Sean C. Morgan
Fire danger around Sweet Home officially reached medium at the beginning of the month and then moved to high over the weekend.
“We hit it, and we’ve been bumping against high, probably Saturday,” said Craig Pettinger, Oregon Department of Forestry Sweet Home Unit acting unit forester. “And it sounds like we’re going to hit Level II (Industrial Precaution Level) on Monday.”
The fire danger level reached high once already, over Jamboree weekend when the temperatures reached above 100 degrees, Pettinger said, but it went down again until last weekend.
The entire district was under regulated use beginning on Aug. 4, with a ban on campfires among other restrictions, Pettinger said. That includes everything except the Sweet Home Ranger District, which also is going to Level II Industrial Precaution.
The Corps of Engineers and Linn County Sheriff’s Office is busy enforcing camping restrictions on the Quartzville Corridor, Pettinger said. Fires are allowed only in fire rings on the water side of the road.
“It’s supposed to be pretty warm,” Pettinger said. “There is potential for a little more worrisome fire weather in the long-term forecast.”
The farther down the valley, the drier the grasses are, he said. Farmers have been burning their fields in north Linn County and Marion County.
If they’re burning, they’re done; and it’s dry, Pettinger said, and it’s drying out around Sweet Home.
So far this season, the Sweet Home Unit has had some 14 responses to fires, Pettinger said. A large chunk of those were illegal campfires or party fires. Many of those were abandoned by the time fire officials responded.
All of the fires have been stopped on the initial attack and none have been larger than a quarter acre, Pettinger said.
Fires are popping up elsewhere in the state, including the Oakridge area, which is similar to the Sweet Home area.
“We’re starting to see requests for resources,” Pettinger said. Chad Calderwood is working on the Buckhead Complex outside of Oakridge. Another firefighter is working as bulldozer boss on the same complex.
With the fire danger increasing, “make sure you only have your campfire where its permitted,” said Forest Protection Supervisor Neal Miller. The Sweet Home Unit has issued three or four warnings and no citations so far this year.
“We try to give people the opportunity to do the right things,” Pettinger said.
For more information, call the Sweet Home Unit at (541) 367-6108. To report smoke, call the Sweet Home Unit or 9-1-1.