A fast-growing wildfire is pushing toward the small central Oregon town of Sisters, and residents are not waiting to find out how close it will get. The Akawa Butte fire has been moving nearer to the community, and people who live in the area say they are actively evacuating for their safety and their peace of mind. Some residents explained that they are leaving early in part to free up roads and resources for neighbors who may not have the ability to get out quickly, a decision that underscores how seriously the threat is being taken.
The scale of the fire has grown quickly in a matter of days. According to fire officials, the Akawa Butte fire has scorched more than 26,000 acres since it started just north of Sisters on Thursday. The blaze is burning across Deschutes and Jefferson counties, spreading through the dry terrain of central Oregon. Its rapid expansion in such a short period has kept crews and residents on edge, with worries growing as the flames continue to advance toward populated areas.
The location of the fire has added to the unease among locals. Officials noted that the wildfire started really close to the site of the Flat Fire that burned in the same area last year, meaning the community is once again facing danger in a place it has seen scorched before. For residents who lived through the previous blaze, the return of fire to the same landscape has made the current situation feel all the more threatening as they watch the smoke build on the horizon.
The response to the fire has been substantial. Fire officials say about 1,000 people are battling the Akawa Butte blaze, working to slow its march toward Sisters. Portland Fire and Rescue has sent a small crew specifically to help firefighters who need rescuing or who are injured, with the goal of getting them back to a place where they can be moved to an ambulance and on to a higher level of care if they have a bad day on the fire line. The support reflects the strain that crews are under in dangerous conditions.
For the people of Sisters, the stakes are deeply personal. Daniel St. Lawrence, who owns a restaurant and live music venue in the town with his wife, described the fear that comes with watching a fire approach and said it is scary to think about what is coming over the next week. While one local voice said he does not believe downtown Sisters will burn to the ground and called that a worst-case scenario, he acknowledged that so much of the community and so many people's lives are already being affected and will continue to be affected by the fire.
The Akawa Butte fire is only one piece of a brutal wildfire season across Oregon. Recent wildfires have burned more than 700,000 acres statewide, with lightning blamed for igniting a number of them. The sheer amount of land already lost points to how active and destructive the season has been, stretching firefighting resources thin as multiple blazes burn at once and communities across the state remain on alert for new threats.
Among the many fires, the largest is the Roe Creek complex fire, which has burned nearly 200,000 acres in central Oregon. The demand for help has grown so great that crews are coming in from as far away as Australia to assist in fighting the Oregon fires. With extreme heat continuing to grip the West and fuel the danger, both firefighters on the front lines and residents in fire-prone areas are bracing for a difficult stretch ahead as the blazes show little sign of easing.