Wildfire, Baker
- When
- August 14, 8:00 AM PST to August 17, 6:00 PM PST
- Where
- Baker County, Central Portion
- Reported by
- OTHER FEDERAL AGENCY
- Coordinates
- 44.709, -117.675 (the zone’s center; the record gives no point)
Wildfire in Oregon, August 14 to 17, 2001
The Baker Complex Fire started as four separate lightning starts that merged into one fire, covering 9260 acres near Baker City, Oregon. About 200 people were evacuated from the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Trails on Aug 15th when winds shifted the fire in that direction.
Where it happened
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
- Tornadoes
- Tropical storms and surge
- Floods
- Wind
- Hail
- Winter weather
- Heat and drought
- Cold
- Fire, smoke and dust
- Marine and coastal
- Other
The toll
- Deaths
- 0
- Injuries
- 0
- Property damage
- None recorded
- Crop damage
- None recorded
- Events
- 1
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
What happened
The episode as NWS BOI wrote it up.
The Baker Complex Fire started as four separate lightning starts that merged into one fire, covering 9260 acres near Baker City, Oregon. About 200 people were evacuated from the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center and Trails on Aug 15th when winds shifted the fire in that direction. Local roads were closed briefly as the fire got to within 4 miles of the center. Cost of fighting the fire was $137K.
What forecasters said that day
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Boise, ID wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Aug 14, 1:05 AM PST, 6 hours 55 minutes earlier.
Area forecast discussion, Aug 14, 1:05 AM PST, 6 hours 55 minutes before
SOUTHWEST IDAHO/SOUTHEAST OREGON AREA FORECAST DISCUSSION NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE BOISE IDAHO 305 AM MDT TUE AUG 14 2001 WESTERN U.S. UPPER LEVEL L/WV RIDGE AXIS AND CLOSED LOW PRESSURE CENTER AROUND 140W REMAIN STATIONARY THROUGH MIDWEEK. WEAKENING S/WVS MOVE THROUGH RIDGE AXIS TODAY/TONIGHT WITH LITTLE AFFECT ON CWFA. 1ST S/WV ALREADY EAST OF CWFA AT 08Z WITH NOCTURNAL CONVECTION EXTREME SOUTHEAST ID. 2ND S/WV EVIDENT ON WATER VAPOR PICTURES AND 00Z MODELS OVER CENTRAL ORE AT 08Z. 00Z MRF RAOB SHOWED MOISTURE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS WEAK S/WV ABOVE H4 LEVEL AND MODELS KEEPING MOISTURE QUITE LIMITED OVER NORTHERN ZONES TODAY EVEN THROUGH AIR MASS BECOMES QUITE UNSTABLE WITH AFTERNOON HEATING. WILL KEEP ONLY PARTLY CLOUDY SKIES IN NORTHERN ZONES DUE TO LACK OF MOISTURE BELOW H5 LEVEL. UNDER MOSTLY SUNNY, BUT SMOKY SKIES MAX TEMPS REMAIN NEAR MON LEVELS. AS ORE S/WV PASSES TO EAST OF REGION WED TEMPS WARM A COUPLE DEGREES. LITTLE CHANGE IN DRY AND ABOVE NORMAL TEMPS TREND INTO LATTER HALF OF WEEK. 140W CLOSED LOW PRESSURE BEGINS LIFTING NORTHEAST TOWARD SOUTHWEST CANADA AROUND FRI, WEAKENS TO AN OPEN WAVE, DEPRESSING WESTERN RIDGE AS IT CROSSES SOUTHERN CANADA DURING THE WEEKEND. SIMILAR TO MON EUROPEAN MODELS CONTINUE TO BE A LITTLE FASTER WITH THIS PASSING TROUGH. NEW MRF ALSO FASTER THAN PREVIOUS MRF MODEL BUT SLOWER THAN EUROPEAN MODELS. DRY AND WEAK SOUTHERN END OF PASSING TROUGH DRAGS ACROSS CWFA SAT FOR SOME INCREASE IN WINDS BUT COOLER POST-FRONTAL TEMPS SUN, APPROACHING NEAR NORMAL BY EARLY NEXT WEEK. PARKER .BOI...NONE.
The radar
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
Event by event
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
What these are
- Wildfire
- A fire burning in wildland vegetation, with its acreage and damage where known.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
The same day elsewhere
- Heat in Texas, August 14, 2001
- Tornado and Flash Flooding in North Dakota, August 14, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Texas, August 14, 2001
- Flash Flood in Colorado, August 14, 2001
- Flash Flood in Utah, August 14, 2001
- Damaging Wind in Arizona, August 14, 2001
- Flash Flood and Hail in Minnesota, August 14, 2001
- Wildfire in California, August 14 to 15, 2001
- Lightning Strike in Florida, August 14, 2001
- Damaging Winds in Kansas, August 14, 2001
- Flooding in New York, August 14, 2001
- Flooding and Damaging Wind in New Jersey, August 14, 2001
More
Every storm in Oregon in 2001Every state in 2001This day in weather historyWarnings in Oregon, August 2001
Sources
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5267008.