PORTLAND — Buildings have burned, but there are no reports of injuries from a wildfire that was touched off by lightning along the Oregon-California border and led to the evacuation of ranch families east of Ashland, Ore., a fire spokesman says.
Air crews over the fire reported the damage to multiple outbuildings, which could include barns, sheds and other uninhabited structures.
There was no estimate of how many people fled. “It’s not a whole lot of people because not a whole lot of people live out there,” said Brian Ballou of the Oregon Department of Forestry.
Gov. John Kitzhaber invoked the state’s Emergency Conflagration Act on Friday, requiring the state police and fire marshal to mobilize equipment, firefighters and other personnel from around the state.
The Oregon Gulch fire doubled since Thursday night to about 17 square miles, or just over 11,000 acres.
It erupted in the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument on Thursday amid swirling winds and dry conditions.
Ballou said Friday that the wind died down a bit overnight, and firefighters made progress on containment lines.
Those evacuated live along Copco Road, which leads south from Oregon 66, known as the Green Springs highway. It links Ashland and Klamath Falls. The fire location is north of the Copco dam and reservoir in California.
More than 2,000 lightning strikes in the region Wednesday touched off dozens of fires.