SISTERS – For the second time in two weeks, the B and B Complex fires forced Camp Sherman residents to flee their homes.

The Booth and Bear Butte fires merged Thursday at about 4 p.m., becoming one 71,000-acre blaze that flanked the wooded community to the west and north.

An eastward run emanating from the Bush Creek area brought the fire to within six miles of Camp Sherman’s northern boundary. It remained about three miles from the community’s western edge.

Fire officials advised personnel at the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office to evacuate Camp Sherman at about 3 p.m. due to the blaze’s race east, said Tom Lavagnino, an information officer at the fire’s incident command post on the Sisters rodeo grounds.

The order affected roughly 300 people, fire officials said.

As many as 1,500 Camp Sherman residents fled their homes when the community was evacuated the first time on Aug. 21. The fire had crept to within five miles of Camp Sherman’s borders.

Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office personnel allowed community residents who live south of U.S. Forest Service Road 1217 to return on Saturday. By Wednesday, all residents could return – though those living north of road 1217 had to register with the sheriff because they were closer to the fire than their neighbors.

Uprooted again from the houses they’d returned to only days ago, residents’ reactions ranged from the anxious to the nonchalant to the simply frustrated.

Dozens of them milled about Thursday afternoon on the grounds of the Episcopal Church of the Transfiguration in Sisters, where the Deschutes County Chapter of the American Red Cross had set up a shelter.

”The second time has been more stressful,” said Priscilla Wilt, 55, a first-grade teacher from San Pedro, Calif., whose vacation has consisted entirely of evacuations. ”It’s been really difficult.”

Wilt and her husband, Don, 55, had just welcomed their daughter, son-in-law and 2-month-old grandson from Austin, Texas, on Wednesday.

The family has owned a summer home in Camp Sherman since 1985.

They weren’t sure where they were going to stay on Thursday night, Priscilla Wilt said.

The disappearance of one of the couples’ two cats also caused some concern.

”The one cat we couldn’t find is named Lucky,” she said, with a sad laugh. They were able to carry their other feline, Yellow Baby, to safety.

Pam Titchener, 43, sat in the church’s community room with her 13-year-old son Nolan on her lap.

”This (evacuation) is more frightening because of the path the fire’s taking,” said Titchener, who works at the Camp Sherman Store during the summer and the Black Butte School helping special-needs students during the school year. ”And because of the way the plume looked.”

Titchener said she believed the blaze was ”less than three miles from my house as the crow flies.” She and her son have lived in Camp Sherman for 12 years, she said.

Jerry Balosky, 61, sat next to the Titcheners, but didn’t feel the same fear that they did.

”I’m not worried,” he said. ”I’ve given up that. Whatever’s going to happen is going to happen.”

Balosky, an artist who creates sculptures for people’s gardens and yards, said he thought this evacuation was much easier than the first one.

”It was just automatic,” said Balosky, a Camp Sherman resident for 13 years. ”I was actually looking forward to seeing everybody again. This kind of experience allows you to form such a tight bond with your neighbors. I’ve really gotten to know everybody.”

One of those neighbors, Jo Hanks, was having none of that.

”When I came back home on Saturday, I thought that was permanent,” said Hanks, who identified herself as a ”senior citizen” while standing in the church parking lot. She’s lived in Camp Sherman for 15 years.

”I don’t know where I’m going to stay,” she said. ”I might sleep in my car or on one of the cots (in the shelter). They should build more hotel rooms here (in Sisters).”

As of 6 p.m., 23 Camp Sherman residents had registered at the shelter, said Barbara Detzel, a Red Cross volunteer. Ten of those planned to stay the night, Detzel said.

The Red Cross will continue to hold its daily 10 a.m. informational meeting at the church.

Mike Cronin can be reached at 541-617-7836 or mcronin@bendbulletin.com.