Around the Northwest, hot, dry, windy weather fuels fires

Dry, hot and windy conditions have communities on alert for wildfire danger across the Pacific Northwest. Those conditions propelled fire growth over the weekend, and more of the same weather is expected this week.

In eastern Oregon, two large fires are burning. The Falls Fire that started on Wednesday is burning northwest of Burns, Oregon. Thomas Kyle-Milward, a public information officer with Northwest Incident Management Team 8, said the fire grew nearly 50,000 acres in just about a day. Wind was the propellant in the fire.

It’s now grown to over 64,000 acres and with dry, hot and windy conditions expected, Kyle-Milward said he anticipates more fire activity. 

Evacuation notices in Harney and Grant counties are detailed on the Harney County Sheriff’s evacuation map and the Grant County emergency management’s Facebook.

Around the fire and into parts of northeastern Oregon, the air quality has been designated as unhealthy.

At the fire camp, Kyle-Milward said crews are seeing quite a bit of smoke blowing in in the morning. The incident command teams held a community meeting about the Falls Fire on Sunday evening and Kyle-Milward said a number of residents had questions about air quality. 

At the senior center in Burns, air scrubbers have been put in place to allow people to get a reprieve from the polluted air. The public is welcome to go there to get some fresh air and snacks, Kyle-Milward said.

“Local people are taking care of each other. It sounds like some good work is being done there,” he said. 

The Cow Valley fire in Oregon on Saturday. (Credit: Dan Martin / Inciweb)

East of the Falls fire, the Cow Valley fire is burning through dry grass and sagebrush on both sides of U.S. Highway 26. On Friday, just a day after the fire started, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act, allowing the fire marshal to enlist help from across Oregon. 

The fire has grown to over 133,000 acres with nearly 400 personnel working on it. 

With wind moving the fire west, there is now a level two evacuation advisory in effect for the Westfall area. A map with updated evacuation areas for Oregon fires can be found here. 

A firefighter works on the Pioneer fire in Chelan County. (Credit: Inciweb)

Pioneer fire still ablaze a month later

In Washington state, the Pioneer fire in Chelan County has been burning for over a month. Over the weekend, the fire crossed Fish Creek.

Crews were working in the area on Sunday when spot fires broke out from the main fire, said Heather Appelhof, a public information officer on the scene. She said firefighters had to leave the area. 

This prompted Chelan County Emergency Management to issue a level one evacuation advisory for the Stehekin Area. Chelan County continues to update evacuation orders as necessary here. 

Hot temperatures and dry fuel have kept the fire going and growing; it’s now burned over 18,000 acres.

“Whenever we have high temperatures, low humidity,” Appelhof said. “We do anticipate (fire activity) can pick up under those conditions.”

Parts of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest around the fire remain closed.

Crews working on the blaze have gained some ground and now have a containment line on the shore of Lake Chelan. The fire, which started on June 8, is now 14% contained. But given that it is burning in remote and rugged terrain, the fire will likely be on the landscape for sometime, Ryan Rodruck, a public information officer on the fire, told NWPB in a June interview.

Aerial crews are dropping water from buckets on the fire, but firefighters are having to use fire retardant sparingly and carefully as they have to avoid dropping it in the Lake Chelan watershed, Appelhof said. 

An aerial view of the Bench Lake fire in Idaho. (Credit: Inciweb)

Bench Lake fire continues to burn

In Idaho, the Bench Lake fire that started on Thursday has burned over 1,200 acres. The fire is in the Sawtooth mountain range in eastern Idaho.

The nearby Red Fish recreation complex, which included a lodge, campground and trails are closed. Piper Brent, a public information officer on the scene, said crews on the ground are working to protect structures and stop the fire from spreading. 

“Crews are making good progress and we’re doing what we can,” Brent said. 

People traveling in the area should be extra cautious when driving on state Highway 75. There’s increased human traffic from recreation seekers and fire crews moving into the area, as well as animals getting away from the fire and smoke. 

Beyond the fire bounds, eastern Idaho is socked in with hazy skies from this and other fires around the Northwest. Air quality ratings across the Northwest can be found on the Washington smoke blog. 

With critical fire conditions, there are many burn bans in place across the Northwest. For instance, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources has issued a statewide burn ban.