Three small wildfires reported after thunderstorms pass through Northeastern Oregon

Published 5:47 am Thursday, July 3, 2025

Firefighters worked on a trio of small wildfires in and around Baker County on Wednesday evening, July 2.

A human-caused fire was reported Thursday morning, July 3, on Forest Service land near Washington Gulch west of Baker City. The fire was reported as contained as of noon. The size wasn’t listed.

Although the cause hasn’t been listed for any of the blazes, a series of thunderstorms brought widespread lightning across Northeastern Oregon Wednesday, along with areas of heavy rain.

A 0.1-acre fire was reported in the Ironside Mountain area southeast of Unity at 6:41 p.m., according to the BLM’s Vale District fire dispatch center.

A half-acre fire was reported near Flagstaff Butte, about 6 miles east of Catherine Creek Summit on Highway 203, at 6:51 p.m., according to the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center in La Grande.

A 0.1-acre fire was reported at 2:49 p.m. near Powell Gulch, about 5 miles northwest of Unity.

Volunteers from the Greater Bowen Valley and Keating rural fire protection districts responded to a fire in French Gulch, near Old Auburn Lane, about 9:30 p.m. Wednesday. The top of a power pole was burning, possibly from a lightning strike, said Buzz Harper, Keating fire chief.

The fire was confined to the power pole, Harper said.

The John Day Interagency Coordination Center reported a 1.1-acre fire on the Malheur National Forest near the Middle Fork of the John Day River several miles northwest of Bates just after noon on Wednesday. The fire was near Granite Boulder Creek.

Although the Baker City Airport recorded just 0.01 of an inch of rain, heavier showers fell in Baker City itself. One rain gauge measured 0.15 of an inch.

An automated weather station at Blue Canyon, near Old Auburn Road about 10 miles southwest of Baker City, recorded 0.16 of an inch. A station at Hereford measured 0.14 of an inch.

Rainfall was scattered, though, as Yellowpine Campground, along Highway 26 west of Hereford, didn’t record any rain.

The National Weather Service is forecasting a chance of rain Thursday and Friday, with cooler temperatures, before another heat wave begins early next week with temperatures rising into the upper 90s.