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Omaha Steve

(102,304 posts) Wed Jul 24, 2024, 09:59 PM Jul 24

Oregon fire is the largest burning in the US. Thunderstorms and high winds are exacerbating it

Source: AP

By REBECCA BOONE
Updated 8:19 PM CDT, July 24, 2024

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Powerful winds and hundreds of lightning strikes from thunderstorms rattled the Oregon-Idaho border Wednesday afternoon, pushing wildfires that include an Oregon fire which is already the largest active blaze in the nation.

The Durkee Fire, burning near the Oregon-Idaho border about 130 miles (209 kilometers) west of Boise, Idaho, caused the closure of a stretch of Interstate 84 again Wednesday. Amid rapidly forming storms in the afternoon, the blaze crossed the interstate near the town of Huntington, home to about 500 people. It also merged with the Cow Valley Fire, another large blaze that had been burning nearby, Gov. Tina Kotek said.

“The wildfires in Eastern Oregon have scaled up quickly,” Kotek said in a news release Wednesday evening, calling it a dynamic situation. “We are facing strong erratic winds over the region that could impact all fires. Rain is not getting through. Some communities do not have power.”

She said she had deployed the National Guard to the region.

Video: https://apnews.com/video/oregon-wildfires-national-national-33d613ded7054b6b8c4e65619e580256

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/oregon-wildfire-durkee-storm-winds-d52ea29c4162267312e0e6b633476fdb

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Oregon fire is the largest burning in the US. Thunderstorms and high winds are exacerbating it (Original Post) Omaha Steve Jul 24 OP

I remember how the skies would get every summer in Portland ArkansasDemocrat1 Jul 24 #1

Over in... 2naSalit Jul 25 #3

It's been thick in the Bitterroot valley. Ford_Prefect Jul 25 #2

The best thing to say about this fire is there's not much to burn between maxsolomon Jul 25 #4

I am in Ontario, Oregon, for a couple of days. valleyrogue Jul 25 #5

ArkansasDemocrat1

(2,465 posts)

1. I remember how the skies would get every summer in Portland

Reply to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Wed Jul 24, 2024, 10:40 PM

Jul 24

Can't imagine what this ones like unless it's like the 2016 Eagle Creek fire in The Gorge. That one was pretty bad.

2naSalit

(90,512 posts)

3. Over in...

Reply to ArkansasDemocrat1 (Reply #1)

Thu Jul 25, 2024, 08:12 AM

Jul 25

Montana it's been pretty smoky, the nearby mountains disappeared a few times but mostly they are merely silhouettes of themselves. I feel like I'm a two pack a day smoker.

And it's freaking hot, yesterday it was +100F and in some places much hotter. Today we are expecting the same only a little hotter. I am going to go and soak the ground in my garden before the sun is up, in a minutes, and then come back and stay inside in the AC for the rest of the day.

Not the best situation. Used to be around here that a heat wave was when it was +85F.

Ford_Prefect

(8,148 posts)

2. It's been thick in the Bitterroot valley.

Reply to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Thu Jul 25, 2024, 08:12 AM

Jul 25

maxsolomon

(34,434 posts)

4. The best thing to say about this fire is there's not much to burn between

Reply to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Thu Jul 25, 2024, 11:45 AM

Jul 25

Baker City and Ontario. Lots and lots of grass and sagebrush, with spindly conifers on north slopes. Not a lot of people, not a lot of buildings or industry.

valleyrogue

(678 posts)

5. I am in Ontario, Oregon, for a couple of days.

Reply to Omaha Steve (Original post)

Thu Jul 25, 2024, 10:03 PM

Jul 25

It is a smoky mess throughout the eastern part of Oregon and into Idaho. Yesterday, there was a cloudburst outside my motel room, which cooled things off a bit. At one point of my trip here it got to 107 degrees.

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