Single Publication

Telephone Fire Update for July 23, 2024

Telephone Fire: The Telephone Fire started yesterday afternoon south of King Mountain on the Emigrant Creek Ranger District on the Malheur National Forest. The fire grew quickly to 5,000 acres fanned by erratic winds. The fire perimeter is approximately located five miles east of Highway (Hwy) 395 and fourteen miles north of Hwy 20. Strong winds pushed the fire south last night prompting Level 3 evacuations for areas east of Hwy 395 to Buck Butte and south to Hwy 20 in Harney County.

Northwest Team 8 and Oregon State Fire Marshal (OSFM) Blue Team assumed command of the new incident Monday night. A number of resources working on the Falls Fire were sent to the fire to do initial attack. Wildland operations used air and ground resources to attack the fire.  Fire conditions produced plume-dominated fire behavior that required the need to disengage.  Night shift focused on establishing areas to protect structures. Structural crews have already surveyed and completed surface preparation at several residences north of the new start earlier this week as part of a contingency plan for the Falls Fire. As winds shifted in the evening, OSFM engines were repositioned to provide protection to the structures on the southern edge of the fire. OSFM crews will continue to patrol north of Hwy 23 on the southern edge of the Telephone Fire. These crews will be scouting the new area to assess and establish protection plans for the properties directly adjacent to the new fire.

A community meeting for the Falls and Telephone Fires will be held at the Burns Chamber of Commerce tonight, July 23, at 6:30 PM. The meeting will also be live streamed on the Malheur National Forest and Falls Fire 2024 Facebook pages.  

As the fire season continues, resources begin to reach their maximum deployment times which are established to ensure crew safety. As a result, the OSFM Task Force from Lincoln County will be demobilizing today.

Weather: Fire weather for today will be very active with dry and unstable conditions.  There is a 30% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon and late evening that could bring gusty outflow winds. Winds will generally be coming from the west-southwest winds 6-8 mph, gusts up to 17 mph.  Temperature highs possibly into the upper 90s.

Evacuations: Evacuations were issued last night due to the Telephone Fire. Evacuation notices remain in effect due to the Falls Fire in Grant and Harney Counties. For the most accurate evacuation information, please visit the Harney County Sheriff’s evacuation map here: https://tinyurl.com/3zst4sjy, or the Grant County Emergency Management Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100068819321423.

Closures: Due to active wildfires compounded by extremely unfavorable weather conditions, limited firefighting resources and County Resources, Malheur National Forest officials are temporarily closing lands within the Malheur National Forest. This closure means that the public is prohibited from entering lands, roads, trails and recreation areas, and facilities on the Malheur National Forest. A detailed map and description of the closure area is available on the Forest website and at any Forest office. Closure signs will be posted on the ground. 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Falls-Fire-2024-61562126623985/ 

Falls Fire InciWeb:  https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/ormaf-falls-fire 

Telephone Fire InciWeb: https://inciweb.wildfire.gov/incident-information/ormaf-telephone-fire 

Fire Information Line: 541-208-4370, staffed 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

Email: 2024.Falls@firenet.gov 

Harney County non-emergency evacuation questions: 541-589-5579 

Air quality questions: 541-573-2271  

Smoke Outlooks: https://outlooks.airfire.org/outlook 

* Several reclassifications of structures account for the reduction in numbers of commercial properties surveyed.