By Richard Cockle
The Oregonian
Copyright 2007 The Sunday Oregonian
All Rights Reserved
PORTLAND, Ore. — Crews battled to save six homes, a fire lookout tower and a dozen outbuildings Saturday from fast-moving wildfires in southeastern Oregon.
The biggest of those wildfires, the 20,000-acre Bartlett Mountain Fire along U.S. 20 between Juntura and Buchanan, was burning in sagebrush, grass and juniper and threatening 18 buildings, said Marc Hollen, spokesman for the Northwest Interagency Fire Coordination Center in Portland.
It was among dozens of new wildfires ignited by dry lightning Friday night in Harney and Malheur counties. More than 880 lightning strikes in two hours touched off in excess of 50 new wildfires.
Crew leaders were asking for “lots” of additional firefighters, Hollen said. They feared that because of the hot, 100-degree weather and low humidity in that part of the state, some fires might burn actively through Saturday night and into today, he said.
Also at risk was the Calamity Fire Lookout, 20 miles northwest of Burns. It was threatened by fires in a wildfire complex in the Calamity Butte area that have blackened about 200 acres. A fire management team was expected to be based in the town of Seneca to coordinate the battle against the six fires in that complex, Hollen said.
Authorities reopened U.S. 20 between Buchanan and Juntura on Saturday afternoon after smoke and poor visibility from the Bartlett Mountain Fire forced them to close it, Hollen said. At one point, that fire swept across five miles of high desert in three hours.
Motorists were advised to drive cautiously on the reopened highway, he said.
A base camp was being established at the Harney County Fairgrounds in Burns for crews manning the Bartlett Mountain Fire.
One of the wildfires was an 80-acre blaze that nearly forced evacuation of the high desert town of Drewsey, population 20, late Friday.
Residents of that unincorporated ranching community east of Burns were warned they might have to leave because of flames driven by 30 mph winds, said retired rancher Pat Cronin, 78, who lives nearby. The winds shifted, taking the flames to the south and east.
“That fire was a-goin’ leaps and bounds,” Cronin said. “I can never remember a fire like this.”
Eighteen to 20 fires called the Egley Complex also were actively burning 11 miles northwest of the town of Riley between Dry Mountain and Bald Butte, 45 miles west of Burns. That cluster of wildfires had charred at least 200 acres.
Other major fires were burning in isolated areas of the two counties. They included:
* Saddle Butte Fire, 50 miles south of Nyssa along Owyhee Reservoir. It blackened 2,400 acres at last report.
* Ironside Fire, 10 miles southwest of Ironside. It burned 150 acres.
* Round Top Butte Fire, nearly 9,870 acres. It was 25 percent contained behind fire lines by Saturday morning.