Fire season ends, ‘We are all glad to see it go’

Fire season for lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry in this region of Oregon is over.

“We are all glad to see it go,” said ODF Forest Grove District Forester Mike Cafferata in an email sent Tuesday as the agency filed the appropriate paperwork to officially close the season.

“Locally, we had the challenging fire at Lee Falls, and we appreciate all the work put in by landowners, operators, other agencies to support and recover from that incident. It could have been much worse,” he added.

The countywide burn ban was lifted Tuesday.

“Those with properties outside of the city limits of Forest Grove, may now resume backyard burning, and agricultural burning, following the regulations set by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Oregon Department of Forestry, and the Oregon Department of Agriculture,” Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said.

“PLEASE be extremely careful as the amount of rain that we have received is not nearly enough to protect us from burn piles being unattended, getting out of control, and causing a wild fire,” Banks Fire District Public Information Officer Scott Adams said in a social media post announcing the end of the burn ban. “While conditions are better than they have been, we still have to be careful,” he said.

Visit www.banksfire.org/burn for Banks-area residents or burndaymessage.com for Gales Creek-area residents to find out more about legal burning procedures and days.

For those hoping to light a slash pile in ODF lands, note that a permit is still needed, and the forestry department doesn’t plan on issuing them just yet.

“We don’t anticipate issuing many slash burn permits for a little while longer to ensure we get more moisture in harvest areas, but we will work with all landowners to help you accomplish your fall burning as it can be done safely,” Cafferata said.

The season officially came to an end just after midnight Wednesday.