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WILDFIRES Fire danger rises to 'extreme' on Tuesday Officials, expecting the worst, raise fire danger to 'extreme' Comment By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 25, 2015 at 10:05 AM By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 25, 2015 at 10:05 AM --> 'Extreme' restrictions are: Mowers and other power-driven equipment, as well as any spark-emitting equipment, must shut down between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., with at least a one-hour fire w... » Read more X 'Extreme' restrictions are: Mowers and other power-driven equipment, as well as any spark-emitting equipment, must shut down between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., with at least a one-hour fire watch after shutdown recommended. Chainsaw use is banned from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and can resume if firefighting equipment is present, and a one-hour fire watch after shutdown is required. Cutting, grinding and welding of metal is banned from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. and is permitted only in cleared areas with a water-supply present. Smoking is allowed only in vehicles on improved roads. Open fires, charcoal and other cooking fires are allowed only in approved fire rings in designated campgrounds. Liquified cooking stoves are allowed. No off-road driving except for the commercial harvest of agricultural crops. Motor vehicles, including motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles, may be used only on improved roads, except when used for the commercial culture and harvest of agricultural crops. For more information, call the Oregon Department of Forestry at 541-664-3328. » Social News State wildfire managers are staring at what they fear could be a raging second half of the summer wildfire season in Southern Oregon after a meek start in which the number of fires here outnumbered the acres burned. With close to half the summer wildfire season behind us, the number of fires is actually up about 25 percent, yet only a sliver of Oregon Department of Forestry-protected lands has been burned compared to a normal year, state records show. But tinder fuels primed by a second straight drought year have wildland firefighters bracing for at least one of those larger conflagrations that are often a summer staple in Southern Oregon. "It's been going well, but I don't expect that to last," says Oregon Department of Forestry fire spokesman Brian Ballou. "We're fully expecting to get some big fires this year, and we can't help but expect that's just around the corner." To that end, state foresters Tuesday will increase fire danger to "extreme," triggering several new restrictions on the use of chainsaws and other power equipment on private, county, state and Bureau of Land Management lands in Jackson and Josephine counties. The use of chainsaws, mowers and other power-driven equipment will be banned between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., and off-road driving is banned for all but commercial agriculture work. Several other restrictions remain, including bans on debris and barrel burning, smoking outside of vehicles while on state-protected lands and no campfires or charcoal fires outside of approved fire rings in designated campgrounds. Ballou says firefighters encourage rural landowners to keep their dry grass down and prepare a defensible space around their structures in southwestern Oregon, which has some of the highest densities of urban-rural interface in the state. "Right now, we're at the tipping point with dryness," Ballou says. Southern Oregon launched into fire season June 5 expecting a long and troublesome struggle with wildfires after a second straight year of drought. ODF brought on crews earlier than normal, and a June 11 lightning fire from an unseasonable burst of thunderheads two days earlier quickly charred 46 acres in the Soda Mountain Wilderness Area. Fire crews feared it was an ominous precursor of a grim summer of smoke, and fire restrictions went to "high" two days later. Despite the hottest June on record in Jackson County, wildland crews were able to hop on an unusually large number of lightning fires so quickly that the Soda Mountain fire remains the largest of the year here so far. To date, state crews have fought 155 wildfires that burned 145 acres, ODF statistics show. Of those, 44 were lightning fires that charred 72 acres, according to ODF. The local 10-year average is 118 fires burning in excess of 5,000 acres by this point in the season, according to ODF. While the region averages 27 lightning fires by this point in the summer, those fires burn an average of about 4,700 acres by the end of the fourth week in July, statistics show. "We were fully expecting to have far more acres burned at this time," Ballou says. While burned acreage was much higher to date on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest, the number and size of wildfires so far this summer are down there as well, forest spokeswoman Virginia Gibbons says. To date, national forest crews have fought 46 lightning fires that collectively burned 5,393 acres — with all but 50 acres coming from the Buckskin fire near Cave Junction, Gibbons says. The 12 human-caused fires on the forest together burned less than an acre, Gibbons says. National forestlands are higher elevation, while BLM and other state-protected lands are in lower elevations. ODF officials were close to declaring "extreme" fire restrictions in early July, but unseasonable rains helped alleviate deteriorating conditions at the time. But August typically brings thunderheads from the southeast, which keep firefighters eyeing the night sky. "Normally we get our worst thunderstorms about now," Ballou says. "At least it doesn't look like it'll be throwing lightning at us in the near future." The National Weather Service is predicting cooler temperatures in the Rogue Valley until Wednesday, when triple-digit heat is expected to return. Reach reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or [email protected] . Follow him at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman . By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune MailTribune.com By Mark Freeman Mail Tribune Posted Jul. 25, 2015 at 10:05 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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