Heppner Ranger District is temporarily closed

By Terry Murry on Sunday, July 21st, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories

PENDLETON – (News release from the Umatilla National Forest) Due to active wildfires on Heppner Ranger District, compounded by extremely unfavorable weather conditions, limited firefighting resources and concern for public safety, forest officials on the Umatilla National Forest are Temporarily closing the Heppner Ranger District.

The objective of the closure is to proactively protect public and firefighter safety as multiple Incident Management Teams continue to actively suppress large wildfires on the Heppner Ranger District, while local resources respond to potential new smoke reports. Two large wildfires are currently burning on the Heppner Ranger District, Lone Rock Fire is estimated to be over 116,000 acres in size, with 40% containment and Boneyard Fire, which is currently estimated to be over 8,300 acres and 0% contained. All fires have active suppression efforts taking place and are being managed by Incident Management Teams. Lone Rock and Boneyard Fires have triggered evacuation orders for multiple towns. With multiple large wildfires burning on the Heppner Ranger District and two other large wildfires (Cougar Creek and Battle Mountain Complex) burning on the Umatilla National Forest, compounded by multiple active large wildfires burning across the region, firefighting resources are stretched thin. Forest officials have implemented the Heppner Ranger District closure for public and firefighter safety.

This closure means that the public is prohibited from entering lands, roads, trails, and recreational facilities on the Heppner Ranger District. Access on county, state or federal roadways will not be affected by this order.

A detailed map and description of the closure area is available on the Forest website and at any Forest office. Closure barriers and signs will be posted on the ground. Please be aware that additional area closures remain in place on the North Fork John Day and Pomeroy Ranger Districts due to active large wildfires. For more information visit https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/umatilla/alerts-notices/?cid=stelprdb5286768

Additional Information on the Battle Mountain Complex, Bone Yard, Cougar Creek, and Lone Rock Fires is available at:

Battle Mountain Complex: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/or97s-battle-mountain-complex
Bone Yard Fire: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/or95s-boneyard-fire
Cougar Creek Fire: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/wases-cougar-creek-fire
Lone Rock Fire: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/orprd-lone-rock-fire

Extreme heat and dry conditions are expected to persist throughout the week. Fire officials want to remind everyone that the current fire danger rating remains at EXTREME and public use restriction phase C will be going into effect Monday, July 22 on the Umatilla National Forest.

The National Multi-Agency Coordination Group set the National Preparedness Level to 5 (PL 5) on July 18, 2024 due to significant fire activity occurring in multiple geographic areas, an increase in incident management team mobilization, and heavy shared resource commitment to large fires nationally. PL 5 is the highest level of wildland fire activity. Several geographic areas are experiencing large, complex wildland incidents, which have the potential to exhaust national wildland firefighting resources.