Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
Sunny, warm weather brought two area wildland fires with it last week.
Neither fire was large, nor did they cause much damage, but they showed the danger fire can present even this time of year.
The first fire was on May 1 on Cascade Timber Consulting land up Ames Creek, said Jim Basting, Oregon Department of Forestry forest protection supervisor. The fire burned about one-tenth of an acre of grass and light logging slash. The fire is now under investigation.
The ODF was called out between 8 and 8:30 p.m. CTC and ODF responded and extinguished the fire.
“A lot of people out there are just recreating,” Basting said. “It’s just really hard to say what it was.”
In Waterloo, ODF responded to a controlled burn that got away, he said. The fire burned about a half acre.
The man burning debris was prepared, he said. He had water and a shovel, but the wind caught and spread the fire.
“That’s certainly a caution for the rest of burn season,” Basting said Thursday. With the sunny weather, the surface is dry, and fire can spread quickly through light surface fuels. “It’s burn day today, and we’ve got an east wind going,” Basting said. “I fully expect we’ll go on a fire call today….
“I think what people do is they get ahead of themselves thinking it’s green grass, and they get overextended.”
The ODF Sweet Home Unit has two forest officers on duty now, Basting said. They started their work season on May 1.
The burn season normally ends on June 15, he said. That can change if fire chiefs and ODF officials call it earlier.
“If it stayed like this, which is doubtful, it could go sooner than that,” Basting said.
He said that people who are burning materials should have a charged water hose, stay with the fire and have a shovel or hand tool nearby, Basting said. In this age, it’s a good idea to have a cell phone handy to call for help if needed, and having a firebreak around a burn pile is wise. While burning, ODF officials also recommends taking into account the strength of the wind.
“When the wind is blowing…, it’s best to wait for lighter winds or calm conditions before burning,” said Greg Wagenblast of the ODF.
Wagenblast advised homeown-ers doing spring cleanup to locate a burn pile in a clear, open area and then scrape a trail completely around the pile down to mineral soil.
Before setting any open fire, east Linn County residents should call the Linn County Burn Message Line at 451-1904 to determine if burning on that day is allowed