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Bend Fire Department responded to a fire on Skyline Ranch Rd just west of Awbrey Glen Golf Course this afternoon just before 4pm. A neighbor was returning home and spotted a tree smoldering in the middle of a dry grass field and called 911. As the first arriving crew arrived the fire started to spread into the grass and be carried by the wind. Within minutes the fire had grown to ¼ acre and started spreading fast. The first arriving fire engines were assisted by a water tender from Shevlin Sand and Gravel to stop the fire but not before reaching nearly an acre in size. Strong, variable winds played a factor in the speed of growth of this fire.
Crews were able to quickly stop the grass fire before it reached any trees or the small barn at the south end of the field. The tree was struck by lightning the nigh before and had been smoldering since then. The tree was not smoking earlier in the day but as the weather warmed up and the winds increased the fire started to spread.
An earlier smoldering fire was extinguished around 230pm in a large open lot east of Caldera High School. The fire was noted by passerby's and called in. The smoldering area was extinguished before it could spread to any brush and trees near by, keeping it to less than 100 sq. feet, cause unknown.