Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch update-Long Bend Fire
By Mindy Gould on Tuesday, June 25th, 2024 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News More Top Stories
CENTRAL OREGON (Released by Wasco County Sheriff’s Office)-Firefighters secured 50% containment on the 1,024-acre Long Bend Fire (Incident #277) yesterday. The fire is located approximately two miles southwest of Maupin on the west side of the Deschutes River.
Yesterday afternoon, the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office reduced the evacuation notice to Level 1 “Get Ready” for all residences south of Hwy 216 from Natural Pasture Road to Blue Rock Road and all residences east of Reservation Rd and south of Hwy 216 to Natural Pasture Road. The Deschutes River closure from Harpham Flat Campground to Maupin has been lifted. Additionally, Harpham Flat Campground and Wapinitia Campground are open again.
Today, firefighters will continue to secure control lines and work to establish more containment by extinguishing sources of heat within the fire perimeter. Most of the remaining heat within the fire area is along Wapinitia Creek so crews and aircraft will primarily focus suppression efforts along the creek today. Crews will also continue to patrol contained portions of the incident to ensure the fire stays within the established containment lines. Aircraft will assist ground resources by dropping water to cool hot spots as needed.
There may be temporary delays for river users when helicopters are dipping water out of the river. Boaters should use caution and follow directions from firefighters and river staff. Boaters should also avoid pulling over within the fire perimeter as the fire is still not fully contained and there could be hot ash pits, rolling rocks, or other fire-related hazards.
Resources assigned to the incident include 1 Type 1 crew, 4 Type 2 initial attack crews, 15 engines, 3 water tenders, 1 dozer, 1 Type 1 helicopter, 1 Type 2 helicopter, 3 Type 3 helicopters, and 23 overhead personnel.
The fire started the afternoon of Saturday, June 22. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
For current wildfire information, the public can visit centraloregonfire.org or follow fire information on X (Twitter) @CentralORFire.
