Smoky haze fills the skies over the Blue Mountains as a farmer makes bales near Imbler on Monday, July 12, 2021. The Oregon Department of Forestry announced that fire season, with its associated restrictions on outdoor burning, started Thursday, June 22, on private and state lands in Northeastern Oregon.

LA GRANDE — As fire season officially begins in Northeast Oregon, fire officials say they’re feeling “pretty good” in preparation for the summer.

A dry spring prompted the Oregon Department of Forestry to begin fire season on forest and range lands protected by the Northeast Oregon District on Thursday, June 22, introducing public use restrictions, as fire danger increases across the region, according to an ODF press release.

“For Central Oregon District and Northeast Oregon District, we’re at full staffing and are ready for this fire season,” Northeast Oregon District Forester Matt Howard said.

Despite fire season starting over a week earlier than last year, Howard said that, year in and year out, it typically begins on or around June 24. Regardless of the start date, though, Howard expects it to be a “fairly busy summer.”

The Department of Forestry has 18 fully staffed fire engines across the two districts, strategically placed fire dozers and hand crews that will assist in putting out early flames, detection cameras monitored by dispatch centers and aircraft, including helicopters with buckets, a Helitack crew, single engine air tankers used to scoop up water and fixed-wing airplanes to scope out fires after lightning storms, Howard said.

“Really at the heart of our complete coordinated system is our landowner and industrial operator contingent,” he said. “That is always there and ever-present to assist us in fire suppression, not only on the lands that they own, but their neighboring lands as well.”

Rob Pentzer, the Central Oregon district forester, said that statewide, there is access to three Department of Forestry teams that can help support the region on particularly “bad days.” Pentzer said another plane serving the region is equipped with an infrared platform that can detect fires early.

“Last year, in the Central Oregon district, it found 29 fires we were able to catch at a tenth of an acre or less,” he said.

Umatilla National Forest Deputy Fire Staff Tyson Albrecht described the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest resources as “pretty stable,” but admitted “numbers aren’t quite where we would like them to be.”

The resources include Hotshot crews, two fully staffed helicopters and a moderately staffed rappel program, a Baker air tanker base and fully staffed fire units, which include the Whitman unit in Baker City and the Grande Ronde unit in La Grande.

“We’re not 100% staffed, I’ll call it 85% staffed, which keeps us stable and able to provide the same level of response that we have in the last five years or so.,” Albrecht said. “So, we feel good about that.”

A weather ‘mixed bag’

Albrecht said that generally June weather helps predict the length and severity of fire season, but that a “mixed bag” of weather conditions this month brings in some uncertainty.

“I’m personally waiting to see what the rest of June brings,” he said. “I’d say, on the whole, it’s going to be a drier than average year for us, (and) fire season will be upon us middle of July. That’s what I’m banking on.”

The Blue Mountain Interagency Dispatch Center covers all of the Northeast Oregon Department of Forestry lands, and Wallowa-Whitman National Forest, as well as most of the Umatilla National Forest. The John Day Interagency Dispatch Center covers the Heppner Ranger District on the Umatilla National Forest, Dispatch Center staffer Craig Gilbert said.

As fire leaders rally local and state agencies and round out their preparations, they emphasize the importance of public use restrictions set in place on private, state, county, city and tribal lands in Union, Baker, Wallowa and Umatilla counties along with small portions of Malheur, Morrow, and Grant counties within the Northeast Oregon Forest Protection District.

The restrictions include permits required for debris burning and burn barrels, the prohibition of pyrotechnic ammunition and ensuring campfires are dead out after use.

“Unattended campfires really cause a lot of wildfires for us, especially as we get into August (with) hunting season and a lot more users of the forest,” Albrecht said.

Howard said people should pay attention to conditions regardless of the date and not assume that fire danger is high only during hot weather.

“We can have relatively cool weather, but if we have dry flash and fuels near an ignition source whether it’s a campfire or a burn barrel or welding, there could be an accidental fire start,” he said.

For information on restrictions across the Northeast Oregon District, call 541-975-3027 or go to www.bmidc.org.

This story has been updated with new information from a media fire briefing on Wednesday, June 21.