October 26, 2022 3:30 a.m. 

After a long, dry and un-seasonably warm season, the 2022 fire season on the Oregon Department of Forestry Southwest Oregon District has officially ended.

Public Information Officer Natalie Weber said the ending of the season eliminates all public regulated use restrictions and industrial fire precaution level requirements. Weber said this announcement affects 1.8 million acres across Josephine and Jackson counties. This fire season on the Southwest Oregon District spanned 147 days.

Southwest Oregon District Forester Tyler McCarty said, “We’ve seen longer seasons that have hung on into late-October and November before, but its been unseasonably dry this month”. McCarty said, “Southern Oregon is very fire prone, but the heightened risk has passed at this point with the amount of rain we’ve received this week”.

Weber said between the start of fire season on June 1st through Tuesday, there were 240 fires across the district for a little over 21,703 acres burned. Lightning proved to be the main catalyst for fire starts in the season, causing 73 fires across Josephine and Jackson counties, including the Westside Complex in Jackson County and the Lightning Gulch Complex in Josephine County. Weber said these complexes were made up of more than 50 fire starts caused by lightning strikes, spawning the Rum Creek and Hog Creek Fires near Merlin. The Rum Creek Fire would become the season’s largest fire, burning a total of 21,347 acres. It destroyed two homes, six structures and took the life of contract firefighter Logan Tyler.

Fire prevention tips and information from the ODF Southwest Oregon District is available at: www.swofire.com.