MEDFORD, Ore.– Fire danger is rising in southern Oregon as warm and dry weather continues. Oregon Department of Forestry says it already responded to several human-caused fires from runaway burn piles.
“People should just be prepared that this fire season has the potential to be worse than normal,” said Ryan Sandler, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Medford.
NWS is predicting the 2020 fire season could be a big one. Fuels are drier than normal, there’s less snowpack than last year, and future rains are hard to predict.
“No we’re not going to get big enough storms this time of year to make up for it,” said Sandler. “The only thing that would help if it was just a general rain every few days.”
On top of that, many prescribed burns and programs provided by local agencies have been canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. ODF says it’s had to cancel dozens of training and refresher programs.
“Whether it’s detection, prevention, suppression, all arteries of it have been dramatically affected,” said Brian Ballou, spokesperson for ODF Southwest District.
Ashland even had to cancel its annual TREX program, a two-week-long prescribed fire training exchange that usually brings in firefighters from across the country and the globe.
With these programs hindered, fuels are not being cleared.
“If we do get a fire, especially one near the valley, near the urban-rural interface, that could be worse because we’ll have more fuel in the forest for a bigger fire,” said Sandler.
ODF has been busy responding to human-caused fires already. This week, crews responded to nearly a dozen runaway burn piles. While open burning is closed to industrial operations, individuals can still apply for burn projects.
However, ODF is asking as part of a joint request from the Oregon State Fire Marshal and the Department of Environmental Quality for people to postpone any burns until the fall. The agency cited risks for first responders and the public if smoke gets out of hand:
- Smoke inhalation can cause upper respiratory symptoms, which could be incorrectly attributed to COVID-19, leading to unnecessary testing or self-isolation.
- Exposure to smoke and other forms of air pollution can increase the risk of contracting infectious respiratory disease such as COVID-19, increase the severity of existing respiratory infections, and worsen underlying chronic respiratory conditions.
- There is a severe shortage of personal protective equipment to reduce smoke exposure at this time.
- First responders and other emergency services are operating at a reduced capacity and have limited resources to respond to out-of-control burns
ODF says it doesn’t have a crystal ball and there’s still time for things to change but so far fires are growing in size and intensity.
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