The Oregon State Fire Marshal mobilized six task forces and an incident management team to Umatilla County late Tuesday as firefighters battled two fast-moving wildfires, one that grew to an estimated 10,000 acres and prompted some evacuations for a time.
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BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) — Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District firefighters plan to resume prescribed burning operations Wednesday five miles northeast of La Pine along Paulina Lake Road (Forest Service Road 21) near Six Mile Sno-Park. If conditions are favorable, firefighters will ignite up to 83 acres starting at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Smoke will be visible
Continue Reading Firefighters on the Bend-Fort Rock Ranger District continued prescribed burning along Paulina Lake Road northeast of La Pine on Monday, but canceled a burn planned west of Bend on Tuesday due to a change in conditions.
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Due to a historically dry spring and unseasonably warm temperatures, Siuslaw and Willamette National Forest officials raised fire danger from ‘low’ to ‘moderate’ as of Wednesday.
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WASHINGTON (KTVZ) — Sens. Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joined Colorado U.S. Senator Michael Bennet in a bipartisan letter urging the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs to consider a long-term solution to increase wildland firefighter recruitment and retention. In their letter, the Senators push for Congress to act before short-term pay
Continue ReadingWith an early onset of above-normal temperatures, rapid snowmelt and consecutive days of below-normal rainfall, fire season is off to an early start in the Pacific Northwest. These critical fire weather conditions and the potential for growing wildfires are prompting firefighting agencies to begin implementing fire regulations earlier than normal, officials said Wednesday.
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Warm Springs firefighters, assisted by a Jefferson County structural protection task force, stopped two grass fires that broke out Tuesday afternoon and threatened homes, prompting road closures, roadblocks and evacuation of the Warm Springs K-8 Academy
Continue ReadingA look out the window or a walk through a park or neighborhood on many smoky summer days in recent years tell Central Oregonians what the latest data confirms: Those eye-watering conditions are becoming the “new summer normal” of sorts in the region and other areas of the state, as wildfires worsen.
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With nearly two-dozen wildfires tackled already this year — about half of them escaped debris burns — fire season on all lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry’s Central Oregon District will begin Friday at at 12:01 a.m., the agency announced Tuesday.
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The Bend-Fort Ranger District plans to conduct a five-acre prescribed burn Monday morning near Sunriver to generate a training environment for students enrolled in the Forest Service’s fire investigator class.
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A fire destroyed a motor home at Thousand Trails RV Park south of Sunriver late Saturday afternoon and was spreading to grass and trees when the first fire crew arrived to slow its spread, helping save other RVs and campers, La Pine fire officials said.
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To boost the number of firefighters across Oregon ahead of wildfire season, the Oregon State Fire Marshal has awarded $6 million in grants to 185 local fire agencies across the state, including eight in Central Oregon.
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A suspected human-caused brush fire west of Sisters Wednesday afternoon was quickly put out by crews from several area agencies, stopping the blaze at about a quarter-acre, the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District said Thursday.
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A 300-acre wildfire in steep terrain about 10 miles southwest of Veneta has been fully lined, and mop-up operations are making progress, Oregon Department of Forestry officials said Tuesday.
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The Sisters Ranger District plans to conduct a 115-acre prescribed burn on Wednesday four miles northwest of Sisters, near Highway 20 and three-quarters of a mile north of the Cascade Meadow Ranch Subdivision.
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To close out Wildfire Awareness Month, the Oregon Department of Emergency Management is urging everyone to prepare for the upcoming wildfire season by having an evacuation plan.
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Annual campfire restrictions will go into effect Thursday along portions of the Crooked, Deschutes, John Day and White Rivers, as well as on BLM-administered lands along Lake Billy Chinook and Lake Simtustus.
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Forest Service and BLM workers found and dealt with five abandoned campfires over the Memorial Day weekend, including one one on the Ochoco National Forest that was still showing flames and prompted call-out of an engine crew to make sure it was fully out.
Continue Reading Firefighters on the Bend-Fort Rock and Crescent ranger districts plan to resume prescribed burning operations east of Sunriver and southwest of Crescent on Tuesday, if conditions remain favorable, officials said Monday.
Continue ReadingBy MATTHEW BROWN Associated Press BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice pollutes streams in western states in violation of federal law, a judge ruled Friday. Halting the use of the red slurry material could have resulted in greater
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