Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Sept. 8, 2017)
3A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 2017 The West had a snowy winter, so why the fiery summer? Fires rage across region By DAN ELLIOTT Associated Press DENVER — Acrid yellow smoke clogs the skies of major Western U.S. cities, a human- caused fire in the Columbia River Gorge rains ash on Port- land, and a century-old back- country chalet burns to the ground in Montana’s Glacier National Park. Wildfires are chewing across dried-out Western for- ests and grassland, putting 2017 on track to be among the worst fire seasons in a decade. A snowy winter across much of the West raised hopes that 2017 wouldn’t be a dried- out, fire-prone year, but a hot, dry summer spoiled that. Here’s what happened, and how bad things are: How did we get here? Heavy snows last win- ter brought relief from a long, brutal drought across much of the West and produced a lush growth of natural grasses — thicker and taller than many vegetation experts had ever seen. But the weather turned very hot very fast in the spring, and the snow melted much faster than expected. All the grass that grew high dried out, and so did for- ests at higher elevations, leav- ing plenty of fuel for wildfires, said Bryan Henry, a manager at the National Interagency Fire Center, which coordinates wildfire-fighting. Summer lightning storms then dumped less rain than usual and weather conditions kept the humidity low, creat- ing a natural tinderbox in many states. “It was kind of a bad com- bination of things,” Henry said. How big are the fires? By Thursday, more than 76 large fires were burning in nine Western states, according to the interagency fire center. So far this year, wildfires have burned more than 12,500 square miles nationwide. In the past decade, only two years were worse at this point in the wildfire season: 2015 and 2012. For all of 2015, a record 15,800 square miles burned. In 2012, 14,600 square miles were scorched. What about climate change? CPR CLASSES SEPTEMBER 2017 SPECIAL $ 55 Register at CPRFATRAINING.COM OR REDCROSS.ORG Wildfires a wake-up call for many urban residents Tree-eating beetles Two dozen species of bee- tles have killed trees on nearly 85,000 square miles in the Western U.S. since 2000. They’re responsible for about 20 percent of the 6.3 billion standing dead trees across the West, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Researchers disagree on whether forests with bee- tle-killed trees are more likely to burn, or if they burn differ- ently, than healthier forests. Any standing dead tree — whether killed by beetles, drought, lightning or other causes — can crash down, posing hazards for firefighters who must adjust their tactics to avoid them. Who’s fighting the fires? More than 26,000 people are fighting the fires, backed by more than 200 helicopters, 1,800 trucks and 28 air tankers dropping water and fire-retar- dant slurry. Three of those tank- ers are military C-130 planes. The military has also assigned surveillance aircraft and at least 200 active-duty soldiers to fight fires and the National Guard has been called out in at least four states — Cal- ifornia Montana, Oregon and Washington. “We’re stretched thin,” said Jennifer Jones, a spokeswoman for the interagency fire center. Sometimes the center gets requests for more crews and equipment than it has, so “fire managers on the ground are adjusting their tactics and strat- egies to accommodate the resources they can get,” Jones said. “We don’t pack up our tents and go home.” How bad are the losses? Nine firefighters have died and 35 have been injured this year, according to the national Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center. Two of the deaths came during training. Fires have destroyed an esti- mated 500 single-family homes and 32 commercial buildings this year, the interagency fire center said. Janet Ruiz of the Insurance Information Institute sees a hopeful trend in fewer houses lost to wildfires in recent years. Ruiz credits better-equipped firefighters and homeowners who take steps to minimize the danger such as clearing trees away from buildings and installing screens over dwelling Rural residents used to fires By ERIC MORTENSON EO Media Group Genna Martin/Seattle Post-Intelligencer Smoke clouds from the Eagle Creek Fire obscure the sun above Multnomah Falls on Wednesday near Troutdale. openings to keep embers out. “It’s a better-informed pub- lic and fire services better able to fight fire,” she said. sphere at once than a fire, he said. What about all the smoke? Federal spending to fight fires appears to be headed for a record. The two main firefighting agencies, the U.S. Forest Ser- vice and the U.S. Department of Interior, report spending of more than $2.1 billion so far. That’s about the same as they spent in all of 2015, the most expensive wildfire season on record. Those figures do not include individual state spending, which no single agency com- piles. Montana has spent $50 million, exhausting its firefight- ing reserve fund in just over a month. Oregon has spent $28 million, but the state expects to be reimbursed for part of that by the federal government and others. “It’s unusually bad,” said Henry, of the National Inter- agency Fire Center. Smoke is lingering from northern California and cen- tral Nevada to Montana. The air over parts of northern Cali- fornia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington is rated very unhealthy on the U.S. Envi- ronmental Protection Agen- cy’s AirNow website. It was not clear whether sources