By ANYSSA BOHANAN
CENTRAL OREGON DAILY NEWS
One of several fires in Central Oregon is burning just north of Camp Sherman.
Crews have been battling the Green Ridge Fire for the past several days, and crews say, the steep terrain isn’t helping.
“It’s a challenging fire,” said Sisters District Ranger Ian Reid.
Strong winds Tuesday pushed the fire to 500 acres and it’s getting everything agencies can throw at it.
“By this afternoon and tomorrow morning, we should have between 200 and 250 personnel on it,” Fire Information Officer Lisa Clark said.
The fire is remote enough that it’s not threatening any people or structures, yet.
“That’s partly why we’re gonna get a little aggressive with this strategy of containing it,” said Clark. “We don’t want it to get into the Metolius area, the Camp Sherman area.”
The steep slope has created several challenges, including burning material falling over the containment line and causing spot fires.
“There are gravity hazards such as snags, dead trees, and rocks that will get dislodged,” said Reid. “So it’s really hazardous for firefighters when they’re working underneath those hazards.”
That difficulty has made them re-think how to tackle the fire.
“We’re going to move to a different strategy where we put containment lines down to a safer area, an area that’s been cleared of fuels that’s not on a steep slope, and then we’ll be doing some back burning,” Clark said.
When they do that, Clark says, the fire will grow exponentially.
“When we draw that new containment line, it’s going to make that fire about 500 acres,” said Clark. “But hopefully it will be putting that fire out in a much safer way.
Fire officials say they hope to have the fire contained in the next three to five days.
