The B&B Complex fires were a linked pair of wildfires that together burned of Oregon forest during the summer of 2003. The fire complex began as two separate fires, the Bear Butte Fire and the Booth Fire. The two fires were reported on the same day and eventually burned together, forming a single fire area that stretched along the crest of the Cascade Mountains between Mount Jefferson and Mount Washington. On the western side of the Cascades, the fire consumed mostly Douglas-fir and western hemlock. On the eastern side of the mountains, the fire burned mostly Ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and jack pine. Most of the burned area was on public land administered by the United States Forest Service including within the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. The fire also burned forest land on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and small areas of state and private land. Firefighters battled the blaze for 34 days. At the peak of the firefighting effort, there were over 2,300 personnel working on the fire. Although the cost of fire suppression was over $38 million, there were no deaths and no homes burned as the fire was largely in wilderness areas.
Origin
The weather in the central Cascade Mountains in the area where the B&B Complex Fires occurred is highly seasonal and heavily influenced by local topography. In early August 2003, a series of thunderstorms passed over the central Cascades. Lightning strikes were recorded on 4, 5, 6, and 7 August. Over the next several weeks, a number of fires resulted from this lightning activity.
Following the storms in early August, local temperatures in central Oregon ranged from 80 to 90 degrees with relative humidity dropping below 20 percent. During this period, winds were to , peaking on 19 August at approximately . This combination of hot dry weather and high winds created extreme fire conditions. As a result, creeping fires ignited by the early August lightning storms began to burn more actively. On 15 August a small fire was reported on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. On 18 August, two more small fires were reported south of Santiam Pass near Hoodoo Ski Area. All three fires were quickly contained.
The B&B Complex Fires occurred in August and September 2003 in the central Cascades, west of Sisters, Oregon. The fire complex began as two separate wildfires; both were caused by lightning striking in early August. The Bear Butte Fire started at the north end of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness area (), approximately northwest of Sisters. It was reported by a helicopter crew from Warm Springs on 19 August at 1309 PDT. The Booth Fire started near Henkel Butte (), about west of Sisters. It was reported by the Henkel Butte Lookout the same day at 1523 PDT. The next day, the fire suppression efforts on these two fires were consolidated because of their size and proximity, creating the B&B Complex Fires.