Bo Tew is no stranger to the complications of wildfire when planning his Oregon trips. Last year, forest fires forced the Hillsboro hiker to cancel a trip to Diamond Lake and almost canceled a scheduled summit of Mount St. Helens. He decided to climb the mountain anyway, despite the smoky air.
This year, Tew is one of many Oregon travelers trying to make the summer vacation face yet another bad forest fire season. Between road closures, canceled reservations, and poor air quality – not to mention the destruction from the fires themselves – travel planning during the fire season requires extra care.
“I’m not sure where to go in the future, it seems like wildfires started much earlier this year,” said Tew, who received the backpacking permit in the Mount Jefferson and Three Sisters wilderness earlier this summer caught up. “I think we’ll be watching closely, and if it’s closer to the date and it’s not safe enough, we won’t go.”
At least from Friday morning Five major forest fires burned in Oregon including the 241,497 acre Bootleg Fire near Klamath Falls, the 15,248 acre Jack Fire east of Roseburg, and the 5,971 acre Grandview Fire north of Sisters, all of which threatened homes, businesses, and recreation areas, and smoke over the largest Part of the state spread.
Suzanne Flory, a regional fire information spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management, said those planning to visit Oregon’s outdoor destinations this summer must look to Tew for guidance and do their homework. Travelers should check for cancellations, keep an eye out for road closures and read all fire restrictions before heading out, she said like that recent fire ban exhibited in Crater Lake National Park.
She also recommends having a backup plan just in case so all that vacation time isn’t wasted.
“Part of it is really forward-looking, but I would recommend one [plan B]“Said Flori. “Things can change very quickly because fires are very dynamic events.”
And while she doesn’t go as far as recommending that people always carry N95 masks with them, Flory said it is always advisable to check the air quality of the place where you are going to go.
“Even if there isn’t a fire where you are going, you should check the conditions for the smoke,” she said. “Even if you are miles away from a fire, you might not want to be locked up.”
Fire information resources can be difficult to find and even more difficult to navigate, even though they are readily available.
Current fire cards can be found at InciWeb, a website hosted by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group, and a regional website of the Interinstitutional Coordination Center Northwest.
To check Oregon air quality, you can refer to an interactive map of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality, and national information, see AirNowoperated by a collection of government agencies. Additional localized reports are also available courtesy of IQAir and your AirVisual App that uses independent air quality monitors in addition to government data.
Flory also recommended reaching out to ranger stations or local parks for updated information on these particular locations, though they usually also post closings or updates on their websites or social media pages, and many become campers via canceled reservations and notify refunds due to forest fires.
Firefighters walk past the lodge as they tackle the wildfires at Breitenbush Hot Springs, Oregon. (Courtesy Breitenbush Hot Springs / TNS)TNS
Photos show the damage from the Beachie Creek fire that burned down a number of historic and modern buildings on Jawbone Flats in Opal Creek Wilderness.
Chris Havel, spokesman for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department, said park officials are implementing a new system this year that will warn campers of forest fires before they get too bad.
State parks will close and send out notifications when they’re in a level 2 evacuation area, he said, but this year campers with reservation will receive email notifications whenever a park falls under a level 1 evacuation. With a level 1 evacuation, people in the area of a fire are asked to “get ready”, level 2 instructs them to “stand up” and at level 3 everyone is asked to evacuate immediately. Visitors without a reservation can monitor the status of a park online at stateparks.oregon.gov and on the department’s social media pages.
Oregon’s State Parks sprang up last year largely intact by the fires even though campers faced at Silver Falls State Park an early morning evacuation when the flames of the Beachie Creek fire blazed closer to the campsite, the same flame that ravaged nearby Opal Creek.
Havel said the parks department is on guard against future fires that continue to threaten hundreds of state parks across Oregon.
“Geographically, the entire state is a problem area,” said Havel. “Sometimes people think the coast is generally cool and humid, but the beach and the coast are just as in need of maintenance as anywhere else in the state.”
With an estimated 85% of forest fires being caused by humans, fire and forest officials in the Pacific Northwest continued to caution during the fire season, whether or not forest fires are actively burning.
This includes advice on how to properly put out campfires, where and when it is allowed – use plenty of water to extinguish the flames, stir the ashes, repeat – as well as warnings about the myriad other ways people can start fires, like hauling from chains, smoking, or parking over dry grass.
In this photo provided by the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshall, flames and smoke rise from the bootleg fire in southern Oregon on Wednesday, July 14, 2021. The largest fire in the US burned in the south on Wednesday of Oregon, northeast of the wildfire that devastated a tribal community less than a year ago. The bootleg fire caused by lightning penetrated the traditional territory of the Klamath tribes, who still have contractual rights to hunt and fish on land, and sent huge swirling clouds of smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles. (John Hendricks / Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal via AP)AP
A sign marking a U.S. National Forest Road is charred on the northeast side of the Bootleg Fire on Wednesday, July 14, 2021, near the Sprague River, Ore. (AP Photo / Nathan Howard) APAP
Flory said there aren’t many extra items people should pack in the event of a fire, as officials urge people to just avoid the areas altogether. She recommended bringing extra water and a small shovel with you to put out your own campfires, and said people should never try to put out wildfire themselves but call 911 immediately.
But even if Oregon travelers do their best this summer, wildfires can still be started by things like dropped power lines or lightning, which can set off massive flames that threaten to ruin even the best of plans.
Rylee Smith, a northern Nevada resident, said she was concerned about a planned vacation at Wallowa Lake in early August. Her family’s “mini family reunion” is an annual tradition that goes back generations, she said, but this summer’s trip is threatened by a group of fires in northeast Oregon.
“We check the status of the fire and we watch the news all the time,” said Smith. “We have several friends in Oregon and they are also keeping us up on the fires.”
As of Friday, firefighters in the area were working to contain three major fires directly across state lines: the 102,866 acre fire at the Snake River Complex in Idaho and the 64,792 acre Lick Creek Fire and 595 acre Green Ridge Fire in the southeast Corner of Washington. Several other fires started in the area earlier this year and have since been contained.
Although Smith’s family vacation is weeks away, the dire situation makes her nervous about the future.
“If we have to cancel, there will be a lot of unhappy little children,” she said. “Well, I’ll keep my fingers crossed that everything will work out.”
–Jamie Hale; jhale@oregonian.com; 503-294-4077; @haleJamesB
