BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
SATURDAY, JULY 24, 2021
Baker City man leading effort
to stop nation’s biggest wildfire
■ Joe Hessel, a longtime Oregon Department of Forestry employee, is one of the
incident commanders on the Bootleg fire, which has burned about 400,000 acres
By Jayson Jacoby
“We used to go out maybe
only once in a summer.
One of our teams was out
fi ve times last year.”
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
Joe Hessel remembers
when the Dooley Mountain
fi re, which burned 20,000
acres south of Baker City
over several days, was a “gi-
ant” blaze.
Today he’s coordinating the
effort to stem a
fi re that burned
more land than
that every day.
For almost
two weeks
Hessel
straight.
This yawn-
ing difference between what
was typical early in Hessel’s
career, and what is common-
place today, illustrates his
longevity in a way perhaps
more compelling than a
couple of numbers can.
Certainly Hessel, who
lives in Baker City and is in
his 38th summer amidst the
smoke and the fl ames, can
attest to the changes time
has wrought when it comes
to fi ghting wildland fi res in
Oregon and across the West.
The Dooley Mountain fi re,
sparked by lightning in late
July 1989, was at the time
the biggest blaze in Baker
County in several decades.
It was also an abnormally
large fi re by Oregon stan-
dards.
But today, the acreage
charred that distant summer
would occupy a scarcely no-
ticeable corner of the fi re that
has kept Hessel away from
his Baker City home, and his
La Grande offi ce, for almost
two weeks.
Hessel, 54, who is the
Northeast District forester
for the Oregon Department
of Forestry (ODF), is one of
three incident commanders
for the Bootleg fi re, a light-
ning fi re burning in Klamath
and Lake counties in south-
central Oregon.
At 400,000 acres as of
Thursday, July 22, it’s the
nation’s biggest blaze, the
one responsible for much of
the smoke that has clogged
Baker Valley at times this
month.
— Joe Hessel, Oregon
Department of Forestry fi re
incident commander, and
Baker City resident
Bootleg Fire Camp/Contributed Photo
The Bootleg fi re, burning in Klamath and Lake counties,
is the biggest blaze in the nation.
The one that has spawned
smoke plumes which look,
from the vantage point of
space satellites, similar to a
cataclysmic volcanic eruption.
Hessel said his experi-
ence on the Bootleg fi re has
led him to ponder, as he
sometimes has over the past
32 years, the days when he
worked on the Dooley Moun-
tain fi re as a fi refi ghter with
the ODF.
“That was one of the fi rst
big fi res I was involved in,
and it left an impact on my
mind,” Hessel said in a phone
interview on Wednesday, July
21 from the Bootleg fi re camp.
The Dooley Mountain fi re
affected Hessel in a couple of
ways.
He remembers vividly the
photograph that S. John Col-
lins, retired Baker City Her-
ald photojournalist, took from
Main Street in downtown
Baker City on July 30, 1989.
The photo shows the fi re’s
smoke cloud looming above
the city’s historic buildings,
the angle of the lens making
the blaze seem much closer
DANGER
“We’ve got a long
summer ahead of us.”
Continued from Page A1
But it’s the second line, a series of
brown dots, that worries Livingston.
Because that line represents
current conditions, not those of past
summers.
It tracks the daily energy release
component readings for 2021. And
for most of July, in each of those six
regions, the brown dot line has been
higher on the chart than the bright
red line.
In some cases the brown dot was
higher than the red line has ever
been.
Which is to say, the energy release
component has been breaking daily
records with a regularity that’s fright-
ening for Livingston and other fi re
managers.
“That’s what’s got us on the edge
of our chairs,” Livingston said during
a video conference with reporters on
Thursday afternoon, July 22. “We’ve
got a long summer ahead of us.”
With the energy release compo-
nent at record-setting levels, every
fi re has a higher-than-average poten-
tial to turn into confl agration before
fi refi ghters arrive, Livingston said.
Crews have doused most blazes on
the Wallowa-Whitman pretty rapidly,
with a majority of the 36 blazes this
season burning less than one acre.
But the statistics don’t tell the
entire tale, Livingston said.
“The fi res that we are dealing with
are showing a high resistance to
control,” he said. “We’ve been success-
WOLVES
Continued from Page A1
The rancher brought the
injured steer by trailer to
a corral, where an ODFW
than it was (the fi re never got
within about eight miles of
town).
Hessel calls the photo an
“iconic image.”
But that acreage fi gure —
20,000 — was memorable,
too.
In 1989, its size made the
Dooley Mountain fi re an
outlier.
