Central Point, Ore. — Just days into fire season crews are already getting their fair share of action. Between lightning storms at the start of the week and extreme heat, the Oregon Department of Forestry said this season is off to a busy start.
“As soon as we saw the lightning yesterday we saw fires immediately out of that storm,” District Protection Planner Matthew Krunglevich said.
Krunglevich is in charge of tracking storms so crews can get ahead of any potential lightning caused fires. You can find his maps here. He said crews were on standby Southwest of Crater Lake Tuesday where they saw a couple small spot fires Monday evening.
“This is where most of our concentrated resources are going to be for the next several days because this is where all the lightning was,” he said.
Fire Prevention Specialist Brian Ballou said all the activity this early in the season could be telling of what’s to come.
“Ten years ago we didn’t have this early of an extreme dryness problem and now we do and it’s very real and the fire danger is very real,” he said.
Crews from all over the area responded to a grass fire in Ashland on Granite Street just above the reservoir Tuesday morning. The U.S. Forest Service said the fire appears to be man made.
“Anything can happen. It’s that time, it’s warm, 90 degree weather so just being out in the woods you got to be careful,” US Forest Service Engineer Captain Jim Delatorre said.
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