Oregon on extreme fire watch as of tomorrow

Central Point, Ore.- Beginning at midnight the fire danger level will go up from high to extreme.

Oregon Department of Forestry says the 2017 fire season started out as expected but there’s definitely room for that to change as what is typically the hottest month of the summer begins on Tuesday.

According to ODF Public Information Office Melissa Cano, ODF is preparing for that change from yellow to red tomorrow.

Oregon Department of Forestry is increasing the fire danger level from high to extreme. The reason for that being higher level temperatures, drier vegetation, and lower relative humidity.

“When you have those triple digit temperatures mixed with very low relative humidity, and some wind gusts predicted in the future that creates kind of the perfect storm for a fire to take off,” Cano says.

With those added factors Cano says everyone needs to take necessary precautions.

“When (we) go to extreme fire level there’s a set of restrictions that come with it. And what that means is that there’s a total shut down, in essence, of anything that’s spark emitting.”

And she says there’s only one way that will happen. If people hold their neighbors and themselves responsible. And make sure that they don’t do little things that could be easily prevented.

So far in the 2017 fire season ODF has fought multiple hefty fires across Southern Oregon. The Chetco Fire that’s still burning and at over 2400 acres, the Ana Fire that was nearly 5800 acres, and the highway 97 fire in Klamath Falls that burned 27 acres earlier this month.

Just yesterday the Burnt Creek Fire sparked. It’s ODF’s worst fire of the 2017 season so far.

With fire danger on the rise Cano says there’s one thing everyone needs to have in mind in order to keep Oregon green.

“The most important thing is prevention. And it always comes down to prevention. If people look out for themselves, their neighbors, and others- an ounce of prevention goes a long way.”

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