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closeSaturday, Jul. 04, 2009
Wildfire season looks 'normal' following fewer blazes last year
By The Walla Walla Union-Bulletin
So far, the 2009 wildfire season is shaping up to be a normal year.
"But well, what's normal?" asked Dennis Winkler, wildland fire policy officer for the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest.
Winkler's assessment was part of the news forest and state land officials delivered Wednesday on the outlook for this year's fire season now starting throughout the Pacific Northwest.
The weather, which sets the stage for the summer fire season, consisted of a "good, wet fall" followed by heavy snows in December and again in March and April, which left snowpacks at near-normal levels. Another factor has been above-normal spring rains that have produced a significant grass crop, "so there's significant fuel load with the potential to burn," Winkler said.
The long-range forecast calls for above-normal temperatures and below-normal rainfall in coming months, with an extended dry spell through September, Winkler said. With that, fire managers are expecting "a normal fire season."
In regards to what is normal, based on a 10-year average the Wallowa-Whitman Forest experiences about 120 fires a year that are expected to burn about 38,000 acres.
Last year's fire season "was very, very sub-par" with only 68 fires in the Wallowa-Whitman forest that burned 400 acres, Winkler said.
Joni Bosworth, public information officer for the Umatilla National Forest, said, "We're also looking at a normal fire season. Last year was a very quiet year for us as well" with a below-normal number of wildfires. A new feature aiding efforts this year will be the recently completed.
Northeast Oregon Interagency Fire Center located at the La Grande airport. The new building houses the radio dispatch center for federal and state firefighters, space for teams to coordinate firefighting efforts and the fire cache warehouse that supplies equipment to crews throughout the region.
Adjacent to the new center is the air base for slurry bombers and dormitories for highly trained "hotshot" firefighting crews, said David Quinn, center manager.
Recent large wildfires
w School Fire -- Started on Aug. 5, 2005, in the School Canyon area about 16 miles south of Pomeroy. Cause listed as a tree falling across a power line. Blaze burned about 81 square miles (52,000 acres) in the Umatilla National Forest and adjoining state and private lands. At its peak 1,752 firefighters and support personnel were involved in firefighting efforts.
w Burnt Cabin Fire -- Started on Aug. 14, 2005, in the Burnt Cabin Gulch area about 16 miles southeast of Milton-Freewater. Cause listed as unattended campfire. Peak number of personnel involved, 693 firefighters and support workers.
w Columbia Complex Fire -- Started the night of Aug. 21, 2006, at various areas south of Dayton by multiple lightning strikes. Fires burned approximately 171 square miles (109,259 acres) of grasslands, wheat and wheat stubble, timber stringers and some timber land. Lands involved were private property, Washington Department of Natural Resources lands, Washington state park lands, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation lands and federal forest lands. Firefighting efforts involved about 1,400 firefighters and support workers.
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