About FlashAlert on Twitter:
FlashAlert utilizes the free service Twitter to distribute emergency text messages. While you are welcome to register your cell phone text message address directly into the FlashAlert system, we recommend that you simply "follow" the FlashAlert account for Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue by clicking on the link below and logging in to (or creating) your free Twitter account. Twitter sends messages out exceptionally fast thanks to arrangements they have made with the cell phone companies.
Click here to add Tualatin Valley Fire & Rescue to your Twitter account or create one.
@TVFR
Due to a lack of significant rainfall, upcoming increased temperatures, and the potential for seasonal east winds, all fire agencies within Washington County want to remind the public that the High-Fire Danger Burn Ban is still in place until further notice.
The High-Fire Danger Burn Ban overrides the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality’s fall burn season, which typically opens on Oct. 1. All outdoor, agricultural, and slash burning is prohibited until the High-Fire Danger Burn Ban has been lifted.
The High-Fire Danger Burn Ban is administered through the Washington County Fire Defense Board. Washington County fire agencies include Banks Fire District #13, Cornelius Fire Department, Forest Grove Fire Department, 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 the following activities:
- 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. Fires must be in a safe location, away from combustibles or vegetation, and 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 ODF Fire Restrictions.
Outdoor fires in violation of this burn ban may be immediately extinguished. If a fire agency responds to a fire 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 continue using extreme caution with activities that could start a fire.