The Central Oregon Fire Chiefs Association (COFCA) announces that burn season will open at sunrise on November 1st, 2018 for many of the local fire districts regionally in Central Oregon. With the recent fall weather and precipitation received in areas, the Fire Chiefs local fire departments, the US Forest Service, the BLM, and Oregon Department of Forestry have agreed that many areas are now safe to enter into burn season.
With that said, open burning within the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District will be allowed beginning Thursday, November 1 at sunrise with the following requirements:
- Download (www.www.sistersfire.com) or pick up a copy of the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District Outdoor Burning Regulations at any one of our Stations located in Sisters, Squaw Creek Canyon or Camp Sherman and have on site where burning is to be performed.
- Call the Outdoor Burning Line 541-549-2333 each day that you plan to burn.
- Follow all regulations in the Outdoor Burning Regulations brochure.
Please note that some municipalities such as the City of Sisters do not allow yard debris burning at any time during the year within their jurisdictions and certain homeowner’s associations may have further restrictions in place.
Staff will continue to monitor weather and fuel moisture conditions in the Sisters-Camp Sherman Fire District and may make modifications on a day-to-day basis. Please call your local outdoor burning information line for your current conditions. If conditions become drier, individual agencies may choose to close local burning.
For residents who are uncomfortable burning or are not in areas where outdoor burning is allowed, the fall FireFree events will be available to residents. Watch www.firefree.org for the dates of these events in October and November.
Central Oregon Fire Chiefs federal partners (US Forest Service & Bureau of Land Management) will be performing prescribed burns throughout the region. These prescribed burns will be conducted under carefully planned conditions such as: with federal fire resources, professional fire managers and firefighters on scene, favorable weather conditions and carefully planned land plots. These prescribed burns improve forest health and reduce the forest fuels in order to lower the wildfire risk to our communities that is ever present later in the season when the conditions are even more extreme.
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