Governor Kitzhaber: "It's a war"

Governor Kitzhaber arrives in Sisters to view the Cache Mountain fire. (by Eric Dolson)

Sisters, 11:30 a.m. July 29 -- Governor Kitzhaber assured firefighters and local residents that the State of Oregon is putting out a maximum effort to battle the Cache Mountain fire, which burned two homes on Black Butte Ranch on Sunday, July 28.

"We are doing absolutely all we can to deal with this extremely difficult fire season," Kitzhaber said at a briefing on Monday morning, July 29, at Sisters High School.

BBR manager Loy Helmly (r), Police Chief Gil Zaccaro and Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony listen to a fire briefing. (by Jim Cornelius)

Thousands of acres are burning across Oregon -- and, as Kitzhaber noted, fire season traditionally comes into extreme danger levels in August and September.

Kitzhaber has invoked the state Conflagration Act nine times in the past six weeks. The previous record for invocation of the act was eight times in a year.

The Conflagration Act provides for agencies from throughout the state to provide equipment and personnel to battle fires outside their coverage area.

Incident Commander Bob Sandman describes the attack on the Cache Mountain fire for Governor John Kitzhaber and other officials. (by Jim Cornelius)

All seven fire departments in Central Oregon are on the Cache Mountain fire, as are teams from Lane, Marion, Washington and Yamhill counties.

The State of Oregon has an insurance policy that covers from $10 million to $53 million in fire expenditures. Kitzhaber was meeting Monday afternoon with legislators to figure out where funds can be found in a strapped budget if and when the state blows through its insurance cap.

Kitzhaber stressed that there will be no slackening of firefighting efforts regardless of the state's financial situation.

Approximately 1,000 firefighters have been mobilized to fight the blaze.

Kitzhaber issued a rallying cry to change forest policy in the Pacific Northwest.

Representative Ben Westlund (center) and Governor John Kitzhaber (right) view a map of the Cache Mountain fire. (by Jim Cornelius)

"It's a war," he said. "The homeland is not safe if you live in a forest in the Intermountain West today."

Kitzhaber wants congressional appropriations for forest thinning projects that will reduce fuel loads and return forests to a healthy condition. According to Kitzhaber, there would be collateral economic benefits from cutting timber, but meeting board-foot quotas would not be the focus.

"You go into these stands to improve the health of the forest eco-system," he said. Properly conducted thinning operations could be "a great opportunity to demonstrate true sustainability," he said.

The governor acknowledged that there would be controversy over roadless areas and the amount and types of timber that could be cut, but that considerable common ground exists for environmentalists, industry, citizens and recreationalists.

"If we burn the forest down, we're not going to have a resource to argue over," he said.

Author Bio

Jim Cornelius, Editor in Chief

Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.

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