Note: I’m continuing to update this post as the summer goes along.
Oregon is having a really bad fire season. July started off blazing hot with scorching temperatures throughout the 4th of July weekend. It stayed hot for several weeks after that. On July 3 the Shelly Fire started along the PCT in the Marble Mountain Wilderness in northern California, sending smoke up into Oregon. (Probably human-caused.) Then humans got busy starting fires around here:
- July 9: Larch Creek Fire near Dufur
- July 10: Falls Fire near Burns
- July 11: Cow Valley Fire near Baker City
- July 13: Lone Rock Fire near Condon (technically this one is “under investigation” but that usually ends up meaning human-caused)
Thunderstorms arrived in mid-July, starting even more fires. The largest fire is the Durkee Fire, which was started by lightning on July 17. Several Oregon lookouts are now threatened:
- Warner Mountain (staffed) on the Willamette National Forest – Coffeepot and Moss Mountain Fires (part of the Oakridge Lightning Complex)
- Madison Butte (staffed) on the Umatilla National Forest – Boneyard Fire
- Pig Iron (staffed) and Illahee Rock (unstaffed) on the Umpqua National Forest – Diamond Complex
- Bone Point (unstaffed) on the Umatilla National Forest – originally the Snake Fire, which merged with the Battle Mountain Complex
- Round Mountain (staffed) on the Deschutes National Forest – Round Mountain Fire
- Sugarloaf Mountain and King Mountain (both unstaffed) on the Malheur National Forest – Falls Fire
- Wolf Mountain (staffed) on the Ochoco National Forest – Crazy Creek Fire and Rail Ridge Fire
- Alridge Butte (staffed) – Rail Ridge Fire
- Tower Point (staffed) on the Ochoco National Forest – Wiley Flat Fire
- East Butte (staffed) on the Deschutes Naitonal Forest – Firestone Fire