The Oregon Department of Forestry closed the North Fork Wolf Creek Shooting Lanes in the Tillamook State Forest this week to tackle maintenance and fire prevention work at the site.
People are shooting exploding targets and firing hot lead into dry vegetation in the Tillamook Forest with predictable results: Five wildfires since May. “These fires are all preventable,” said Acting Forest Grove District Forester Stephanie Beall.
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue responded to the fire off Thatcher Road north of Purdin Road just after 3 p.m. alongside firefighters from Banks Fire District, Cornelius Fire Department and deputies from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
On Wednesday, July 16, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency over the wildfires at the request of the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon State Fire Marshal.
According to Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, about four acres of grass field and some adjacent brush were burned Sunday evening near the intersection of NW Thatcher Road and NW Kemper Road. The cause appeared to be a welding job in the middle of the field that went awry, the agency said.
The Oregon Department of Forestry is raising fire danger from moderate to high Monday in NW-02 and NW-03, the eastern and central portions of the Tillamook Forest and surrounding areas, including in and near Timber, Buxton, Manning, Hayward and Banks.
In advance of Independence Day, the Oregon Department of Forestry is raising fire danger from low to moderate in areas in and around the Tillamook Forest, Timber, Buxton, and Manning.
At 12:01 a.m. on Monday, June 23, fire season will begin in lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry in the Northwest Oregon Forest Protective Association (NWOFPA ), which includes areas in and near the Tillamook State Forest.
Freshly returned from a deployment in the Gorge, crews from the Banks Fire District and Gaston Rural Fire District joined Forest Grove Fire & Rescue and other county agencies to head to the Alder Springs Fire Tuesday.
