Siuslaw Valley Fire Moves to Extreme
Western Lane County and particularly the coastal area of Florence are under extreme fire conditions as the past few months of dry weather has made the area susceptible to fire. Siuslaw valley Fire and Rescue Chief Jim Langborg reminds us of the dangers that exist.
“The coast is not immune to wildfires. In fact, 5 of the largest fires in Oregon history have occurred on the coast. One of those fires, the Chetco Bar Fire, happened last year and actually threatened the town of Brookings.”
Chief Langborg reminds us how quickly a small fire can become a tragedy and that the necessity of restrictions are to keep the public safe by limiting the possible causes of fire.
“There are extreme fire danger restrictions in place right now, most notably they include no smoking in the outdoors, open fires and campfires are restricted and the use of certain power equipment and machinery are included.”
Chief Langborg says the complete list of restrictions are available at the Siuslaw Valley Fire and Rescue Website at svfr dot org.
Coastal Earthquakes Pose No Danger
A Cluster of 10 earthquakes centered about 212 nautical miles off the coast of Gold Beach have occurred in the last 24 hours. The United States Geological Survey has reported small quakes in an area they call the Cascadia Megathrust. The USGS says occasional quakes such as these occur off the coast and are generally not a cause for alarm. There is quite a lot of earthquake activity along that portion of the ocean according to USGS. The largest of the quakes was a 5.6 magnitude that occurred at 2:42 pm yesterday. No watches or warnings have been issued for the coast of Oregon.
FURA Updates Timeline
Revision Florence is undergoing some timeline changes due to the lack of viable bids that came through last month. The new timeline includes a final design that will go to ODOT on August 10th, an advertisement for bids on October 11th, and bid opening to occur on November 15th. Planned construction is scheduled to begin in January of 2019 and continue through October of 2019. One of the positives according to the city is that the 2018 tourism season will not be affected by early construction, but the process will continue deep into 2019. The city released a statement that they will continue to notify business owners along the construction corridor as well as the general public as updates become available.
Gas Prices Nugged Downward
Gas prices for the week in Florence have had a downward tic as geopolitical concerns have driven down the price of crude oil. The current average for a price of regular gas in Florence is at $3.03 a gallon down about 5 cents over the past 10 days. According to AAA Oregon the prices should continue a downward trend through the end of the month barring any major changes from the oil producing nations.
