NOTE: The Enterprise is providing coverage of the heat wave for free to all as a community service.
VALE – At least two of the three fires burning in Malheur County on Thursday were triggered by humans and officials are urging residents to be extra careful as the region continues to bake under an extended heat wave, with thunderstorms rolling into the area this weekend.
Crews are continuing to work on the human-caused River Fire that has scorched 2,500 acres near the Owyhee Dam. That fire broke out Wednesday, July 10. Meanwhile two more fires are burning near Ironside, an unincorporated community in northern Malheur County.
The Cow Fire is burning on 2,600 acres nine miles east of Ironside. The Bonita Fire is burning nine miles southeast of Ironside and has consumed 1,000 acres.
Rangeland protection district crews are fighting the Cow and Bonita Fires with assistance from the Bureau of Land Management.
A fire that started Tuesday, July 9 off of Graham Boulevard, northwest of Vale near the EP Minerals plant, burned 120 acres and was not contained until Wednesday, July 10. Fire crews from Vale, Ontario, Payette, Nyssa, Param, the BLM and local rangeland protection districts responded to the human-caused fire reported about 1 p.m.
Vale Fire & Rescue spokesman Wally Whitaker said crews were compelled to return to the fire Wednesday to extinguish flare ups but now the blaze is out.
Another fire broke out near Huntington and is burning on 2,000 acres. According to a Facebook post on the Baker County Sheriff’s Facebook page, evacuations were ordered at Farewell Bend State Park and in Huntington and surrounding areas, including in the Burnt River area west to the Snake River. The blaze closed the Highway 30 westbound offramp late Wednesday and into Thursday, but according to TripCheck, the road has since opened.
Travis Johnson, Malheur County sheriff, emphasized that residents need to be cautious as the heat wave continues and the terrain around the county is bone dry.
“People need to exercise some common sense. Take a look around and be careful with what you are doing. Assess your surroundings,” he said.
Johnson also reminded residents a county burn ban is in effect.
“Don’t take a chance. If someone has a question, they should call the fire department. Remember there are consequences to bad decisions on burning no matter when it is,” he said.
The BLM has also issued updated fire restrictions on public land that will go into effect, Friday, July 12.
Prohibited activities include:
•Having any open fire. This includes campfires, debris burns, wood-fired stove/smoker/portable braziers, oil-fueled open flame devices and charcoal briquette fires.
•Smoking outside of a vehicle, trailer or buildings, except within areas barren of all vegetative materials for at least 6 feet in diameter.
•Using any type of fireworks, explosives, or other explosive or chemical composition pyrotechnic device, including exploding targets.
•Using tracer, steel component (core or jacket), or incendiary ammunition.
•Shooting any metallic object, including but not limited to using metal targets for target shooting.
•Operating a chainsaw or blowtorch, or the cutting, grinding and/or welding of metal at any hour.
•Operating or parking an internal combustion motorized vehicle outside of existing roads or ways, or traveling on a road with vegetative material that touches the undercarriage of the vehicle.
•Operating any other equipment with an internal combustion engine in an area that is not clear of vegetative material up to 10 feet in diameter.
•Operating any internal combustion motorized vehicle or equipment that is wider than 46 inches or has a dry weight of 800 pounds or more on public lands without a shovel not less than 26 inches in overall length, with a blade not less than 8 inches wide, and a container with at least one gallon of water, or a fully charged and operable 2.5 pound fire extinguisher.
Anyone violating a fire prevention order may be subject to criminal prosecution.
“To date this year, the Vale District has experienced a higher number of wildfires and acres burned and conditions will only worsen as the weeks and months progress throughout the fire season,” said Al Crouch, a fire mitigation specialist for the Vale BLM office.
Crouch said one of the “leading causes of wildfires on BLM-managed lands in eastern Oregon is due to motorized vehicles and trailers.”
“We highly recommend proper maintenance and cautious safe operation of your vehicle when visiting or driving through your public lands. It’s always a wise practice to avoid parking or driving on dry grass,” said Crouch.
Crouch said violations of a fire prevention order can come with steep fines or a bill for fire suppression costs.
“Fires affect us all and we need the public’s help to prevent the next human-caused fire. This is all about spark management. One less spark could mean one less wildfire,” said Crouch.
Meanwhile, Josh Smith, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said Thursday that temperatures are expected to exceed 100. He said thunderstorms with not much rain in them are expected for the coming weekend.
The thunderstorms, according to Smith, are forecasted to have “a lot of lightning” and the area could see a significant amount of more fire starts through the weekend.
“This is not good news for the dry fuels and firefighting efforts at this point,” Smith said.
Given that Malheur County has three active wildfires, the forecast of additional fires starts are sure to bring bad air quality.
Smith said the best precautions to take with poor air quality run hand in hand with those people should take with extreme temperatures in that they should limit their time outdoors.
Smith said the long-term forecast for Malheur County shows above-normal high temperatures throughout the rest of July.
“I don’t see any major relief from the heat,” Smith said.
With the lightning storm on the way for the coming weekend, the National Weather Service in Boise issued a Fire Weather Watch from Saturday, July 13 to Monday, July 15. According to the notification, outflow winds are expected to reach 50 mph with scattered thunderstorms with “little to no precipitation and abundant lightning” that are possible through the weekend.
Thunderegg Days in Nyssa kicked off Thursday, July 11. Carmen Gonzalez with the Nyssa Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture said activities will go on as planned. A Wednesday Facebook post on the Nyssa Chamber’s page with a photo of industrial-size fans noted that, “since the heat is going to be extreme, we are taking extreme measures to keep everyone cool.”
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