Central Oregon crews still battling twin blazes.

Byline: Bill Bishop The Register-Guard

The Old McKenzie Highway and a five-mile stretch of the Cascade Lakes Scenic Highway remain closed today as firefighters continue working on two wildfires ignited by lightning on Sunday.

Three aircraft operating out of Redmond are flying fire retardant to the 70-acre Elk Lake Fire on the west side of the scenic highway. Point Campground and Beach day-use area are closed, and Deschutes County sheriff's deputies are manning roadblocks between Forest Road 4625 north of the fire and Lava Lake.

More than 60 personnel are assigned to the fire, using nine engines and three dozers, fire spokeswoman Rhonda Bishop said. There is no estimate when the fire may be contained.

Meanwhile, the Black Crater Fire nine miles southwest of Sisters grew to nearly 400 acres, mostly within the Three Sisters Wilderness, and created a plume of smoke visible for many miles in Central Oregon.

Fire spokesman Bernie Pineda said the fire is burning in a variety of ways within the 400-acre area as it hits areas of bug-killed standing timber, downed trees or green grasses. In some areas, embers are starting spot fires ahead of the main fire boundary.

"We're seeing spots in different segments of the wilderness area. This one is a little bit tricky," he said.

The efforts of 250 firefighters are concentrated on the eastern edge, outside the wilderness. Fire managers have not yet received permission to use power tools inside the wilderness and the fire remains a comparatively low priority among fires burning in the Northwest, Pineda said.

But he noted the area has much of the same terrain and dead timber that allowed the B&B Complex Fire on the Santiam Pass to spread to more than 92,000 acres in 2003.

"There are a lot of similarities. There is a lot of bug-kill involved in this," Pineda said. "We could be here awhile."

In far Eastern Oregon, the 5,000-acre Foster Gulch Complex Fire threatened 90 homes, including the communities of Oxbow, Pine Creek and Homestead, according to a news release from the state fire marshal's office.

More than 100 firefighters are protecting the homes from 20-foot flames after the fire jumped Highway 86 during the night. A voluntary evacuation is in place.