Fire Near Sisters 30 Percent Contained, Still Threatens 900 Homes

Diminishing winds on Thursday helped firefighters who were trying to snuff out an early-season wildfire in central Oregon.

The Akawana fire is within a few miles of a subdivision northeast of Sisters in Jefferson County, and it’s triggered a preliminary evacuation notice for residents.

An Oregon Department of Forestry incident management team will take over command of the firefighting operation from local ODF forces Thursday morning.

Firefighters have contained 30 percent of the Akawana Fire in central OR, and hundreds of homes remain ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice, a state Department of Forestry official said in an update Thursday.

“We have a total of about 400 firefighters and support staff working on the fire”, he said.

“After two days of 25 mile per hour winds, it should calm down a little bit so we should be able to make progress”, Fields said.

Air assets are dropping retardant to reinforce containment lines.

On Wednesday, Governor Kate Brown invoked the Conflagration Act, allowing the Office of the State Fire Marshal to mobilize firefighters and equipment.

Fire officials said they’ll be closely monitoring the Jenkins Reservoir and Owyhee Canyon fires because of warm conditions and lightning in the area. “It is much earlier than expected”.

Officials say the fire, which is at 1930 acres, was started by a lightening strike Tuesday afternoon.