PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon Governor Tina Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act on Friday for two wildfires burning near Bend in Central Oregon.
The Rail Ridge Fire in Grant and Crook counties has grown to over 107,000 acres since sparking Wednesday from lightning. Due to dry, hot and windy conditions, the fire has quickly grown in scale. As of Friday morning, it was 3% contained, the Oregon State Fire Marshal's office said.
In Wheeler County, the next county over, the Shoe Fly Fire is estimated to be over 24,000 acres and is 6% contained.
“The conditions we are seeing on the ground are very dynamic with several fires burning in the region and a cold front is expected to pass through," Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple said in a statment. "There’s no real relief in the forecast over the weekend and into early next week. The Oregon fire service has been extremely busy over the last few months, and I cannot thank them enough for being ready to respond to help their fellow Oregonians when they need it.”
Since the start of the summer, Kotek has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act 16 times for wildfires. To date, more than a million acres have burned across the state, making Oregon by far the worst off out of all U.S. states in terms of acres burned this summer.
