KWSO News for Thu., Aug. 4, 2022

Central Oregon Fire Update, from 8pm on Wednesday August 3^rd, Due to more accurate mapping, the size of the Fly Creek Fire has been reduced to 274 acres and remains at 80% containment. Firefighters made good progress extinguishing hot spots on the interior of the fire perimeter yesterday. Winds picked up over the fire area and a helicopter assisted ground resources with bucket drops last night. The Level 1 evacuation notice for the Three Rivers and the Level 3 evacuation notice for the Perry South and Monty Campgrounds remain in place. Yesterday was another active day across central Oregon as firefighters responded to four new wildfires, each of these new starts were contained or remain under an acre in size. The Green Butte Fire, previously referred to as Incident 537 grew to 30 acres yesterday and is 0% contained, located on the Deschutes National Forest approximately 12 miles southeast of La Pine around the junction of Hwy 97 and Hwy 31.

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act in order to get resources to a fire burning south of The Dalles in Wasco County. The Miller Road fire sparked Tuesday afternoon near the community of Juniper Flats and was burning in grass, brush and juniper. It had burned an estimated 10,500 acres. Juniper Flat Rural Fire Protection District began initial attack and mutual aid was requested with Oregon Department of Forestry, Lan County Task Force 1, Klickitat County Fire District and Hood River fire responding and working through the night. They were able to slow forward progression. The Wasco County Sheriff issued several evacuation orders, including some telling residents to leave immediately. A Red Cross shelter was opened at the Dufur School but has since been closed since they did not have any evacuees, but the Red Cross number is posted at Dufur school just in case someone does show up. The governor’s declaration allows the state fire marshal to mobilize firefighters and equipment to help local resources in battling the fire.

Firefighters have gotten their first hold on California’s deadliest and most destructive fire of the year and say the blaze probably will remain stalled through the weekend. Fire officials say the McKinney Fire near the Oregon border was 10% contained Wednesday night and crews were making progress carving firebreaks around much of the rest of the blaze. Authorities on Wednesday said residents forced to flee the Siskiyou County seat of Yreka and the town of Hawkinsville can return home but warned the fire remains a threat. The out-of-control blaze that began last Friday turned much of the hamlet of Klamath River to ash. Some residents are now picking through the burned out shells of their modest houses. Thunderstorms in recent days dumped much-needed rain but it also led to threats of mudslides in the fire-denuded areas. The blaze began last Friday and has scorched 90 square miles of forest, burned more than 100 homes and buildings and killed four people.

In deeply conservative Idaho, it’s expected that abortion will be banned eventually, but abortion rights advocates are continuing their legal challenges. They were before the state’s top court Wednesday to ask the justices to continue blocking enforcement of three laws intended to restrict the services. Similar legal challenges are playing out in red states across the U.S. In some of them, that’s allowed clinics to continue to offer abortion services, for now at least. In the first test of voter sentiment after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision, Kansas voters on Tuesday rejected a ballot measure that would have allowed the Republican-controlled Legislature to tighten restrictions or ban the procedure outright.

KWSO Weather for Central Oregon:

• Mostly Sunny today with a high near 90 degrees
• Tonight, Mostly Clear with a low around 51
• Sunny tomorrow with a high near 91 degrees

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