{"id":953462,"date":"2026-07-23T06:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/953462\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T06:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:38:19","slug":"akawa-butte-fire-july-22-2026-evening-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/953462\/","title":{"rendered":"Akawa Butte Fire | July 22, 2026 &#8211; Evening Update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">(Sisters, OR) \u2013 Today a pyrocumulus cloud (a dense, puffy cloud created by intense surface heating) formed over the fire prior to the arrival of the forecasted thunderstorms. The pyrocumulus cloud created its own weather system over the fire area and produced its own lightning. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Extreme fire behavior due to critically dry fuels and gusty outflow winds from the afternoon thunderstorms pushed the fire downhill toward Indian Ford and Wilt Roads and has crossed the Stevens Canyon Road. Firefighters encountered 150 to 200-foot flame lengths in requiring all resources to fall back on the south end of the fire and modify tactics to maintain firefighter safety and protect structures. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heavy equipment constructed fire line in and around the Wilt Road area. Firefighters successfully extinguished numerous spot fires near Wilt Rd and No Name Rd. Four structure task forces are working swing shift into the evening hours, providing additional protection near homes. in the Indian Ford and Wilt Road areas. The fire received precipitation from today\u2019s thunderstorm. Incident Commander, Craig Pettinger, encouraged the night shift by saying, \u201cWe\u2019ve been handed a gift, and we need to take advantage of this break in the weather.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Precipitation has calmed fire activity and will provide an opportunity to flank the active fire area. Tonight, on the southern and western sides of the fire heavy equipment and crews will construct direct control lines utilizing attack where possible. Structural resources will continue to triage and provide point protection on homes through the night. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Multiple road closures went into effect today including Middle View Road, Indian Ford Road, and the section between Green Ridge Road and Meadow View Road. Central Electric Cooperative has deenergized power to homes on Stevens Canyon Road to Pine Glen Road and north of Indian Ford Road. For more information visit the Central Electric Coop website at www.cec.coop <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Weather and Fire Behavior<\/strong> A Red Flag Warning remains until 11 p.m. Winds will moderate around 9 p.m. with no additional precipitation forecasted past 11 p.m. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Public Meeting<\/strong> An in-person community meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, July 23, at the Sisters High School Auditorium. The meeting will be live-streamed for virtual attendees via Facebook on the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District Facebook Page: https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SCSRFPD <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Evacuations<\/strong> Evacuation orders are issued by the county sheriff\u2019s offices. For the most up-to-date information, visit: <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deschutes County: https:\/\/sheriff.deschutes.org\/news\/ <br \/>For an interactivemap: https:\/\/experience.arcgis.com\/experience\/6f8868c4477e462b8a653a89260268fc <br \/>Jefferson County: http:\/\/bit.ly\/3R3V6pu <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Closures <\/strong>The Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service have implemented closures in and around the fire area. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BLM Closures and Restrictions: https:\/\/www.blm.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/docs\/2026-07\/orwa-fpo-prijefferson-071826.pdf <br \/>U.S. Forest Service Forest Closure: https:\/\/www.fs.usda.gov\/r06\/deschutes\/alerts\/akawa-butte-fire-closure <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Air Quality Information<\/strong> <br \/>Air quality: https:\/\/fire.airnow.gov\/ <br \/>Smoke outlook information: https:\/\/outlooks.wildlandfiresmoke.net\/outlook\/6aaf6480<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Pyrocumulus-07222026-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-16812\"  \/><\/p>\n<p>\tDiscover more from Central Oregon Fire Information<\/p>\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\" style=\"margin-top:10px;margin-bottom:10px;font-size:15px\">Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Sisters, OR) \u2013 Today a pyrocumulus cloud (a dense, puffy cloud created by intense surface heating) formed over&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":781170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[319673,50,212,247638,67,132,68,11003],"class_list":["post-953462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","category-us","tag-deschutes-national-forest","tag-news","tag-oregon","tag-sisters","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-wildfire"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116967919593624857","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953462"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953462\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/781170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}