(Photo courtesy of Deschutes County Sheriff)
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is committed to the safety of our community. As fire season is fully upon us we would like to remind our community that open fires are banned on unprotected and county-owned land in efforts to reduce the risk of wildfire.
“Beginning today, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office has re-assigned and dedicated a full-time deputy to the areas of China Hat Road, and Juniper Ridge in an effort to mitigate fire risk to the neighborhoods that are adjacent to these areas.
“This focused patrol effort will be taking a proactive approach to illegal burning, and un-authorized campfires, human waste and trash dumping within these areas,” said Captain William Bailey.
In addition to these focused patrols, deputies will be provided specialized tools in the coming days, to include water bladders, as well as receive specialized training to help with exigent fire circumstances in these closure areas.
These extra tools will give our deputies every opportunity to react quickly to a small fire and prevent it from growing into an out-of-control fire that threatens our community. The deputies patrolling this area will also be able to help coordinate firefighting resources into a location during a fire event, reducing the time it takes to get on scene and stop the spread of a fire.
The Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office is a full-service agency that oversees the adult jail, provides patrol, criminal investigations, civil process and search and rescue operations. Special units include SWAT, Street Crimes, Marine Patrol, ATV Patrol, Forest Patrol, along with six K9 teams. Founded in 1916 and today led by your duly elected Sheriff L. Shane Nelson, the Deschutes County Sheriff’s Office serves 210,000 residents in Deschutes County. The agency has 265 authorized and funded personnel, which includes 195 sworn employees who provide services to the 3,055 square miles of Deschutes County.
