It may be "cooling off" but our fire season is just now starting to heat up

All over Forest Grove air conditioners are running non stop, kids are playing in sprinklers, and fresh cool Hermiston water melons are being enjoyed for dessert. At the same time we are already getting that feeling that fall is coming - Monday Night Football was on last night, Pacific University students are starting to return to campus, and parents are buying school clothes and supplies and getting their kids to bed a bit earlier each night in anticipation of the arrival of school and the unofficial end of summer. It's important to remember however that in Oregon our wild fire season is really just getting started, and may still be more severe then we've seen in years.

In July the 15 acre fire on the slopes of David Hill was not only easily visible from anywhere in Forest Grove as the smoke drifted over our neighborhoods, but it was also one of the largest fires in our community in recent history. This weekend almost 80 acres burned just a few miles south of us in the northern part of Yamhill County. Just weeks ago the Rooster Rock Fire near Sisters threatened homes, and 800 acres currently burning near Grants Pass is in danger of doing the same. All over the northwest crews are working the fire lines waiting for the fall rains to arrive that will end fire season 2010.

This cell phone photo shows the smoke column from the David Hill Fire in July

Now is the time to remember the old phrase "It's always darkest just before the dawn". We all remember the long winter that stretched into the spring; this has allowed fuels such as brush and grass to be more abundant then normal years and the recent dry weather has made for tinder box like conditions around us. We hear every year about fires in southern and central Oregon, but northwest Oregon has not experienced a large fire in decades leaving us extra vulnerable and complacent when it comes to fire danger. But we are at risk and history proves it, until Southern Oregon's 2002 Biscuit Fire our very own 1933 Tillamook Burn was the largest fire in our state in generations, and it started on August 14th of that year. The 1933 Tillamook Burn destroyed over 240,000 acres of the very same timbered hillsides that we all see when we look west to watch the sunset or drive over the hill to visit the coast.

So what can we do? Even if it does cool down into the 70's this week and stays that way until the October rains arrive we cannot let our guard down. September can be one of the busiest months for brush fires, and just a few years ago we fought a stubborn October brush fire all night long with frost on the ground when we were done. Now is the time for caution and attention to everything we do outside. Carry a fire extinguisher in your car, make sure your lawn mower or tractor is in good working condition, put a little extra water on that old burn pile or campfire or pig roast pit and make sure it's out, and if the signs in your camp site say no camp fires please don't start one. If you see smoke call 9-1-1 immediately, fires can spread rapidly and we would rather check on a small fire then have to try and control one that is growing by the acre instead of the inch. If we work together we can make sure that the summer 2010 is rememberd for fun family activities instead of tragic wild fires.