Forestry officials urge firearm safety in Tillamook Forest after five firearm-related fires
July 25, 2025
People are shooting exploding targets and firing hot lead into dry vegetation in the Tillamook Forest with predictable results: Five wildfires since May.
“These fires are all preventable,” said Acting Forest Grove District Forester Stephanie Beall.
Gales Creek farmers were deeply invested in a route that would cut from Forest Grove through Gales Creek to Tillamook. Today, portions of that route have become the Wilson River Highway, and Old Wilson River Road in Gales Creek.
National Night Out, which will be held this year on Tuesday, Aug. 5, will be celebrated by the Gales Creek community with a potluck, prizes, and representatives from local law enforcement and first responders.
Gov. Tina Kotek will order lawmakers back to the Capitol for a special session at the end of August to address a $350 million funding shortfall in the Department of Transportation’s budget that led to hundreds of state employees receiving layoff notices this month.
Fire danger, the fair, and bad bugs in this week’s newsletter!
The lists of proposed layoffs and elimination of unfilled vacancies at the Oregon Department of Transportation show that the impact of the cuts will hit all across the state, as will the closure of a dozen maintenance stations. See the list for yourself.
The annual Washington County Fair is set to return to Hillsboro July 18 through July 27, offering guests 10 days of free admission, family fun, live entertainment, animals, carnival rides and fair food.
“A light truck came close to having a bath, but figuratively writing was able to hold on with its front feet,” was the story from a 1925 bridge collapse in Gales Creek.
On Wednesday, July 16, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek declared a state of emergency over the wildfires at the request of the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon State Fire Marshal.
According to Forest Grove Fire & Rescue, about four acres of grass field and some adjacent brush were burned Sunday evening near the intersection of NW Thatcher Road and NW Kemper Road. The cause appeared to be a welding job in the middle of the field that went awry, the agency said.