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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. In
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Clearing and thinning
projects and planned burns
on federal land that could
lessen fire danger by weed-
ing out flammable debris
also are largely on hold in
California, Oregon and else-
where. Private contractors
say they have received letters
telling them to stop the work.
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.=
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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.
Conservationists and fire
managers say there are other
concerns.
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