News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Concerned local residents weighed in on the escaped prescribed burn that became the Wizard Fire.
Sisters District Ranger Bill Anthony said his agency is very concerned about losing control of a prescribed burn in the Metolius Basin last Thursday.
A 31-acre burn in the Metolius Research Natural Area sparked over into an adjoining section of forest, igniting a wildfire that climbed Green Ridge and grew to more than 500 acres.
"A lot of people are feeling very bad right now about the fact that one of our burns escaped our control," he told The Nugget.
Anthony and Forest Service spokesperson Maret Pajutee said that a review of the burn will take place immediately - after the wildfire is suppressed.
"Right now we're focused on getting it out," Pajutee said.
Anthony met with residents of Camp Sherman on Sunday to explain what happened and why. He apologized on behalf of the Forest Service for the incident.
In an interview with The Nugget, Anthony said that weather conditions were excellent for the prescribed burn when it was ignited on Wednesday, September 24. The burn itself took only about an hour, in an area that had been burned over three times previously and had little in the way of heavy fuel.
The fire escaped at midday on Thursday, during the patrol and mop-up phase.
Anthony acknowledged that the Forest Service was aware of winds in the forecast for Thursday.
"We thought that when those winds came, we thought we'd have this in a patrol phase and be able to control it," he said.
Pajutee noted that wind is not necessarily a bad thing for a prescribed burn. A certain amount of wind is beneficial in preventing smoke from inundating local communities and to keep fire and smoke from having excessive impact on trees.
While reluctant to assess what went wrong before a review is completed, Anthony said that "it is possible that some bases weren't touched during the patrols."
A prescribed burn that turned into a wildfire in the Camp Sherman area in 2002 also escaped control during the patrol phase.
"Obviously something needs to be understood about what's going on there," Anthony said.
A review of the 2002 incident determined that "there was a breakdown in implementing the patrols... as required," Anthony said.
Anthony said the review would look at all the elements of the burn.
"There's usually more than one thing that leads to a failure," he said. "We'll take appropriate actions to correct things that didn't go right."
Anthony told the Camp Sherman audience that the review would be conducted by personnel from outside the Sisters Ranger District. A summary of the review will be available to the public,.
Anthony told The Nugget he cannot determine what type of individual accountability will be in order until the review is completed.
"That really depends on what the review shows," he said.
Anthony acknowledged that the escaped burn will add up to a costly mistake.
"The costs are going to run up," he said. "We're predicting that it could be $1 million to $2 million."
Longer term, both Anthony and Pajutee expressed concern about the effect this incident will have on public attitudes toward prescribed burning.
"Yeah, we're concerned," he said. "Obviously, every time you make a mistake you lose a little of the trust of the community you need to do this work."
Anthony emphasized that the Forest Service burns thousands of acres in the region annually, seldom experiencing any escapes. He said prescribed burning is an important tool for reducing fuel loads in the forest and for forest health.
Pajutee said the scientific research being conducted in the Metolius Research Natural Area is important to gaining a better understanding of fire's effects in ponderosa pine forest.
And, she said, local residents have seen the benefits of prescribed burns in protecting their homes. When the GW Fire hit a prescribed burn west of Black Butte Ranch in September 2007, the raging fire laid down and gave firefighters a chance to slow its progress toward the Ranch.
Pajutee says she's seen a marked change in attitude toward prescribed burning since Sisters' spate of massive wildfires in recent years.
"People aren't telling us 'I don't want you to burn next to my house,'" she said. "They're saying 'I want you to burn next to my house.' That's a new thing to hear."
Anthony acknowledged that there are plans for further burning this fall, a prospect that did not please members of the Camp Sherman audience. He said, however, that there will be "a pause."
"I guess I'm not willing to say we're not going to do anything more this fall, but before we do anything, we need to take a good look and make sure we're OK," he said.
The Camp Sherman residents who attended Sunday's meeting almost universally expressed understanding of the value of prescribed burning. Several, however, emphatically demanded that no more burns be ignited in tinder-dry fall conditions.
"You have to wait for the rain," said one local.
"I hear that," Anthony, responded. "I hear you."
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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