Extreme caution urged in region’s dry forests

Nature did its part earlier this week, with lightning sparking about 125 fires across the Eugene-based Willamette National Forest. Now forestry officials want campers and residents and everyone else to do their part by using extreme caution this weekend and the rest of the summer.

Firefighting crews have been stretched thin the past few days mopping up numerous fires started by lightning on Tuesday.

“We’re basically just trying to make sure people understand the fire danger is still very high,” state Department of Forestry spokesman Kevin Weeks said Friday.

Although temperatures have cooled a bit in recent days, wind gusts can cause smoldering fires to spark again, he said. Along with high temperatures and low humidity, wind is the third element of the summer “fire triangle,” Weeks said. And temperatures are expected to climb back into the high 80s in the Willamette Valley early next week.

More than 1,200 lightning strikes pummeled forestland in eastern Lane and Linn counties during a thunderstorm Tuesday, the Forestry Department said. Lightning-caused fires can simmer deep in the forest for days before rapidly growing large enough to detect.

Meanwhile, at least one human-caused blaze has kept firefighters busy the past couple of days near Springfield. A campfire went out of control Thursday on Potato Hill just a half-mile south of the Thurston area, burning about 2 acres before being contained Friday, Weeks said.

Residents in the area might continue to see smoke smoldering on the butte today but officials are “very confident” that it will be extinguished by Sunday, he said.

There was no word Friday on who was responsible for the fire.

As for the lightning-caused fires still smoldering, forestry officials and firefighters expect to find more “sleeper fires” every afternoon for a few days as clouds lift and the sun warms the ground. Private land­owners have been patrolling their properties and notifying the Forestry Department of any smoke they detect.

Lightning-caused fires also were being suppressed in the Umpqua National Forest Friday, according to the Cottage Grove Ranger District. Eighteen of 21 fires were declared contained or controlled. Two fires, each less than a quarter-­acre in size, were found and contained Thursday. One was on Dinner Ridge near Cottage Grove, and the other on Grouse Mountain in the North Umpqua Ranger District.

The Jackson Fire, in the Tiller Ranger District, is 3 acres and completely trailed. The Saint Peter Fire on the North Umpqua Ranger District is 2 acres and burning in steep terrain. Firefighters are continuing to secure containment lines and are being supported with helicopters making bucket drops, officials said.

In the northern reaches of the Willamette National Forest, northeast of Eugene-Springfield, the Lucky Butte Fire in the Detroit Ranger District was mostly contained Friday, Willamette National Forest spokeswoman Jennifer O’Leary said.

About 14 new fires were reported in the forest Friday, O’Leary said. Additional resources in the form of helicopters and fire engines were brought in to combat them, she said.

“We do feel we’ve made good progress in being able to locate and contain most of the fires,” O’Leary said. “We expect to continue to have new fires reported in the next few days or even weeks” which is common after a string of fires is sparked by lightning, O’Leary said.

Farther away, the D Harris Fire that started Wednesday in the Juniper Flat Fire Protection District near Maupin in Central Oregon had burned about 3,800 acres as of Friday, according to the state Fire Marshal’s Office.

Residents in Maupin were told they might be evacuated if the fire worsened.

Reporter Jack Moran contributed to this report.