Fire

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Dave

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Jul 12, 2004
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City & State/Province
Baker County, Oregon
I knew there is some smoke around. I figured it was from the fires by Greenhorn or Anthony Lake. Turns out there is that started by the Powder river near Richland. It is now at 8,500 acres, 0% contained, and growing. It is headed up the back side of Little Lookout Mt So I looked around. The tank truck, both pump trucks, and the 2 fire cats Are all gone so is all the younger able body type men. Oh boy we knew this was going to be a bad fire season.
It is mid 80's now with very little wind, The wind is forecast to go up to 15 mph and the humidity is dropping from 40% to down below 20%. The temperature is headed up to high 90's. This could turn into a big one.
 
The smoke here is terrible, the fires in northern MN across the lake are some where around 80,000 acres, and across the border in Ontario something like 1.7million have burned. All their smoke and ash has ended up right here.
 
I heard that the feds are calling it a class one (or something like that) s now all the know it all big bots from out of state will be here. They should be able to stop it when it gets to the Snake River. It is up to 14,000 acres now and just rolling.
The people whose range land this sit in front of us in church.
 
The Powder River fire burned some rangeland. About 21,000 acres which will hurt about 4 ranchers, However on Thursday evening The Fox fire started on the hills above the Snake River. Our guy went over and jumped on it. They worked all night and by Friday morning they had it contained and controlled. They left it to the BLM to mop up. Well somehow the BLM lost it and away it went. Since Friday it is now around 50,000 acres. From Farewell Bend about 20 miles north along the Snake River and about 15 miles to the northwest along I-84. When I say along I-84, there is a number of places it burned right to the edge of the pavement. My closest neighbor has 300 pairs who graze within that fire area. I did see some of his cows in a meadow along an oxbow in the river (fire just across the river). But no where near the size of his herd,
Our guys have been fighting fire continually for 12 days now. They have to be running on empty. 4 hours sleep at night. Working 16-18 hours a day. Probably short on food. These are unpaid volunteers. Working longer and harder than the paid government fire fighters. All ranchers who have ranches to run at home. I would be out there with them but at nearly 75 years old they don't call me anymore. One of the benefits or down sides of age.
 
Dave, does the BLM ever do any controlled burns? I have seen several fires over the years that the local volunteer fire department or my state crew got lines around the fires on US Forest Service property before they got the there. Then after we left an acre fire turns into 500 or 1000 acres. If BLM does any controlled burns ask for the maps of planned burns and see if that fire is included in one of the planned areas. They get more money fires than they do for a controlled burn so they call it a wildfire and make it big.
 
kenny thomas said:
Dave, does the BLM ever do any controlled burns? I have seen several fires over the years that the local volunteer fire department or my state crew got lines around the fires on US Forest Service property before they got the there. Then after we left an acre fire turns into 500 or 1000 acres. If BLM does any controlled burns ask for the maps of planned burns and see if that fire is included in one of the planned areas. They get more money fires than they do for a controlled burn so they call it a wildfire and make it big.
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No one would even think of a controlled burn now, no matter what they have been smoking. There is over a million acres on fire in Oregon right now. All the resources are stretched way to thin. With 100 degrees, humidity in the 10-12% range, Lots of 18 inch tall bone dry grass. There is 3 cross state highways. At one point yesterday all 3 were closed down because of fire. I think the reasons the fire got away were A, Short crew B. Inexperienced crew C, Ideal conditions for fire to burn.
 
Mrcopier said:
Hard to imagine a million acres on fire….WOW
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It is well over a million acres. I looked up the big ones. The 4 biggest and our local fire. Big Grass on the Idaho line 300,000 acres. Rowe Creek complex in central Oregon 295,000 acres. Hat Creek complex in central Oregon 193,000 acres. Coleman Creek just south of Hwy 20 east of Burns 140,000 acres. The Fox fire along the Snake River and I-84 59,000 acres. Total is 987,000 acres for these 5 fires. I counted 51 total fires a couple days ago so there is a lot more. I forgot the fire by Dayville which easily pushes the number over a million. This is too early in the morning to get the current numbers. Also I rounded down to even numbers.
Edit: I went and looked up the Shingle fire by Dayville. It is 63,000 acres. Add that in and 6 fires total 1,050,000 acres. Total up all the fires I bet we are up around 1.3 to 1.4 million acres
 
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Silver said:
If that smoke comes up here we’re gonna hafta impose some tariffs on ya.
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At least for now the wind is blowing from the northwest. So the smoke isn't going your way. Smoke isn't bad here today. This northwest wind is a good thing. No fires to the northwest of me. That is about the only direction there are no fires.
 
Years ago in the Texas piney woods they did a control burn on the state park land bordering my place. The following year came the 55 square mile forest fire. After the fire was out I went and looked at the rest of the forest in the state park. The trees were blackened burned like match sticks except for the controlled burn area. All the big trees there were alive and well. This is because the controls burn ground fire burned up the understory brush and flammable materials that act as ladder fuel.
 
Dave said:
Yep. And you do controlled burns in October when you can control them. Not now when they are going to be out of control
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I 100% understand that but on some of the driest and worst fire days here if there was a wildfire on an area that was planned to be burned in the next 2 years the whole area became a wildfire.
As you have stated before being smart isnt one of the things they do.
 
There are multiple considerations that go into a planned or controlled burn. The stars pretty much have to align perfectly, and being able to get the stars to align varies greatly in degree of difficulty depending on where you are. Fuel load is not the only consideration. In areas of high fuel load, a controlled burn at the right time with the correct moisture and wind conditions can 'fairly safely' eliminate the load and risk. An attempt on the same fuel load under the wrong conditions quite often is disastrous. In many/most areas, you can, and often do, have multiple years, back to back, that never have a day with favorable controlled burn conditions.
 
The big thing here is the wind. Steady breeze or wind is an uncommon thing. Winds are mostly variable and gusty. This tends to move embers well away from the intended burn path. Much smaller burn areas seem to be the best for control.
 
Forest Service just did a selective cut in a pine forest on my north border. Lots of large timber remains, and it really opened it up and looks kinda nice, but there's no walking through it. They left the limbs and tops where they fell and I'm really hoping they can get a control burn on it next spring. They do burn selected areas every year, usually starting in February through April.
 

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