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Check here for information on fires in our region. You can also check out these resources:Northwest Interagency Coordination CenterSWOFIRE: Oregon Department of Forestry, SW regionCalFire: Current Fire InformationInciWeb: Incident Information SystemOregon Smoke Blog: Smoke informationSouth Central Oregon Fire Management Cooperative (Klamath/Lake Counties & Crater Lake)

Fire Crews Busy After Lightning

Douglas Forest Protective Association

Five days into fire season on the Oregon side, crews stayed busy hunting and fighting fires caused by lightning on Monday and Tuesday (June 8th-9th).

Oregon Department of Forestry reports roughly two dozen fires from lightning strikes in the southwestern part of the state.  The largest--the Galls Creek Complex--grouped three fires under a single fire command, with a total of 90 acres burned.  Galls Creek is a Rogue River tributary near Gold Hill.

The largest single fire is the Corn Creek Fire, which started Monday near Canyonville and burned 98 acres before crews got a fire line around it.

Fire crews fought more lightning-caused fires on the California side, most under an acre.  The Bald Hill Fire on state-protected land near Orick made the largest footprint at 37 acres.

The weather patterns that caused a sudden heat wave and the thunderstorms is not likely to repeat in the near future.  The National Weather Service forecasts a slow decline in temperatures through the weekend.

Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.