C.O. firefighters put out 7 campfires over Memorial Day weekend, more human-caused fires since

And summer isn't officially here, yet

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- On the first day of June, still a few weeks away from official summer -- and firefighters are already hard at work on the High Desert.

Two human-caused fires near Wickiup Reservoir and Black Butte Ranch, each less than an acre in size, needed to be put out by firefighters on Wednesday. Over the Memorial Day weekend, firefighters put out seven campfires that were not fully extinguished by whoever started them.

"We just want to make sure people are starting to become 'fire aware' this early in the season, given the drought conditions," Forest Service spokeswoman Lauren DuRocher said.

That number of campfires does not include the three a La Pine business helped put out while picking up trash in the woods on Memorial Day.

To fully douse a campfire, follow these three steps: Drown the fire in water, mix the ashes with water and touch the ashes -- if they are too hot to touch, the fire is too hot to leave.

DuRocher said the number of campfires left unattended vary over Memorial Day Weekend -- but anything above zero is too many. 

“Our aim is to always have zero percent human-caused fires on the landscape," DuRocher told NewsChannel 21 Wednesday.