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From katu.com in Portland

July 28, 2002

Black Butte Ranch Evacuated,
Flames Ravage Homes

SISTERS--
updated 6:23 p.m.

Firefighters ordered the evacuation of the 4,000-5,000 people in the Black Butte Ranch resort and subdivision Sunday afternoon after stiff winds from the northwest fanned the Cache Mountain Fire.

Initially the order was to evacuate only the Golf Homes section of the combination resort-residential subdivision, but Lisa Clark of the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center said orders to evacuate everything quickly followed.

The winds were causing spot fires in and around the ranch.

The lightning-caused fire broke out on Wednesday and had burned about 3,300 acres by midday Sunday.

There were reports of one home burned in the resort, and ranch officials told KATU News they believe fire has reached about 4 homes. The ranch consists of a lodge, about 1,300 homes, golf courses, miles of bike trails, tennis courts and swimming pools. Many of the homes are vacation homes.

Black Butte general manager Loy Helmley said the evacuation was "very orderly."

"It's going to be a few days" before residents can return, he predicted.

The Red Cross was setting up evacuation centers.

Transportation officials closed Highway 20 between Santiam Junction and west of Sisters.

Meanwhile, the sprawling Sheldon Ridge wildfire near the Columbia River port town of The Dalles singed another 3,000 acres overnight, growing to 12,112 acres.

Some cabins in the area are believed to have been lost, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry, which reports that no actual homes have burned.

Mandatory evacuations are still in effect for residents of Mill Creek Rd. The evacuation advisory for residences along Brown Creek, Wells, Upper Cherry Heights and upper Vensel roads remains in effect.

An evacuation center has been set up at St. Peters Parish on West 10th and Cherry Heights Road.

The Sheldon Ridge fire is now 55% contained, said Peg Foster, an Oregon Department of Forestry information officer. According to the latest information KATU received, the fire was heading northeast.

"The fire is continuing to pose serious control problems," as gusty winds periodically kick up the flames, said Foster. She cited the danger of the smoke from the flames hitting electrical lines.

Residents of 250 homes have been urged to evacuate since the lightning-started fire flared Thursday and spread into subdivided rural land along three roads about three miles south of The Dalles.

Air tankers executed water drops on the southwest side of the mountain on Sunday. Structural teams are working to save homes as forecast conditions get hotter and drier with winds of 30 mph and upwards predicted.

The fire threatens at least 200 homes, 420 outbuildings and The Dalles Watershed.

Saturday night, the fire reportedly flared up at Brown Creek.

City workers abandoned a water treatment plant, taking chlorine and other potentially dangerous materials with them. About 60 homes were without water. Two outbuildings have burned.

Stiff winds whistling through the Columbia River Gorge pushed the fire toward high-tension Bonneville Power Administration electrical wires overnight, Foster said.

There are now 790 firefighters on scene which include 20 20-person crews, 66 engines, 10 dozers and 8 helicopters.

The wires were still live Sunday, but if carbon-rich smoke thickens around the cables, it could cause the electricity from the lines to arc, endangering firefighters. If that danger intensifies, she said, authorities might switch them off and reroute power.

Some of the blaze's growth Sunday was accounted for by more accurate mapping of the charred ground behind fire lines, rather than a single advance into new terrain, she said.

Four heavy lift choppers swooped and hovered over the fire, dipping underslung buckets into a pond below and then dumping the water to help quench the flames.

One helicopter pilot had to deal with more than fire Saturday afternoon, reporting that a person on the ground pointed a rifle at him as he hovered over a pond.

The Wasco County Sheriff's office arrested Rocky Wade Bratner, 47, on charges of menacing and pointing a gun.

"Probably the guy didn't want him to take any more water," Hinatsu said. The pilot got water from another pond.

Fire managers said their strategy Sunday was to contain the wildfire using 66 fire engines deployed mostly along Mill Creek Road. They hoped to slow its advance toward the electrical cables carrying power from Columbia River dams to Portland, and prevent its creeping down a hillside toward The Dalles. The town was not considered threatened.

A contingent of 125 Oregon National Guard troops arrived Saturday to help about 650 firefighters.

The fire mostly crept along the ground, burning grass and chaparral on the slopes without climbing into the crowns of oak and pine trees and leaping along the tops.

Janet Elliott watched from her porch as flames licked at scrub oak on a slope about a dozen yards behind her house. She said firefighters were doing a "wonderful" job and she didn't feel frightened. Elliott served cookies to the crew from Salem.

Some cows and horses were still caught in pastures behind the fire lines.

Rolland Taskey, 66, a retired aluminum worker, said he grabbed his two daschunds, Sassy and Simba, and a puppy named Chubb after a sheriff knocked on his door and told him to leave earlier this week. He and his wife, Delores, decided to leave four pet goats in a corral. The goats were not harmed.

"They told us to get out right away," he said.

Other Developments

In other developments, the Skunk Fire in Klamath County burned 2,400 acres about 17 miles southeast of Chiloquin, where it threatened two unincorporated subdivisions. The fire was 40 percent contained Sunday. The White River fire in Wasco County burned on about 25,000 acres. It was 50 percent contained.

The Timbered Rock fire burning 40 miles north of Medford is now threatening homes.

A total of 14 major fires, all started by lightning, were burning across 265,920 acres in Oregon, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. More than 11,529 firefighters battled the blazes.

On the web:
Sheldon Ridge fire transportation map