Hot, dry weather prompts conditions similar to those in September 2014
A wildfire tore through 30 acres of the Tillamook State Forest last Saturday, June 13.
The Sunset Grade Fire began around noon, then burned through the night and into Sunday morning before firefighters extinguished it. Crews from the Oregon Department of Forestry as well as the Forest Grove and Banks fire departments worked together to subdue the blaze.
Since Jan. 1, a total of 226 fires have burned 505 acres of Department of Forestry land, compared to the 10-year average of 135 fires burning 1,127 acres during the same period, the department’s website states. More than half of those fires were human-caused.
The site also mentions the early onset of dry-weather conditions this year, as does Forest Grove Fire & Rescue’s Facebook page: “This fire is proof that we are seeing conditions usually seen in the middle of July. And it is very dry out there. Be very cautious when out in the forest lands around the state or even in our back yard.”
Tuesday morning, KOIN 6 News went even further when it came to the Forest Grove fire station to report on the beginning of wildfire season in Forest Grove, Astoria and Tillamook. Oregon is already so hot and dry, KOIN reported, that conditions statewide are similar to those in September of last year, when the Scoggins Creek Fire near Hagg Lake between Forest Grove and Gaston scorched more than 200 acres.
[Article from the Forest Grove News-Times]