UMATILLA COUNTY — The Umatilla County Board of Commissioners voted Wednesday, July 1, to implement a temporary ban on burning in the county’s unincorporated areas starting at noon on Thursday, July 2. 

The ban is issued yearly on July 1 and prohibits open, nonagricultural burns within the county’s unincorporated areas, except for those areas that are covered by a rural fire protection district. 

“I think the timing of this is something to behold of in light of what happened yesterday,” Commissioner John Shafer said in reference to a fire on Tuesday, June 30, in Pendleton that destroyed one home and badly damaged another on Northwest 10th Street. 

According to the order’s language, the temporary ban will remain in effect until the board votes to discontinue it.