SISTERS, Ore. -
The 10-day-old Pole Creek Fire southwest of Sisters has grown to over 24,000 acres, officials said Thursday morning -- but in a sign of strong progress, its containment figure doubled to 40 percent.
The fire grew not due to expansion beyond the fire's large perimeter --- at 24,392 acres, or 38.1 square miles, it's even bigger than the 32-square-mile city of Bend -- but "due to interior growth contained by natural barriers within the Three Sisters Wilderness," the fire bosses said in a Wednesday night update.
Thursday morning, firefighters said most of Wednesday's growth was in the southwest corner of the fire in the Three Sisters Wilderness. Smoke settled in again overnight, hampering visibility for fire patrols.
A one-acre spot fire was discovered outside containment lines just southwest of Trout Creek Butte. Firefighters used bulldozers to quickly line the blaze. Other crews continued patrols and mop-up along the perimeter.
Though the fire has been stopped outside of the wilderness, a huge smoke column was visible again Wednesday as the fire kept spreading inside the wilderness area, forcing a temporary flight restriction to be expanded to the south to include the heli-base at Mt. Bachelor.
Fire crews and engines on the east, northeast and north central fire perimeters concentrated on mop-up, patrols and some initial rehabilitation of no longer needed bulldozer lines.
But another good sign: Some resources are no longer needed to complete containment objectives, and they are being made available for reassignment to other fires.
Another community fire information update is planned for Thursday at 7:30 pm at the Sisters Elementary School, on 611 East Cascades Avenue. The briefing will provide an in-depth update on the Pole Creek fire.
The overnight smoke inversion again is expected to lift by late morning, improving air conditions.
Air tankers returned to the skies over the fire on Tuesday for the first time in over a week, but much of the High Desert was choked with thick smoke.
The wind shifted Wednesday, giving much of Central Oregon another look at a towering smoke plume.
There also was the first, small reduction in the firefighting force Wednesday, to 1,212, but the cost of the battle still grows, reaching $8.6 million, according to Thursday's National Interagency Fire Center report.
Firefighters used a combination of air tankers, helicopters engines and crews to keep the fire west of Road 16 (Three Creeks Road).
The large smoke columns late Tuesday developed when the main body of the fire grew together with burnouts on the southeast corner of the fire, in efforts to secure the southern perimeter.
Firefighters remain committed to keeping the fire west of Road 16, north of Tam McArthur Rim and Triangle Hill, and south of Millican Crater, they said.
Despite all that smoke, officials stressed that all highways remain open to Sisters and other Central Oregon communities.
They also said local forest officials had authorized the use of mechanized and motorized equipment such as chain saws, water pumps and air support on both the wilderness and non-wilderness lands.
Fire managers said four air tankers were ordered up and dropped retardant on the blaze Tuesday afternoon.
They had not been part of the battle since the first day of the fire, and fire officials said that was in part due to high demand for the retardant bombers on a number of major wildfires blazing across the Northwest.
The tankers made runs Tuesday afternoon on the south end of the blaze, "mainly to reinforce the containment line of the fire," said spokeswoman Mary Ellen Fitzgerald.
"We didn't request them every day," she said, adding that the availability was checked late Friday, the day the fire tripled in size amid hot, unstable conditions.
"The air tankers are a tool, just like helicopters," Fitzgerald said. "You select the tool that's best for the strategy you have that day."
"You also need certain conditions to be able to bring them in, be it visibility, availability -- are they around, are they on another fire?" Fitzgerald said. "We're not going to put a fire out by lining it with retardant, typically. It's a tool to help us -- it retards the fire -- and it can be a huge help," under the right conditions.
The DEQ's
Wildfire Air Quality Index again showed Sisters air as "hazardous" - the worst air quality - early Tuesday while Bend's air was labeled "unhealthy for sensitive groups." Thursday morning again brought "hazardous" readings for Sisters but only "moderate" air quality in Bend.
--writing found on KTVZ.com (Bend, Oregon)
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