29 June 2024 Safety & Health operator, on forests protected by Oregon Dept. of Forestry**. It’s the contractor’s legal responsibility to assure two actions: 1. Comply with industrial fire prevention and burning regulations; and 2. Make every reasonable effort to safely report and begin to suppress any unwanted fire start on the operating area. A breakdown in either of these two responsibilities prior to a wildfire escape, could be determined as contractor “negligence” in a fire investigation**. The potential cost ramification of a non-compliance misstep could run a “negligent” contractor into unlimited liability for millions of dollars in firefighting costs for an escaped large fire. However, if an operation remains compliant with the rules, the maximum operator extra fire liability for a non- negligent fire is capped at $300,000**. (**Note: U.S. Forest Service has different forest fire liability rules; based-on causation proven of negligence) Every Precaution Important! With the forest conditions changing daily during fire season, managers warn that forest fuels can rapidly become vulnerable to fire. Contractors need to ready their fire prevention program and daily check condition forecasts and regulated ratings, ‘Industrial Fire Precaution Levels (IFPL).’ Costly Oregon operation fires are more likely when there’s low humidity, dry fuel, hot temperature, wind, and/or dry east wind. ;Make daily jobsite-tailored precautions; always have fire equipment ready onsite ;Train field employees for readiness to report and stop an operation fire start ;Get fire precaution checklists from Dept. of Forestry and landowners ;Alert crews, forest users, family and neighbors about forest fire prevention For more information, visit: • ODF: www.oregon.gov/odf/ • Keep Oregon Green: www.keeporegongreen.org/ • NW Interagency Coordination Center: www.nwccweb.us/ • USFS fire weather forecasts: www.nifc.gov/nicc/ t
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