It's Wildfire Awareness Week!

We are fortunate to live in a beautiful part of Oregon. Forest Grove is surrounded by agriculture to the north and south and to the west the Oregon Coast Range beckons us with it's ability to recharge our batteries with a bounty of recreational adventures. Almost all of us have taken in what the Tillamook State Forest and surrounding timber lands have to offer; some of us are lucky enough to live right in the foothills with the forest as our backyard, a lot of us have hiked or taken an ATV on one of the trails that meander through the shaded trees, while some enjoy the bone chilling waters of the Wilson River on a hot August day, and almost everyone has taken a drive to the beach and gazed upon the stunning views from the north coast highways. Imagine stepping back in time and instead of a green forest shaded your drive, all that you see are blackened trees, their bark charred from the raging fires that burned across the land; instead of sitting in your yard and watching a pink sky sunset on a summer evening the sun is obscured by billowing smoke clouds as the forest burns below. This hasn't happened in northwest Oregon since 1951, but it can and likely will happen again and it's our responsibility to be ready for it. That's why Governors from Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and California have declared this week to be "Wildfire Awareness Week" and even though we are hopefully a few weeks away from the traditional time when the first significant brush fires usually occur in our area now is the perfect time to get your home and property ready for fire season.

A US Agriculture Department photo of the 1933 Tillamook Burn Fire that destroyed 311,000 acres west of Forest Grove

Here's the deal for northwest Oregon residents, if we want to prevent a wildfire tragedy in our area the first step is that we choose to live responsibly. We just don't get the lightning storms that other parts of our state get, so when we have wildfires we have only ourselves to blame. A vast majority of our wildfires are caused by carelessness or poor decision making and it's up to us to make sure that we prevent this from happening during this summers fire season. In 2010 a campfire was left burning on David Hill Road and spread to nearly 14 acres of private timber land and came within a few hundred yards of nearby homes before firefighters could get a handle on it, during the highest fire danger point of the summer of 2011 a man using a cutting torch near Gaston caught a few acres of grass on fire and luckily firefighters stopped the fire within feet of a nearby home. Situations like these repeat themselves year after year in our area. We can do better, make sure our spring burn piles are out and never burn or use open flames outside once fire season starts. Pay attention to what we are doing and have tools handy to control a fire if you do have to work on your car or machinery with dry grass or brush nearby. 

We are a few weeks away from the traditional start of our fire season, but now is the perfect time to get your property ready for the summer months. Start by taking a look at your roof, if you live with the woods nearby we encourage you to consider fire resistive roof construction but if you can't afford a new roof right now you can still help by cleaning your roof, eaves, and gutters, and removing the build up of moss, leaves, and tree needles. Next take a look around the house and make sure that within 30 feet of your home you have an adequate fire break to protect your home from a wildfire. Remove all dead vegetation within this area, as well as any brush, trees, grasses, or even fire wood that come in direct contact with your home. Beyond this initial 30 feet take a close look at your "secondary fire break" and clear any dead vegetation, tall grass, and dense trees or brush, within 8 feet of the ground for 100 feet around your home. Finally make sure your driveway is accessible and clear enough (at least 12 feet wide and 14 feet of overhead clearance from limbs) for fire engines to get to your home and that you have a nicely marked address sign so that we can find your home quickly.