Blaze prompts Black Butte evacuation.

Byline: Tim Christie The Register-Guard

Fire officials evacuated Black Butte Ranch on Monday afternoon after the rapidly growing G.W. wildfire surged to within a half-mile of the mountain resort.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 people were staying at Black Butte at the start of the Labor Day weekend, though many had begun to leave Sunday and earlier Monday because of the smoky conditions, said resort General Manager Loy Helmley.

Fire officials said the G.W. Fire was threatening the 1,200 houses and condominiums and 10 commercial buildings at Black Butte. Strong westerly winds, gusting up to 25 mph, were pushing the blaze toward the community.

The fire grew from 3,200 acres Sunday to 5,400 acres Monday, and was 5 percent contained, said Earl Cordes, spokesman for the Central Oregon Incident Management Team.

About 677 firefighters were battling the fire by late Monday, up from 488 earlier in the day. One firefighter was struck by a felled tree and suffered head and back injuries. The firefighter was treated and released at a hospital, and is expected to be out of work for three or four days, fire officials said.

The fire is burning on the lower east slope of Mount Washington near Dry Creek, and the western edge is on the Mount Washington Wilderness. A lightning strike started the fire about 6:30 a.m. Friday.

On Sunday, fire commanders told residents to be prepared to leave their homes. At 2 p.m. Monday, Black Butte officials decided to shut down business operations at the resort as a precautionary measure, Helmley said.

Then at 2:30 p.m. Monday, fire officials made the call to evacuate due to "erratic" fire behavior and strong winds, said Sue Olson, spokeswoman for Deschutes National Forest.

One section of the fire got within a half-mile of the ranch, she said. On Sunday, the fire had gotten to within a mile and a half of the ranch.

Olson said the evacuation was orderly.

To alert residents, law enforcement officials sounded high-low sirens on their vehicles, the resort posted an evacuation notice on cable television channel 3, and a reverse 911 system made recorded calls to residents, Helmley said.

Helmley said he was not aware of any hold-outs.

"Folks at Black Butte Ranch are used to this," he said. "It's part of living in a Ponderosa forest in the Cascade mountains."

Black Butte was last evacuated in 2002 when the Cache Mountain fire threatened, he said.

Firefighting helicopters were drawing water from Phalarope Lake in front of the lodge, and conditions were "fairly smoky," Helmley said.

"We know the fire is close by," he said.

Deschutes County and Black Butte fire crews were standing by in the ranch Monday night to protect homes, Olson said.

Sisters Community Church, 1300 W. McKenzie Highway, was established as an evacuation shelter. Virginia Scott, a Red Cross disaster volunteer, said the church was a "mob scene" shortly after the evacuation order as about 120 residents began arriving at the church, though everyone was "calm and collected."

The residents signed "safe and well" sheets, so they're accounted for and their whereabouts are known, Scott said.

Most of them moved on, and "seemed to have a place to go," she said.

The Red Cross had cots in a trailer in the church parking lot, ready to set up, in case any residents needed a place to spend the night, she said.

A pet evacuation team was ready to look after people's animals, if need be. And Sisters residents were calling in to offer their own homes to displaced Black Butte residents, Scott said.

The forecast looked favorable for firefighters. The National Weather Service said the east slopes of the Central Oregon Cascades were expected have cloud cover overnight with isolated showers after midnight, high humidity and diminishing winds.

Today, the weather is expected to be mostly cloudy, with a chance of showers and a slight chance of thunderstorms, with highs dropping from the 80s to the low to mid-70s and a 30 percent chance of a "wetting rain," meaning 1/10th of an inch, the weather service said.

Forest Road 2060 is closed from Highway 20 to Highway 242, and all lands west of Pacific Crest Trail and north of Highway 242 are closed, though Pacific Crest Trail is open.