Wildfires burning north and south of Bend

Published 1:40 pm Monday, July 24, 2023

This photo shows night operations Saturday on the Simnasho Fire, burning about 5 miles west of Simnasho on the Warm Springs Reservation.

The Simnasho Fire burning on the Warm Springs reservation grew little over the weekend and was 40% contained as of Monday morning, fire officials reported.

Burning 2 miles east of U.S. Highway 26 and about 5 miles from Simnasho, the fire has scorched about 1,250 acres and was 40% contained, according to a Facebook post from CTWS Fire Management.

South of Bend, the Golden Fire has burned 2,500 acres about 11 miles north of Bonanza in Klamath County, according to a report posted Monday on InciWeb.

The fire was zero percent contained. A portion of an area previously under evacuation Level 3 — Go now have been reduced to Level 2 — Be Set, according to the report.

The fires were two of the seven wildfires burning in Oregon as of Monday. The blazes had consumed nearly 27,000 acres and threatened more than 200 homes as of Monday morning, with the two largest fires still largely uncontained, officials said.

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There have been 21 minor injuries reported and several structures have burned down due to the fires, said Jean Nelson-Dean, a spokesperson for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

The state’s largest blaze, the Flat Fire, is burning 2 miles southeast of Agness in unincorporated Curry County. The fire has scorched 22,066 acres and is only 3% contained, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center. The fire was human-caused and is under investigation, officials said.

The flames appeared July 15 and quickly burned through the area’s timber and grass, threatening 40 homes and 12 other structures.

More than 1,200 firefighters are battling the blaze, along with 8 helicopters and 42 fire engines, the agency said.

Cool weather and slightly higher humidity are expected to moderate the fire’s growth on Monday, officials said.

Firefighters are battling three other blazes in Oregon — the Mann Lake, Haight Creek and Bedrock fires — all of which have burned less than 700 acres, according to the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center.

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