Volleyball team takes top honors
at Cascade Tournament page 4
Pilot flies puppies to
forever homes page 15
Pop-up concerts soothed impact
of festival cancellation page 24
The Nugget
Vol. XL No. 37
P OSTAL CUSTOMER
News and Opinion
from Sisters, Oregon
www.NuggetNews.com
Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Milli Fire begins to wind down in Sisters
The crisis that began in
Sisters on August 12 when
the Milli Fire began has
abated. Evacuation orders
have been lifted, smoke is
clearing and some areas of
the forest closed due to the
fire are again accessible.
But the fire has left its
mark. At 24,025 acres with
60 percent containment, the
fire continues to burn on the
southwestern edge of the fire
perimeter as it moves slowly
south in the Pole Creek burn
and west into rock. The fire
intermittently puts up col-
umns of smoke as it moves
into interior pockets of
unburned fuel.
It has cost $15 million to
suppress so far, and the eco-
nomic costs due to loss of
business and event cancella-
tions is still being calculated.
Resources on scene
include 59 personnel
from the Forest Service,
the BLM, the Oregon
Department of Forestry and
the Oregon Department of
Transportation.
Firefighters have been
PHOTO BY JIM CORNELIUS
For the first time in weeks, folks in Sisters can clearly see the mountain skyline as smoke from Oregon’s
multitude of fires — including the 24,079-acre Milli Fire — abates.
patrolling, mopping up and
repairing containment lines.
Crews also continue monitor-
ing the perimeter as it pushes
into the lava flows along
Highway 242, ensuring that
all hot spots are monitored
until cold.
The area closure in place
for the Milli Fire has been
reduced. While the western,
southern and eastern bound-
aries of the closure remain
the same, the northern bor-
der has decreased to open
access around Black Butte
Ranch and Cold Springs
Campground.
Acreage on this fire will
likely grow moderately this
week, fire officials report.
The west side of the fire
continues to burn down-
slope with occasional torch-
ing in pockets of timber in
the Three Sisters Wilderness
PRE-SORTED STANDARD
ECRWSS
U.S. POSTAGE PAID
Sisters, OR
Permit No. 15
and will continue to extin-
guish naturally when it runs
out of fuel in the lava fields.
Fire will also continue a slow
move to the southwest in the
Pole Creek burn area where
overhead hazards remain a
concern for firefighter safety.
When necessary, firefight-
ers will utilize indirect fire-
fighting tactics like helicop-
ter bucket drops to cool hot
spots.
Sisters Folk
Festival
looks to
future after
cancellation
As a pall of dense smoke
settled across Sisters on
Wednesday, September 6, an
emergency meeting of the
executive committee of the
Sisters Folk Festival’s board
of directors convened to
make a decision each of those
involved described as painful
and gut-wrenching: For the
first time in the two-decade
history of the event, they were
forced to cancel.
The cancellation was a
blow to artists, music-loving
patrons and the businesses in
Sisters that host venues and
cater to the festivalgoers.
Board chairman Kerry
Bott told The Nugget that the
See CANCELLATION on page 30
Highway 242 to remain
closed due to fire
Sisters graduate is ‘best warrior’
The McKenzie Highway is
a scenic byway and a favorite
ride for bicyclists and motor-
cycle riders from across the
region. This summer, it’s also
served as an anchor point for
containment lines around the
northern and western edges of
the 24,079-acre Milli Fire.
The encroachment of fire
has left burned snags along
the roadway on Highway 242,
and tree branches and other
debris are scattered along the
route. According to Oregon
Department of Transportation
spokesmen, the route will
remain closed until damage
and hazards are assessed and
whatever action required is
taken.
Snags in particular pose
Sgt. Dane Moorehead,
2008 graduate of Sisters
High School, was named the
Non-Commissioned Officer
(NCO) of the Year in the
2017 Oregon Best Warrior
Competition held August
24-26, at Camp Rilea near
Warrenton, Oregon.
Moorehead was one of
15 Oregon National Guard
soldiers who competed for
the elite titles of Soldier and
NCO of the Year in a grueling
competition that tested their
mental and physical resolve.
Moorehead has been with
B Troop, 1st Squadron, 82nd
Cavalry Regiment, 82nd
Brigade Troop Command,
since June 2010. In 2014-15,
he was deployed and served
Inside...
a hazard both to work crews
and the traveling public, and
they will have to be removed.
Burned trees can fall across
the roadway, sometimes long
after fire has moved through.
Wind and the weight of snow
or shifting soils due to rain can
bring them down. ODOT will
work with the Forest Service
to identify hazard trees, and
crews will cut them down.
How long the closure will
be in place and whether the
road will be reopened at all
before the snow flies remains
to be seen.
“We anticipate that it will
be closed for a while yet,” said
ODOT public affairs official
Tom Strandberg. “Safety is
our primary concern.”
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
PHOTO PROVIDED
Sgt. Dane Moorehead (center), 2008 Sisters graduate, is the 2017 Oregon
National Guard Best Warrior Non-Commissioned Officer of the Year.
11 months in Afghanistan
in Operation Enduring
Freedom. He earned several
medals during that deploy-
ment, including the Army
Commendation Medal with
Valor for his actions while his
unit was under enemy fire.
Competition included
the Omaha Beach event,
See MOOREHEAD on page 17
Letters/Weather ................ 2 Obituaries ......................... 6 Movies & Entertainment ....13 Hike .................................20 Classifieds ..................26-28
Meetings ........................... 3 Announcements ................12 Paw Prints ....................... 14 Crossword ....................... 25 Real Estate .................28-32