05/07/07 Preventing Fire

Preventing Fire. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. Each year anticipation builds for the summer months. Vacations and time spent in the great outdoors. But along with that comes the threat of accidentally starting a fire. Brian Ballou is with the Oregon Department of Forestry and he anticipated this may be a busy year. BALLOU: Looking ahead at the fire season which is still a few weeks off, we're expecting it to be a pretty vigorous year especially east of the Cascades. Ballou spends considerable time educating people on fire prevention. BALLOU: We are responsible for fighting fires and providing protection information to a lot of lowland folks; people who live out in rural areas and we do get over into the agricultural market as well. Even though fires can be inadvertently started by careless campers and discarding of cigarettes Ballou says farmers who burn fence lines and mow fields are prime causes. BALLOU: And then we also have a problem with fires caused by vehicles driving across tall dry grass. A great many fires are caused by hot exhaust pipes and I think if people are just aware of that type of a cause whether it's tractors, whether it's pickup trucks driving through fields just kind of make or look for areas to park those vehicles on and that will really cut down on the number of fires that are caused by vehicles. Ballou has some suggestions for ag workers. BALLOU: Periodic looks underneath the equipment to make sure you don't have any buildup of dry grass. Keep your blade sharp as possible. Always be watchful for when you are mowing in areas where you might be knowing you going to be striking against rocks. Always have someone following behind you whenever it's practical to look and see whether you've inadvertently sparked a small fire behind you. He also recommends checking to make sure burning is allowed since there can be fines issued. BALLOU: The could be some violations if for example you're doing burning on a day when burning is not allowed and you don't have any sort of special permits to allow burning. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.