Joint News Release: Recent Lightning Activity

Jamie Knight, ODF – (541)786-2039

Katy Gray, Wallowa-Whitman National Forest – (541)523-1246

La Grande, OR & Baker City, OR: Recent lightning activity across the Blue Mountains has sparked several news fires. Both lookouts and aerial reconnaissance have reported a total of 8 new lightning caused fires thus far across the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest and the Northeast Oregon Department of Forestry protection areas.

Including:

-          NE Oregon ODF: 3 new fires

-          Wallowa-Whitman National Forest: 5 new fires

The largest of the reported fires, being called the Warm Springs Fire, was contained at approximately 18 acres in size and was burning 16 miles Southwest of La Grande in the vicinity of Spool Cart Campground. The fire burned in a mix of grass and timber. The fire was contained on Monday afternoon with the help of the Union Interagency Hotshot Crew and four engines.

The other reported incidents have all been held to under a ½ acre at this time due to the excellent response of our Initial Attack resources across the Blue Mountains.

Additional hold-over fires are possible as the warm and dry trend conditions continue throughout the week. Isolated thunderstorms and increasing winds are expected over the next 2 days.

Visit the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch webpage at: www.bmidc.org or contact a local Oregon Department of Forestry or Forest Service office for more complete information.

Additional Blue Mountain Fire information can be found at: http://bluemountainfireinfo.blogspot.com/