The Big Sheep “fire use” fire on the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest northeast of La Grande, Oregon had been skunking around for the last month. But it got up and ran on Monday, September 28 when pushed by strong winds, it crossed a management action point triggering some suppression activity. Fire crews worked on Tuesday to keep the fire from burning into private land. On Monday morning the fire was 200 acres; now they estimate it has burned about 3,000 acres, according to media reports.
A type 3 incident management team assumed command of the fire on Tuesday, but that night rain and snow slowed the fire. There is a chance of more rain Wednesday afternoon as well as this weekend.