Guest Opinion | Are We Ready for a Wildfire?

— from Jeff Bossler —

Back in the 70s and the 80s, when I worked with the US Forest Service burning thousands of acres of slash off of clear cuts in the Mount Baker Snoqualmie National Forest, and fighting wildfires all over the west as a hot shot, wildfire season didn’t get started until about August. Even California fires laid down at night for the most part, and nighttime was a good time to get a head start on containing them.

How things have changed! Two recent fires; the Spring Creek Fire in Colorado, and the Klamathon Fire on the California-Oregon border started in the evening, and overnight they both leaped to over 20 thousand acres. This explosive behavior has been seen on an upward trend for years now. Remember the harrowing fires in BC a few years ago, which erupted with the same voracity as a southern California brush fire?…..California and BC…..get it?

Lots of people become overnight armchair experts as to “why” this is, but I can tell you there is no one single issue that tells even a tenth of the story, and there are no silver bullet solutions. Things are different now, and there is no turning back to the “good old days.” Man is, for better or worse, an indispensable component of the ecosystem, and we have a lot of management to do, both now and in the future. In fact, we are already way behind.

The fire that burnt an impression on my mind recently was the one that charred thousands of acres from Newhalem up the mossy canyon along route 20 to the Diablo Dam in August of 2015 . For a fire on the west side of the Cascade crest, its behavior was extreme and unlike an “old-timer get-away slash burn.”, The Goodell Fire expressed strong behavior only found up till now on the dry side of the Cascades.

We here in the San Juan Islands complacently “think” of ourselves as insulated from what happens on the mainland, not to mention further east where it is traditionally dryer and hotter. The facts may be quite different. Most of us who have been working with our local plants and/or in the Orcas woods for decades as I have, perceive a shift in heat and precipitation, all leading to hotter, longer and dryer summers of which in and of themselves create conditions conducive for fire. As of July 3rd, the United States Drought Monitor has all of western Washington state in “Abnormally Dry” and much of it south of Federal Way in “Moderate Drought.”

It’s always important to remember that in the San Juan Islands, we are normally far more susceptible to wildfire than most any other area west of the Cascade crest because of the rain shadow that gives us our unique weather and all the Madrona trees. It’s also important to remember that no matter how unique and insulated we are from the mainland, “as it happens on the mainland, so can it happen in the islands.”

As an X-Hotshot, I’ve been observing shocking examples of major non-management and neglect representing obvious fire disasters just waiting to happen all over Orcas Island. These situations sit unattended for years, increasing in their “some-day-potential” until they become “not-if-but-when” time bombs along our roads, on our hiking trails, and in our neighborhoods and subdivisions. I understand we’re all stressed out about things, overextended in mental bandwidth, and short on money, but those things won’t matter when the flames are rushing up the hillside toward your house through the dry brush that stood untouched for years and decades. At that point, the disaster is on us, and we are all responsible.

So when the rains begin again, and it’s safe to work in the woods without starting a fire from a spark from a chain saw, remember that lots of people who are in the business of cutting, chipping, and burning are looking for work in the rainy months. They can help you be responsible in a fire-wise plan of action regarding your own home and lives as well as for your neighbors.

Meanwhile, there are some simple things you can do or just think about in order to be prepared for the curveball that a random fire may throw your way.

• Have an evacuation plan ready and know it well. This should include a list of things you will take along with you, and your escape route, contact info held by others, and contacts for agreed-upon people who you can stay with for a few nights
• Have a plan for your pets and confirm it with those who will have responsibilities and/or those whom you expect to accept living with your pets
• Clean your roof gutters. They are not wet anymore and most likely filled with dry leaf/needle/cone debris which can easily ignite to set your roof on fire
• Know your defensible areas around the house in the event you want to stand your ground with an oncoming fire. Be sure you assess the risks realistically and have a last minute exit strategy in place.
• Eliminate flash fuels such as Ocean Spray, Blackberries, and Scotch Broom, and eliminate ladder fuels such as the brush named above that is growing up into the trees, as well as lower branches of grown trees.
• Be sure that when you are thinking about your abode, you eliminate any dream about our island’s awesome and fully capable EMS and firefighters coming to your rescue. They will most likely be rescuing others or fighting other fires.
• Take responsibility for yourself and your neighbors by doing the work and/or the planning to make your neighborhood safe and/or do the work that may be needed to secure an escape route for your shared road.
• Nothing pulls people together like a disaster, but for some, waiting till the disaster strikes may be too little, too late!