A spectacular rainbow graced Sweet Home with its presence Friday afternoon as the sun beamed brightly into a rain shower, creating double and triple rainbow effects.
With it, the annual burn ban is over, although some areas are still under restrictions.
That rainbow and the showers that dumped on soccer games a week earlier are clear signs that the end of a long, dry summer is near and the long, wet winter is looming.
The large forest fires around the state are still burning but under control and facing an imminent demise.
The Linn County Fire Defense Board has lifted the burn ban, said Chad Calderwood, forest protection supervisor with the Oregon Department of Forestry Sweet Home Unit. That means residents can begin debris burning after checking the daily burn message – except on lands protected by the ODF – primarily land outside the Sweet Home city limits.
The ODF South Cascades District remains in fire season and under regulated use, Calderwood said. Fire danger is rated as low, but it remains.
“We are not going to get out of fire season, but the county lifted burn ban on Oct. 1,” Calderwood said. While fire season continues, burning on ODF-protected lands remains banned except in designated campgrounds.
When fire season ends depends on what the weather does, Calderwood said. Looking ahead, forecasts are showing sunny, dry weather with temperatures in the mid 60s.
“Fuels under the canopy are still dry,” Calderwood said. “They’re recovering (moisture) slowly, not as fast as we’d like to see.”
The recent rains have “definitely moderated things,” Calderwood said, and that’s keeping the danger level low.
Much of the decision about fire season rests on the conditions in the entire district, which extends all the way to the Douglas County line, Calderwood said. Conditions in the southern part of the district tend to be drier.
But the danger remains here too, he said. Scio last week had a three-alarm fire from a debris burn that got away in dry conditions.
Call loads for Sweet Home Unit firefighters have remained low. The unit has responded to 101 calls this fire season, four of them in the past two weeks. One was a fire up Old Hufford Road that got away from a debris burn. Three others were calls for small debris burns, which are prohibited.
Around the state, “a lot of larger fires are in rehab right now,” Calderwood said. Firefighters are pulling lines and putting in erosion control to prevent landslides and protect stream water quality.
Those fires are controlled and not spreading, he said, but they aren’t out.
Right now, “be vigilant and be patient,” Calderwood said.
For more information about fire season and debris burning, call the fire department at (541) 367-5882 or ODF at (541) 367-6108. The burn line is (541) 451-1904.