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10 Wednesday, January 30, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon Government shutdown took toll on wildfire preparations By Gillian Flaccus Associated Press PORTLAND (AP) 4 Just two months after a wildfire wiped out Paradise, California, officials are gear- ing up for this year9s fire sea- son and fear the government shutdown could make it even more difficult than one of the worst in history. The winter months are critical for wildfire managers who use the break from the flames to prepare for the next onslaught, but much of that effort has ground to a halt on U.S. land because employees are furloughed. Firefighting training courses are being canceled from Tennessee to Oregon, piles of dead trees are untended in federal for- ests and controlled burns to thin dry vegetation aren9t getting done. Although the furloughs only affect federal employ- ees, the collaborative nature of wildland firefighting means the pain of the four- week-long shutdown is hav- ing a ripple effect 4 from firefighters on the ground to federal contractors and top managers who control the firefighting strategy. State and local crews who need training classes, for example, are scrambling without federal instructors. Conservation groups that work with the U.S. Forest Service to plan wildfire- prevention projects on fed- eral lands are treading water. Annual retreats where local, state and federal firefighting agencies strategize are being called off. The fire season starts as early as March in the south- eastern United States, and by April, fires pop up in the Southwest. Last year9s most devastating fire lev- eled the Northern California town of Paradise just before Thanksgiving, leaving just a few months to prepare between seasons. <I think a lot of people don9t understand that while there9s not fire going on out there right now, there9s a lot of really critical work going on for the fire season 4 and that9s not getting done,= said Michael DeGrosky, chief of the Fire Protection Bureau for the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation. It9s especially impor- tant with climate change making wildfire seasons longer, deadlier and more destructive. DeGrosky was supposed to be teaching a course this week for firefighters who want to qualify for the com- mand staff of a fire manage- ment team. But the class was canceled without instructors from federal agencies. Similar classes were called off in Oregon and Tennessee, and others face the same fate as the shut- down drags on. President Donald Trump and congres- sional Democrats are at odds over funding for a border wall. A dozen senators from Oregon, California, New M e x i c o , Wa s h i n g t o n , Colorado, Nevada, West Virginia and Michigan sent a letter this week to Trump warning that the shutdown would put lives at risk this coming fire season. Classes necessary for fire incident managers, smokejumpers and hotshot crews are in jeopardy in the near future, the senators said. Smokejumpers parachute into remote forests to battle blazes inaccessible by fire- fighters on the ground, and hotshot crews are small groups of elite firefighters trained to battle the most ferocious flames. The winter is also when seasonal firefighters apply for jobs, get the required drug tests and move to where they will train and work. 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There9s already a back- log of such projects in fed- eral forests in Oregon and Northern California, said Michael Wheelock, presi- dent of Grayback, a private contractor in Grants Pass, Oregon. Intentional fires can only be set in a narrow winter window before temperatures rise and humidity falls 4 and that is rapidly closing, Wheelock said. <Every week that goes by, it9s going to start increasing the impact,= he said. Joyce McLean, who lost her and her husband9s home in Paradise last November, supports Trump9s push for a border wall but worries what will happen if firefighters aren9t prepared for next time. <I hope there are no more forest fires,= said McLean, 74. <I wouldn9t wish that on nobody.= Quality Cleaning 16 years in Reasonable Prices Sisters! 391 W. Cascade Ave. | 541-549-2675 corkcellarswinebistro.com SistersForestProducts.com many cases, there9s no one to answer the phone or process the applications, and some potential recruits may decide to work elsewhere to avoid the hassle. <Even if the shutdown ends and we start hiring people, we will have missed the cream of the crop,= DeGrosky said. The U.S. Forest Service said in an email that the agency was committed to hiring for temporary and per- manent firefighting positions and would continue criti- cal training <to the extent feasible.= The first session of an apprenticeship program for wildland firefighters went ahead this week, Forest Service spokeswoman Katie O9Connor said. <The agency is assessing and prioritizing the activi- ties we are able to maintain while in shutdown status. We are unable to speculate on specific impacts while the government shutdown is ongoing and ever-chang- ing,= O9Connor said in a statement. 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