<p>Incident Commander Brian Watts talks with residents and agency officials during a meeting last Friday, as fire suppression efforts continued.</p>

JOHN DAY Residents were breathing a sigh of relief this week after firefighters, aided by moist weather, beat back a series of wildfires that threatened to sweep into John Day and Canyon City.

Nearly 600 firefighters continued to work Tuesday on the GC (Grant County) Complex. At 12,161 acres, the complex was 90 percent contained. It includes the 12,076-acre Grouse Mountain Fire, north of John Day and Mt. Vernon, and the 85-acre Starvation Fire, in the national forest southeast of Prairie City.

Incident Commander Brian Watts of Oregon Interagency Management Team 4, lauded the local agencies and cooperators and the general public for their support during the fast-developing situation.

At a community meeting, he and others credited the work of local firefighters and state and federal air crews for protecting the town in a crisis situation. The interagency team took over, he said, to build on the strong efforts by those local crews.

There was some great work done by the local resources, said Scott Majors, an incident commander for structure support from the Oregon State Fire Marshals Office. You should be proud of your local fire departments. They worked their tails off.

Officials warned thunderstorm season is far from over, with more lightning action forecasted for later this week and possibly into fall.

Were not done with this yet, said Teresa Raaf, Malheur National Forest supervisor. We have to remain vigilant.

The fiery siege began Wednesday, Aug. 7, when a strong thunderstorm cell dropped to the ground over the central John Day Valley. Lightning bolts struck the hills on the south and east flanks of town, and trees and brush torched in the gusty winds.

Marysville Complex

The fires, several merging, became identified as the Marysville Complex and burned some 400 acres before an intense aerial and ground attack stopped their spread.

The crack of lightning bolts striking the ground brought residents out of home and workers out of businesses in John Day and Canyon City.

I was at the Health Department when the lightning storm hit, said one resident, Susan Howard. We could see this flash inside the building. When we went outside, the fire was already going up the hill behind the building. It was moving fast, and we could see trees torching.

Undersheriff Todd McKinley was among the first to get to Ferguson Road after the lightning struck and sparked a growing fire.

He said he used fire tools in his vehicle try to stop it, and soon John Day firefighters arrived.

Doug Gochnour did an excellent job helping us out, McKinley said.

It was pretty darn intense. Up on top of Ferguson I got burned over, he said. It went over the top of my vehicle, and thats when it crossed the ridge.

From there it swept along toward the Snaffle Bit Dinner House and other business on Canyon Boulevard, but air and ground efforts combined to keep the fire at bay.

Several fires merged as the wind pushed them across the juniper-dotted hills east of Canyon Boulevard. At one point, the flames threatened to sweep downhill to the highway, which is flanked by homes and businesses.

Fire agencies attacked from both ground and air, with crews coming from the U.S. Forest Service, the Oregon Department of Forestry, contract forestry companies, as well as city and rural fire protection districts.

Fire spotter planes, single-engine air tankers, and retardant bombers buzzed in the sky above the cities, and firefighters positioned engines in driveways of some homes and at businesses threatened by the fire.

The fire forced evacuation of the HUD housing complex in Canyon City, and prompted closure of Highway 395 through Canyon City, with through traffic allowed only by pilot car. The closures were lifted that evening, as the fire settled down.

G.C. Complex

As the attack focused on the fires threatening town, a towering pillar of smoke grew from a wildland fire to the northwest that also was sparked by lightning. Soon to be named the Grouse Mountain Fire, it began near Highway 395 northeast of Mt. Vernon. Another lightning fire was burning in the forest near Sheep Mountain, about 16 miles southeast of Prairie City.

Many residents sought out a 360-degree view of the action by driving up the winding access road to the Grant County Regional Airport, high on a bluff above the cities of John Day and Canyon City.

Sherri Lundbom had a front-row seat, taking photos of the air tankers sweeping in low over her yard. Like many others, she was grateful for the rapid response of the firefighters.

Everyone worked so hard to put the fires out, she said.

