Applegater Spring 2015
Fire season by the numbers?
No way!
by sandy shaffeR
On New Year’s Day my husband
handed me a spreadsheet he’d done
that showed our rainfall for the past 14
years. He’s a real numbers kind of guy
and reports the weather for our location
(Buncomweather.com). I had asked him
how we were doing for the rain year,
being that it always seemed to be raining
this winter! So he gave me a file for the
years 2001 to 2014 that showed monthly,
rain-year (September 1 – August 31) and
calendar-year totals, as well as averages for
each of those categories.
Oddly, I had just finished filling
in the ending dates for the past few fire
seasons—adding on to a spreadsheet that
I had received from my friends at the
Oregon Department of Forestry years ago.
I now have fire season start and end dates
for southwest Oregon from 1967 to 2014.
Before I connect these two
spreadsheets: did you realize that most
of the time our fire season starts in the
spring? Yup, out of 48 seasons, only seven
times did our fire season start on or after
June 21. We’ve had fire season start twice
in April, 15 times in May, and three times
on the first of July (the latest). The rest
were in June. And, fire season has ended
five times in November, the latest being
November 12 in 1987. The following year
was a whopper fire season, starting April
18 (the earliest) and ending 199 days later
on November 2 (the longest). Finally, our
shortest fire season on record was in 2011,
lasting only 97 days.
So, I started comparing our two
spreadsheets, looking at just the 14 years
that I had both sets of data. Do years
with the most rain have the shortest fire
seasons? What if more rain came in the
spring, rather than in the winter? How
does rainfall affect our summer fire season?
I started by looking at the longest (168
days in 2001) and the shortest (97 days in
2011) fire seasons.
“Longest-season” 2001 had
the lowest rain-year total by far,
with only 11.26 inches (51.4 percent of
the 14-year average) over the 12 months
ending August 31. (Hubby’s stats show
a 21.89-inch average for our rain-year.)
And, 2001’s calendar-year rainfall was 14.4
percent below our average of 22.34 inches.
However, the “second-longest” fire
season (at 163 days) in this 14-year period
had the highest rain-year totals with a
whopping 33.17 inches! And the calendar-
year rain was 27.81 inches, 24 percent
above normal.
“Shortest-season” 2011 had
the second-highest rain-year total
of 29.92 inches! That’s 36.7 percent higher
than the 14-year average. The calendar-
year rain for “shortest” 2011 was slightly
above average. 2007 and 2013 tied for
“second-shortest,” but their numbers
were inconclusive: one had the lowest
annual and lower-than-average rain-year
numbers while the other was close to
Hubby’s averages. Hence my humble look
at precipitation statistics found no real
correlation to fire season length.
S o h ow a r e f i r e s e a s o n
decisions made, and by whom?
Given our checkerboard landscape (state,
federal and private land), indicators such
as large-fuel moisture levels and conditions
on federal forested lands are tracked. As the
temperatures begin to rise in the spring and
fine fuels dry out, weather patterns and
forecasts are studied. Local land and fire
agencies provide nonstop statistics to assist
the one person who makes the decision of
when to start our fire season.
Our “mere mortal” (ODF’s Southwest
Oregon District forester Dan Thorpe)
considers local activities as he contemplates
when to ban open burning and equipment
operations. Are burn barrels still allowed?
9
Are industrial operations in the forest
taking place? Are private debris burn piles
escaping? Are neighboring districts such as
Douglas and Klamath getting ready? And,
is the US Forest Service gearing up on their
higher-elevation lands?
Dan told me that initiating the first
level of fire season restrictions can be
good publicity: it gives private landowners
a heads up that conditions are getting
seriously dry, and also gives them a few
days’ notice to get the rest of their work
completed.
In closing, a simple take-away
as we look ahead to spring in the
Applegate: whenever our fire season begins,
the fine fuels around your home and
driveway are the most important items
to address. Leaves, tall grass and weeds all
have the potential to allow your home to
ignite if a wildfire erupts nearby—more
so than trees! Stay on top of raking, weed
whacking and mowing (even if you end
up mowing twice!), so that you’re in good
shape when those final activity closures
take effect for southwest Oregon.
Sandy Shaffer
sassyoneor@q.com
Author’s Note: In order to be consistent
with the rest of Oregon and Northern
California, the National Weather Service
recently changed our local rain-year dates
from September 1 through August 31 to
October 1 through September 30.
Wildland fire hazard
fuel-reduction grants available
Become an
Applegate Firewise Community
Believe it or not, fire season 2015 is already right around the corner. It seems
like just last week that we all collectively sighed with relief that we made it through
another fire season relatively unscathed. As we all wait for the rain and snow (that
may or may not come) that we so desperately need, it’s time to start planning for
another potentially drought-stricken, smoke-filled summer.
The Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) is offering a monetary incentive
to help reduce the fire danger in and around your property. ODF is offering $500
per acre of fuel-reduction work to reduce the potential impact of wildfire on your
property.
This program is available in a large portion of the Applegate Valley, but
unfortunately it is not available to all Applegate Valley residents. To find out if
your property is within the eligible grant area, to ask questions, or to schedule a
free/no obligation home wildfire risk assessment, please call Derick Price or Herb
Johnson at 541-664-3328. Properties that are not eligible for grant funding are
still eligible for the free/no obligation property risk assessment, so we encourage
all Applegaters to call.
Although grants will be available through next winter, they are not available
during fire season. Now is the time for fuel-reduction work on your property.
Did you know that there is a national recognition program active in Jackson
and Josephine counties to identify neighborhoods that are taking an active role in
fire prevention?
Firewise communities are recognized for taking a few simple steps that many
rural landowners do on a regular basis. There are four easy steps to take before
applying to becoming a Firewise Community:
1. Have a neighborhood-wide wildfire risk assessment done free of charge by the
Oregon Department of Forestry.
2. Talk to your neighbors and select a few people (sparkplugs) for a neighborhood
board and create an “action plan” based on the risk assessment.
3. Conduct a Firewise day or event.
4. Invest a minimum of $2 per capita each year on a local Firewise action. Volunteer
hours count as a monetary investment.
Submit an application with the state Firewise liaison. (ODF will typically
handle the application after all other obligations have been met).
The key to a successful Firewise Community is community involvement.
If you think that your neighborhood should be a Firewise Community or have
any questions, please call Derick Price, Herb Johnson, or Brian Ballou at the Oregon
Department of Forestry at 541-664-3328 or visit www.firewise.org.
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