Fire crews have made progress on the Darlene 3 Fire near La Pine, bringing containment up to 42% as of Friday morning.

The current acreage stands at 3,889 acres, with the fire primarily moving eastward away from the city of La Pine. According to officials, the Finley Butte area has been heavily affected, but the La Pine Cemetery remains unaffected.

“I’m just happy to report — I think this is important — that we did not lose one home or resident on this fire,” said Oregon State Fire Marshal Red Team incident commander Ian Yocum during a virtual community meeting Friday afternoon.

Cause still under investigation

Despite rumors circulating on social media that the fire was caused by a homeless encampment, the source of the fire is still under investigation. However, during a public meeting Friday night, officials confirmed they do know that the fire originated on Bureau of Land Management land ands the exact location.

“The cause of the fire is under investigation. We do know it was human caused — there wasn’t recent lightning in the area — and federal, state and county law enforcement agencies are all actively involved in that investigation. More information will be released as it’s available,” Kaitlyn Webb, the Darlene 3 Fire public information officer, told The Bulletin.

Chad Carpenter from 3 Door Church in La Pine, who works closely with the homeless community in that area, said everyone living in the vicinity of the fire was able to leave before it began growing rapidly Tuesday afternoon. Of those, 12 took shelter at the church Tuesday night while others, he suspects, sought resources from the American Red Cross, which set up a shelter at La Pine High School.

“The people that need to be notified of these kinds of things are not necessarily in the usual loops of communication, and so it’s always difficult to notify the homeless crowd (of evacuations,)” Carpenter said. “But as far as I know, everybody got away from that area. I haven’t heard of anybody that’s missing.”

Loosening evacuation orders

The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office has modified evacuation levels now that the fire is in a more stable condition.

The Newberry Estates subdivision has been reduced from Level 3 “go now” to Level 2 “be set.” The residential area immediately north of Burgess Road and east of the Little Deschutes River has been reduced from Level 1 “be ready” to no evacuation notice.

Level 3 evacuations still include areas east of the railroad tracks between Forest  Road 9736 and Finley Butte Road.

The area immediately east of U.S. Highway 97, including the Drafter Road, Burgess Road, Russel Road and Reed Road south have been reduced to a Level 2 “be set” evacuation order.

Level 2 evacuation orders remain for areas north of state Highway 31 between Highway 97 and the railroad tracks, and areas north of Paulina-East Lake Road to Paulina Creek west of Forest  Road 9736.

The most updated evacuation orders can be found on the Deschutes County Emergency Information website.