Fishing Tournament and Auction to Benefit Wildland Firefighter Foundation
Prineville – Deschutes and Ochoco National Forests and Prineville District Bureau of Land Management employees invite the Central Oregon community to participate in the 4th Annual Rip-N-Lips Invitational fishing tournament and auction to benefit the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, which supports families of wildland firefighters killed in the line of duty.
The fishing tournament and auction will be held at the Prineville Reservoir Resort, 19600 SE Juniper Canyon Road near Prineville, on Saturday, May 31, 2014. The tournament begins at 5:00 a.m. on the reservoir; participation is limited to 75 boats and 150 anglers. Teams wishing to participate in the fishing tournament can get more information at https://www.facebook.com/RipNLipsInvitational or by contacting Sam Pearcy by May 11 at 541-410-0203 with questions.
The auction, music, and a BBQ will begin at 3 p.m. The Lookouts, a local band of Central Oregon firefighters, will play music and Curb-B-Q will cater the event. The auction features a wide variety of local, regional and nationally recognized companies including Cabelas, Sanrio/Hello Kitty, Hydroflask, Ricoh cameras, 10 Barrel, Old Mill BrewWerks, Worthy and Deschutes breweries.
All proceeds from the event go to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation. The non-profit Wildland Firefighter Foundation was formed as a result of the Storm King (South Canyon) Fire tragedy that killed nine Prineville Interagency Hotshots from central and eastern Oregon as well as five other firefighters. The organization honors and acknowledges past, present, and future members of the wildland firefighting community, and partners with private and interagency organizations to bring recognition to wildland firefighters. For more information about the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, please visit http://www.wffoundation.org/.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Storm King (South Canyon) Fire. Lightning started the fire on July 2, 1994, during a year of drought, seven miles west of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, near the base of Storm King Mountain. On July 6, as a cold front moved into the area, the fire made a run up drainage beneath the firefighters working above. While 35 firefighters escaped to safety, 14 perished, unable to outrun the flames.
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