Lightning has sparked more than 20 wildfires in Northeastern Oregon this week, but crews, with an assist from rain showers, have quickly corralled most of the blazes before they burned more than one acre.

A series of storms spawned dozens of lightning strikes across the region the afternoons and evenings of Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Fortunately those cells dropped rain along with the lightning bolts, said Jerry Garrett, assistant manager at the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center at the La Grande/Union County Airport.

Most of the new fires started in the mountains, where lingering moisture from the winter snowpack has kept the fire danger from reaching the extreme levels at lower elevations, Garrett said.

“They’re not seeing extreme fire behavior by any means,” he said. “It’s still early in the season and the fuels are not quite cured out.”

Much of the lightning on Wednesday afternoon and evening struck in the northern part of the Elkhorn Mountains west into the North Fork John Day River region.

The biggest fire burned three acres near the upper Grande Ronde River. The fire, along Clear Creek near Camp Carson south of Starkey, had not been confirmed as a lightning fire as of press time.

The fire was reported at 6:35 a.m. on Thursday, July 1. It burned in grass, timber and slash.

Other blazes, confirmed as lightning-sparked, were reported in that area on Thursday morning.

• Forest Road 73, Elkhorn Drive Scenic Byway, about 15 miles west of Haines and southwest of Anthony Lakes, reported at 6:39 a.m. The fire burned one-third of an acre in dead and down timber.

The fire was contained at 12:08 p.m. on Thursday.

• Big Four Mine, Umatilla National Forest about 25 miles west of Haines, reported at 9:06 a.m. The fire burned about .15 of an acre in young timber, and was contained at 6 a.m. on Friday, July 2.

• Meadowbrook Creek, 11 miles southeast of Starkey, 9:36 a.m. Thursday. The fire burned one-tenth of an acre and was contained at 2:03 p.m. on Thursday.

• Crane Creek area, about four miles north of Granite, 9:51 a.m. Thursday. The fire burned one-tenth of an acre and was contained at 1:33 p.m. Thursday.

• Chicken Creek area, 11 miles south of Starkey, 12:19 p.m. Thursday. The fire burned one-tenth of an acre and was contained at 2:35 p.m. Thursday.

According to a Forest Service press release, fire crews have confirmed 23 new fires this week between the Blue Mountain and John Day dispatch centers.

Garrett said local firefighting resources so far have een sufficient to quickly respond to new fire reporters.

There is increasing competition for aircraft to fight fires, however, with large fires burning in several western states.

The hot weather is forecast to continue for at least another week.

Thursday was the fourth straight day with a record high temperature at the Baker City Airport. It was the warmest June on record, with an average high temperature of 84.3 degrees. The previous record was 84.1, set in 1961.