Forestry officials, woodland owners prepare for fire season
LYONS, Ore. — Most of the 165 small-woodland owners who recently gathered at a McCully Mountain tree farm had wildfire season on their minds.
The wildfire forecast for Northwest forests is not good, said Joe Arbow, stewardship forester with the Santiam Unit of the Oregon Department of Forestry in Mehama. He brought an ODF tanker unit to the forest tour site in Lyons on June 19.
“The dry winter and spring and lack of snowpack in the mountains has set us up for a busy fire season,” Arbow said. “We can’t control the start of naturally occurring fires but we do prepare and train for all fires.”
The department monitors all ground-based operations looking for clearly identified unlocked tool boxes complete with firefighting tools, pumps with at least 250 feet of hose and nozzles ready to operate at all times and fire extinguishers for each internal combustion engine and chainsaw in operation.
“On inspections, we look at cable operations first because rubbing lines create sparks, and we look to see that spark arrester systems in good working order are in place,” he said.
Arbow is one of about 20 year-round and seasonal people in the Mehama ODF office responsible for fire protection on state, private and Bureau of Land Management lands in northern Linn and eastern Marion counties.
In addition to fire protection, he conducts forest practices inspections.
K.C. VanNatta, a tree farmer and logging operator from Columbia County, talked about his ongoing fire protection regimen.
“You can’t go out without shaking down all of your fire trucks to make sure you have everything you need,” VanNatta said. “You never know when something might have been stolen or used and not put back. Your fire extinguishers, gallons of water and working spark arresters and exhaust system. You can’t go out without making sure they are operational.”
The Oregon Small Woodlands Association and American Tree Farm Systems sponsored the event, which also celebrated Linda Butts as the 2014 Tree Farmer of the Year.
Online
For detailed information on the 2015 fire season, find the National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook at www.predictiveservices.nifc.gov.
To contact Joe Arbow at the Oregon Department of Forestry, call 503-859-4323 or email jmarbow@odf.state.or.us.