It was a time when
fi refi ghters considered even
a 500-acre fi re a signifi cant
blaze.
But then Hessel, who
started his fi refi ghting career
with ODF at age 16, com-
pares Dooley Mountain to
Bootleg.
“This fi re grew an average
of 30,000 acres for 13 days
straight,” he said.
The Bootleg fi re is the sort
of blaze that requires a group
of specialists — what’s known
as an “overhead team” or
“incident management team”
— to coordinate the efforts of
hundreds or even thousands
of people, as well as bulldoz-
ers and other equipment on
the ground, and air tankers
and helicopters above.
Almost 2,400 people were
assigned to the Bootleg fi re.
Hessel, who heads one of
the ODF’s three overhead
teams, said they have been
called out more often, and for
longer periods, over the past
several years.
He said it has become
increasingly diffi cult for agen-
cies to fi nd employees willing
to potentially give up much
of their summer, to forego
family vacations in favor of
traveling hundreds of miles to
work on a big blaze.
“We used to go out maybe
only once in a summer,” Hes-
sel said. “One of our teams
was out fi ve times last year.”
The Bootleg fi re is his
team’s second assignment
this summer. The fi rst, also
in Klamath County, was the
Cutoff fi re in June.
Hessel, whose dad was a
Forest Service smokejumper
and manager of the fi refi ght-
ing air center in La Grande
while he was growing up, said
incident management teams
typically are assigned to a fi re
for 14 days, with the potential
to extend the stay to 21 days.
Team members then re-
turn home for a couple days.
Hessel, who was sent to the
Bootleg fi re on July 10, said
he doubts he’ll return home
before July 27.
And after his time off, he
said his team will be “back on
the board” — meaning they’re
available to be assigned to
another fi re.
And with most of Oregon
enduring extreme fi re danger,
Hessel doesn’t expect to wait
long for his next job.
“It’s become a recurring
theme every summer,” he
said.
man didn’t merely set daily records
— they exceeded many previous
daily highs for August.
— Noel Livingston,
“We’ve been seeing August-like
fi re management
conditions since late June,” Livings-
offi cer, Wallowa-
ton said.
Whitman National Forest
That prompted a term that Liv-
ingston has adopted, but was quick
ful for the most part but it’s taking a to credit to a colleague, Matt Hoehna,
unit forester at the Oregon Depart-
lot more resources on initial attack
ment of Forestry offi ce in Pendleton.
to do so.”
“90-day August.”
For instance, Livingston said some
In other words, fi re managers
lightning-sparked blazes — the
ignition source for about 80% of fi res who are accustomed to fi re danger
historically on the Wallowa-Whitman that peaks during August and lasts
for perhaps a month or six weeks,
— that in a typical summer would
in 2021, due to its abnormally early
pose no great challenge for one fi re
start, has the potential to extend for
engine crew, this year are requiring
three months.
two or three crews.
Or even more.
Fortunately, Livingston said, almost
Livingston said fi re danger, as
all of the Wallowa-Whitman’s fi re-
fi ghters are here and ready to fi ght lo- expressed by the energy release
cal fi res, rather than assigned to fi res component, tends to be cumulative,
because logs, limbs and live grasses
elsewhere in the state or region.
and shrubs all tend to become
“We’re where we want to be in
terms of resources on hand,” he said. drier as summer progresses and
Livingston said the Wallowa-Whit- the weeks with little or no rainfall
man has also bolstered its fi refi ghting accumulate.
That’s the reason that in most
capability by having three bulldoz-
ers on contract, as well as additional parts of the Wallowa-Whitman,
August has the highest average
aircraft.
daily energy release component,
The ‘90-day August’
even though July, in many years, has
The recent record-high energy
higher average temperatures.
release components are disturbing
Unless a major shift in the
not only based on the sheer numbers, weather pattern brings much cooler
Livingston said, but also the timing.
temperatures and widespread rain
Starting in late June, when an
to the region — and meteorologists
historic heat wave descended on the
aren’t forecasting anything like
Northwest, energy release compo-
that — Livingston said he expects
nents on parts of the Wallowa-Whit- the energy release component will
biologist examined the
animal on Wednesday, July
21. The biologist estimated
the steer was attacked three
to four days earlier. The steer
had at least 30 tooth scrapes,
including on the rear of both
back legs and in front of
the front left leg. Based on
location, size, number and
direction of the scrapes, the
wounds are consistent with
Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce/Contributed Photo
Eric Newman, 18, of Haines, was taken by Life-
Flight helicopter to a Boise hospital July 21.
