Wildfire Update

Firefighters spent the afternoon chasing several new starts ignited by lightning strikes that blanketed Central Oregon on Wednesday. Over 600 lightning strikes were recorded and firefighters have responded to 38 incidents, the largest of which is southeast of Maupin and estimated at 2,000 acres.

Jefferson County Rural Fire District #1 and the BLM are jointly managing a new human-caused wildfire that started behind an old gas station adjacent to the Rainbow Market on Hwy 26 just across the river from the Warm Springs Reservation. The fire started in light, grassy fuels and winds quickly drove the fire south parallel to Hwy 26 and east toward the top of the river canyon. As of 6:00 p.m. this evening, the fire is estimated at 230 acres with no estimate of containment.

Land managers remind the public to use caution with fire as conditions dry. Wildland firefighters are responding to a new fire in the Maury Mountains south of Prineville, on the Lookout Mountain Ranger District of the Ochoco National Forest, discovered yesterday afternoon along Forest Service Road 16, near the Hammer Creek trailhead about 8 miles south of Post. The Hammer Fire is estimated at 50 acres, burning in dead and down fuels with some isolated torching, in the Hammer Creek and Florida Creek drainages.