MADRAS, OR -- Firefighters battle new wildfires in Central Oregon, sparked by a Sunday night thunderstorm. Near Madras, the Elk Lane Fire is estimated at 5,093 acres and 0% contained, as of Tuesday morning. Governor Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act for the fire Monday morning, clearing the way for more state resources to deploy to the area. It's her eleventh such declaration this fire season.
Sunday's storm led to 13 smoke reports; at least three turned into wildfires. "The largest of those three is the Elk Lane Fire," says Celeste Prescott, with the Central Oregon Fire Management Service. She tells KBND News it grew quickly Sunday night. Initial estimates put it at 2,700 acres in just the first eight hours, "Most of that growth happened before 4 a.m. And, you know, we had immediate quick response, but I think it’s just a combination of the vegetation, the dry, hot weather we’ve been having and we’ve had some pretty significant winds."
About 250 ground and air resources are now working the fire, "A Central Oregon Type 3 team as well as an Oregon Fire Marshal team have now gone into unified command to manage the fire," says Prescott. She says the timing of the incident hampered firefighting efforts, "When those fires don’t start until later in the evening, we only have limited use of aircraft. They have to set down at dark."
The Elk Lane Fire forced the evacuation of neighborhoods west of Madras and Metolius. Click HERE for the latest evacuation map. "That fire is definitely still threatening some structures and there’s numerous evacuation orders in place. But they really did some great work that slowed the movement toward the structures, which felt like a big win," says Prescott. The evacuation shelter moved from the Jefferson County Fairgrounds to Madras High Monday afternoon. Fire command and evacuated livestock remain at the fairgrounds.
Prescott says the Wildhorse Fire, south of Spray, is much smaller but also proving challenging, "That one’s burning in some real difficult terrain near Tamarack Creek. It has multiple hand crews, heli-attack crew and numerous other resources on it." Monday afternoon, it was estimated at 101 acres with mop-up operations underway.
The third incident - the Bennett Fire is estimated at 631 acres. Officials say it's holding within existing control lines. The Bennett Fire forced the evacuation of the small town of Antelope, but those orders were reduced to Level Two midday Monday. Tuesday morning, the Wasco County Sheriff's Office said the fire is 90% contained an all evacuations have been dropped.
Photo of the Elk Lane Fire (08/05/2024) courtesy of COFMS
