Central Oregonians reminded of springtime fire safety

Spring is here in Central Oregon, which means it’s time to go over spring fire safety.

“No. 1 is staining decks,” said Bend Fire Battalion Chief Dave Howe, the department’s public information officer. “When you stain a deck or fence with an oil-based stain, if you don’t dispose of the oily rags properly, they can combust spontaneously.”

Howe also says cigarettes are something to be very cautious with.

According to Howe, in the past four weeks, seven fires have started in Bend due to the improper disposal of cigarettes.

“One of the problems we have with cigarettes and decks is the bark mulch surrounding the decks,” Howe said.

When a cigarette is dropped into bark dust, it may not burst into flames, but it could smolder.

Once that cigarette smolders, it could find a more combustible material.

Sparks from a barbeque have also been something to keep an eye on already this season.

“What we recommend is that people take the bark mulch away from the combustible material, and put gravel or rock instead — that’s going to save a lot of trouble,” Howe said.

Coming up in the next few weeks, there will be free yard debris recycling across Central Oregon.

You can find the dates, times and locations nearest you at firefree.org