Washington County, Oregon, Fire Defense Board

09/29/2023

At 12 p.m. on today (Friday), the High-Fire Danger Burn Ban was lifted in Washington County. With the help of cooler temperatures and an increase in humidity levels, the Washington County Fire Defense Board moved to lift the ban, which had been in place since mid-June.

The Board is comprised of all Washington County fire agencies including Banks Fire District #13, Cornelius Fire Department, Forest Grove Fire Department, Gaston Rural Fire District, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, and Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue. The ban will also be lifted in all areas served by Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue within Clackamas, Multnomah, and Yamhill counties.

Residents conducting backyard burning or businesses conducting commercial agricultural burning must follow all applicable Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), and Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) laws for burning. Fire departments or districts do not have authority to enforce air-quality complaints regarding smoke. Additional information on DEQ’s laws and guidelines for burning can be found at https://www.oregon.gov/deq/aq/Pages/Burning.aspx .

For residents in TVF&R’s service area, this interactive map shows whether burning is allowed at their address:

https://tvfr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/instant/lookup/index.html?appid=df8d5dd233854662ae9b999e911876c5

For residents in Hillsboro Fire & Rescue’s service area, municipal code prohibits outdoor burning year-round except for recreational land ceremonial fires. Learn more at http://hillsboro-oregon.gov/airquality.

For all other areas, residents should call their local fire agency to determine whether burning is permitted at their location.

08/07/2023

WCFDB is thankful to report that Washington County Task Force 20 has safely returned home from their Oregon State Fire Marshal Pre-Positioning Assignment, based in Jefferson County.

We are grateful for both the local support, as well as the extended support of the community members of Central Oregon, during this 72-hour response.

Washington County remains fully staffed and ready to serve both here and afar, when the call comes!

Welcome home, TF20!

Banks Fire District
Cornelius Fire Department
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue
Hillsboro Fire & Rescue
Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue

KATU News KOIN 6 KGW-TV FOX 12

08/06/2023

Washington County Task Force 20, joined by Clatsop County Task Force 19, safely arrived yesterday in Jefferson County, following a Pre-Positioning Assignment from the Oregon State Fire Marshal.

The use of Pre-positioning is part of the OSFM’s Response Ready Oregon initiative. While this is the third summer they’ve exercised this function, this is the first pre-positioning assignment of 2023.

The goal of pre-positioning units is to keep fires small and away from communities AND to attack fires while they’re small to avoid large, costly wildfires.

While crews remain on stand-by today, both Task Forces took solid advantage of the opportunity for some training. They started their day with facility walk-through of the NW Incident Support Cache. This was followed by a tour of the Redmond Air Tanker Base and the Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center.

Crews then spent the afternoon conducting area familiarization throughout Jefferson, Deschuttes, and Jefferson counties, before returning back to camp.

It’s been an informative day, offering tremendous valuable exposure of the central oregon region’s operations for our Task Force members.

Crews remain deployed in central Oregon this evening until at least Monday to assist local resources, as needed.

We’ll keep you updated as we hear from our team. Have a good evening!

Banks Fire District
Cornelius Fire Department
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue
Hillsboro Fire & Rescue
Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue

(Photos approved by OSFM PIO)

08/03/2023

Washington County resources have been requested by the State of Oregon to respond to central Oregon for a “pre-positioning” assignment tomorrow morning. This task force will augment local resources, in preparation of unfavorable fire weather conditions in the region.

“Pre-positioning resources is one of the tools the OSFM has as part of its Response Ready Oregon initiative. These resources boost initial fire attack and allow a quick response to emerging fires in Oregon. These firefighters and equipment are not assigned to a specific fire but are ready to respond if there is a fire.”, says the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office.

Meanwhile, all Washington County agencies remain well-staffed and prepared to respond to local emergencies, should those arise this weekend.

We wish our Task Force a safe trip and a quick return!!!

Banks Fire District
Cornelius Fire Department
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue
Hillsboro Fire & Rescue
Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue

With the increased wildfire threat and in place, we are pre-positioning two task forces from Clatsop and Washington counties in Central Oregon starting Friday morning.

These firefighters are not assigned to a specific fire. They will be there to add capacity and quickly respond if a fire does happen.

READ MORE: https://osfminfo.org/osfm-pre-positioning-firefighters-and-equipment-in-central-oregon/

11/19/2022

Effective Immediately: All Washington County Fire Agencies Re-enact Outdoor Burn Ban During Current Weather Pattern; Morning Brush Fire Indication of Risk

In consultation with the Oregon Department of Forestry and all members of the Washington County Fire Defense Board are re-enacting a High Fire Danger Burn Ban. The ban will remain in place until weather patterns change due to increased wildfire risk.

As a reminder, the burn ban prohibits all the following:

1. Backyard or open burning (branches, yard debris, etc.).

2. Agricultural burning (agricultural wastes, crops, field burning, etc.).

3. Any other land clearing, slash, stump, waste, debris or controlled burning.

The burn ban does not prohibit:

1. Small outdoor cooking, warming or recreational fires. These include portable or permanent fire pits, fire tables, and campfires, with a maximum fuel area of three feet in diameter and two feet in height in a safe location away from combustibles or vegetation and are fully extinguished after use.

