Equipment washing keeps weeds away

Weed washing helps stop the spread of knapweed. photo by Sue Anderson

A puzzling sign greets travelers at the junction to George McAllister Road and Highway 20: It says "Weed Washing," with an arrow pointing down the road.

The Forest Service is not washing down the weeds -- it is washing down trucks, vans, buses and other heavy equipment that went into the fire zone and possibly came out contaminated with seeds and spors of noxious weeds or other undesirable vegetation.

"We're here seven days a week, sunup to sundown, to hose down every piece of rolling equipment that has been in the fire zone and is leaving this area," said Mike Peck, one of two members of a contract washing crew that usually drives a "Cat" bulldozer while fighting wildfires.

They use three-inch fire hoses provided by the Black Butte Fire Department to do their job. The water comes from a six-inch pipe out of a well, also provided by Black Butte Ranch, at their rock and gravel pit about three-quarters of a mile up George McAllister Road from Highway 20 toward the back gate of the Ranch.

With that kind of pressure and that size of hose, they put out a pretty good stream and take virtually everything from under and around those rigs.

"We only hose down those vehicles and bulldozers who are actually leaving the greater Sisters area," said Kelly Elliott, a wildfire fighter from Bend.

"Those heading back to the fire camp at the rodeo grounds don't get our treatment."

Both Peck and Elliott worked four weeks on ground support for the Forest Service during the height of the fires.

"We are limited in how long we can work on a crew and we did two rotations," said Peck.

"Now we are about to be rotated off this job as we have been here steady for two solid weeks without a day off and working 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m."

"It takes about half an hour to do a good job with both of us working at the same time," said Elliott. "We probably average five units a day."

The men simply stand by for a truck, tanker or dozer to roll in as there are no reservations and they do not know when their next "customer" will arrive.

Weed washing is a requirement of the Forest Service, mandated by law, so equipment does not carry noxious weeds or other invasive vegetation from one region to another.

"Anything that goes off the main road has to come through here to get washed," Elliott said. "Even the vans and pickup trucks or cars of the fire supervisors. That's the law here.

"We see them going home," Elliott said.

"They are being demobilized and we clean 'em up as they leave."

When not fighting forest fires, Elliott, a resident of Prineville, is self-employed as an independent builder and a self-proclaimed "ski-bum."

Peck is a heavy equipment operator and drives big rigs in and out of fire situations.

Both said that the hardest part of this "Weed Washing" job is the boredom, waiting for the next rig and not knowing when it is coming.

They have a canvas lean-to with a cook stove and chairs for resting.

"And we have a lot of water fights," Peck said.