U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-2nd District, discusses the Darlene 3 Fire with La Pine-area residents Tuesday.

LA PINE — U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz sat down with several community members and business owners from La Pine on Tuesday to discuss the impacts of the Darlene 3 Fire, which burned nearly 4,000 acres just east of the city in late June.

Bentz, a Republican representing Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, was in Central Oregon partly to hear the concerns of residents worried about fire risk on public lands where homeless encampments can be found, he told The Bulletin.

The cause of the Darlene 3 Fire has not been officially released, but a video that alleges to show the ignition of the fire has fueled the popular belief that the blaze was started by homeless residents that regularly camp on Bureau of Land Management property near Darlene Road. This belief seems to have only exacerbated pre-existing resentment among residents and business owners towards people experiencing homelessness on nearby public land.

“Businesses in that area feel that they’re being held hostage by the campers and the illegal activities that are happening out there,” said Anne Haywood, director of the La Pine Chamber of Commerce. “The encampments that are out there don’t adhere to any other rules than their own. They feel like they can live the way they want without any repercussions because there hasn’t been any.”

Lt. Joe DeLuca from the Deschutes County Sheriff’s office responded to residents’ concern about encampments by saying that law enforcement is doing what it can to patrol that area regularly to help promote safety. Many of the deputies know the homeless residents well, he said, and there is good dialogue between law enforcement and that community.

It can still be trying though, he said, especially during the summer.

“We’ve added extra patrols throughout the county to help enforce regulations. . … We’ve added two deputies to do that full time for the summer. We patrol that area consistently and we know 99% of them by name, and I’ve known many of them for more than 20 years,” DeLuca said.

Frustration over lack of action

But many residents expressed frustration at Tuesday’s meeting over a lack of action by law enforcement as well as unsatisfactory responses from the BLM that there simply aren’t enough resources to enforce fire and camping regulations consistently.

One resident and business owner, Fallon Bandemer, said law enforcement has been lax about the homeless community in that area for years. She said she has frequent encounters that go unaddressed, and since she became more vocal about the issue after the Darlene 3 Fire, said harassment from the encampment residents has increased.

“Our property backs up to BLM and our back gate really opens up to the beginnings of the Darlene encampment area. My family has … been threatened for hiking; people drive past our home at 60 miles per hour, and people throw garbage onto our property. Those things all felt small, but shortly after the Darlene 3 fire, a man and a woman showed up at our back gate.”

Bandemer continued to say the man and the woman threatened to hurt her and her dog. She called the sheriff’s office, but by the time they arrived, the pair was gone. The response, she says, was that the deputies knew where those people lived and would speak to them about the incident.

“After that, our sense of safety was destroyed,” Bandemer said.

Whether the fire was caused by people living in an encampment or not, Bentz said the frustration and fear expressed at the meeting was justified.

“Folks ought to be worried given how close they came to losing a big part of their town, so I’m not surprised at the emotion expressed today and — frankly — the fear that nothing’s going to be done … I don’t (want to) wrongfully blame whoever it was, but there is zero doubt that there is a reason we don’t want fires in the forest this time of year, and people who don’t follow the rules, we need to address.”

The BLM has not yet released the cause for the Darlene 3 Fire, but fire officials say they know the exact location and say the ignition was “human-caused.” An official cause will be released once the investigation is complete, say officials.