Fire Season Facts and Stats

Weekly fire season statistics on ODF's Southwest Oregon District are posted online on a new website, SWO Fire Data. The "Fire Stats" tab links to a dropbox where files showing weekly fire activity (number of fire, acres burned, etc.) are posted. The "Pocket Card" tab is another drop box that has current information of value to firefighters. The pocket cards track vegetation dryness and illustrate how this contributes to the amount of energy a wildfire will release. A third tab, "Lightning Maps," goes to a dropbox where maps of lightning strikes are located. When a thunderstorm occurs in southwest Oregon, maps loaded into this dropbox will show where lightning strikes have been recorded.

Burn Ban Starts Monday in Siskiyou County

The California Dept. of Forestry's Siskiyou Unit, based in Yreka, will suspend "dooryard burning permits" starting Monday, June 17. Recent fire activity and hot weather prompted the issuance of the proclamation.

Campfires and ceremonial fires are still allowed on private property with the landowner's permission.

For more information, contact CalFire's Siskiyou Unit at (530) 842-3516.

Fire Safety House Opens at the Oregon Garden

A home fire safety model grown to life-size: That is the bold, but simple concept behind The Oregon Garden Fire Safety House. This training tool to help homeowners in the wildland-urban interface live safely with wildfire has become reality, and it will be unveiled in a grand opening ceremony at 2 p.m. on Thursday, June 20, at The Oregon Garden in Silverton. The public is invited to attend.

Structural and wildland fire educators teamed up with construction and design experts to turn the 1970s-era legacy house on the grounds of the popular resort in Silverton into a self-guided tour of how a home can be made safe against threats from wildfire.

At first glance the structure resembles any well-kept suburban home. Attractive siding and roofing combine with well-maintained landscaping for visual appeal. Behind the pleasing aesthetics, though, this dwelling is built to endure the rigors of an encroaching wildfire. Roofing materials are designed not only to resist rain and snow but also burning embers cast through the air by a fire.

And the durable siding can endure heat from nearby flames as well as the more moderate temperature fluctuations of changing seasons. The species and arrangement of the landscaping plants discourage a creeping ground fire from ever reaching the structure, and also shield it from radiant heat generated by a flame front.

Eight interpretive kiosks illustrate how a home can be protected from wildfire by using fire-resistive building materials and replacing combustible vegetation with fire-resistive plants.

Cooperators on the Fire Safety House project include: The Oregon Garden Foundation, Moonstone Management, Inc., Oregon Department of Forestry, Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal, and Oregon State University.

A $600,000 Assistance to Firefighters grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency funded the creation of interpretive fire education displays.

Manage Fuel to Reduce Your Home's Risk of Wildfire Damage

Wildfire can be dangerous, but by managing available fuel around your home you can significantly reduce your property's vulnerability to damage. Fire has fundamental needs: heat, oxygen and fuel. Reduce the fuel and a fire's intensity will drop. This video focuses on the fundamentals of fire and explains how to make homes, or an entire community, highly fire resistant.

Outlook: Hot and Dry

After a week of hot weather in southwest Oregon, it's easy to believe the long-range wildfire forecast that says the 2013 fire season will be one for the record books. A thin snowpack in the Cascade Range and the Siskiyou Mtns coupled with a drier than normal spring has left vegetation in Jackson and Josephine counties ready to burn.

And it's not going to get better anytime soon.

Higher than normal temperatures and lower-than-normal precipitation is expected throughout summer, according to the National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook published on June 1 by the National Interagency Fire Center. "Above normal significant wildand fire potential" is expected in Oregon and Northern California from July through September.

All signs point toward this being a summer to be very careful when using fire or spark-creating equipment outdoors.

Fire Stats: May was a Busy Month for Firefighters

Firefighters on ODF's Southwest Oregon District responded to 70 wildfires in May, more than three times the 10-year average. The springtime outbreak of wildfire burned 190 acres, a whopping five times higher than the 1--year average.

	No. of fires 2013	Acres  burned 2013	No. of fires 10-yr avg	Acres burned 10-yr-avg
Medford Unit	32	25	12	21
Grants Pass Unit	38	165	8	19
SWO District	70	190	20	40

A significant cause of May's fires was lightning. Twenty-four fires were caused by thunderstorms May 5-6, but burned only 15 acres. People have caused the greatest number of fires and the biggest fires so far in 2013, the largest being the 115-acre vehicle-caused Beacon Hill Fire which broke out  Friday, May 31. Escaped debris burning fires this spring accounted for 25 wildfires that burned a total of 25 acres.

Since fire season began June 3, the number of debris burning-caused fires has plummeted.

Beacon Hill Fire in Final Stages

Firefighters working on the 115-acre Beacon Hill Fire east of Grants Pass report good progress was made Saturday on strengthening firelines and mopping up hot spots. Today, a county Community Justice crew and a handful of engines continue the laborious chore of extinguishing isolated hot spots.

Residents will see occasional puffs of smoke rise from the burned area today, and fire vehicle traffic will continue in the Jones Creek Rd. and Beacon Dr. areas.

Remember: Fire season in southwest Oregon starts tomorrow, which means open burning season will end. Fire season typically lasts until mid-October.