It has been a week of good news on the wildfire front, as Baker County’s biggest current blaze, the 18,100-acre Town Gulch Fire, is almost contained.

On Friday, Aug. 16, the Baker County Sheriff’s Office reduced the evacuation notice area significantly.

A day earlier, the sheriff’s office ended all evacuation notices for the county’s two other major blazes, the Durkee and Badlands Complex fires.

There were two series of thunderstorms during the week that brought lightning, but the storms also delivered needed rainfall, and none of the new fires started by lightning grew significantly.

https://www.bakercityherald.com/news/local/town-gulch-fire-79-contained-minimal-heat-found/article_a2b3fb9e-5b27-11ef-8d81-3f0381775c1b.html

The Baker School District announced that it would offer for free chunks of the decorative tuffstone that made up the exterior walls of the 106-year-old Central Building, which was gutted by a fire on May 22 and demolished in July.

https://www.bakercityherald.com/news/local/excavator-will-load-salvaged-stones-from-central-building-into-trailers/article_65b4f438-5be9-11ef-915f-0b941fa4069e.html

West Nile virus was confirmed in a second batch of mosquitoes trapped in Baker County.

https://www.bakercityherald.com/news/local/west-nile-virus-found-in-second-batch-of-mosquitoes/article_1f84f480-5b1d-11ef-af9f-4f6000786d5c.html

The First Presbyterian Church in Baker City has installed a new playground next to the church, and it’s encouraging the public to use the facility.

https://www.bakercityherald.com/news/local/calling-all-kids/article_fe8eac60-59c5-11ef-8b96-5be1ec6ebf1b.html