LOCAL
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, October 28, 2020
A15
Wallowa Unit Forester Howard directs response to blaze
helicopters
and
heavy
retardant.
“That was a big help,”
Howard said. “We had a
real strong showing from
the local industrial logging
operators, who put 44 pieces
of heavy equipment on the
fire.”
Still, fire closed U.S.
Highway 97, a critical north-
south thoroughfare, for at
least a day.
The 242 Fire destroyed
eight major structures, 37
outbuildings and damaged
another 170 buildings, How-
ard said.
Howard spent two weeks
on the fire, and his concerns
about fire in the urban-wild-
land interface in Wallowa
County have only grown.
“There’s nothing nor-
mal about fighting fires in
Matt Howard
served as
deputy incident
commander
on 242 Fire
By ELLEN MORRIS
BISHOP
For the Wallowa
County Chieftain
WALLOWA — In any
other year, a 14,763-acre
forest fire would be consid-
ered a major conflagration.
But by
2020 stan-
dards, the
242
Fire,
north
of
Klamath
Falls, was
small, and
Howard
Wa l l o w a
Unit
For-
ester Matt Howard of the
Oregon Department of For-
estry was happy that he
and the multiple crews he
directed could keep it that
way.
“We’re fortunate so far
this summer that we hav-
en’t had a fire (in Wallowa
County) yet, like those expe-
rienced on the west side
of the state,” Howard said.
“The facts are plainly in
everybody’s face. I’m hop-
ing that people here will
take action in and around
their homes and make life-
style changes that are going
to help them out when — not
if — the fire comes to their
doorstep.”
Howard, who formerly
served as the ODF fire-con-
trol officer in Wallowa, was
called up to be the dep-
uty incident commander of
ODF Incident Management
Team 2, which put him sec-
ond in command of the blaze
that broke out Sept. 7 north
of near Chiloquin. By the
time it was contained Sept.
22, more than 300 firefight-
ers, including groups from
the Klamath Indian Reserva-
tion, Chiloquin Fire Depart-
ment, Oregon Department
the urban interface in and
around homes. Dealing with
the human factor and the
evacuations brings a lot of
complexity that we don’t
have out in a timbered set-
ting,” he said.
Howard said all he can do
is provide information about
fires, but ultimately it is up to
residents whether to heed it.
“I’ve been doing this for
34 years, and I’ve come to
the conclusion that I can
only try to give people the
information (about fire) and
they have to process it and
believe in it,” he said. “They
have to believe in fire pre-
vention and taking mitiga-
tion measures around their
homes and in their com-
munities. It’s not if, it’s
when a fire will affect your
community.”
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A Chiloquin Fire and Rescue truck is framed by the glow of fire in the near distance in this
image from the 242 Fire, taken Sept. 7, 2020, outside Chiloquin.
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vice and the National Guard,
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“It’s a small number of
firefighters for a fire of that
size,” Howard said. “But
because of everything that
was going on, that’s all we
could muster. It’s pretty dry
country down there.”
The 242 Fire started
along U.S. Highway 97 near
Collier State Park. It was
human-caused, but still is
under investigation, How-
ard said. It burned mostly
in Ponderosa pine, sage-
brush and bitterbrush. Wind
pushed the fire through Col-
lier State Park and several
subdivisions.
“About three-quarters of
it was a stand-replacement
fire,” Howard said. “It was
headed toward (the town
of) Chiloquin. Through the
course of the fire, we evac-
uated a few thousand people
and about 330 homes. But
firefighters were able to keep
it out of the town of Chilo-
quin. ”
Smoke from the larger
fires to the north and south
was light enough to allow
air support, which included
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