Effective Monday June 30th until further notice, all open burning in prohibited within the fire service area of Douglas County Fire District No.2 (DCFD2) including the communities of Dixonville, Green, Melrose, Winchester, Wilbur, Garden Valley, Umpqua, Calapooia and the City of Sutherlin. The ban aims to reduce the risks of hostile fires resulting from open burns escaping control. The restrictions will extend until cooler temperatures and/or rain occurs, sometime in October, which minimizes fire danger.
The burn ban includes the following:
- Domestic Open Burning (Back Yard Burning) including incinerators (burn barrels)
- Land clearing or slash burning (not associated with Douglas Forest Protective Association (DFPA) or Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) permitted burns)
- Agricultural burning (not associated with DFPA or Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) permitted burns)
The burn ban does not include the following:
- The non-commercial cooking of food (back yard barbecue)
- Outdoor fire place burning (chimneys (chimeneas), burning urns, decorating fire pits, etc.) No permit is required to burn in these appliances.
- Recreational burning (cooking fires, back yard pits) on designated sites or that have been issued a special burn permit by DCFD2
- Ceremonial burning (Small fires used for religious or ceremonial purposes). A special burn permit is required from DCFD2
Individuals found to be burning in violation of the burn ban restrictions may be issued a citation and/or found liable for any property loss. Additionally, during the burn ban all unlawful outdoor fires are deemed a hazard to public safety and will result in a DCFD2 response, extinguishment, and invoicing of cost recovery fees for DCFD2 actions taken.