Apprehension not moisture was in the air last week as firefighters trained for the upcoming summer fire season.
Fuels are about two weeks drier than average for this time of the year, Lee Vaughn of the Oregon Department of Forestry said. Fuel loads in the forest are usually not this dry until middle to late July.
Already this year, firefighters have dealt with four substantial fires in the Sweet Home area; and if moisture levels continue at average in July and August, it may be a rough summer.
That’s what this year’s class of new firefighters are preparing to deal with. About 110 new firefighters spent last week learning about fire, including hands-on fire fighting. Another 40 were taking a second-year class.
This is the seventh year for the local fire school and the fourth as a multi-agency school. Among participating agencies were the U.S. Forest Service, ODF, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Land Management. A private company from Philomath also trained firefighters in the class.
“This is the initial training that entry level firefighters go through,” Vaughn said. A student emerges from the program as firefighter II. A firefighter in his second year or more can take advanced training to become a firefighter I.
The agencies combine training “first and foremost because we’re all doing the same thing to begin with,” Vaughn said. “And we’re all out there with the same mission, control wildfires.”
From a mission and budgetary point of view, it makes sense to pool resources and instructors, Vaughn said, and “just make it a more well-rounded experience for the students.”
The students from different agencies also get to know and interact with firefighters from the other agencies, Vaughn said. Typically fires are handled by multiple agencies unless they are in the more isolated areas.
“Fire knows no boundaries,” Vaughn said, so it crosses jurisdictional lines. “There are a few agency specific things that come into play,” but mostly the Forest Service needs to train its firefighters in the same things ODF does, fire behavior, human relations and other courses.
“A majority of (the students) are probably going to college in the fall, and this is their summer job,” Vaughn said. Some 90 to 95 percent of them will return for a second year of fire fighting.
Fire season this year is “special for two reasons,” Vaughn said. First, is the state’s budget problems. ODF wasn’t able to hire until the end of the fiscal year, June 30, That’s about two weeks later than normal.
“We’re going to be playing catch-up for the next two weeks,” Vauhgn said. Training doesn’t end with the fire school. Students still must take courses in blood-borne pathogens and driver training along with others.
“Our school went really smoothly,” Vaughn said. “We had really well-behaved, dedicated students at our fire school.”
“We’re behind the eight ball because we were delayed by budget constraints,” Vaughn said. “Besides being two weeks later, it seems like we’re two weeks ahead in our fuels. Our wildland fuels seem to be as dry as mid to late July.”
In June, the ODF office in Sweet Home measured two-tenths of an inch of rain, Vaughn said. The 25-year average for the month is 2.77 inches.
“Going into July, it doesn’t look good going into August,” Vaughn said. The two months are usually dry, but there isn’t any precipitation, “we are in for a pretty hazardous fire season. We’re starting to get apprehensive in this office because of the weather we’ve been getting.”
With that, the Sweet Home area had two fires on West Brush Creek Road. One was a barn fire. The other was an escaped camp fire, burning about .1 acres. A slash fire escaped and burned around an acre up Mountain Home Drive, and a tree fallen on a power line started a one-acre fire.
Around the state, firefighters have already dealt with larger fires, including a 650-acre fire at Sulfur Creek south of Mapleton, a 30-acre fire in the Jefferson Wilderness and an 18-acre fire southwest of LaPine.
Forests are now in regulated use, which means campfires are allowed only in designated areas, including campgrounds and the metal rings between the roadway and Green Peter Lake, and offroad vehicles must stay on approved roads.
Campers “should never leave a campsite when you have a camp fire going,” Vaughn said. When leaving, campers should drown the fire. When the fire is out, they should put their hands to the coals. If the coals burn the hands, then it still has fire in it. “Just because you don’t see smoke doesn’t mean it’s completely out. Abandoned campfires is one of our biggest concerns any time in the summer.”
While the area has not had problems with cross country offroading causing fires, the potential is there, Vaughn said, and most land owners prohibit it anyway. Local deputies are able to site offroaders with criminal trespass on those lands.
“The other problem we have this time of year is grasses are starting to cure,” Vaughn said. Persons should not cut grass between 1 p.m. and 8 p.m. when humidity levels are lowest. The rule applies to rural areas outside city limits. A spark from the mower hitting a rock can start fires. Persons cutting grass should do so outside of those hours when humidity is higher.
Power saw use is also prohibited from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. At higher regulated use levels, power saw usage is completely prohibited.
The fire school was held at Foster Elementary School, and Vaughn wanted to thank the school’s staff for the facilities and meals. Cascade Timber Consulting provided land where students were able to fight fires set in piles of brush.