Crews fighting 23,000-acre Oregon fire

Lightning storms Sunday evening started two fires on the Bureau of Land Management’s Vale District.

The smaller of the two fires is being called the Palomino Hills Fire. So far, it’s burned about fifty acres and is expected to be contained sometime Monday, officials said.

The larger fire is being called the Owyhee Canyon Fire, about 38 miles southwest of Jordan Valley. BLM officials say the fire is about 23,000 acres.

On site are six engines, a water tender, a bulldozer, three Snake River Valley hand crews and one hot shot crew, the Blm said. Air attack is also on-site conducting aerial coordination of suppression activities. More resources are on order. Two type-6 engines are en route to the fire. The fire is at zero percent containment.

Vale District Dispatch has forecasted winds upwards of 45 miles per hour – which, when coupled with high temperatures and abundant fuels in the area, means the fire has a good chance of spreading.

“Despite the wet weather earlier in the year, we still have some areas that are dangerously dry,” said Pat Ryan, Field Manager for the Vale District’s Malheur Resource Area. “It just goes to show that, with the right weather event, fires can develop quickly and spread just as fast.