This year’s wet spring and slow-starting summer delayed the inevitable, but we all knew that couldn’t last: Fire season arrived in Oregon at the beginning of August. 

That includes the Beech Creek Fire, which started Aug. 1 along Highway 395 North between Mt. Vernon and Long Creek and has spread east from there, burning in brush and timber and posing a potential threat to the popular recreation area at Magone Lake. We can all be grateful to the firefighters from Malheur National Forest, the Oregon Department of Forestry and Grayback Forestry, aided by local property owners, whose efforts have held the blaze in check (as I write this, on Friday evening, the fire is 35% contained and has been confined to 183 acres).

Eagle reporter Steven Mitchell has been keeping a close eye on the blaze, posting daily updates at www.bluemountaineagle.com as new information becomes available. As with all of our Oregon wildfire coverage, we have placed Steven’s updates outside our website’s paywall so all visitors, not just paid subscribers, can have access to this vital information. We do the same thing with stories about the COVID-19 pandemic, elections and natural disasters that directly affect Grant County residents.

That’s part of our commitment to our readers. The paywall — which limits how many pageviews nonsubscribers can have on our website each month — is there to encourage casual readers to become paying customers because, frankly, we need the revenue to continue bringing you the news. But in an emergency situation, when immediate access to accurate information is crucial, we will always put our community first. 

Here’s a sample of the stories we’ll be covering in this week’s edition: John Day’s plan to jumpstart development of 100 new homes, the latest expansion of The Resort and Links at Silvies Valley Ranch, a grant to help Community Counseling Solutions provide housing for people with behavioral health issues and last weekend’s rodeo events at the Grant County Fairgrounds.

And if you didn’t get a chance to read last week’s paper, here are a few stories you might have missed: how the Blue Mountain Hospital District is working to address a $1.4 million operating loss, plans to revive the pool bond measure, new ownership at Russell’s Custom Meats and a report from the 2022 Prairie City Fiber Fest.

As always, I want to take this opportunity to thank our subscribers for their support. We can’t do this work without you!