Crews are attacking the Durkee Fire in eastern Oregon from the air and ground. (Courtesy of the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center)
Hundreds of thousands of acres are ablaze, dozens of buildings destroyed and thousands of Oregonians face evacuation orders as firefighters battle several dozen large wildfires across Oregon, including the largest fire in the nation.
Much of the fire activity is in eastern Oregon, where the Durkee Fire was ignited last week by lightning and has scorched nearly 270,000 acres in Baker and Malheur counties. It is the biggest fire in the country, according to fire team spokesman Dana Leavitt, with more than 500 firefighters trying to prevent its spread. Leavitt said the team’s resources include aircraft, engines and hotshot crews from 26 states.
Temperatures dropped somewhat and winds calmed on Thursday, with rain falling overnight, but the fire still grew by about 30,000 acres in the past 24 hours. Officials said firefighters are facing “moderate fire behavior,” marking an improvement from earlier in the week, when they faced extreme behavior with temperatures into the 90s and wind gusts up to 75 miles per hour.
Leavitt said the fire manager was “optimistic” about the outlook on Thursday.
The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, which manages fire resources, said firefighters would “seize” the opportunity of improved weather to directly attack the Durkee Fire, which remains 0% contained.
The fire has destroyed two homes and 12 other buildings and threatens more than 350 homes and more than 380 other buildings, the coordination center said. But the sheriff’s offices in Malheur and Baker counties said Thursday that immediate evacuation orders had been lifted and that others had been scaled back or cut entirely, allowing people to return to their homes. Interstate 84 has also reopened.
But the threat is far from over.
“We would like to remind folks to remain vigilant due to the potential for rapid fire growth, which could prompt evacuation levels to change again,” the Baker County’s Sheriff Office said on Facebook .
Protect yourself
The Red Cross offers a range of tips to protect yourself and your property:
The agency’s emergency app in English and Spanish provides weather alerts, shelter locations and other information. It’s free from Apple’s app store or through Google Play.
A coordination center official told the Capital Chronicle Thursday afternoon it is tracking 38 large, uncontained fires in Oregon. Within the past week, Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for the Durkee and Battle Mountain Complex Fires, which have burned nearly 74,000 acres west of Ukiah in Umatilla County, with more than 630 homes and 680 other structures threatened and two buildings destroyed. Declaring a conflagration means the state will organize firefighters and reimburse local crews for fire fighting expenses.
“The wildfires in eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said in a statement Wednesday. “The situation is dynamic and the teams on the ground are taking it day by day.”
Earlier, Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for five other fires from central Oregon to the north, northeast and east, and she declared a statewide wildfire emergency, enabling the deployment of the National Guard and access to other state and national resources, her office said.
She has deployed the National Guard to fires in eastern and southwestern Oregon, and the State Fire Marshal’s Office, which focuses on threats to communities, has mobilized nearly 500 firefighters, including 150 from out of state, to support local agencies on the ground.
A fire marshal spokesman, John Hendricks, said the office is assigned to six wildfires in Oregon – the Durkee, Battle Mountain, Lone Rock southeast of Condon, Boneyard north of John Day, Falls northwest of Burns and Microwave Tower outside Mosier in Wasco County.
They’ve scorched nearly 670,000 acres and threaten nearly 8,800 structures, including more than 4,300 homes.
And that’s just part of the picture.
FIRE MAP
The State Fire Marshal’s map shows that spots in many areas of the state, which recently experienced a heat wave reaching triple digits, are on fire. As of Thursday, about 18,400 people faced one of three evacuation orders – Level 1 means be ready to leave, Level 2 means get set or pack your bags and Level 3 signals you must leave. More than 4,150 people are currently under orders to leave with their animals. The Red Cross is operating six evacuation shelters in Oregon in Baker City, Burns, Fossil, Hermiston, John Day and Ontario.
Other fires pose structural threats
The human-caused Falls Fire has burned more than 140,000 acres northwest of Burns and is 50% contained. The containment, which is when firefighters have stopped the fire’s spread, is on the southern border.
The fire has destroyed 13 homes and 16 other structures, and more than 1,800 homes are threatened, according to the coordination center. With so many residences at stake, officials have deployed more than 1,600 people, including helicopter and engine crews.
The Harney County Sheriff’s Office has warned of power outages and has level 3 evacuation orders in place. Lower level evacuation orders are also in effect in various areas.
The Lone Rock Fire , which has burned more than 136,000 acres, threatens nearly 790 homes and more than 580 other structures, the coordination center said. Its cause is under investigation. More than 1,000 people are deployed to the fire that’s running through brush and grass southeast of Condon and northeast of Fossil. Crews on the ground are aided by five helicopters attacking from above. The fire is 40% contained, but the steep terrain is challenging, according to an update on Wednesday.
The Battle Mountain Complex of three fires west of Ukiah is also under investigation, according to the coordination center. They are among 17 blazes in northeast Oregon that started last Wednesday. They threaten more than 630 residences, as well as 680 minor structures, two of which have been destroyed. More than 840 people are at the scene along with six helicopters.
The Monkey Creek Fire , which is part of the Battle Mountain complex, is growing toward the Boneyard Fire , another blaze that threatens property. The Boneyard Fire, sparked by lightning, has spread across about 50,000 acres and is 3% contained. The fire threatens nearly 1,200 structures, including about 300 residences.
Finally, Oregon State Fire Marshal officials are focused on the Microwave Tower Fire near Mosier. It is the smallest of the fires threatening property, scorching about 700 acres of timber and threatening about 430 homes and more than 800 other structures. About 115 people have been deployed to the scene, and as of Wednesday, it was 0% contained.
UPDATED with current fire information from the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center at 5:08 p.m. on Thursday, July 25, 2024.
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