Fire incident commander receives promotion

As the last of the burning embers were extinguished and the GW Fire became a part of local lore, Incident Commander Mark Rapp emerged as a local hero. His handling of the fire and evacuation of Black Butte Ranch (BBR) was carried off with so few stumbles, it appeared seamless.

Although Rapp has functioned in various rolls over the 20 some years that he has been in the area, his position as the Forest Service's division fire manager officer for the Cascade Division has brought the spotlight to his exemplary work.

Rapp has steadily taken on more responsibility over the years and with each increase in responsibility he has proven more than capable. He has led Sisters Ranger District fuels management efforts - some of which later helped him fight the GW Fire.

"It (the GW Fire) was the first time that I was the IC of the Type II incident management team, but this is my 19th fire season here in the district, and I have been involved in several fires that have gone from initial attack, to extended attack, to turning them over to a team," said Rapp.

His success as a fire management officer and, in particular as the Incident Commander for the GW Fire, has led to a promotion and still more responsibility.

"I will be taking over as the Incident Commander (IC) for the Central Oregon Type II incident management team. Tom Goheen is the current IC and will be retiring next month, and I will be taking over the reins of the Type II team for the next few years," said Rapp.

Fires are rated by their complexity and scale, both of which determine their level of response and management. A Type II wildfire is the most serious fire short of invoking a national (Type I) response. A Type II blaze always has the potential to become a national disaster (see related story, page 35).

There was some consideration given to declaring the GW Wildfire a Type I conflagration.

"When the fire was advancing rather aggressively toward Black Butte, the rangers, forest supervisors and staff continued to do a complexity analysis on a daily basis," Rapp explained. "They also look at the ability of the team which is currently managing the fire, whether they are having any success, whether they are feeling defeated or if the team seems to be developing a defeatist attitude. Or perhaps they are just not making progress. Maybe they have had several days where their strategy and tactics are just not working.

"This fire was definitely leaning toward a Type I incident, but the team is really a good team, and it has dealt with a number of Type I incidents," said Rapp.

Although some consider it always a good idea to upgrade to a Type I to increase the resources available, it is not always the best solution.

"Local teams sometimes have an advantage," Rapp said. "They often know more about local conditions and local contacts. Sometimes they can have an advantage when a national team is brought in from somewhere else. It is a little more difficult for them to hit the ground running."

The GW Fire was a fast-moving and aggressive fire.

"The fire made a last big push from Six Mile Butte and went all the way across Five Mile Butte. The wind was a primary factor in that," Rapp said.

"There was some rain in the forecast, but they were not real confident that we would get very much rain. They were thinking that we might get less than a tenth of an inch, which would not be hugely significant at that time of the year in the very dry conditions that we have. As it turned out we got quite a bit more than that, with somewhere between a quarter and a third of an inch of rain. Essentially, we had the fire hooked before the rain came. We had worked all night and had a line around it. When the rain came, it really gave us the upper hand on keeping it where we had it."

The nature of the fire risks required Rapp to adopt different tactics than are normal.

"Normally when we fight a wind-driven fire, we anchor and flank," he said. "We would anchor the heel and continue to advance on the perimeter with dozer lines and aircraft to support that, and it results in a pinch off move on the head of the fire. However, with this one we had to do a frontal assault and try to hook the fire back around, sort of a backwards way of doing it. This was because of the danger to the Ranch (BBR) and the high values associated with that. We had to take a different tactic."

With help from the rain, Rapp and his team got the job done. And the residents of Black Butte Ranch remain grateful.