Bend firefighters stop two smoldering fires at small sizes in field on Skyline Ranch Road, lot near Caldera High School

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – While wildland firefighters work to stop new and older blazes in rural areas that have grown to hundreds or thousands of acres, Bend Fire & Rescue moved fast Monday afternoon to stop two smoldering fires at small sizes on the west and east sides of town.

Firefighters responded just before 4 p.m. to a reported fire along Skyline Ranch Road, just west of Awbrey Glen Golf Course, Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki said.

A neighbor returning home spotted a tree smoldering in the middle of a dry grass field and called 911. As the first crew arrived, flames began to spread into the grass, carried by the wind after nearly three weeks of temperatures in the 90s.

“Within minutes, the fire had grown to a quarter-acre and was spreading fast,” Derlacki said in a news release.

The first engine crews on scene were assisted by a water tender from Shevlin Sand and Gravel, stopping the fire at nearly an acre.

The tree was struck by lightning Sunday night and had been smoldering since, Derlacki said. The tree was not smoking earlier Monday, but as the weather warmed up and winds increased, the fire began to spread.

“Strong, variable winds played a factor in the speed of growth of this fire,” the fire official said.

Earlier, around 2:30 p.m., a smoldering fire was extinguished in a large open lot east of Caldera High School off SE 15 ^th Street, Derlacki said,

The smoldering area was doused before it could spread to any nearby brush and trees, holding the fire to fewer than 100 square feet. Derlacki said that fire’s cause was unknown.

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