2. Barbeque grills, smokers and similar cooking appliances with clean, dry firewood, briquettes, wood chips, pellets, propane, natural gas, or similar fuels.

There may be more restrictive fire safety rules on and within a 1/8 mile of Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF)-protected land, which exists throughout much of rural Washington County. ODF restrictions may include prohibitions on campfires, smoking, target shooting, powered equipment, motorized vehicles, and other public/private landowner and industrial fire restrictions. More details about ODF fire restrictions are available at https://gisapps.odf.oregon.gov/firerestrictions/PFR.html.

The burn ban was re-enacted due to brush fires over the past couple of days that originated from outdoor burning.

Outdoor fires in violation of this burn ban may be immediately extinguished. If a fire agency responds to a fire that has been started in willful violation of this burn ban, the person responsible may be liable for all costs incurred, as well as legal fees per ORS 478.965.

The public will be notified when the burn ban is lifted via press release.

Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue
Hillsboro Fire & Rescue
Cornelius Fire Department
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue
Banks Fire District 13
Gaston Rural Fire District
Oregon Department of Forestry
W.C.C.C.A. 9-1-1

WashCoScanner
KATU News
KOIN 6
KGW-TV
FOX 12 Oregon
News-Times Forest Grove
The Oregonian

09/04/2022

This afternoon, following a Governor-invoked Conflagration, crews from Banks Fire District, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, Cornelius Fire Department, & Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue responded as members of Washington County Task Force 29 to the 10,000 acre Double Creek Fire in rural Wallowa County, Oregon. This fire is presently threatening homes.

This task force will join with additional task forces from Clatsop, Lane, & Yamhill counties under the coordination of one of the Oregon Office of State Fire Marshal’s Incident Management Teams on scene.

More details about the Governor’s declaration can be read here: https://mailchi.mp/oregon/news-release-governor-kate-brown-invokes-the-emergency-conflagration-act-in-response-to-the-double-creekfire?e=d1fe8ced91

Thank you to all our responding members that choose to serve when the call comes. And while these resources are helping our neighbors, all our home agencies remain ready to respond to emergencies locally as well.

08/07/2022

We are happy to report that Washington County Task Force 10, mobilized to the near Tygh Valley, has returned home safely! This task force has been deployed since Wednesday, assigned to night shift. Thank you to everyone for the prayers and well wishes for our crew’s safe return.

Banks Fire District 13
Cornelius Fire Department
Forest Grove Fire & Rescue
Hillsboro Fire & Rescue
Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue

08/04/2022

Washington County Task Force 10 has been mobilized to respond to the in Central Oregon. The TF is comprised of resources from Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, Banks Fire District 13, Cornelius Fire Department, & Forest Grove Fire & Rescue.

Our office has mobilized an additional three task forces to the . These task forces are coming from Washington, Multnomah & Lincoln counties and will arrive at the fire later this evening.

(📸 Forest Grove Fire & Rescue - Washington County Task Force)

07/22/2022

Starting Monday, July 25, 2022 at 7 a.m., all fire agencies within Washington County will enact a High-Fire Danger Burn Ban, based on a recommendation made by the Washington County Fire Defense Board. Washington County fire agencies include: Banks Fire District 13, Cornelius Fire Department, Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, Gaston Rural Fire District, Hillsboro Fire & Rescue, and Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue. Burning restrictions are authorized under Oregon Revised Statute 478.960 and Oregon Fire Code 307.

The burn ban prohibits all the following:
-Backyard or open burning (branches, yard debris, etc.).
-Agricultural burning (agricultural wastes, crops, field burning, etc.).
-Any other land clearing, slash, stump, waste, debris or controlled burning.

The burn ban does not prohibit:
-Small outdoor cooking, warming or recreational fires. These include portable or permanent fire pits, fire tables, and campfires, with a maximum fuel area of three feet in diameter and two feet in height in a safe location away from combustibles or vegetation and are fully extinguished after use.
-Barbeque grills, smokers and similar cooking appliances with clean, dry firewood, briquettes, wood chips, pellets, propane, natural gas, or similar fuels.

There may be more restrictive fire safety rules on and within a 1/8 mile of Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF)-protected land, which exists throughout much of rural Washington County. ODF restrictions may include prohibitions on campfires, smoking, target shooting, powered equipment, motorized vehicles, and other public/private landowner and industrial fire restrictions. More details about ODF fire restrictions are available at https://gisapps.odf.oregon.gov/firerestrictions/PFR.html.

Outdoor fires in violation of this burn ban may be immediately extinguished. If a fire agency responds to a fire that has been started in willful violation of this burn ban, the person responsible may be liable for all costs incurred, as well as legal fees per ORS 478.965.

Fire Chiefs in Washington County encourage the public to use extreme caution with activities that could start a fire. It is everyone’s responsibility to prevent and be prepared for wildfires.