Officials from the management team overseeing firefighting efforts on the 268,000-acre Durkee Fire gave an update via a recorded video posted Wednesday evening, July 24.

What was initially planned as a community meeting in Baker City was changed to a virtual event due to freeway closures resulting from the fire, and then changed to a recorded video after power outages affected internet connection.

Tyson Albrecht, who grew up in Baker City, is the incident commander for the management team.

Albrecht said that as a former Baker City resident, he understands “how impactful these fires are to the folks of Baker County, of Malheur County. I feel that in my gut, and so do all of the responders out there. We’re hitting these fires with everything we’ve got. That fire has just not cooperated with us in terms of the weather.

“I don’t like fires outpacing me, so that’s a hard thing to admit,” Albrecht said. “This fire, and the weather that we’ve been experiencing has been challenging us. We’re working as hard as we can to minimize all those impacts.”

Jonathan Christ, meteorologist from the fire team, recorded his statements in the early afternoon, before a severe thunderstorm moved through with gale-force winds that contributed to the fire crossing Interstate 84 near Huntington, and crossing the Burnt River into the Deer Creek area west of Durkee.

Christ said weather will “moderate slightly” the rest of the week, with temperatures in the 90s rather than 100s.

However, strong northwest winds will continue, with gusts possible to 30 to 45 mph each evening through the weekend.

Humidity levels will remain dry, he said.

Sara Bush, fire behavior analyst for the management team, said large amounts of dry grass, combined with the hot, dry and windy weather since the fire was started by lightning on July 17 have resulted in “extreme fire behavior” and “difficulty of containment.”

Bush said the energy release component, a computer model that predicts how quickly a fire will grow, has been rising since July 7, from the 90th percentile to currently in the 99th percentile, nearly a record high for this time of year.

Under those conditions, the fire from its outset spread at rates “well beyond what the initial attack resources could do,” Bush said.

Despite the respite from the record-setting heat, Bush said forecasts are for above average temperatures and below average precipitation for the next eight to 14 days.

Steve Young, who works in operations with management team, said fire crews, including four task forces from the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office dispatched after Gov. Tina Kotek declared a statewide emergency and invoked the state’s Conflagration Act for the Durkee Fire, have been working to protect homes and other structures.

Baker County Sheriff Travis Ash echoed the other officials in describing the fire behavior.

“This fire keeps throwing loops at us left and right,” Ash said. “The wind is not in our favor at all.”

Ash said sheriff’s deputies and members of the search and rescue team have been going door to door to notify residents about evacuation levels, which have been changing rapidly.

“My request is you take the evacuation levels seriously,” Ash said. “I’m aggressively setting those evacuation levels to give people enough time to get their valuable essentials out of the residence.”

Ashley McClay, public information officer for the sheriff’s office, said in a message to the Herald about 7 p.m. on Wednesday that there was quite a bit of rain in the Durkee area from the thunderstorm.