A recently contained fire outside Scappoose gives us a bleak prediction about Oregon’s coming fire season.
The 42-acre fire—about 28 miles northwest of Portland—was first reported on June 3, but the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) says it’s now 100 percent contained. Though the fire didn’t cause too much harm—no humans or structures were affected—it shows just how dry Oregon already is this year.
According to Malcolm Hiatt with ODF’s Columbia City office, the fire burned like it normally would during the second week of August.
“Most Oregonians don’t worry much about wildfire until well into summer but in the northwest part of the state the risk is already there,” Hiatt said in a press release.
The Scappoose fire was unusually large and aggressive for this early in the season—easily jumping across 12-foot wide gravel roads. ODF says that’s because of nearly historic levels of dryness in the plants in that area, which have left plants looking as dry as the hottest days of August. Across much of northwest Oregon, rainfall has been only a fraction of normal for May and early June.
Meanwhile, the Columbia Gorge is still smoldering from the Eagle Creek fire, which had a flare-up in May. That flare-up was caused by fire burning up underground organic material throughout the winter.
ODF suggests that folks avoid starting campfires or burning debris. I’ll tack on that we shouldn’t set off fireworks in the forest, either, kid.