High winds on Tuesday afternoon fanned two field fires south of Madras, sending firefighters into action.

Jefferson County fire responded to a fire at 2520 SW Ford Lane around 1:30 p.m. where Jim Kaiser and his family were burning a wheat field and the wind shifted sending flames into a barnyard area with three other structures.

The Kaisers had a water truck on site but fouled the water hose when backing the truck up in a hurry, said Earl Cordes, Jefferson County fire chief. Cordes said two engines from the Ochoco National Forest and nine engines from his district put out the fire, but not before it burned a few fence posts and some antiquated farming equipment.

The Kaisers had a permit to burn the field on Tuesday, which was granted by Cordes.

John Kaiser of Kaiser Farms helps mop up a fire near a home on Glide Lane after a field burn shifted and got out of control Tuesday afternoon near Madras.Photo by Rob Kerr/Copyright 2001, The Bulletin.

”We had favorable wind today but we were concerned about threat of high winds so we told people to shut it (fires) down at 3 p.m. The only problem is we had squirrelly winds hit us at 1 o’clock we had gusts of 28 mph here at the station,” he said. ”We did not expect that until 3 and after.”

Field burning is expected to continue in Jefferson County for the next two to three weeks, Cordes said, noting there are still about 3,200 acres left to burn in the county.

While Cordes was battling the Kaiser fire, the smoke coordinator for Jefferson County reported a second fire at 7373 S Highway 97 around 2 p.m.

Cordes said an illegal burn barrel started the blaze that ended up destroying about two acres of wheat and started a pile of old tires on fire and scorched an old shop.

Henry Martin, who ignited the burn barrel, will be charged for fire suppression costs roughly between $1,500 and $2,000, Cordes said.

Cordes said the fire also destroyed about $800 worth of wheat owned by Lee Bissell.