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| Above: Dry vegetation in much of central and southern Oregon has prompted ODF district foresters there to declare June 1 the start of their local fire season. |
SALEM, Ore. – Starting at midnight on Friday, June 1, fire season and its associated restrictions will be in effect in the Southwest and Central Oregon districts of the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Walker Range Forest Protective Association. The declarations cover all of Jackson and Josephine counties in southern Oregon as well as Hood River and Grant counties, and portions of Crook, Deschutes, Gilliam, Harney, Jefferson, Morrow, Wasco, Wheeler and northern Klamath and northwestern Lake counties.
Local conditions dictate when fire
risk reaches the level that fire restrictions start to become warranted.
You can check whether fire season is in effect in your area and what restrictions
or closures may be in place by visiting ODF’s external website.
In announcing the start of fire
season in Central Oregon, District Forester Mike Shaw said, “Across the
district, spring has brought limited rainfall and right now we are seeing fuel
conditions drier than they were at this time last year.”
Southwest Oregon District Forester Dave Larson said, “The
district’s hope is that going into fire season on June 1st will help
curb the number of human-caused fires, especially escaped debris burn piles.”
Although the number of acres
burned so far this year has been modest, there have already been more than 130
wildfires reported on land protected by ODF. About half that total has occurred
in the districts entering fire season tomorrow.
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| Smoke from wildfires |