Firefighters from the Bend Fire Department and the U.S. Forest Service snuffed out a brush fire Sunday near Shevlin Park as Bend officials prepared to meet this week to develop a wildfire protection plan for the community.

The blaze Sunday afternoon was small about one-tenth of an acre and crews had it under control at about 3 p.m.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.

Open burning is currently prohibited in Bend and Deschutes County Rural Fire Protection District No. 2, which covers most of the area around Bend. The location of the fire is near the area where the Awbrey Hall blaze started in 1990. That fire burned south, along the western edge of Bend. Nearly two dozen homes were lost in the blaze.

To prevent another fire such as the Awbrey Hall Fire or to give fires like the one Sunday less of a chance to grow, Bend is in the process of creating a wildfire protection plan. Under the 2003 Healthy Forests Restoration Act, areas identified in community wildfire protection plans can bypass some environmental review to speed up thinning projects. Rather than studying three or four alternatives, government agencies would only have to consider one.

The city will be holding a series of meetings to discuss how to prioritize fuel reduction projects.

Meetings will be held:

Tuesday at Elk Meadow Elementary School

Thursday at Summit High School

Tuesday, Aug. 23, at Lava Ridge Elementary

Each meeting begins at 7 p.m.

People who would like to participate in the process can contact Chief Don Jenson at 322-6300 or the Project Wildfire office at 322-6396.