Hot Temps and Fire Danger

Longview Timberlands to close some land to public
Monday, July 27, 2009 3:42 PM PDT
By Andre Stepankowsky
http://www.tdn.com/
Continued hot, dry weather has prompted Longview Timberlands to close all its Oregon and Washington timberlands to public access starting Tuesday, the company announced Monday afternoon.“Conditions are extremely dry in the Pacific Northwest, and long-range forecasts indicate the hot spell will continue for some time,” Blake Rowe, president of Longview Timberlands, said in a written statement issued Monday. His announcement came just as temperatures in Longview nudged past 100 degrees, according to staff at the city’s water treatment plant, the area’s official weather recording station. That temperature eclipsed the city’s previous record high for July 27 — 99 degrees in 1998.
More hot weather is expected through midweek, and no rain is in the forecast. After an exceptionally cold and rainy spring, the Longview area has had particularly arid weather for more than two months. Since May 21, the city has recorded only 1.39 inches of precipitation, less than half of normal for that period.“The public’s cooperation in staying out of the tree farms during the hazardous forest-fire period will be much appreciated,” Rowe said, saying the closures will remain in effect until “substantial rains reduce the wildfire threat.”
Longview Timberlands, formerly Longview Fibre Co., owns about 332,000 acres of timberland in Oregon and 321,000 acres in Washington. It is the first large area timberland owner to shut lands down this summer due to high forest fire danger. Other landowners typically follow suit, but Weyerhaeuser had not shut down its lands to public access as of midafternoon Monday.
Forecasters expect temperatures in the triple-digit range again Tuesday and Wednesday, though they will moderate into the low 90s Thursday and low 80s on Friday, according to The National Weather Service.Longview’s high temperature marks to beat are 103 degrees for Tuesday date (set in 1958) and 100 degrees for Wednesday’s date (set in 2003), according to the weather service.