11:57 PM PDT on Saturday, August 27, 2005

By BARNEY LERTEN, KTVZ Staff

LA PINE, Ore. -- A wildfire broke out Saturday afternoon in the LaPine State Recreation Area and quickly spread to cover 125 acres, forcing evacuation of the park and about 150 threatened homes to the south, officials said.

KTVZ photo/Brittney Hopper

Flames from the Park Fire reflect off the Deschutes River near LaPine, Ore.

As the smoke plume from the Park Fire, burning in heavy fuels, drifted north into the Bend area, ash fell in the park. Winds pushed the flames toward the east-northeast, as the fire jumped the Deschutes River and moved within 50 feet of some homes, according to LaPine fire officials.

The Red Cross set up an emergency shelter at La Pine Middle School, where emergency services worker Bobbi Bourne said 187 people had checked in by around 9 p.m. People can call 541-382-2142 to check for names on that list, according to Carol Connolly of the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center in Prineville.

It was one of two large blazes that broke out in Central Oregon around 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon. The other, Fire 753, burned about 100 acres of BLM land along the railroad tracks east of Highway 97 and south of Redmond, near the Brand Restaurant, Connolly said. It may have been started by sparks from a passing train.

Four air tankers made constant round trips from the Redmond Air Center to dump numerous retardant loads on the Park Fire until darkness fell. Authorities said they hoped to have a line around the fire by daybreak.

Evacuations were ordered from Park Drive, on the rec area's southern boundary, south to Cornell Drive, and from First Street and Boundary Road on the west to Fifth Street on the east, with residents east of Fifth Street being urged by Deschutes County sheriff's deputies to voluntarily evacuate, Connolly said.

"They do have some good (bull)dozer line around it, and are trying to tie in the dozer and hand lines," Connolly said Saturday night.