The Oregon Department of Transportation recently highlighted how its mitigation work ahead of wildfire season helped keep traffic moving and reduced impacts when the Aubrey Fire closed OR 58 near Oakridge in early August.
[Above photo by Oregon DOT]
That wildfire, which grew to 35 acres and prompted nearby evacuations, shut down a critical travel and freight corridor. Thanks to preparation and a quick response, Oregon DOT said in a statement that its crews reopened one lane of the highway in a single afternoon.
While the road’s one-day wildfire closure was disruptive, the situation could have been far worse. This spring, Oregon DOT’s Oakridge crews spent three to four weeks between mileposts 37 and 39 working with a contractor to remove and haul away trees that posed a hazard to the roadway. That work, combined with more than four years of hazard tree management in the same area, reduced forest fuels along the corridor. Because of those efforts, the Aubrey Fire burned less hot and spread more slowly than it could have otherwise, Oregon DOT said.
[Editor’s note: The video below, produced by Oregon DOT several years ago, outlines the hazardous tree removal process.]
The cleared corridor also made it safer and faster to reopen the highway. It provided essential space for firefighting equipment and reduced the number of trees that might have otherwise fallen across the roadway, Oregon DOT noted. Without this proactive work, the closure would have likely lasted much longer and the risks to both travelers and firefighters would have been higher, the agency explained.
This isn’t the first time preventative maintenance has proven its value, the agency said. Similar hazard tree removal on OR 126W helped limit damage from the January 2024 ice storm. That highway was closed for four days; without earlier tree work, it could have been closed for four weeks, Oregon DOT emphasized.
Some of this work has been supported through a federal “Good Neighbor Authority” grant that allows the agency to partner with the U.S. Forest Service on projects that support forest health and public safety. But even with grant funding, Oregon DOT’s own crews, equipment, and time are what make the work possible, the agency stressed.
