Lighting-caused wildfires burning in Baker County
By Joe Hathaway on Wednesday, July 17th, 2024 in Eastern/Southeast Oregon News Eastern/Southeast Oregon Top Stories Northeastern Oregon News
BAKER COUNTY
UPDATE – 6:50PM: The Sheriff’s Office has created a map of the evacuation area.
UPDATE – 6:10PM: The Vale BLM says the Baker County Sheriff’s Office is shutting down Burnt River Canyon road and they are making notifications. This is precautionary and not due to immediate threat.
The Baker County Sheriff’s Office says Level 2 evacuation alerts are in place for the Durkee Fire. The area includes Lost Dutchman down toward Durkee. This will affect approximately 5-6 residences (that is a rough estimate)Deputies are going door to door.
UPDATE – 11:40AM: The Vale BLM says the Durkee Fire is now burning more than 100 acres two miles southwest of the town of Durkee. Multiple crews and multiple aircraft continue to battle the blaze.
The nearby Cave Creek Fire is now burning more than 40 acres. The BLM reports that aircraft have stopped its forward progress.
UPDATE – 10:35AM: The Vale BLM says no structures are currently threatened by these two fires at this time.
UPDATE – 10:20AM: The Vale BLM says the Cave Creek fire (six miles southwest of the Durkee fire) is 40% active and creeping. Air resources are working to keep it small.
UPDATE – 10:00AM: The Vale BLM says the Durkee fire is burning in the Lost Basin/Hollow Field area. 100 acres with multiple crews on scene along with BLM. Aviation en route.
The BLM says there’s another fire, burning 5-10 acres in Cave Creek off of the Burnt River.
The Vale BLM provided a new photo of the fire in Durkee.
_______________________________________
PREVIOUS
The Baker County Sheriff’s Office says crews are enroute to a reported wildfire just off I-84 near milepost 329 in Durkee.
Use caution if you’re traveling in the area
We will continue to update this post as we receive further information.