Scott Cotter also captured the action in photos and sent a heartfelt message: My prayers are with the firefighters, the pilots, air traffic controllers and the homeowners.

Thursday brought more tension, as the spreading Grouse Mountain Fire threatened at least two rural homes – one owned by Mark and Sheri Webb, and the other by Norbert and Mary Smith and burned several outbuildings.

Officials credited the efforts of Mt. Vernon Rural Fire District and ODF fire crews in saving those homes, as the fire advanced around them.

Shifting winds bedeviled the firefighters, first threatening to send the fire north toward the national forest but then turning south and pushing a node of fire south across the grassland toward the neighborhoods of John Day.

The Grouse Mountain Fire began the day at 2,000 acres but blew up to 11,500 acres over the afternoon.

The air response was impressive, with large retardant tankers and single-engine air tankers circling for hours over the fires.

Shaun Robertson, a veteran firefighter and lifetime resident of Grant County, said hed never seen such air power before on a local fire.

It was like being at Pearl Harbor, he said.

At one point, tankers dropped retardant around the home of Hans Magden, on Patterson Bridge Road, and crews also hustled to protect the nearby home of Bob and Kay CowanThompson.

The fire spread toward the Charolais Heights neighborhood. Before the air and ground efforts were able to stave off the advancing flames, John Day Police and Grant County sheriffs deputies went door-to-door to warn people there might be a need to evacuate. They stopped short of an evacuation order for the neighborhood, telling people to gather their important documents and possessions and shelter in place.

At Valley View Retirement Center, operators launched a voluntary evacuation, moving the residents temporarily to the Elks Lodge in John Day and then returning home later that evening.

After sunset, the advancing line of fire etched red lines across the hills above town and along the rimrock. The fire slowed and stopped at the high rims.

Sherry Craig-Miller, who was at the fairgrounds that night, said she and others emerged from the Pavilion to an eerie sight.

It looked like someone had strung lights on the hills, she said.

The explosive nature of the fire prompted John Day Fire Chief Ron Smith, the chair of the Grant County Fire Defense Board, to seek more help. He met with other fire officials, the fire marshals office and representatives of the governors office Thursday evening.

Smith said the need was clear despite really heroic efforts by the local fire departments.

I had resources from every department in the county, he said. That included crews and equipment from John Day, Prairie City, Mt. Vernon, Dayville, Long Creek and Monument. All local police agencies also worked on the coordinated response, and the Oregon Department of Forestry and U.S. Forest Service launched a prolonged air assault on the blaze.

Weve all been going three days, nonstop, he said last Friday.

Gov. John Kitzhaber agreed to invoke the Oregon Conflagration Act, which cleared the way for more resources to come from outside the county to help.

The first of three task forces rolled into John Day in darkness about 2:30 a.m., Friday. The three teams came from Baker/Union, Yamhill and Hood River/Wasco counties. The State Fire Marshal also sent an incident management team for structure protection.

Their assignments were short-lived, however, as light rain and cooler weather aided the efforts Thursday night to halt the advance of the fires. The teams were demobilized by Saturday.

Also Saturday, the Grant County Sheriffs Office lifted the evacuation order for Magone Lake Campground, a closure prompted by the proximity of the fire earlier in the week. The Strawberry Campground also reopened as Forest Service crews got lines around the nearby 100-acre Starvation Fire.

Fire officials stressed the initial priority last week had to be to protect the people and the town.

George Ponte, ODF district forester from Prineville, said his agency stepped in with air power to help the local resources, which got overwhelmed as the Marysville Complex raged. He said his agency knew the Grouse Mountain Fire was growing, but the resources were spread thin.

This fire got a lot bigger than we wanted it to be, he noted.

This week, fire crews were strengthening the fire lines and mopping up hot spots, mostly juniper trees that continued to flare up in the interior of the fire.

Watts said helicopters would continue to drop water on hot spots over the next few days, and he warned more thunderstorms could create erratic winds and the potential for fire spotting.

The Forest Service also was working several smaller fires, also lightning-caused, in the Malheur National Forest.

Eagle reporter Angel Carpenter contributed to this article.