Was there a forest fire in Toledo yesterday? How big? How many acres lost? We saw plumes of smoke in Corvallis for several hours in the late afternoon Friday.
Is there a U.S.F.S. site reporting all forest fire incidents? The one allegedly in Toledo had to be several acres in size for me to see it 30-40 miles away.
I called the city of Corvallis fire department information number Friday. The woman who answered said it was a controlled burn in Toledo. I asked if it was for forestry and she presumed so. Those slash piles can be pretty smoky especially after a rain on what could have been green piles.
I believe the Oregon Department of Forestry handles the permits for forestry-related burns.
Haven't researched it recently, but in the 90s slash burning accounted for approximately 30% of Oregon's particulant air pollution. That causes asthma, respiratory illness, and cancer. Many larger wild fires also begin from slash-burning accidents. By killing the ground clinging plants after clear-cutting the trees, slash-burning also adds to soil run-off and stream siltation. Contributes to C02-linked global warming, too.
Why burn slash? Cause it's cheaper than other clean-up methods. And guess who gets the money saved? Not you.
It's long past time to stop this criminal practice.
e-mail:
A national firefighters resource that *should* include Oregon:
Let's not forget history: