Madras escaped warming fire stopped small

A transient warming fire in a Madras vacant lot escaped and burned an area of cheatgrass before a Jefferson County Fire District No. 1 crew put it out early Wednesday morning, Fire Chief Brian Huff said.

Temperatures were in the mid 40s when the fire was reported around 2:30 a.m. on a vacant lot behind the Madras Sonic on Fourth Street, Huff said.

“The fire was not very active, due to the low temperature and higher humidity, but this fire put a punctuation mark on why the Central Oregon Fire Chief’s Association has not allowed open burning,” Huff said in an email.

“The fire was only able to burn around 1/10th of an acre before being extinguished by the first arriving brush truck,” the fire chief added.

Huff said he and two firefighters responded, along with a Madras police officer and two sheriff’s deputies.