WESTERN INFERNO
MORE THAN 90 LARGE WILDFIRES
BLAZE ACROSS THE REGION
Wildfi res burn through
budgets as quickly as
timber and grazing land
Staff and wire reports
ore than 90 large wildfi res
are burning across the West,
stretching fi refi ghting re-
sources as they destroy huge swaths
of timber and grazing land, and level
or endanger hundreds of homes and
businesses.
In all, more than 1.1 million acres
have burned.
The U.S. Forest Service expects
to spend more than half its budget —
52 percent — on fi re suppression this
year, further squeezing forest resto-
ration, watershed and landscape man-
agement programs, according to an
agency report.
While demand for fi re resources
has surged across the West, the supply
is quickly becoming tapped.
The Pacifi c Northwest is one of
three regions nationwide under a
wildfi re Preparedness Level 5, which
means there are more than 14 uncon-
tained large fi res exhausting local
agencies.
The National Interagency Fire Cen-
ter in Boise has given the Northwest
top priority, though Northern California
and the northern Rocky Mountains are
also at Preparedness Level 5, and the
Great Basin region — made up of por-
tions of southern Idaho, Nevada, Utah
and northern Arizona — is at Level 4.
“Most of the teams are not getting
the support they want because resourc-
es are so thin,” said Kari Boyd-Peck,
spokeswoman for the National Inter-
agency Fire Center.
The situation is so urgent that 200
active-duty military troops have been
pressed into service. It’s the fi rst time
since 2006 that soldiers have been mo-
bilized for fi re suppression.
The Washington Department of
Natural Resources last week called
out the National Guard to help battle
an 18,000-acre blaze burning in south-
central Washington on the southeast-
ern slopes of Mount Adams.
M
A fi refi ghter walks away from a smoke-fi lled hillside while fi ghting the First Creek Fire Aug. 18 near Chelan, Wash.
Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
Capital Press
ly
The West s
FRIDAY, AUGUST 21, 2015
Week
VOLUME 88, NUMBER 34
WWW.CAPITALPRESS.COM
$2.00
MORE FIRE COVERAGE ON PAGE 12
• Ranchers fi ghting one of nation’s largest
• Chelan FFA adviser loses home to wildfi re
• Wildfi re claims apple packing plant
• Ranchers, USDA spar over forest management
Ted S. Warren/Associated Press
Colby Lyon, of the Central Region Strike Force Team II, calls out in-
structions to other fi refi ghters as they back-burn forest fuel to protect
structures while fi ghting the First Creek Fire Aug. 18 near Chelan,
Wash. Wildfi res are putting such a strain on the nation’s fi refi ghting
resources that authorities have activated the military and sought
international help to beat back scores of blazes burning uncontrolled
throughout the dry West.
Sy Bean/The Seattle Times via AP
Firefi ghter John Peterson works to control fl ames as they run south on Apple
Acres Road outside Chelan, Wash., on Aug. 15. The wildfi re caused massive
damage to homes and an apple packing plant in the area.
Oregon’s Canyon Complex fi re has grown to 63 square miles and
destroyed at least 36 houses. An additional 500 structures are
threatened, as are the communities of Canyon City and John Day.
Turn to FIRE, Page 12
Strong El Nino now likely, but don’t expect end to drought
By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press
SACRAMENTO — Forecasters
now believe the West is in for his-
toric El Nino conditions this winter,
but they still caution that even a wet
year won’t end California’s drought.
Sea-surface temperatures in the
equatorial Pacifi c Ocean could reach
an average of 3.6 degrees above nor-
mal, which has only happened three
times in the past 65 years, Climate
Prediction Center offi cials said.
The readings point to a strong
El Nino that could produce the kind
of wet winter that California saw in
1982-83 and 1997-98, when nearly
double the state’s average precipita-
tion fell, forecasters say.
But while El Nino is known for
its robust southern storms, such an
outcome is far from a sure thing,
they warn.
“Climate systems are far more
complicated than just El Nino, so
none of the typical impacts (associ-
ated with El Nino) are guaranteed,”
CPC deputy director Mike Halpert
told reporters in an Aug. 13 confer-
ence call.
El Nino has already suppressed
hurricane activity in the Atlantic
Ocean and enhanced it in the eastern
central Pacifi c — a phenomenon that
could continue to infl uence monsoon
storms, Michelle Mead, a National
Weather Service warning coordina-
tor in Sacramento, said. Monsoon
moisture has been cited as the cause
of several unseasonable rainstorms
in parts of California this summer.
As it is, long-range models favor
above-normal precipitation in the
southern U.S. from Central Califor-
nia to Florida and up the East Coast
and below-average precipitation
in the Northern Rockies, the Great
Lakes, Western Alaska and Hawaii,
Halpert said.
Above-average temperatures are
seen as likely in the Pacifi c North-
west and the rest of the northern
U.S., as well as Alaska and Hawaii,
he said. Typically, as El Nino pulls
the jet stream south into California,
it leaves the Northwest drier than
normal.
Much will hinge on how El Ni-
no’s warm water mass will interact
with what forecasters call “the blob”
— another mass of warm water in
the northern Pacifi c that set up the
Turn to EL NINO, Page 14
China’s currency devaluation worries ag exporters
By DAN WHEAT
Capital Press
A major devaluation of the
Chinese yuan is sending shiv-
ers through many U.S. agri-
cultural exporters, who fear a
decline in sales to China. The
big question is how much.
In an apparent move to
shore up its economy and
strengthen the position of its
own exports, China devalued
the yuan by 4 percent Aug.
10 and 11 and then brought
it back up about 1 percent on
Aug. 12.
It was China’s fi rst major
devaluation since 1994 and
surprised investors and ex-
porters globally. It caused cur-
rency devaluations by some
of its Asian neighbors and
volatility in worldwide stock
markets.
Weakening the yuan
against an already stronger
dollar enhances U.S. buying
power of Chinese goods but
makes it more expensive for
China to buy U.S. goods. It
potentially affects all com-
modities headed in both di-
rections.
U.S. agricultural exports
to China more than doubled,
from $12.1 billion in 2008
to $24.6 billion in 2014, ac-
cording to the USDA. China
became the No. 1 destination
for U.S. agricultural exports,
surpassing Canada, Mexico
and Japan.
Soybeans, wheat, corn,
other feeds, cotton, cattle
hides, tree nuts and oth-
er horticultural products
are top items headed to
China.
Turn to CHINA, Page 14
A bank clerk counts
Chinese currency
notes Aug. 11 at a
bank outlet in Huai-
bei in central Chi-
na’s Anhui province.
China’s unexpected
move last week to
lower the value of
its tightly leashed
currency, the yuan,
could impact agri-
culture exports to
that country.
Chinatopix
Associated Press