Firefighters Catch 5 Human Caused Fires this Weekend

We continue to find abandoned illegal campfires and forest visitors building illegal fires outside of designated approved camping areas on the Mt. Hood National Forest. Firefighters fought five human caused fires this weekend, some ignited by abandoned illegal campfires. Thankfully these fires were caught during initial attack.

Forest vegetation is extremely dry, and even though thunderstorms are in the forecast they will likely not produce enough moisture to change expected fire behavior. The East side of the Cascades is forecasted to receive more lightning than rain and that is a cause for concern.

Continued dry conditions and daily high temperatures are keeping fire weather indices in the high fire danger range.

If you build a fire in a designated campground with approved metal campfire rings it needs to be dead out before you depart camp. Pour water onto the fire area and thoroughly stir before leaving. You should feel no heat from the fire after this procedure. Here is a video link from Smokey Bear about how to put out a campfire. Please take a look if you are unclear on how to properly douse a campfire.

Public use fire restrictions remain in place across the entire Mt. Hood NF. Campfires outside of designated approved camping areas are prohibited.

We are expecting scattered rain and lightning this week.

While we can’t do a lot about lightning caused fires we can prevent human caused fires. Please do your part and do not build fires outside of designated camping areas and if you do build a fire in a designated approved area please make sure the fire is dead out before you leave your campsite.

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