An aerial photo of the Coyote Creek fire burning south of Jordan Valley. (Photo courtesy of the BLM)
VALE – Five fires are burning across Malheur County after thunderstorms rolled through the region, according to a report released Friday morning by the Vale BLM. Three of those fires are contained and two are listed as smoldering and half contained.
The Coyote Creek fire is 598 acres 18 miles south of Jordan Valley and is half contained. The fire was started by lightning on Thursday and is smoldering on grazing lands as well as state-owned land.
There are 11 fire engines, two dozers, and two water tenders fighting that blaze from the Jordan Valley Rural Fire Protection Association as well as the Boise BLM.
The Iron fire, also listed as smoldering, is 87 acres and is 10 miles northwest of Rome and is 50 percent contained. That fire was also started by lightning.
There are four fire engines, one helicopter, and one water tender as well as crews from the Jordan Valley RFPA and the Burns Interagency fire team.
The three other fires — the Sand Springs, Wheel, and Milepost 106 — are all believed to be human caused and are contained. Investigations into those fires are ongoing.
There were no accidents, injuries, or road closures reported in relation to any of these fires nor was there any damage to private property.
Much of Malheur County is still under a ‘red flag’ warning from the National Weather Service as more lightning and some wind is expected in the area throughout the evening Friday.
The initial version of this post had the Coyote Creek fire listed at 2,000 acres and the Iron fire listed at 150 acres. The article has been updated with current acreage provided by the Vale BLM late Friday morning .