Prescribed burns continue through parts of Oregon, including the McKenzie River Corridor where last fall’s devastating Holiday Farm Fire occurred.
Outside the Delta Campground site near Highway 126, Tiffany Olsen attaches a large hose between a hydrant and a water tender - a truck capable of carrying 1,500 gallons of water.
“Hopefully this will fill the right way and not wash the tender again," she laughed.
Olsen is with the McKenzie River Ranger District. They’re wrapping up a prescribed burn at a site called Buck 3 this week.
Joanie Schmidgall of the U.S. Forest Service says these burns reduce fuel for any potential wildfires.
“Prescribed burning has a little bit of a Goldilocks theme to it," she explained.
"If it’s too wet, we can’t burn successfully because it’ll be too wet to consume the fuel on the forest and to help reduce that fire danger. But if too dry, then obviously we won’t burn either because it can be unsafe.”
Schmidgall says prescribed burns are only conducted when fuel moisture, weather, temperatures, and wind speeds are ideal.
The U.S. Forest Service has an online map detailing prescribed burns for the region, including the Willamette National Forest.
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