New fire burns hundreds of acres on Crooked River National Grassland east of Culver; BPA lines threatened, evacuation alerts

(Update: New evacuation levels info, map; reports of reduced fire size)

CULVER. Ore. (KTVZ) – A new wildfire was reported Sunday afternoon on the Crooked River National Grasslands east of Culver and quickly grew to at least 260 acres as an air and ground fight ramped up and evacuations and pre-evacuation alerts were issued for the blaze, which threatened Bonneville Power Administration transmission lines.

The Ochoco Fire (Incident 675) was reported around 1:45 p.m. east of Highway 97, west of Highway 26 and north of Haystack Reservoir, Jefferson County Fire & EMS Chief Jeff Blake and Central Oregon fire officials said. Also involved in the firefighting efforts were the BLM and Forest Service, he said.

The Central Oregon Fire Management Service said in an X tweet shortly before 6 p.m. that the fire had grown to an estimated 500 acres, though a later report on WildCAD indicated the size estimate had been reduced to 260 acres.

"A Type 3 Incident Commander has taken command of the fire," COFMS said. "Air attack and multiple air tankers are now assisting the ground crews. Transmission lines are threatened."

While air tankers dropped retardant in a bid to slow the flames' spread, a firefighting helicopter drew water from nearby Haystack Reservoir to assist.

The cause of the fire was unknown, the Jefferson County sheriff's Office said in a Sunday evening Facebook note.

Thanks to crews' hard work to contain the fire, they said, a Level 3 GO NOW evacuation alert zone was reduced to an area north of Jericho Lane and east of Bear Drive. The agency said the top half of Jericho Lane and the west side of Bear Drive were at Level 2 (Be Set) and south of Jericho Lane was at Level 1 (Be Ready).

The revised Jefferson County Evacuation Zones map :

We’ll have more details as available. More information at: https://app.watchduty.org/i/31320