B4
THE ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, MAY 18, 2021
Offi cials plan for challenging fi re season
By MATTHEW BROWN
Associated Press
BILLINGS, Mont. — U.S. offi cials
said they will try to stamp out wildfi res
as quickly as possible this year as severe
drought tightens its grip across the West and
sets the stage for another destructive sum-
mer of blazes.
By aggressively responding to smaller
fi res, offi cials said they hope to minimize
the number of so-called megafi res that have
become more common as climate change
makes the landscape warmer and dryer.
A similar approach was taken last year,
driven by the pandemic and a desire to
avoid the large congregations of person-
nel needed to fi ght major fi res. Neverthe-
less, 2020 became one of worst fi re years
on record with more than 10 million acres
of land scorched and almost 18,000 houses
and other structures destroyed, according to
federal data and the research group Head-
waters Economics.
California and the Pacifi c Northwest were
especially hard-hit, including an unprece-
dented million-acre fi re in Northern Cali-
fornia. Wind-driven confl agrations in Ore-
gon and Washington state burned into urban
areas and triggered massive evacuations.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland and Agri-
culture Secretary Tom Vilsack told fi refi ght-
ing personnel Thursday to brace themselves
for another challenging year amid what sci-
entists describe as one of the West’s deepest
droughts in more than 1,200 years.
Haaland and Vilsack wrote in a memo
to fi re leaders that 90% of the West is in
drought.
“These conditions have not only
increased the likelihood of wildfi res but
they have also strained water supplies and
increased tensions in communities,” they
wrote.
Offi cials also off ered details on the Biden
administration’s plan to “change the trajec-
tory” of increasingly dangerous wildfi res in
the West, by vastly expanding the amount of
land where tree thinning, controlled burns
and other measures are used to reduce fl am-
mable material.
The U.S. Forest Service plans to at least
double the amount of land receiving such
treatments to 6 million acres annually —
an area bigger than New Hampshire — and
possibly up to 12 million acres, spokesper-
son Babete Anderson said.
Large fi res were active late last week
in Arizona, California and New Mexico.
More than a half-million acres already have
burned this year nationwide. The year-to-
date fi gure is well below the 10-year aver-
age. But the worsening drought is expected
to bring increased fi re danger that will
spread from the Southwest into California,
Nevada, the Pacifi c Northwest and northern
Rocky Mountains by summer, offi cials said.
Dan Watson/Santa Clarita Valley Signal
A fi xed-wing tanker makes a drop of fi re retardant on the North fi re in April in California.
‘THEY MAY STOMP ON A FIRE AND PUT IT OUT
QUICK, AND THEN NEXT TIME WHEN THAT AREA
BURNS IT BURNS EVEN MORE SEVERELY, BECAUSE
CLIMATE CHANGE KEEPS RATCHETING IT UP.’
Tim Ingalsbee | fi re ecologist and environmental advocate
“Our focus is on smart fi refi ghting,
aggressive fi refi ghting, catching these fi res
when they are small,” said Patty Grantham,
acting director of fi re and aviation at the
Forest Service.
A shortage of resources last year hob-
bled fi refi ghting eff orts for more than two
months at the height of the season. Twelve
people involved in fi refi ghting eff orts were
killed as were at least 45 civilians in Oregon
and California, federal offi cials said.
Firefi ghters are able to put out about
98% of fi res before they get out of con-
trol, according to federal offi cials. It’s the
remaining 2% that cause most damage in
terms of homes destroyed, said Kimiko Bar-
rett, a wildfi re researcher at Bozeman, Mon-
tana-based Headwaters Economics.
Yet more homes continuously are being
built in fi re-prone areas. Throw in climate
change, and it’s a recipe for destruction. Of
the more than 89,000 homes and structures
that have burned in wildfi res since 2005,
almost two-thirds were destroyed in the past
four years, according to data compiled by
Barrett.
“As wildfi res gain in intensity and speed
— what is referenced as extreme wildfi re
behavior — they are becoming much more
diffi cult for fi refi ghters to suppress,” she
said.
Barrett said now is the time of year
for homeowners to take basic steps that
improve their property’s chances of surviv-
ing fi re, such as getting woody debris off
the roof and away from the house, and trim-
ming back trees. Also keep a bag packed and
evacuation route lined up if a quick escape
is needed, she said.
The federal government spends roughly
$2 billion to $3 billion annually attack-
ing wildfi res using fi refi ghters, bulldoz-
ers, aircraft and other heavy equipment.
The administration is seeking a nearly 40%
increase, to $1.7 billion, in additional funds
for managing fi re dangers through thinning,
controlled burns, and related projects.
Vilsack said forest treatment work can
cost roughly $1,500 per acre, versus $50,000
per acre to put out a fi re.
“We need to do a better job treating our
forests, reducing hazardous fuels buildup
that’s occurred over decades,” he said.
But fi re ecologist and environmental
advocate Tim Ingalsbee said the govern-
ment still is sinking too much money into
putting out fi res by attacking them directly.
More wildfi res should be allowed, especially
in low-risk areas and in wetter months, to
burn off underbrush and other fuels before
they become so dense that stopping a fi re
becomes impossible, he said.
“They may stomp on a fi re and put it out
quick, and then next time when that area
burns it burns even more severely, because
climate change keeps ratcheting it up,”
Ingalsbee said.
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