LA PINE, OR -- Many of the state resources deployed to the Darlene 3 Fire have been released, and evacuation warnings in La Pine were reduced over the weekend. As of Monday morning, the fire remains 3,889 acres and containment has increased to 75%. But controversy is brewing in La Pine over the fire's cause.
The Darlene 3 Fire started a week ago on Bureau of Land Management land, southeast of La Pine. At a community meeting Friday, the BLM’s Lisa Clark said investigators have determined it was human caused, "We haven’t had lightning in the area, so we can eliminate that. And our investigators are at the scene, working with evidence that they’ve collecting, working with interviews, working with the community to narrow that down, specifically."
A social media video went viral late last week, purportedly showing the origin of the fire; flames surround a large, well-established campsite. Clark confirmed to KBND News the footage is from Darlene 3, but says investigators don’t yet know if that camper is responsible, "We actually do appreciate the presence of this video. We appreciate if anybody else has information that they can share with us about what they know or what they’ve heard in the community."
Clark says, "We are aware of the location of the start of this fire. But knowing the location is only one part of a fire investigation." She adds, "We do know that the fire is human caused. But even if we know the camp, we still don’t know the statistical reason for this fire. It could be any number of reasons: it could be somebody driving by, it could be campfire; there’s any number of reasons there and that’s what our investigators are taking a look at." Clark says investigators remain in the area, "They’re coordinating with local, county, state and federal law enforcement officers to continue with the investigation. We can’t give a lot more information than that because it is still actively ongoing."
Comments made by the public throughout Friday's virtual meeting expressed anger and frustration with the possibility a homeless camp might be responsible for a fire that threatened hundreds of homes. Clark tells KBND News, "I know people are frustrated sometimes with the presence of long-term campers on public lands. But there are- nine out of 10 fires in the United States are started by humans, and long-term campers are not the sole reason." She also notes camping and campfires were allowed in the area on the day the fire started.
Anyone with information about the Darlene 3 Fire is urged to call the Central Oregon Fire Information line at 541-316-7711.
Image taken from the Instagram video posted by user @tommy_thehun.
