Akawa Butte Fire Crews Begin Mop-Up After 1,600-Plus Battle as Storms Drove Rapid Growth
Updated
Updated · bendbulletin.com · Aug 1
Akawa Butte Fire Crews Begin Mop-Up After 1,600-Plus Battle as Storms Drove Rapid Growth
1 articles · Updated · bendbulletin.com · Aug 1
Summary
More than 1,600 firefighters who battled the Akawa Butte Fire are beginning mop-up, heading home or shifting to other Oregon blazes as weather moderates and the fire remains active but in a better position.
Thunderstorms and strong winds during the week of July 20 drove the fire thousands of acres larger, producing 10- to 20-foot flames, low visibility and fast-changing evacuation orders near Sisters.
Wilt Road crews fought around homes after a rare pyrocumulus cloud collapsed and pushed the fire, while firefighters on the southern flank feared the blaze could run downhill toward town.
Old burn scars and bulldozer lines from last year's Flat Fire, along with fuels-treatment work near Sisters, helped slow the fire and gave crews places to anchor new control lines.
Akawa Butte's strain is spilling into a broader Oregon fire season: by Tuesday the Bench Fire near Warm Springs had destroyed six homes, and 800 people were fighting it on Thursday.