Update: With the end of the fire season in the local Oregon Department of Forestry region on Friday, Washington County fire agencies followed suit by lifting a countywide burn ban.
"Initially implemented due to elevated fire risk, the ban was lifted after recent rainfall, and the Oregon Department of Forestry ended the fire season," Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said in a notice.
For Forest Grove-area residents, burning is allowed only for those outside city limits.
Inside city limits, backyard burning is allowed during the spring season of March 1 through May 15, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said.
Fire season in the northwest corner of the state will end Friday, Oct. 10 an Oregon Department of Forestry official said.
"With the changing forecast looking to more favorable fall like conditions the Northwest Oregon Forest Protective Association (NWOFPA) will be ending fire season," said Acting District Forester Ed Wallmark, who currently heads the Tillamook District of the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF).
"While not receiving huge rain amounts we are used to seeing in inches per day, there has been enough precipitation accumulated over the last month to warrant the change," he said in an email sent to area forestry workers.
Most backyard burning remains banned, but local jurisdictions in Forest Grove and Banks typically follow the ODF fire season, meaning this weekend could see the county burn ban lifted.
The NWOFPA region includes much of the regions of Gales Creek, Buxton, Timber, Manning, and the Tillamook State Forest, among other areas. It stretches north to the Columbia River, west to the Pacific Ocean, south to Sheridan, and east to parts of Gales Creek, the Killin Wetlands outside of Banks and to Scappoose.
Fire season began June 23 in the region.
"While this season provided somewhat of a relief compared to 2024 there were still 6 ODF [Incident Management Team] deployments and numerous smaller fires that were caught in the initial attack period which speaks to the success of keeping fires as small as possible," Wallmark said.
He urged logging operations to work with their local forestry districts and acquire needed slash burning permits.
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