Durkee Fire in Eastern Oregon grows to size of Multnomah County
PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – The Durkee Fire burning in Eastern Oregon continues to grow Friday after surpassing the size of Multnomah County overnight.
The largest wildfire in the U.S. currently sits at 284,273 acres, making it bigger than the state’s smallest county which contains 275,840 acres of land.
According to the State of Oregon Fires and Hotspots Dashboard, the fire has reached 20% containment as of Friday morning.
Level 3 “Go Now” evacuations: East of Highway 245, south of US Forest Service Road 11 and west of Deer Creek drainage; northwest of Iron Mountain, southeast of the Pleasant Valley area and south of Pritchard Creek; Ebell Creek from Old Highway 30 to Beaver Mountain.
Level 2 “Be Set” evacuations: South of Highway 86, east from Fivemile Creek, west of lower Timber Canyon and to the ridgetop; south of Love Reservoir Lane, east of Sardine Creek Road, and north of Lawrence Creek.
Level 1 “Be Ready: evacuations: Fivemile Creek, east of Ruckles Creek and Oregon Trail Road to Quartz Creek, and north of (I-84, the headwaters of Pritchard Creek and Love Reservoir Lane); west of Ebell Creek, north of US Forest Service Road 11, east of Highway 245 and Highway 7 and south of I-84.
“We would like to remind folks to remain vigilant due to the potential for rapid fire growth, which could prompt evacuation levels to change again,” according to Baker County Sheriff's Office.
Updates can be found on the social media pages for the Baker County Sheriff’s Office and the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office.
A lightning strike sparked the fire off I-84 near Durkee on Thursday, July 18. Since then, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act to combat the blaze, which allows additional resources from around the state to be redirected to fight the fire.
The Durkee Fire is among three other wildfires to reach “megafire” status, meaning the fires have reached a size of at least 100,000 acres, in 2024.
At least 124 active fires are burning throughout the state with more than 1,018,043 acres burned. This total surpasses the size of the entire state of Rhode Island.
Stay with KOIN 6 News as we continue our wildfire coverage.