On a hot Wednesday evening, the crowd of ranchers and others settled in to hear the latest wildfire news.
Firefighters seemed to have gained better control of the monster known as Cow Valley Fire, fire managers reported.
The relief was evident for a community strained for days by the crisis.
But unknown to those gathered in the Vale Senior and Community Center, nature was about to unleash another snarling inferno of fire and smoke.
In just hours after that meeting on July 17, volunteer firefighters were called back to action. The Durkee Fire, started by a lightning strike on Bureau of Land Management ground not far outside the town of Durkee, was on a run straight for Malheur County.
Over the coming days, the Durkee Fire continued on a rampage over the countryside, spreading south and north and then boiling to the northwest.
On Sunday, July 21, the fire grew 30,000 acres in just seven hours, clocking in at massive 173,758 acres and still growing. At that size, the fire has covered the equivalent of 270 square miles of ground – the largest fire in Oregon and the largest in years in Malheur County.
No part of the fire was listed as contained as of Monday, July 22, meaning a protective line in place with little chance for fire to move beyond.
That all occurred as fire managers last week hurried to free up help by containing the Cow Valley Fire, which had covered rangeland from near Ironside south to near Vale. The final perimeter would be 153 miles long, penning in 133,490 acres of public and private land.
That fire as of Monday had racked up costs for firefighters, equipment and supplies of $8.3 million. Just seven structures were reported destroyed. Suppression costs for the Durkee Fire by Monday totaled $2.2 million with two structures destroyed.
Both were “mega” fires – a classification for those wildfires of 100,000 acres are more. Oregon had two other such fires still out of control Monday. The Lone Rock Fire, southeast of Condon, had covered 124,556 acres with suppression costs so far of $9.9 million. The Falls Fire, between Burns and John Day, stood at 132,951 acres and was Oregon’s most costly fire with expenses as of Monday totaling $22.6 million.
Statewide, officials reported Monday morning that 95 wildfires were burning, so far covering 618,000 acres.
At that evening meeting in Vale last week, incident commanders used maps to charts to explain what had happened and what was ahead for the Cow Valley Fire.
“I know how important these rangelands are,” said Tyson Albrecht, incident commander from Northwest Team 6. “I feel the loss in my gut.”
Michele McDaniel, a BLM supervisory rangeland management specialist in Vale, said that the volunteers from the Vale and Ironside Rangeland Protection Associations “were integral in the efforts of this fire.”
Steve Young, part of Northwest Team 6, echoed that.
“They put in a lot of hours fighting this fire and without their efforts this fire would have been a lot bigger,” Young told the audience.
But as they spoke, hot weather, erratic winds and geography combined to funnel the new fire at a ferocious pace south out of Baker County and into Malheur County.
Once again, volunteers with rural rangeland fire associations mounted up and headed for the fire.
And once again, the tiny community of Brogan north of Vale choked on smoke and watched flames approach. Firefighters saved the town once, bulldozing a dirt line around it as the Cow Valley Fire advance. Now, the new fire crested ridges to the east of Brogan, leaving the town encircled by blackened range.
That new fire roared south to within nine miles of Vale before firefighters using air-dropped retardant and water and a backfire checked the growth.
Fire crews and equipment tasked to the Cow Valley Fire were switched to the new fire. Aircraft remained a prime tool. Air drops of retardant and water helped slow and, in some instances, stop the fire, working over areas too dangerous for on-the-ground firefighters.
On Saturday, July 20, incident commanders deployed 24 air tankers and helicopters against the Durkee Fire. That was the largest contingent of fire air power anywhere in the U.S. Most wildfires make do with one or two aircraft.
But even that effort was no match for the power of thunderstorms that rolled into Malheur County Sunday afternoon. The weather front drove winds of up to 60 mph and in every direction.
The advance of the fire on the east side of the fire that Sunday night, they closed Interstate 84 and ordered the evacuation of the town of Huntington, just north of the Malheur County border. The American Red Cross returned to Ontario to again open a shelter for fire victims at the Malheur County Fairgrounds. Just days earlier, they had shut down a shelter operation used for Cow Valley victims.
Attention had not shifted completely away from the Cow Valley Fire.
The audience at the community meeting in Vale learned that police were now suspicious that the Cow Valley Fire had been deliberately set. The ignition point was on private land out on Indian Gulch Road, roughly nine miles northeast of Ironside.
That fire was reported at about 7 a.m. Thursday, July 11. Just two hours earlier, another fire had been reported a few miles south, on Bonita Road. And other smaller fires appear to have been set in the area of Malheur Reservoir. They all started between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. that day, according to the Malheur County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities went public with their suspicions, asking the public’s help to identify the possible arsonist. A reward was offered for credible information, though police wouldn’t say how much money was on the table.
The news triggered rumors about the arsonist, including a false report that circulated widely on social media over the weekend that an arrest had been made.
As of Monday, police still needed public help, urging those with information to call We Tip Anonymous at 1-800-47-ARSON or go online at wetip.com. The investigation is being handled by the Bureau of Land Management Vale District, Oregon Department of the State Fire Marshal, Malheur County Sheriff’s Office and the Oregon State Police.

Les Zaitz is editor of Salem Reporter and also serves as editor and publisher of the Malheur Enterprise in Vale, Oregon.