Earlier this month, the state of Oregon officially entered the 2023 wildfire season. The start of wildfire season can bring uncertainty and anxiety for the rest of the summer. Living in the Portland metro area, a dense, urban setting surrounded by natural areas, has the inherent risk of wildfire and potential harm to communities. It’s important to remember that in the face of this reality, there are people working hard to help prevent wildfires and keep our communities safe. In addition, there are also important steps you can take to protect yourself and reduce the risk of wildfire in your community.
Read on to learn more about what wildfire season means, what precautions are being taken, and what you can do to protect yourself and others during wildfire season.
What does wildfire season mean?
Wildfire season is the time of year when wildfires are most likely to occur. It usually begins in late May/early summer, when conditions start to become hotter and drier, and continues until the fall when temperatures cool and wetter weather start again.
While fires can, and do, occur year-round, these dry, hot summer conditions make it more dangerous as fires can more easily start and spread in these conditions, especially during periods of high winds. Other wildfire risk factors are also heightened during the summer. People spend more time outdoors, which leads to human-caused risk factors like discarded cigarettes, campfires, equipment malfunctions, and more.
Indeed, you might be familiar with last summer’s fire t in Forest Park that began due to a discarded cigarette. If the fire had not been caught and reported quickly, the dry summer conditions could have allowed it to quickly spread through the forest. But that’s not all: just this month another fire started in Forest Park. Thankfully, due to the vigilance and swift intervention of Portland Fire & Rescue (PF&R), this fire was put out. An FPC Independent Volunteer/Forest Park Rapid Responder also reported a second fire the day after – luckily PF&R responded promptly after this fire was caught early.
The past two years have shown that fire in Forest Park is, to some extent, a matter of “when” and not “if”. But there is a lot that can, and is, being done to mitigate harm and lower the odds of a wildfire starting and spreading.
What is being done?
In addition to the recent ban on all fireworks within the city of Portland, an outdoor burn ban has been issued for all of Multnomah County. This complete burn ban covers recreational campfires, fire pits, and any other open burnings. While campfires and fireworks have long been considered summer staples, a pattern of increasingly hot and dry summers, like the one we are experiencing now, makes such a ban necessary to prevent human-caused wildfires.
Portland Parks & Recreation (PP&R) works to mitigate the risk of wildfire in natural areas by conducting wildfire risk reduction projects throughout natural areas within the City of Portland. This work includes the FEMA-funded Forest Park Wildfire Risk Reduction Project, as well as other hazardous fuels reduction and native planting work in other natural areas. In addition, PP&R maintains emergency access routes throughout Forest Park, as well as coordinates regular ranger patrols, wildfire risk awareness tools such as fire dials, and supports wildfire prevention strategies and enforcement.
Additionally, PF&R remains vigilant against the threat of wildfire. Through a combination of fire patrols and community outreach, PF&R mitigates wildfire risk factors that pose a threat to local natural areas, like Forest Park, and surrounding communities. You can read more about this work in an article we posted last summer.
What can you do to protect your community?
Participate in a local Firewise community: There are multiple certified Firewise communities in the Portland area, many of which are near Forest Park! These are community-organized neighborhood groups that help people organize at a local level to prevent wildfires.
If you live in a certified Firewise community, consider becoming involved with your community to see how you can contribute to your neighborhood’s safety. You can explore a map of local Firewise communities to see if there is one near you. And, if you don’t live in or near a Firewise neighborhood, it’s never too late for you to start the process of helping your neighborhood become Firewise certified.
Get a Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Home Assessment: The WUI Home Assessment program is run by PP&R and PF&R. The program is designed to enable homeowners living within the wildland-urban interface (the areas where human development intermixes with natural areas) to more effectively protect their properties against a wildfire through a free home assessment provided by PF&R.
If you are a homeowner interested in receiving a home assessment, click this link to learn more and sign up.
Here are some simple steps you can take to decrease wildfire risk at your home:
- Clean your roof and gutters,
- Keep your trees trimmed,
- Create separation between ground vegetation.
Maintaining clear space between trees and other patches of vegetation around your home can prevent a fire from spreading by limiting the amount of available fuel a fire can access if it spreads into your yard. This buffer of clear space is known as defensible space. To learn more about how you can create defensible space on your property click here to read a guide from the Oregon Fire Marshall.
These steps can help decrease your risk as fire can spread through debris left in gutters up to your roof, through a grassy yard up to your house, or up into the canopy of a tree through vines like English ivy, also known as a “ladder fuel” which can provide an easy, burnable pathway for a fire to spread up from the ground.
Be a responsible park user: When you’re traveling to Forest Park during wildfire season, be prepared before you go. In addition to dressing appropriately for the weather and bringing plenty of water, check for the risk of fire, either online or by stopping to consult one of the eight fire hazard dials installed around Forest Park by PP&R.
Additionally, be aware of your exit routes in the park in case of an emergency. And if a fire does start in Forest Park, call 911 immediately and be prepared to give precise details of where the fire is located. The sooner a fire is reported, the better chance there is of stopping it while it is small, before it can spread. A fire can spread fast in a densely forested area, so time is of the essence.
Finally, remember that fires of any kind are not allowed in Forest Park all year round, but this is especially important during hot dry seasons like this. Please respect prohibitions on fireworks, smoking, campfires, and other fires in Forest Park posted and enforced by PP&R.
If you would like to learn more about some of the precautions being taken to prevent wildfires and more steps that you can take, please check out forestparkconservancy.org/fire to learn more about the Forest Park Wildfire Risk Reduction Project.
Wildfire season carries with it a lot of potential risks and dangers, so we must take care to ensure the safety of ourselves and our communities by being vigilant and proactive concerning fire risks. So be vigilant, look out for each other, and take whatever steps are available to you to help prevent wildfires and keep our communities safe.
You can email us with questions or if you would like more information about the Forest Park Wildfire Risk Reduction program.