The Durkee Fire, which started last week in Baker County, grew to nearly 270,000 acres by Thursday morning, and its perimeter is now 20% contained. Storms Wednesday night brought nearly 3,000 lightning strikes across the region, according to the National Weather Service.
But the Baker County Sheriff’s Office said the storms also brought much-needed rain. The sheriff called the rainfall a “godsend.”
This photo provided by the Oregon Department of Transportation shows the Durkee Fire burning in eastern Ore., Monday, July 22, 2024.
Courtesy of ODOT / AP
Some evacuation levels near the town of Huntington were actually lowered overnight from Level 3 — Go Now! — to Level 1 — Be Ready, meaning those who left their homes could return.
Amid rapidly forming storms Wednesday afternoon, the blaze has crossed Interstate 84 near Huntington, home to about 500 people.
It also merged with the Cow Valley Fire, another large blaze that had been burning nearby, Gov. Tina Kotek said.
“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said in a news release Wednesday evening, calling it a dynamic situation. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power.”
Kotek said she had deployed the National Guard to the region. The Oregon State Fire Marshal’s office also mobilized nearly 500 firefighters to help protect communities at risk.
The blaze had first prompted the Level 3 evacuations in Huntington on Sunday, and on Wednesday city officials had posted on Facebook that people remaining in town, especially those with “major health issues,” needed to leave their homes because of wildfire smoke and the lack of power.
City officials also said Wednesday that gas service to residents had been shut off until the evacuation orders were lifted.
The fire approached Alison Oszman’s home in Rye Valley, a small ranching area north of Huntington, last week, but they were able to protect their property with the help of Bureau of Land Management firefighters and neighbors, using small tanker trucks and shovels. They used a small bulldozer to keep it away from the house, she said.
Since their property was already burned and safe, her neighbor moved his horses and cattle over as the fire moved toward his ranch, she said. On Wednesday night, Oszman went to check his property and found that the fire had come down a steep hillside and threatened his home.
“I went and parked our truck out in the field just in case those big trees by his house caught fire,” she said. “I was making sure sparks didn’t land in the dirt or the dry grass. But as the fire passed his house, it started raining.” The rain helped the firefighters get on top of the blaze.
“It was pretty scary but everything seemed to fall into place,” she said. “Everybody helped everybody. It was actually pretty amazing for how crummy it really was.”
More than 60 significant fires are burning in Oregon and Washington alone, and Oregon has been plagued with hundreds of lightning strikes from thunderstorms in recent days that have started new blazes in bone-dry vegetation.
Associated Press writer Lisa Baumann contributed from Bellingham, Washington and Martha Bellisle contributed from Seattle.