A thunderstorm that passed through the area just east of Sweet Home Friday evening created numerous lightning strikes across the Sweet Home Unit, said Neil Miller, Oregon Department of Forestry Sweet Home Unit forest protection supervisor, but no fires had been detected.
About one-eighth of the strikes were sufficient to cause concern for fire officials, he said, and it wouldn’t be unusual to have a tree to hold heat from a strike and flare up, especially with the warm, dry weekend.
Still, he said, the level of remaining moisture present in the forests has reduced the fire risk from this storm.
“Right now, we’re thinking things are pretty wet, pretty green,” Miller said.
Sweet Home Unit planned to patrol the areas around the serious lightning strikes Monday, and he expected landowners to be out inspecting their forests as well, watching for possible fires.