Oregon Public Broadcasting

State forest managers from Philomath to Astoria enacted tight restrictions Monday in hopes of cutting down on wildfire danger in western Oregon. Rob Manning has more.

Now, all but three of Oregon’s 13 forest districts have employed some of the tightest restrictions in hopes of avoiding big fires like those burning across California.

That means no campfires, no smoking, and typically no driving or riding vehicles away from improved roads within state forest boundaries.

To date, a reduction in human-caused fires has helped limit fires on Oregon state lands.  Only about one-tenth of the average number of acres has burned.

Jeff Foreman, with the Oregon Department of Forestry, credits fire crews – but he says the big difference is in weather patterns.

Jeff Foreman: “We’ve done a great job on initial attack, you know, keeping our fires small. But part of it is luck. California got the lightning strikes this time, we could be next.”

Foreman says wet conditions in the spring and early summer made for good fire-fighting conditions. But officials say Oregon forests are getting drier.