This week’s heatwave doesn’t mean western Oregon is at increased risk for wildfires, at least in the short term.
Edward Hiatt [HY-at] is the Interagency Fire Staff Officer for Northwest Oregon. He says despite the weather, there are no specific reasons to be concerned at this point when it comes to fire activity.
“The weather stations where we capture data are showing it’s hot, it’s dry, but nothing is giving us a big problem," said Edward Hiatt, the Interagency Fire Staff Officer for Northwest Oregon.
A potential problem, said Hiatt, would be "if we were going to see thunderstorm development that carries up from the southwest and progresses across the forest. We don’t see that right now, and it’s not being reported by our weather experts, which is good.”
Hiatt said human-caused fires remain the biggest concern for now. Overall, the Pacific Northwest fire season has been relatively calm to this point.