Baker County Commission Chairman Shane Alderson is urging residents within Level 3 evacuation notice areas, including Huntington, to consider leaving if they haven’t already.

With wind gusts of 50 mph to 70 mph forecast Wednesday afternoon and evening as a cold front passes, Alderson said he fears the Durkee Fire and other blazes in eastern Baker County will blow up.

“Right now the weather is not playing fair at all,” Alderson said on Wednesday morning. “Today’s going to be awful. I’m encouraging people, if they’re in a Level 3 area, to do what they can and get out.”

Areas under Level 3, per the Baker County Sheriff’s Office, include much of the eastern and southeastern parts of the county.

Alderson said he met in Huntington Tuesday with a delegation including officials from Gov. Tina Kotek’s office, the Oregon Military Department, members of the team overseeing firefighting efforts, and State Sen. Lynn Findley, whose district includes Baker County.

Alderson said fire bosses are concerned that the Durkee Fire, which has burned to the edge of Interstate 84 near Farewell Bend, will cross the freeway when the winds pick up on Wednesday.

Alderson said he has considered asking fellow commissioners Christina Witham and Bruce Nichols to declare an emergency in the county due to the wildfires.

Alderson said he talked to Jason Yencopal, the county’s emergency management director, and because Kotek has already declared a statewide emergency, the county likely wouldn’t be eligible for any additional aid based on a local declaration.

However, Alderson said commissioners might schedule a special meeting to approve a disaster declaration that could make aid available to ranchers who have lost valuable grazing land to the fires and had to scramble to gather cattle that were on summer range.

Alderson said he believes that although having more firefighters during the early stages of the Durkee Fire might have helped limit its spread, the combination of extreme weather, dry fuels and difficult terrain made the number of resources all but moot as the fire spread more than 20 miles and burned about 244,000 acres, as of Wednesday.

“Having more people wouldn’t have mattered,” Alderson said. “The fire was moving too fast.”

Alderson said he is interested in the possibility that Oregon National Guard soldiers could be deployed to help with the fires.

Jessica Neujahr, public affairs officer for the Oregon Department of Forestry, said the agency has access to National Guard aircraft and ground crews due to Kotek’s emergency declaration.

Four National Guard helicopters have been deployed, including a Chinook CH-47, which can drop water on fires, based at the Eastern Oregon Regional Airport in Pendleton, said Leslie Reed, deputy director of public affairs for the Oregon Military Department.

Reed said on Tuesday, July 23, that the department has “the ability to provide additional support with ground crews but have not yet received any requests for this capability.”

Reed said the National Guard has a total of 132 people, in six teams of 22, who are certified wildland firefighters.

Reed said the National Guard crews typically are deployed to mop up fires rather than to work on the front lines, along with Hotshot crews, but the military crews are certified to do so.

Neujahr said Department of Forestry officials have discussed ordering National Guard ground crews but has not done so yet.

Those requests come from state agencies rather than local officials, although local officials, including at the county level, can make lobby state officials.

Alderson said he is grateful for the efforts of local volunteer firefighters as well as county employees including Yencopal, Sheriff Travis Ash, deputies and members of the search and rescue team who have gone door to door to talk with people in areas with evacuation notices, and Gary Timm, fire division manager for the county’s emergency management department.

“The team is doing an amazing job,” Alderson said.

Fire updates

The Durkee Fire was estimated at nearly 245,000 acres on Wednesday morning, an increase of about 5,000 acres over the previous day. That’s the smallest daily increase since the fire was sparked by lightning on July 17.

Firefighters are “anticipating the extreme weather event” Wednesday afternoon and evening with the cold front and its wind gusts, according to an update from the fire management team.

Aircraft were not able to do much flying on Tuesday due to low visibility from smoke, and high winds, according to the update.

“Air resources are expected to be limited or grounded today (Wednesday) due to extreme weather,” the update states.

Firefighters did not do the planned burnouts on Tuesday — intentionally lighting fires to burn vegetation between fire lines and the main fire — along Interstate 84 between Huntington and Farewell Bend.

However, the fire, spurred by wind, spread to the edge of the freeway in places near Farewell Bend.

A total of 526 are assigned to the Durkee Fire.

The Badlands Complex, a series of several fires north of Interstate 84 started by lightning on July 22, was estimated at 15,572 acres on Wednesday morning.

The fires have closed all BLM recreation sites along the Snake River between Oxbow and Huntington, including Spring Recreation Site and Swedes Landing. The Bassar Diggins Campground on Lookout Mountain is also closed.