Fireworks, a beer garden, live music, a talent show and more are on tap for an Independence Day celebration in Banks., and the Forest Grove fireworks show is not happening.
A Kansas City field was ignited in flames after wind "likely spread embers" from a neighboring property's illegal burn pile Tuesday afternoon, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue said.
A county-wide burn ban began Monday morning, just hours after lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry in far west Washington County entered fire season.
Starting Thursday afternoon, Independence Day festivities will be under the pall of an Excessive Heat Watch, which extends through Sunday evening as triple digit temperatures loom in the forecast.
At 1 a.m. on July 1, 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. (No subscription required)
Agency officials said firefighters are hard to hire and retain, and are often left to sleep in their trucks or camp on the job due to a lack of housing
The federal government this week acknowledged that the construction and operation of 11 hydroelectric dams on the Columbia and Snake rivers during the last century has had a devastating effect on eight Northwest tribes and more than a dozen native fish stocks, some of which have gone extinct.
