Wildfires across Oregon grow over the weekend, covering more than 700,000 acres

Firefighters on Monday continued to battle several fires across Oregon covering more than half a million acres, some of which grew rapidly over the weekend as temperatures remained high and winds kicked up.

In Eastern Oregon, high winds up to 50 mph fanned the Durkee Fire, which grew rapidly and merged with the Cow Valley Fire, sprawling over more than 300,000 acres south of Baker City. Though the Cow Valley Fire was roughly 78% contained by Monday morning, the Durkee Fire remained uncontrolled. Multiple road closures have been reported in the area. Level 3 evacuations were also in place for the area.

In Morrow County, the Lone Rock Fire grew by nearly 40,000 acres, to a total of more than 120,00 acres, but remained about 40% contained.

West of Ukiah, Oregon, firefighters continue to fight three fires the Department of Forestry’s Incident Management team is calling the Battle Mountain Complex. Those fires — Monkey Creek, Snake and North Fork Owens — covered nearly 30,000 acres by Monday morning.

Firefighters were able to create and hold a line around the nearly 3,900-acre North Fork Owens fire over the weekend, allowing officials to shift resources Monday to the other two fires.

Crews have been able to so far hold the 7,500-acre Snake Fire west of Highway 395. A road closure remains in effect on the highway, between mile posts 50 through 90, beginning 35 miles south of Pilot Rock. Firefighters have been focusing on protecting structures and attempting to curb the fire’s growth near the town of Dale.

Meanwhile, the Monkey Creek Fire grew to roughly 18,586 acres, as strong winds out of the north and northwest pushed flames toward Ritter. But as of Monday morning, firefighters had been able to keep the fire north of the John Day Middle Fork River.

Red Flag warnings persisted Monday in the area as firefighters continued to face challenging terrain with craggy hillsides, loose rock and rolling debris. The Umatilla County Sheriff issued some evacuation orders for the area.

Fires by the numbers

• Durkee Fire, Baker County — 173,758 acres, 0% contained; evacuation updates here
• Lone Rock Fire, Morrow County — 124,556 acres, 40% contained; evacuation updates here
• Falls Fire, Harney County — 132,951 acres, 16% contained, 11 homes destroyed and more than 2,000 homes at risk; evacuation updates here
• Cow Valley Fire, Harney County — 133,490 acres, 78% contained; evacuation updates here
• Larch Creek Fire, Wasco County — 18,286 acres, 81% contained; all evacuation orders lifted

Why it matters

Since early July, temperatures across much of the Northwest have been hotter than the norm. It’s part of a broader trend Oregon’s state climatologist has attributed to climate change. That’s dried out areas that had finally emerged from drought and created prime conditions for wildfires.

Related: Oregon is seeing an ‘aggressive start’ to its wildfire season. Many have been human-caused

State advice on wildfire prevention

Fire officials are urging people to play their part in preventing wildfires.

Oregon Department of Forestry’s Jessica Neujahr said Monday one of the biggest things people can do to help is to check their local fire restrictions. Neujahr warns that something as simple as mowing your lawn during restricted times can easily spark a wildfire.

Other everyday tasks like driving a vehicle with a faulty part or parking over dry grass can also ignite a fire.

Resources:

• How to tighten up your emergency plan
• How to prepare for wildfire smoke
• Air quality updates from the Oregon Smoke Information blog
• Updates in Spanish at Oregonhumo.org

This story may be updated.