Burn season opens Tuesday in some — not all — of C. Oregon

The Central Oregon Fire Chiefs Association announced Sunday that burn season will open at sunrise on Tuesday for many of the local fire districts regionally — though not ones like Bend where debris burning is banned.

With the recent fall weather and precipitation received in areas, the fire chiefs of local fire departments, the U.S. Forest Service, the BLM’s Prineville District and the Oregon Department of Forestry have agreed that many areas are now safe to enter into burn season.

Even with many fire districts opening burn season, Central Oregon fire chiefs remind residents that they need to call their local fire district to ensure the district is allowing burning at this time, that it is a burn day, and to obtain any necessary permits.

“Even though we are entering burn season is many areas, some areas are still too dry for outdoor burning. In districts where burning is open weather conditions such as high winds or warm fall weather can make outdoor burning unsafe. Checking in with your local fire district is important,” explained Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire Chief Roger Johnson.

” Residents that are in areas where outdoor burning is allowed will still be required to follow local agency regulations and closely monitor their pile to prevent spread to other combustibles ,” Johnson added..

The Oregon Department of Forestry’s Central Oregon District also will be lifting Regulated Use Closure restrictions on Tuesday. That will allow the general public on private lands within the district to conduct open burning, with a valid permit from your local fire district or ODF.

Other restrictions that will be lifted include the, operation of chainsaws and mowing of dried grass for private lands within the district. The ODF’s Central Oregon District will still have general fire season restrictions in place until there is a more significant change in weather conditions.

There are several year-round burning bans as well in Central Oregon, including the city of Bend, the city of Sisters and Sunriver.

For residents who are uncomfortable burning or are not in areas where outdoor burning is allowed, the fall FireFree events will be available to residents in Deschutes and Jefferson County. Watch www.firefree.org for the dates of these events in October and November.

Central Oregon Fire Chiefs federal partners (US Forest Service & Bureau of Land Management) will be performing prescribed burns throughout the region. These prescribed burns will be conducted under carefully planned conditions such as: with federal fire resources, professional fire managers and firefighters on scene, favorable weather conditions and carefully planned land plots.

These prescribed burns improve forest health and reduce the forest fuels in order to lower the wildfire risk to our communities that is ever-present later in the season when the conditions are even more extreme.