Fire Season hits NE Oregon, June 9

ODF release – LA GRANDE, Ore. – A drier than normal spring and stretches of warmer than normal weather has prompted Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) to begin fire season on private forest lands in northeast Oregon. Fire season will begin at 12:01 a.m., Wednesday, June 9 for about 2 million acres of forest and range lands protected by ODF Northeast Oregon District. “We’ve been seeing fire conditions and behavior that is more indicative of mid to late July recently,” said Joe Hessel, ODF District Forester. Hessel said, “The fuel moisture of our dead fuels is already at a point where they will readily burn, and it won’t be long before our grasses have cured. By declaring fire season, we can put measures in place to prevent human-caused fires. We’re already seeing fires caused by lightning, so we need to use the tools we have to minimize other ignition sources.” The fire season declaration places fire prevention restrictions on landowners and public. Additionally, fire prevention regulations on industrial logging and forest management activities are put into place. Lands affected include private, state, county, municipal, and tribal lands in Union, Baker, Wallowa, and Umatilla counties along with small portions of Malheur, Morrow and Grant counties within the Northeast Oregon Forest Protection District. Hessel states, “In a normal season, we would have experienced spring moisture which typically delays the start of fire season until later in June. This season, significant amounts of moisture have been absent. We’ve already had substantial fires on the landscape and it’s time to do everything we can to mitigate fire starts.” Thunderstorms that passed through the area last week caused several early season ignitions around the region.