A wildfire burning in eastern Oregon forced the shutdown of a major interstate highway for about 70 miles Monday and prompted an immediate evacuation order for a small town close to the Idaho state line.
The Fox Fire triggered the closure of Interstate 84 between Baker City and Ontario, near the Idaho border, before the road was eventually reopened later in the day, according to the Oregon Department of Transportation. I-84 is a critical east-west corridor that stretches from Portland through the Columbia River Gorge and across eastern Oregon before crossing the Snake River toward Boise. Transportation officials warned that additional temporary closures remain possible as the fire continues to burn in the area.
The blaze has been burning roughly 12 miles northeast of the small town of Huntington, which is under a Level 3 “Go Now” evacuation order — the highest level — directing its approximately 500 residents to leave immediately.
Huntington Mayor Chuck Guerri said the fire surged toward the eastern edge of town early Monday morning, coming within an estimated 250 feet of the closest home before crews were able to get that portion under control. The smoke was so dense it could actually be tasted, he said.
“We did send the alarm and went around knocking on doors on the east end of town to try to get people out of here, because it was coming in pretty quick,” Guerri said. “But we had some good crews here, and they got it knocked down pretty quickly.”
With the town surrounded by open grassy rangeland, officials are keeping close watch on the fire’s movement beyond the area already addressed. “We want to make sure that they can keep that contained out there and not turn into something else,” the mayor added.
Because heavy smoke was potentially limiting visibility for aircraft, firefighters were using bulldozers to carve containment lines around Huntington near a railroad running through the area, in an effort to protect critical infrastructure, authorities said.
Fueled by hot, dry, and breezy weather, the Fox Fire has burned through nearly 72 square miles and was showing zero percent containment as of Monday.
Elsewhere in eastern Oregon, another stretch of highway was also shut down due to wildfire activity Monday — a nearly 70-mile section of U.S. Route 20 between the small cities of Burns and Vale, according to the state transportation department’s website.
In central Oregon, the Akawa Butte Fire had been designated a top firefighting priority in recent days because of its location roughly 5 miles from Sisters, a small city of around 3,000 residents. Authorities reported Sunday that fire activity had eased across much of that blaze, though part of the town remains under an evacuation notice, with residents advised to be ready to leave if conditions change.
The wave of wildfires across the Western United States this summer has followed months of dry weather, record-low snowpack in some regions, heat waves, and unpredictable winds. Federal officials announced Saturday that a fourth firefighter had died from injuries sustained after he and several coworkers were overtaken last month by a rapidly spreading wildfire near the Colorado-Utah border.
