The Pole Creek fire started on the day (September 9) our family vacation in the Bend/Redmond/Sisters area ended. By noon, a huge smoke plume was visible from Bend. We’ve often hiked in the area of the fire, and commented to ourselves how the huge number of beetle killed tress would feed a wild-fire. The photo below was taken 6 years ago and clearly shows the beetle-killed trees. Almost everything you can see in the photo is inside the boundaries of the currently 22,000 acre fire. And if you wonder what it might be like when a fire breaks out near where you are hiking, here’s a first-hand report. Fortunately, all hikers and campers in the area were safely evacuated.
Looking north from Tam McArthur Rim
So now the scene will look more like this photo from 2007 of the then recent Black Crater fire. I’m guessing that where the fire burned hottest in the dead wood there won’t be any live trees left, unlike this photo. The forest will regenerate. We hiked near Three Finger Jack through an area burned in 2003 and the new pines are 3 to 4 feet tall, so in 20 years or so this area will be a nice young forest. For a few years, though, it will be a huge scar and not very pretty.
Results of Black Crater fire, June 2007
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