Oregon firefighters assisting in four other states

Wildfire activity has not picked up yet in Oregon on Oregon Department of Forestry-protected lands, enabling the department to assist other states with their fires. Since early June, ODF has sent 35 employees to four states.

These specially trained personnel are fighting fires in New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and Alaska. Additional requests are coming in from Alaska, as severe weather conditions there spawn new fires.

On Thursday , lightning ignited 29 fires in Alaska, up to 750 acres in size. With the sun up 20 hours a day at this time of year, the hot, dry conditions are expected to continue in Alaska.

Oregon and the other Western states routinely share firefighting resources as needed. And the arrangement is reciprocal: If the Oregon Department of Forestry needs outside help on fires in Oregon, its partner agencies will provide personnel and equipment when possible.

FIRE STATISTICS
These fire statistics are for the current year and the average over the past 10 years for the 16 million acres of private and public forestland protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry.

January 1, 2013, through today :
Lightning-caused fires: 45 fires burned 18 acres
Human-caused fires: 211 fires burned 851 acres
Total: 256 fires burned 869 acres

10-year average ( Jan. 1 through the present date in the year):
Lightning-caused fires: 21 fires burned 25 acres
Human-caused fires: 120 fires burned 294 acres
Total: 141 fires burned 319 acres

Fire statistics can be accessed any time from the ODF website, www.oregon.gov/odf .