Firefighters on Monday tried to hold a firebreak cut around a 3,300-acre blaze that jumped a river canyon, destroyed 28 homes in hopscotch fashion and forced the evacuation of 2,800 people.
The blaze, which broke out Saturday and raced from treetop to treetop in the dry woods, destroyed more buildings than any Oregon forest fire since 1936, said Forestry Department spokesman Jim Fisher. Damage was put at $4.5 million.People were evacuated from at least four motels or resorts and about 2,000 vacation and regular homes, the department said.
Firefighters cut a line around the fire late Sunday, and department spokesman Randall Lau said they hoped to contain it Tuesday and bring it under control Thursday. The fire was reported 50 percent contained Sunday night.
About 1,100 firefighters battled the blaze using 12 helicopters and air tankers. The cost was put at more than $890,000, Lau said.
The fire erupted three miles west of downtown Bend, a city of about 19,000 on the eastern slopes of the Cascade Range, and burned in near 100-degree heat.
It raced through the pines, jumping roads and the Deschutes River in a canyon where the river is about 75 feet wide.