Sisters is fighting fire with fire

"It is impossible to keep fire out of the forest," Mark Rapp, Sisters Ranger District fire boss says. "So we fight fire with fire."

Last Monday morning the switchboards at the Sisters-Camp Sherman RFPD, Oregon State Forestry, and USFS Sisters District offices lit up with people calling in about the sudden appearance of what was thought to be a forest fire northwest of Sisters.

Earlier this month, on September 10, the phones at the ranger district office lit up with people concerned about a column of smoke they saw west of Sisters. They thought it was a forest fire.

What was burning (to start with) was an area of about 150 acres of brush, young trees, grasses and other fuels considered a future fire hazard, and an area of forest and wildlife habitat that will be improved by the use of prescribed fire. The plan for the day was to get as much as 200 acres burned before nightfall.

"This is a reburn," Rapp explained, as the fire fighters ignited the forest. "It was burned in 2002, but needed to be burned again to get a handle on reducing the surface fuels."

More fires were touched off this week, on Monday and Tuesday: on a 40-acre area adjacent to Graham Corral south of Black Butte Ranch and a 65-acre area adjacent to and north of Black Butte Ranch and two miles northeast of Highway 20.

It is a ritual of fall, as fire managers try to reduce fuels and enhance forest health, mimicking the normal fire regime that belongs in a ponderosa pine forest.

"I'd like to see more people become comfortable with fire," Rapp said, watching the fire creep through the forest as USFS firefighters riding ATVs went by with drippers, spreading the fire.

"Sure there's the smoke issue," he said, "but if we don't burn now under controlled conditions, we'll just end up fighting fire in the worst of conditions."

The recent Rooster Rock Fire is a dramatic example of what that statement is all about.

On September 10, weather conditions for burning were as favorable as they ever could be - until nightfall when that end-of-summer thunderstorm put an end to the best laid plans of mice and men. Moisture content was ideal in fuels and other factors of the forest. There was a slight breeze to bring the right amount of oxygen to the fire, and yet not enough to push it too fast across the forest.

The surface fuels were consumed without causing too much heat on the soils.

"All in all," Rapp said, "we couldn't ask for a better day."

Thanks to the late summer thunderstorm Monday night, the folks at Indian Ford and surrounding area got a snoot-full of the smoke from the controlled burn when rain from the storm knocked down the fire.

This week's burns also had the potential to create smoke problems as cold air presses down and holds the smoke close to the ground overnight.

The Forest Service asks that curious residents and motorists - for their own safety and to prevent confusion if firefighters have to respond to an emergency - keep out of the controlled burn areas. For more information visit http://www.fs.fed.us/r6/centraloregon/fire or call the Sisters Ranger District information desk, 541-549-7700.