NORTHWEST
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, July 17, 2019
A5
STORMS BRING FIRST LIGHTNING-IGNITED FIRES OF THE SEASON
Ellen Morris Bishop
Lightning strikes the grasslands north of Enterprise on Saturday, July 13. The storms over the weekend produced 30 to 40 ground strikes in Wallowa County.
Thunderstorms strike Northeast Oregon
Dick Mason
LaGrande Observer
A storm that swept through the region Monday
afternoon hit Southeast Washington the hardest but
also impacted Union and Wallowa counties. In Wal-
lowa county, it sparked the ﬁ rst lightning-kindled ﬁ res
of the season, signaling that ﬁ re season has arrived.
Wallowa County received an estimated 30 to 40
lightning strikes, most of which were north of Enter-
prise, according to information from the Blue Moun-
tain Interagency District Center. Despite the presence
of some rainfall with the storm, at least two of the
McKee withdraws Big
Sheep campground
application
Steve Tool
Wallowa County Chieftain
On July 8, local contrac-
tor Andy McKee withdrew
a Conditional Use Permit
(CUP) application to build
an upscale campground
on portions of about 825
acres of land he recently
purchased on Big Sheep
Divide, about 12 miles NE
of Enterprise. The project,
on land zoned timber-graz-
ing, met stiff opposition
from adjacent land own-
ers. About one dozen had
ﬁ led letters in opposition
to the project with the Wal-
lowa County Planning
Department.
McKee purchased the
land from Charles and
Ramona Phillips. Ms Phil-
lips is the chair of the Wal-
lowa County planning
commission. McKee ini-
tially ﬁ led the CUP on
April 15, which asked for
a conditional use for the
campground, which is
on land zoned as timber/
grazing.
The most current condi-
tional use permit applica-
tion stated McKee would
provide upscale camp-
ing plots of about 20 acres
each. Although an ear-
lier application stated that
some RV’s or RV spaces
would be provided, McKee
withdrew that application
when faced with opposi-
tion at the June Planning
Commission meeting. He
then prepared a revised
version. The plan called
for initial development of
six sites with additional
sites being added as market
conditions indicated. The
sites would have included
a minimum 25 ft. ﬁ re break
and a propane ﬁ re pit pro-
vided by McKee. No open
ﬁ res would be allowed,
nor would client ATVs or
RVs be permitted. McKee
also stated he thought the
campground a good reve-
nue source for his family
business and the county as
well.
However, in an email
to the Chieftain on Fri-
day, July 12, McKee said
that he withdrew the appli-
cation in order to tighten
up the details and squash
rumors of his intentions for
his property.
strikes ignited small ﬁ res, one ﬁ ve miles from Lostine
and another three miles from Flora. Lightning strikes
from the storm on Saturday evening also knocked out
Internet service for many in Wallowa County.
It is not known how many strikes Union County
received, but it was less than Wallowa County, Jerry
Garrett, of the Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch
Center, said.
Northeast Oregon and Southeast Washington
received about 600 total lightning strikes during the
storm, Garrett said.
Wind speeds reached 55 miles per hour in Walla
Walla, Washington, where downed power lines were
reported, according to John Peck, a meteorologist for
the National Weather Service.
The storm systems and stormy weather, which the
National Weather Service began issuing warnings for
late last week, was caused by a mix of high tempera-
tures and high humidity.
“This created unstable conditions,” Peck said.
Wildﬁ re scorches Central Washington
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
MATTAWA,
Wash.
— Wildﬁ re burned about
5,000 acres of sagebrush
and grass on the south
slope of Saddle Mountains
about three miles north
of Mattawa on Sunday
before being brought under
control.
About 15 farm homes
were under temporary
evacuation notice that was
later reduced, said Kyle
Foreman, Grant County
Sheriff Ofﬁ ce spokes-
man. More residences were
under lower level of evacu-
ation preparedness.
The ﬁ re was reported at
12:38 p.m. Sunday, July 14,
by off-road motorcylists
one of whom apparently
went down on his motor-
cycle catching grass on ﬁ re
in the hills north of roads
24 and R Southwest, Fore-
man said. The ﬁ re appears
to be accidental and was in
an area open to motorcy-
cles, hiking and public rec-
reation, he said.
It’s called the Power-
line Fire because it started
below powerlines that were
not damaged, he said.
Wind spread the ﬁ re
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The Powerline Fire burns grass and sagebrush on southern slope of Saddle Mountains near
Mattawa, Wash., on July 14.
eastward to north of Road
O Southwest. Some 60
local ﬁ reﬁ ghters and ﬁ re
apparatus and 30 state and
federal personnel, a heli-
copter and a plane “were
able to get control” during
the night as temperatures
dropped and the ﬁ re slowed
down, Foreman said.
An irrigation canal also
kept the ﬁ re from spreading
into farmland, he said.
“It may burn a couple of
days. We still have many
areas burning and will try
to create some containment
to keep it from spreading
and work inward to extin-
guish it,” Foreman said.
The ﬁ re is in steep, rug-
ged terrain that is hard to
access, he said.
The ﬁ re should be man-
ageable unless wind picks
up, he said.
State mobilization was
called so more ﬁ reﬁ ght-
HUGE
PARKING
LOT
SALE !
ers were arriving Monday
with a command post and
ﬁ re camp set up at Wahluke
High School in Mattawa.
The ﬁ re is about one to
1.5 miles south of and par-
allel to the 243 Fire that
burned in Crab Creek and
Symrna canyons on the
north side of Saddle Moun-
tains, June 3-5. The cause
of that ﬁ re remains under
investigation by the U.S.
Bureau of Reclamation.
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Contact Jennifer Cooney • jcooney@wallowa.com • 541-805-9630

 
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