Crooked River Ranch residents aren’t out of danger if a big fire hits, but the situation surely will have improved by next summer.

Groundbreaking on a much-needed second paved exit from the ranch, about 32 miles north of Bend, was on Aug. 7, and the road will be a reality by October.

The ranch, which covers about 10,000 acres and is home to about 4,700 people, lies west of U.S. Highway 97 along the west edge of the Crooked River Gorge. It was developed in 1972, with a single paved access road in and out.

That’s not enough.

The Jefferson County Forestland Interface Fire Protection Act Study, completed in December 2016, rates fire danger within the ranch as high. The rating for land around the ranch’s rim, is “extreme.” Were a rapidly growing fire to break out, a single paved road would not be adequate to evacuate the entire ranch either quickly or safely. The study gave a second paved exit from the ranch top priority.

So far, ranch residents have been lucky. Though the ranch has been the site of at least four fires larger than 100 acres, they’ve all been contained fairly quickly. The most recent, which burned 350 acres, occurred in 2007. Discussion about the need for a second exit began at that time.

A committee was set up to find a way to get a second exit in 2013. It wasn’t a particularly easy task. Planning involved not only the ranch, but also both Deschutes and Jefferson counties, the ranch special road district and the Bureau of Land Management. The new road will connect to Lower Bridge Road, south of the subdivision.

A major hurdle was cleared just about a year ago, when BLM approved the plan to cross federal property for about a mile. Now financing is in place. The two counties each agreed to give $100,000 toward the project, in addition to more technical assistance. The ranch itself put up $200,000, and the balance, about $367,000, was secured by Jefferson County from the Oregon Transportation Infrastructure Bank on behalf of the ranch. The ranch will repay the loan from operating funds.

When the road is finished, Crooked River Ranch will be a safer place than it is today, and the work that began years ago to make it that way will be complete.