stretch of the highway as crews tackled them on the ground and from the air, officials said. One lane of the highway reopened around 6 p.m., with flaggers and pilot cars, and it was fully open again two hours later.

The three “small but active” fires were reported around 1:30 p.m. in the area of milepost 101 to 103, Forest Service spokesman Lauren Durocher said.

Several engines were on scene quickly and an air attack also got going, including single-engine air tankers, helicopters and smokejumpers, Durocher said.

Deschutes County sherif’s deputies were conducting a sweep of the area to make sure no one was in harms’ way, she added.

“The fire was fairly well spread out along 126,” said Larae Guillory, acting fire management officer for the Sisters Ranger District.

“There was three to five different ignition points, and with the wind pushing it from the west to the east, some of those points kind of came together,” she said.

Sheriff Shane Nelson, at the scene, said the cause was under investigation but they believe it may have been a malfunction on a passing vehicle.

The sheriff’s office reported around 2:45 p.m. that progress was being made on the fires but the highway remained closed between the Cline Falls Highway and the Dry Canyon. One home was on a Level 1 (Get Ready) pre-evacuation notice.

Shortly before 4 p.m., officials said crews had hose lines around the three fires, referred to as Incident 1077, which had burned an estimated 11 acres in total.

Cloverdale Rural Fire District units were first on scene and had two brush trucks and a water tender that held the west side of the fire until U.S. Forest Service crews arrived, Fire Chief Thad Olsen said. Redmond firefighters, meanwhile, worked on the east flank of the fire, he added.

While traffic was diverted onto Fryrear Road to U.S. Highway 20, a crash occurred just before 3 p.m., Olsen said. A Subaru SUV on Fryrear Road turned in front of a westbound semi-truck on Highway 20 and was struck on the driver’s side door, seriously injuring the driver and passenger.

A Sisters Fire Department ambulance took the driver to St. Charles Bend and the passenger was taken there by Bend Fire, Olsen said, thanking the two agencies for their assistance.

Highway 126 was closed between milepost 98 and 104 and ODOT urged motorists to avoid the area. By 8:30 p.m., TripCheck advised only of work on the highway’s eastbound shoulder, and no to minimum delays. Track ODOT’s TripCheck traffic updates here.

Less than an hour later came word of a pair of small brush fires along Northwest Way and Euston Lane, northwest of Redmond, but the first crew on scene reportedly said they already were out. There was no confirmation whether the incidents were linked.