A fire has ignited in the central Oregon city of Redmond, prompting evacuations and closing Redmond Airport and a highway.
The fire was reported Tuesday afternoon near the Redmond Air Center and was estimated at 200 acres by 4 p.m., The Bulletin reported.
Redmond Airport director Zach Bass said the airport closed to air travel Tuesday afternoon and one operations building on airport property was evacuated. Bass says flights were diverted, delayed or canceled.
Firefighters had earlier contained a smaller brush fire nearby. State Highway 126 was also closed. Redmond’s Fire Chief Ken Kehmna said nearby homeless encampments have been evacuated. The causes of both fires are under investigation.
“They aren’t concentrated, which is exacerbating the problem,” he said Tuesday afternoon.
Approximately 325 residential and commercial structures were contacted to be evacuated, Kehmna said. No injuries or deaths have been reported. No major property damage has been reported, though the personal property of the homeless campers could be impacted, he said.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office’s issued evacuation notices in the area.
The Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center was a designated evacuation shelter site, said center director Geoff Hinds.