A red flag warning has been issued for the length of the western Oregon Cascade Range and foothills as gusty winds and potential lightning could bring new wildfires or wildfire growth. The warning, issued by the National Weather Service in Portland, is in place from 11 a.m. Thursday to 11 a.m. Friday. The fire danger isn’t as extreme as the Labor Day east wind events of 2020 or 2022 — which both saw significant statewide blowups and power outages. But the combination of bone-dry conditions, gusty east winds, low humidity and thunderstorms with “abundant lightning” does trigger a new level of fire danger. “There’s a chance we could get some beneficial precipitation with the thunderstorms, and it’s not as extreme as the Labor Day 2020 or 2022, but it is a time when people need to be really careful,” said Andy Bryant with the National Weather Service in Portland.