Firefighters from the La Pine Rural Fire Protection District responded to a blaze Wednesday sparked by an unattended burn pile.

Fears expressed by La Pine residents at a meeting with Congressman Cliff Bentz regarding fire danger posed by rural encampments were amplified Wednesday when an unattended burn pile ignited a small brushfire.

The fire was allegedly started by Robert Pohle, 52, of La Pine,  who was living in an encampment near where the fire began on Bureau of Land Management property just south of the Huntington Meadows subdivision, according to a news release by the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office. Chief Erick Holsey with the La Pine Rural Fire Protection District confirmed Pohle was not living in an established campground.

Pohle was taken into custody on suspicion of reckless burning and lodged in the Deschutes County jail.

The fire only grew to about 30 feet by 30 feet after the burn pit ignited pine needles and underbrush nearby. The La Pine fire district, the sheriff’s office and the Oregon Department of Forestry responded to the fire.

Bentz, a Republican representing Oregon’s 2nd Congressional District, was in Central Oregon earlier this week partly to hear the concerns of residents worried about fire risk on public lands where homeless encampments can be found, he told The Bulletin. Recently the Darlene 3 Fire scorched nearly 4,000 acres east of La Pine.