PRAIRIE CITY – Breaking free of its drainage, the High Lake Fire exploded on Wednesday evening, July 24, finally meeting with the Roberts Creek Fire to the east, reported the Blue Mountain Team.

Atmospheric instability and a strong southwest wind caused the High Lake Fire to send a huge column of smoke over the Roberts Creek Fire, pulling its column up into the air.

Finally the double column collapsed, sending embers and smoke into the Roberts Creek area and causing spot fires across the creek and across County Road 62.

Crews immediately attacked the spots getting them contained, with the help of reinforcements sent in from the Monument Fire.

Crews and engines continued working in to the wee hours of Thursday morning, July 25, to ensure these spots were contained.

The Grant County Sheriff’s Department evacuated part of Road 62 as a precautionary measure.

Meanwhile, to the north, the Easy Creek Fire had a very quiet day on July 24 compared to the other fires in the Malheur Complex.

This fire did not grow at all, and remained at just over 6,000 acres. Crews, bulldozers and engines continued to solidify the lines around the fire by working directly on the fire’s edge.

A total of 1,067 people worked on the Malheur Complex fires, and no serious accidents were reported. The Malheur Complex grew to nearly 10,000 acres by week’s end.

Lightning strikes pound Central Ore.

PRINEVILLE – More than 900 lightning strikes hit Central Oregon on Tuesday evening, July 23, and sparked a series of new fires in the Ochoco and Deschutes national forests, as well as blazes on the Prineville District of the Bureau of Land Management and on private lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry.

Initial attack resources, including crews, engines and helicopters, have worked to contain and control several new fires burning southwest of Suttee Lake near Sisters.

The largest of these new fires occurred on Cache Mountain.

Additionally, lightning caused a new fire to break out eight miles south of the Black Canyon Wilderness. The new fire on Hardscrabble Ridge measured approximately 80 acres in size, with crews and engines aggressively working to contain it.

The 747 fire also continued to burn in and around the wilderness.

“This lightning storm really hit Central Oregon,” said Kelly Jerzykowski, Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center manager. “We continue to hit these fires aggressively, but resources are tired and spread thin at this point.”