Eastern Oregon fires still surge; Interstate 84 reopens

The 15,000-acre Windy Ridge Fire continued to move aggressively to the northeast toward Interstate 84 on Thursday, prompting its closure for several hours, but the freeway reopened between Ontario and Baker City late in the day.

Homes along the Ebell Creek and Alder Creek roads were evacuated Wednesday evening, Vale District Bureau of Land Management officials said.. Residents in the Sutton Creek and Beaver Creek Areas are still under a Level I evacuation notice, notifying residents to prepare to evacuate if necessary.

The BLM district said it had resources for structure protection in place in the evacuated areas, located south of Baker City. So far, they have been successful in protecting the structures.

Hand crews, engines and bulldozers are still on scene along with the Burnt River Rangeland Protection Association.

The terrain on the Windy Ridge fire is rugged and steep enough that ground crews have trouble accessing certain areas. That has necessitated aggressive air suppression, which on Thursday included includes eight single engine air tankers (SEATs), two helicopters and heavy air tankers, though increasingly scarce resources are straining air support.

The Cornet Fire is now only four miles west of the Windy Ridge fire and has grown to more than 13,000 acres. The Cornet Fire is currently being managed by the Oregon Department of Forestry. The U.S. Forest Service’s Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and the BLM’s Vale District are involved as well, as the fire is burning in their respective areas of responsibility.

A Type I Incident Command Team has arrived at their Incident Command Post at the Burnt River School in Unity, Oregon. They will be taking command of the Windy Ridge fire Friday at 6 a.m. and of the Cornet Fire Friday at 6 p.m.

About 12 miles north of Juntura, the Bendire Complex is now estimated to be 35,000 acres in size. Five bulldozers are on scene, more than 30 engines, six water tenders and six hand crews.

The focus on the Bendire Complex has been to anchor the north point on the fire and to blunt the eastward movement of the fire by flanking it from the anchor point to the south. That has been successful so far Thursday, officials said.

Vale District BLM fire personnel say as long as there is no significant wind shift, there is a good chance the fire may be on the way to containment. Structures are currently threatened at Jenkins Ranch, near Bully Creek, but firefighters have so far been able to hold the fire back.

There is currently no estimated time of containment for any of the fires; the National Preparedness Level, established by the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC), has been set to Preparedness Level-5 (PL-5), indicating very high fire activity nationwide. This is especially true throughout the Great Basin, and resources are extremely limited.

If you see or suspect a wildfire, call the Vale BLM Fire Dispatch Center at 541-473-6295. For more information on reporting wildfires in Malheur and Baker counties, as well as northeast Oregon, visit http://www.blm.gov/or/districts/vale/fire/report-fire.

Other highways around the state are still affected by wildfires; Thursday night, ODOT said US Highway 395-C was closed between milepost 10 (8 miles south of Canyon City) and mile post 25 (near Seneca) due to wildfire in the area.