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The combustible combination of lightning, a record-setting heat wave, a weeks-long dry spell and gale-force winds on Sunday afternoon, July 31, contributed to Baker Countys biggest wildfire so far this year.

The Big Rattlesnake fire burned 425 acres in the remote Powder River Canyon between Thief Valley Reservoir and Highway 203, and for a few hours posed a threat to several homes.

The Baker County Sheriffs Office issued a Level 2 evacuation notice be prepared to leave at a moments notice for five or six homes on the west side of Highway 203 on Sunday evening, and a Level 1 notice be ready for the possible need to evacuate for residents east of the highway along Miles Bridge Road.

No one was evacuated, and no structures were damaged, said Jason Yencopal, the countys emergency manager. The evacuation notice was canceled for areas east of the highway on Monday morning, Aug. 1, and reduced to Level 1 for homes west of the highway, Sheriff Travis Ash said.

There are three levels of evacuation notice. Under Level 3, which was not initiated for the Big Rattlesnake fire, residents are told to leave immediately.

Ash said on Monday morning that the preliminary evacuation notices were given as a precaution mainly due to the strong winds that initially caused the fire, which was reported a little before 5 p.m., to grow rapidly.

When the wind calmed later Sunday evening, the fire activity also slowed, Ash said.

Jonathan Dunbar, fire duty officer for the Bureau of Land Managements Vale District, said the fire did not grow overnight Sunday into Monday.

Crews will continue to secure the perimeter and mop up today, Dunbar said in a press release Monday morning.

Rancher grateful for fast work by firefighters

Mike McGinnis smelled the smoke and watched the powerful gusts bending the grass near the ranch he and his wife, Nicky, own just west of Highway 203 between the Powder River and Medical Springs.

McGinnis feared that if the flames crossed the Big Creek canyon, which is between his home and where the fire started, those winds could quickly push the fire toward his house and outbuildings.

But later on Sunday evening the wind shifted direction, he said, blowing the flames back toward areas that had already burned.

McGinnis said the fire didnt get closer than about a mile to his home.

On Monday morning McGinnis said he was grateful for the amazing response by firefighters, many of them volunteers from local districts.

You just cannot say enough about these rural volunteer firefighters, McGinnis said. Theyre willing to put everything on the line. Were blessed with a great community. People truly care. Its a great feeling.

McGinnis said he was home when the storm that sparked the fire passed through.

Terrain blocks his view of the spot where the lightning bolt struck, but McGinnis said a neighbor, John Wirth, saw the lightning and phoned after seeing the smoke rising.

Wirth said he was driving on Blue Mountain Ridge Road, which follows a spine of high ground east of Highway 203, when he saw the thunderstorm approaching.

Wirth said when lightning threatens he usually tries to find an elevated vantage point to watch for downstrikes and the fires that are likely to start as a result. He said he has seen that happen several times.

On Sunday evening, Wirth said he could see flames within just a few seconds of the bolt hitting west of Big Creek.

Its just about immediate fire, he said. Theres a lot of fuel, and there was a lot of wind then.

On Monday morning, McGinnis said he was watching through binoculars as firefighters worked on the blaze, which seemed to be mainly out, although he did see some smoke.

Theyre doing a great job, he said.

Winds caused major concern

Although there are no weather stations close to the fire, the wind gauge at the Baker City Airport recorded a peak gust of 62 mph at 7:38 p.m. on Sunday.

Winds propelled a dust cloud from a fallow field just north of Baker City a little after 7 p.m.

Buzz Harper, chief of the Keating Rural Fire Protection District, estimated winds were gusting between 45 and 50 mph when he arrived Sunday evening.

Colby Thompson, chief of the North Powder Rural Fire Protection District, said the wind direction shifted four times while he was working on the fire Sunday evening.

Three single-engine aircraft dropped retardant ahead of the fire on Sunday evening, said Larisa Bogardus, public affairs officer for the Bureau of Land Managements Vale District.

Harper served as incident commander for areas along Highway 203, and he assigned fire trucks to protect the McGinnis ranch and several other homes west of the highway, which leads north through Pondosa and Medical Springs to Union.

The trucks were reassigned later on Sunday evening after the threat eased, Ash said.

Highway 203 was closed temporarily except for fire vehicles and local traffic.

Everybody did really well, Harper said on Monday morning. We had a lot of resources.

He credited the Sheriffs Office and Oregon State Police for helping notify residents about evacuation levels, and the Oregon Department of Transportation for coordinating the highway closure.

Harper said the Sheriffs Offices mobile communications trailer was also a benefit to the multiple agencies that responded.

Fuels have dried during recent rainless stretch

The fire started about half a mile north of the Powder River and about a mile west of Big Creek.

Both the river and the creek flow through deep, steep canyons.

The fire burned in dense thickets of sagebrush, with lighter fuels on ridgetops, Bogardus said.

Fuels have dried considerably during a lengthy rainless stretch that followed the damp, cool spring.

The Baker City Airport has recorded just 0.08 of an inch of rain scarcely enough to dampen the ground since June 4.

Phil Whitley, chief of the Medical Springs Rural Fire Protection District, said rain fell in the area Sunday evening, but amounts were generally meager.

The fire burned on both public and private land, Bogardus said.

The area includes sage grouse habitat, she said.

The fire is within the BLMs 5,880-acre Powder River Canyon Area of Critical Environmental Concern. The agency manages the public land to protect raptor and wildlife habitat and scenic qualities, according to a BLM press release.

On Monday morning, six fire engines were working on the fire and two 20-person crews were en route, Bogardus said.

Single-engine tankers and helicopters were available if needed, she said.

Whitley, who lives near Medical Springs, said he saw several lightning bolts before receiving a page on his radio about the fire.

Whitley said seven volunteers from the Medical Springs district assembled. They tried to reach the fire from a dirt road that leads west from Highway 203, but Whitley said the road, which descends into the Big Creek canyon, crosses the creek and continues west up the Powder River, was too rough to negotiate with a truck laden with water.

Whitley said crews from other agencies were able to get to the fire via that route later.

Thompson, chief of the North Powder Rural Fire Protection District, said volunteers from the department used a bulldozer to make the road passable to fire engines, including four from the North Powder district. A total of 17 volunteers from the district worked on the fire Sunday, Thompson said.

A major focus initially was to protect the McGinnis ranch, Whitley said.

Their home was closest to the fire, and the powerful winds, which were shifting direction frequently, made it difficult to predict where the fire was moving, Whitley said.

Other agencies that responded to the Big Rattlesnake fire include the Baker Rural Fire Protection District, Lookout-Glasgow Rangeland Fire Protection Association and Eagle Valley Rural Fire Protection District.

Other, smaller fires reported

Lightning from a series of thunderstorms that moved through the region Sunday afternoon and evening sparked at least two other, much smaller, blazes.

One burned a quarter of an acre about 2.5 miles north of Anthony Lakes.

The other burned less than a tenth of an acre near the Kelly Mine, about 2 miles north of Bourne.

The combination of hot temperatures a record high was set at the Baker City Airport on July 29, and the record tied on July 30 and lack of rain has resulted in rapidly rising fire danger.

The Energy Release Component, a measurement of how fast a fire would spread, had been below average for most of the summer for each of the six regions that the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center in La Grande monitors.

But over the last week of July that figure, which is updated daily, climbed above average in each region.

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Wind-fanned lightning fire prompted precautionary evacuation notices near Medical Springs Sunday evening - Baker City Herald

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