Oregon Public Broadcasting

Warm Springs firefighters Tuesday completely shut down the first wildfire of the season on the tribal reservation southeast of Mount Hood.

A backyard rubbish burn sparked the 200-acre fire.  It caught local firefighters by surprise. Many had expected the summer to stay quiet, because so much snow is still on the ground after a wet and cold spring.

Brad Donahue is a Warm Springs firefighter.

Brad Donahue: “This is early for us. Generally, our fire season starts in July. People think, oh, it rained a lot. But that makes the grass and vegetation grow twice as much as what we're used to, and there is a lot of grass. So that's what is fueling these fires. Hopefully that will put a damper on the timber fires and so its looking like we will have a big range fire season.”

In the weekend fire, winds up to 30-miles-an-hour pushed the blaze.

Donahue says winds on the reservation are famously strong, and so brush fires can spread quickly.

No homes were damaged over the weekend, although the fire did start in a residential area.