About 400 firefighters are deployed to the Crazy Creek Fire in Central Oregon.
A helicopter carries water to fight the Crazy Creek Fire north of Paulina, Ore., on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. Flights are restricted over the area – except for firefighting aircraft.
Courtesy of Crazy Creek Fire Incident Command
They’ve protected a historic school house and several campgrounds in an area of the Ochoco National Forest about 16 miles north of Paulina. But crews are stretched thin, especially to the west of the fire, and changing weather conditions could make the job more difficult later this week.
“It’s going to be drastically warmer and dryer the next couple days. Temperatures are going to be in the high 80s and 90s and we’ve got wind gusts of about 15-18 miles an hour,” said Cliff Russell, spokesman for the firefighting effort. “With those winds, it’s going to push that fire through that landscape”
Crews spent Wednesday protecting historic structures within the Roba Ranch area.
Ochoco National Forest managers have closed public access to the forest’s Paulina District, and the fire prompted the cancellation of the annual Oregon Star Party, originally scheduled to run July 30-Aug. 4.
Wildfires have charred more than a million acres across Oregon so far this year, and more than a dozen large fires are still actively burning.