Oregon Public Broadcasting

Firefighters continue to battle a wildfire in the Deschutes National Forest and on private lands about six miles south of Sisters.

Officials this morning say more embers crossed the fireline Wednesdy afternoon. Firefighters backed off the line opting instead for a different approach.

Earl Cordes a spokesman for the Central Oregon Incident Management Team says crews on the ground started what they call a massive burnout operation. 

That’s where they start fires on the inside of the perimeter to consume unburned fuels.

Earl Cordes: "...and that’s why folks that live around here  probably saw a huge glow  last night . .. and we had a lot of smoke yesterday afternoon . . .we had a lot of aircraft flying so it was quite an aerial show for a while."

Firefighters completed their burnout late Wednesday night. Crews will try to reinforce the new line with bulldozers and hand crews Thursday.

Official estimates not place the perimeter of the fire at 5500 acres, up from 4600 late yesterday.  Cordes says much of that is the result of the burnout operation.

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