16
Columbia Gorge News
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
www.columbiagorgenews.com
Fire season starts early in Oregon
Gary A. Warner
■ By Oregon
Capital Bureau
A statewide swath of light-
ning strikes is the “trigger
event” that most worries
state fire officials planning
for what could be a second
consecutive severe fire
season.
Lightning strikes are “a
typical event that we have
on an annual basis that
gives me most concern,”
said Doug Grafe, the Oregon
Department of Forestry Fire
Chief.
Grafe and other state fire,
emergency, environmental
and health officials held a
press call Thursday to lay out
strategies to try to keep 2021
from looking like 2020.
Firefighters plan for the
worst and hope for the best.
Sometimes they get a night-
mare like the Labor Day
2020 fires that burned over 1
million acres in Oregon, de-
stroyed thousands of homes
and left 11 dead.
Oregon is still digging out
from those fires that broke
out amid the COVID-19
pandemic.
On the Thursday press
call, leading emergency, fire
and health officials talked
about improvements since
last year: Better warning
systems. An initial wave
of 30 aircraft with better
instrumentation to see
flame through smoke. Pre-
positioned fire crews and
federal agency assets that
are in Oregon because they
never went home last year.
An air quality blog will
give faster readings on where
air quality is becoming
dangerous. In light of the
2020 fires, the state is adding
more Spanish language ma-
terials to reach communities
that may not be plugged
into the existing fire warning
systems.
An effort is being made
to include more non-digi-
tal warnings for those who
don’t have cell phones or
internet.
One of the positive aspects
of the fires last year is that
they are fresh in the minds
of officials and residents.
Evacuation plans can be
used again and the devas-
tation likely makes resi-
dents more likely to heed
warnings.
Early signs show 2021 has
the makings of another bad
fire year. With a prolonged
drought in the western North
America and hotter tem-
peratures earlier in the year,
the idea of a “fire season”
has become outdated.
“It’s a fire year,” said
Mariana Ruiz-Temple, the
state fire marshal.
The cumulative effect is
a much higher likelihood
of mega-fires in numbers
and sizes once thought
unimaginable.
“These types of fires are
not the types of fires we saw
maybe 20 or 30 years ago,”
Ruiz-Temple said.
Oregon has already been
hit with 300 fires this year,
twice the average over the
past decade.
More than 2,000 acres
have burned, four times
more than normal at this
time of year. A wildfire on
Wednesday briefly closed
Interstate 84 in the Columbia
River Gorge.
Pinpointing when and
where things could get bad
is impossible. But peak con-
ditions for fires this summer
will migrate westward.
In June, the greatest
danger will be in the eastern
slopes of the Cascades. July
will move the fire danger fo-
cus into the Klamath Basin.
Last but far from least will be
the thickly forested south-
west around Medford.
“Really the bullseyes rel-
ative to drought conditions
and that drives fire poten-
tial,” Grafe said.
Last year’s fires came
down the river valleys
of the western Cascades
and toward suburban
Portland, Salem, Eugene and
Roseburg. The rapidly grow-
ing area around Bend has
been flagged in studies as a
prime spot for a fire in forest-
ed areas that are increasingly
populated.
But no two disasters are
exactly alike. Grafe said the
Labor Day 2020 fires were
the result of an unprece-
dented collision of weather
events: A cold front, severe
winds from the east and
drought conditions.
Grafe said that in the end
it will be up to residents to
prepare their homes with
supplies of water, food and
batteries. Masks used during
the COVID-19 pandemic
can help slow inhalation of
particulates from smoke.
If the fires grow, residents
need to look for alerts and
evacuate as soon as told.
Next Door, Inc:
‘GYM Gets
You Moving’
Hamada
■ By The Janet
Next Door
Gorge Youth Mentoring
(GYM), a program of The
Next Door, announces
its summer-time virtual
fundraiser: GYM Gets You
Moving!
First, choose your ad-
venture: Walk, run, bike,
or some combination of all
three. Register for the event,
create your online profile,
and choose how many miles
you’ll complete before Aug.
5. Adult registration is $50,
kids ages 5-17 are $25.
Be sure to share the event
with your friends and family
and encourage them to join
you.
Then, get moving and rack
up your miles! Update your
online profile with the miles Contributed graphic
you’re completing.
Finally, celebrate your
efforts and pick up your
raising vital funds for
swag. Details to come on the children and teens who
Aug. 6 after party and pick
need mentors.
up event.
If you’re not interest-
This summer, get out-
ed in participating in
GYM Gets You Moving
doors and move in a way
that makes you happy while but still want to make
Father’s Day
Special!
Join the GAC Fitness
Family in June with
50% Off Enrollment,
10% Off Membership Dues
through2021.
Offer for New Members
for Fitness Only Memberships
through June 20, 2021.
a difference, sponsor a
youth and their mentor
for $75 so they can join
in the fun. To register,
visit nextdoorinc.org. For
more information, email
events@nextdoorinc.org.
Gorge Athletic Clubs
Hood River | 541.386.3230
The Dalles | 541.298.8508
www.GorgeAthleticClubs.com
email info@gorgeathleticclubs.com
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