Deputy fire marshal credits encampment’s help in high-wind fire fight

Homeless encampment residents from Juniper Ridge helped keep a fire from spreading Wednesday after an RV caught fire, limiting the damage to less than a quarter of an acre despite winds and high temperatures.

“I know the encampments up there are a divisive topic, but there are some good things that came out of it,” said Deputy Fire Marshal Dan Derlacki, “Eight to 10 residents were up there that had shovels and rakes and small fire extinguishers. They helped stop the fire from getting to other RVs and igniting other areas.”

Bend Fire & Rescue responded around 2:30 p.m. to reports of an RV on fire on county lands near Wiley Circle, just east of U.S. Highway 97. Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived first and found the RV and an adjacent vehicle engulfed in flames, with fire beginning to spread into nearby grass.

Firefighters arrived eight minutes later, which is when Derlacki said he broke off from the team to help residents coordinate their own firefighting efforts. With the encampment’s help, crews were able to bring the RV fire under control quickly despite temperatures in the upper 80s and winds between 6 and 13 mph.

“It was super hot and windy yesterday, so we did have spot fires up to 100 yards away,” Derlacki said. “The fire was on the county-owned part of Juniper Ridge and the county had gone in and done a bunch of fuel mitigation. They thinned out brush and put border around it. That alone helped keep the fire from spreading any quicker than it did.”

Over the winter, both the county and the City of Bend conducted fuel reduction efforts after the Milemarker 132 fire near Juniper Ridge last summer prompted concerns about fire risk in area near homeless encampments. In addition to brush clearing, the city also started supplying homeless residents with fire extinguishers — many of which were used in the firefighting efforts Wednesday, Derlacki said.

The few trees that did catch fire were directly adjacent to the RV, Derlacki said, and ignited from the main fire, not from drifting embers. Crews from the U.S. Forest Service have cut down any large burning juniper trees that could have reignited the fire and Bend Fire & Rescue will continue to monitor the area for flare-ups.

No one was injured during the fire, but one dog was killed. The cause is still under investigation.

The area around Wiley Circle has only become more crowded after the Forest Service cleared the encampments along China Hat Road on May 1, forcing many of those camped there to move north toward Juniper Ridge. The county plans to close the entire 1,350 acres of Juniper Ridge to camping by the end of 2026, as service providers work to connect more and more people with housing or shelter.