other than fires were contributing. The air over the towns of Cottonwood and Porthill, Idaho, were listed as hazard- ous, the worst of six categories. Fires spew particulates into the air, which are linked to pre- mature death and cancer and can make asthma and chronic lung disease worse, said Dr. Norman H. Edelman, a senior science adviser to the American Lung Association. “It certainly is bad enough to cause symptoms in people with chronic lung disease but also normal people,” he said. A volcanic eruption is prob- ably the only thing that pumps more particulates into the atmo- How much has firefighting cost? When is it going to get better? The outlook is bleak for Montana, most of the North- west and much of California through September, accord- ing to the interagency fire cen- ter. The fire risk is expected to remain very high in Montana and the Southern California coast through October. Please Adopt a Pet! F IGGY Let Figgy help you fi nd one small place of enchantment to turn to. See more on Petfi nder.com CLATSOP COUNTY ANIMAL SHELTER • 861-PETS 1315 SE 19th St. • Warrenton | Tues-Sat 12-4pm www.dogsncats.org THIS SPACE SPONSORED BY BAY BREEZE BOARDING C latsop C ounty R ental O presents wners A ssoc. Portland’s downtown disappeared from view this week as thick smoke from wildfires settled in for an uncomfortable stay. And that made it a prob- lem, even though forest fires have been burning elsewhere in the West for several weeks. All told, there were 65 active fires in nine West- ern states as of mid-day Wednesday, including 19 in Oregon. The active fires have burned 1.4 million acres. As multiple rural res- idents said in effect on social media: Welcome to our world, Portland. Some Oregonians who work in or support the state’s stagnant tim- ber industry had another response: We told you so. What got Portland’s attention was the Eagle Creek Fire in the Colum- bia River Gorge east of the city, a spectacular 80-mile stretch of river, timber, basalt formations and waterfalls that attracts legions of climbers, hikers and scads of tourists. The chair of the Multnomah County Board of Commis- sioners mourned the dam- age to what she called “our playground.” The Eagle Creek Fire lit up the Gorge like a vision from hell and merged with the Indian Creek Fire to cover more than 30,000 acres. If Portlanders were stunned by the wild- fire’s leaping fury, many rural Oregonians and peo- ple who work in natural resource industries said the state, and much of the West, is paying the price of para- lyzed forest management policy. Critics say the state’s publicly-managed forests are primed for disastrous fires. They believe timber- land agencies, especially the Bureau of Land Man- agement and U.S. Forest Service, are shackled by decades of lawsuits and continued argument over endangered species, wild- life habitat, logging roads and water quality. A stark statistic illus- trates the state of affairs: Federal agencies manage 60 percent of Oregon’s for- estland, nearly 18 million acres, but that land accounts for just 15 percent of the annual timber harvest, according to the Oregon Forest Resources Institute. W A NTED Alder and Maple Saw Logs & Standing Timber N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Christie & McCallum In Concert Sept. 13 at 7 p.m. $5 per person Come enjoy a variety of folk, country and rock music with Christie & McCallum, this Wednesday, Sept. 13 at the First Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, on the corner of 11th and Harrison in Astoria. Tickets are $5 per person, with proceeds going to the Clatsop Emergency Food Bank. Tickets available at the door. See you there! Expires 9/15/17 It’s making things worse for fires, said Jonathan Overpeck, dean of the School for Environ- ment and Sustainability at the University of Michigan. Hotter and drier weather is a symptom of human-caused cli- mate change, and that’s mak- ing fires worse by leaving for- ests and other vegetation more flammable. “It’s not of course playing the only role,” he said. “There’s natural variability at work.” “Humans are contributing to an ever-increasing degree to wildfires in the West as they emit greenhouse gases and warm the planet and warm the West,” Overpeck said. Ask an Attorney with Ben Lawrence Lawrence & Lawrence Law P.C. Monday September 11 th 6 pm Golden Star Restaurant 599 Bond Street NOW HIRING CERTIFIED AMERICAN RED CROSS and AMERICAN HEART ASSOCIATION INSTRUCTORS for ASTORIA, SEASIDE, CANNON BEACH, OR. $ 15؏ $ 20 PER HOUR Visit CPRFAHEALTHTRAINING.COM to APPLY 35 members $ 50 couples $ 50 non-members $ TIMBERLANDS CLOSED (includes dinner) FREE In-home Consultation | FREE Cordless DUE TO HIGH FIRE DANGER Lewis & Clark Timberlands are CLOSED as of August 1, 2017 to all public entry and will remain in effect until further notice. For up-to-date information please call our “The difference between DIY and do-it-for me? Basically, everything.” Oregon Coast 503-738-5242 Lincoln City 541-994-9954 SW Washington 503-738-5242 www.budgetblinds.com *Applies to selected Signature Series window treatments. Restrictions may apply, ask for details. Valid for a limited time, not valid with any other offers, discounts, or coupons. Offer good at initial time of estimate only. At participating franchises only. ©2017 Budget Blinds, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Budget Blinds is a trademark of Budget Blinds, LLC and a Home Franchise Concepts Brand. Each franchise independently owned and operated. Style and Service for every budget.™ RECREATIONAL HOTLINE 503-738-6351 Ext. 2 TIMBERLANDS CLOSED