Oregon Public Broadcasting

Fire crews are working on two separate fires burning along the Deschutes River Corridor in Central Oregon.  As David Nogueras reports, both are the result of lightning storms that passed though the region in the last few days.

The Fall Canyon fire is the larger of the two. It's burned about 3,200 acres of grassland 12 miles north of Grass Valley.

The smaller blaze is being called The Devil's Half-Acre Fire. But that name's a little misleading. The perimeter is actually 500 acres. 

But unlike the Fall Canyon blaze which is somewhat isolated from population centers, the Devil's Half-Acre fire is just 5 miles to the north of Maupin.

Virginia Gibbons, with the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center says there's some concern about that fire's potential to spread.

Virginia Gibbons: "Because this fire is in really flashy, grassy-type fuels it could move very quickly if we do get the winds on it and that's why we have chosen to move into a planning level one which is where the Wasco County Sherriff will go and notify the residents about the potential for an evacuation."

Gibbons says residents are encouraged to gather items such as valuable papers, medications or an overnight bag just in case they're ordered to evacuate.