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Guide

Fire season: fire danger and IFPL

Checked September 12, 2026 against the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF), the Coos Forest Protective Association (CFPA) and the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).

The Fire tile shows two levels: the fire danger, and the Industrial Fire Precaution Level, or IFPL. They are separate systems for different people, and neither one tells you whether you may burn. Who sets them depends on which stretch of coast you are on.

This page does not give today’s levels. Those are on the Fire tile. From Astoria to Neskowin, call ODF’s Astoria district office, 503-325-5451, or Tillamook district office, 503-842-2545. From Lincoln City to Florence, call ODF’s Newport unit, 541-961-9160, or Florence unit, 541-997-8713. From Reedsport to Brookings, see coosfpa.net or call CFPA’s closures line, 541-267-1789. Before you light anything, check with them and with your city or fire district.

Who sets them

Clatsop and Tillamook counties are protected by ODF’s Northwest Oregon District, which the Astoria, Tillamook and Forest Grove district foresters run together under one regulated-use proclamation (Northwest Oregon). Every town from Astoria to Neskowin is in its coastal area, NW-1; the other two areas are inland.

Lincoln County and Florence are protected by ODF itself, in two districts. The West Oregon District, run from Philomath (541-929-3266) with a unit office in Newport, covers every Lincoln County town on the board. The Western Lane District, run from Veneta (541-935-2283) with a unit office in Florence, covers Florence. Each district issues its own regulated-use proclamation for the season (West Oregon, Western Lane), and the tile shows the reader’s district first.

Douglas, Coos and Curry are protected by the Coos Forest Protective Association, a private non-profit that works under an agreement with the Oregon State Forester. It covers about 1.5 million acres of private, state, county and federal land in Coos and Curry counties and western Douglas County (in Douglas, west of Scott Creek County Park). Its restrictions are issued as an ODF proclamation for the Coos district.

In both cases ODF publishes the levels on its maps, which is where the board reads them. Other landowners can add their own rules. ODF’s own map says other agencies may have additional restrictions, so a national forest, BLM land, a state park or a city can be stricter.

Fire danger: the public rules

Fire danger has four levels: Low (green), Moderate (blue), High (yellow) and Extreme (red). The public use restrictions are set by this level, and every district publishes its own chart: as the level climbs, campfires, chainsaw use that is not for work, mowing dried grass, and cutting or welding metal are restricted step by step, to certain places or to the early and late hours of the day, then not at all. The hours and the details differ from district to district, so read the chart for where you are: Northwest Oregon for Clatsop and Tillamook, West Oregon for Lincoln County, Western Lane for Florence, and CFPA’s public use chart for the south coast. Some rules hold at every level of every chart; fireworks, for example, are prohibited at every level on all three charts (CFPA’s notes the exception for displays the State Fire Marshal permits).

Campfires follow the same shape everywhere: at green, allowed with the landowner’s approval; at blue, only at designated sites; at yellow, designated sites only (CFPA narrows that to campgrounds hosted and managed around the clock); at red, not allowed. Only firewood goes in a campfire. It is not a place to burn debris.

IFPL: the rules for logging and other industrial work

IFPL applies to industrial and commercial operations, such as logging crews. ODF defines four levels for land it protects west of the Cascades:

Using a chainsaw on your own place, not for work, falls under the public rules above, not IFPL. CFPA says that during fire season a non-commercial saw user keeps a firewatch for at least an hour after cutting stops, and an industrial operation for two hours; the ODF proclamations carry firewatch and equipment rules of their own.

Burning is a third, separate question

The board says it plainly on the tile: burning is not covered by either level. Debris burning is prohibited at every fire danger level in the West Oregon and Western Lane proclamations during fire season; the Northwest Oregon proclamation allows backyard debris burning at low and moderate fire danger with a burn permit and prohibits it at high and extreme, and CFPA does not allow yard or household debris burning during fire season, burn barrels included, and does not issue permits then. CFPA can also ban burning at any time, even outside fire season. DEQ adds that all burning must follow the rules and bans of your city, county, fire department and the State Fire Marshal, and some things may never be burned, such as tires, plastics and wet garbage. If you are not sure, ask before you light it. CFPA says property owners are responsible for an escaped fire and its damage, in or out of season.

Reading the tile

Each district is split into zones, and they can be at different levels. The tile shows the strictest level found in any zone, lists the zones, and says whether they agree. When they differ, plan around the strictest. On the Lincoln and Lane boards the tile shows both ODF districts, yours first; on the Clatsop and Tillamook boards it shows the Northwest Oregon District’s three areas.

Sources