Oregon Wildfires Blow Past 1.1 Million Acres as 6,000 People Are Told to Go Now and Warm Springs Declares an Emergency

More than 6,000 Oregonians were under Level 3 "Go Now!" evacuation orders on Tuesday as dozens of large wildfires burned across more than 1.1 million acres of the state, an unusually destructive total for late July and one that has already pushed the season past what many districts planned for.

The most urgent situation is on the Warm Springs Reservation in central Oregon, where the Bench Fire — formed when the Bench and Beachcomb fires merged — has grown past 40,000 acres and remains zero percent contained. The blaze has destroyed six homes on the reservation along with several other structures. The tribal council of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs declared a state of emergency, and a water conservation order and boil-water notice are in effect for the community. "The fire is still expanding to the west," tribal leader Edward Henderson said.

Gov. Tina Kotek invoked the Oregon Emergency Conflagration Act for the fires threatening Warm Springs, freeing state resources for local departments that were already stretched. "It is all hands-on deck right now," Kotek said in a statement. Evacuation shelters have opened at Maupin High School and in Warm Springs itself, and Level 3 orders have also been issued for the Wasco County towns of Antelope and Shaniko.

The scale of the fire load is what makes this stretch unusual. The Rowe Creek Fire Complex has consumed 294,900 acres and is 33 percent contained, with nearly 1,400 personnel assigned to it. The Hay Creek Fire Complex has burned more than 173,000 acres. The Akawa Butte Fire, which came within about five miles of the small city of Sisters, has passed 27,000 acres at 6 percent containment. The Grasshopper Fire, which triggered Level 3 orders for the Pine Hollow and Wamic communities, has burned about 15,000 acres, with more than 2,000 people under evacuation orders in its path. The East Evans Creek Fire has topped 15,000 acres. Along the Idaho border, the Big Grass Fire has grown to roughly 300,000 acres and shut down about 70 miles of Interstate 84 between Baker City and Ontario before lanes reopened.

The Oregon National Guard has deployed 25 servicemembers and five helicopters, with four additional helicopters and 20 more servicemembers activated for the Hagen Fire. "We expect this to be a long and hard fire season, so we're preparing for the worst," said Lt. Col. Nathan Edgecomb. The Mount Hood National Forest has closed campgrounds and trails across a wide area, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency denied fire management assistance grants for two of the fires, leaving the state to shoulder more of the cost.

Nearly all of the current fires trace back to a wave of dry lightning that swept across eastern and central Oregon earlier in the month, igniting dozens of starts in a single night across terrain that had already dried out. Forecasters warned that another round of thunderstorms was expected Thursday, raising the prospect of new ignitions in country where crews and aircraft are already committed elsewhere.