Haines man
released after
pickup crash
An 18-year-old Haines man was treated and released
from a Boise hospital after the pickup truck he was driv-
ing near Haines struck a fl atbed trailer parked on the
side of Shurtleff Road Wednesday evening, July 21.
Eric Newman was driving a 1998 Dodge pickup, and
he had to be extricated after the crash, said Ashley
McClay, public information offi cer for the Baker County
Sheriff’s Offi ce. The incident was reported at 5:11 p.m.
Newman was taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Saint
Alphonsus Hospital in Boise, where he was treated and
released, according to Mark Snider, a spokesman for
the hospital. The Haines Fire Protection District, Baker
City Fire Department and Baker County Sheriff’s Offi ce
all responded to the scene.
Two Baker City man injured in separate motorcycle
crashes on Tuesday, July 20 — David Krieger, 60, and
Michael Stephen Blount, 48 — remained in critical
condition at Saint Alphonsus in Boise on Friday.
L OCAL B RIEFING
Zachary Wise named to president’s list
at Oregon Institute of Technology
KLAMATH FALLS — Zachary Wise of Baker City
was named to the president’s list for the spring 2021
term at the Oregon Institute of Technology. To be eli-
gible, students must take at least 12 credit hours. Wise
is studying civil engineering.
Three Baker City students earn academic
honors at Pacifi c University
FOREST GROVE — Three Baker City students were
named to the dean’s list at Pacifi c University.
• Emily Black, fall 2020 and spring 2021 terms
• Dylan Mastrude, fall 2020 and spring 2021 terms
• Morgan Stone, fall 2020 and spring 2021 terms
Rotary Club district governor awards
Baker City club members
Rotary Club District Governor Russell Johnson, of the
Idaho Falls, Idaho, club, visited Baker City
on Monday, July 19 to present the Baker
City Rotary Club with an award recogniz-
ing that all club members are supporting
the Rotary International Fund. That fund
develops humanitarian projects around
Johnson
the world, including local projects such as
the Literary Coalition.
Anthony Bailey started his term as Baker City
Rotary Club president on July 1, replacing two-year
president Ken Krohn.
continue to run near, or above, the
all-time daily records.
Forest restrictions
The prospect for a prolonged period
of extreme fi re danger is a primary
reason that Wallowa-Whitman
offi cials enacted the most stringent
public use restrictions — Phase C —
on July 16. In most summers over the
past decade the Wallowa-Whitman
either never reached that level, or did
so in August.
In 2020, for instance, another ab-
normally dry summer, the Wallowa-
Whitman imposed Phase C on Sept.
12 — and reverted to the less-restric-
tive Phase B on Sept. 25.
The neighboring Umatilla
National Forest, meanwhile, took
the rare step of closing the entire
1.4-million-acre forest to public entry
starting July 16.
According to a press release from
the Umatilla, that decision was due
not only to extreme fi re danger, but
also because three large fi res were
already burning on the forest.
Livingston said the current situa-
tion with active fi res, which take up
some of a national forest’s fi refi ghting
capacity, is one factor in any discus-
sion among forest offi cials about
potentially closing the entire forest to
the public.
Wallowa-Whitman offi cials aren’t
having that discussion now, Livings-
ton said.
But they are exquisitely aware
that such a conversation could well
be necessary before autumn.
wolf attacks on adult cattle,
according to the ODFW
report.
On July 14, an ODFW bi-
ologist confi rmed that wolves
from the Lookout Mountain
Livingston said two key factors,
when it comes to the prospect of clos-
ing a forest to the public, are whether
forest offi cials are confi dent that they
have suffi cient resources to deal with
a new, rapidly growing fi re, and how
high the risk of human-caused fi res
is.
As he mentioned during the Thurs-
day afternoon video conference, Liv-
ingston said the Wallowa-Whitman is
well-prepared to deal with new fi res
now.
As for the risk of human-caused
fi res, all campfi res are banned under
Phase C, and Livingston said he has
taken the unusual step of having fi re
engine crews, which usually don’t
patrol in the evenings, visiting camp-
grounds and other popular recreation
spots at night to check for illegal fi res.
Over the past week, fi refi ghters
have reported eight illegal campfi res
on the Wallowa-Whitman.
“We’re trying to stay on top of that,”
Livingston said.
One policy that has been postponed
this summer on the Wallowa-Whit-
man is the practice of allowing some
lightning-caused fi res to burn natu-
rally in the Eagle Cap Wilderness.
Blazes in the 365,000-acre wilderness
— Oregon’s largest — can benefi t the
land by reducing fuel loading.
In 2019 the Granite Gulch fi re
burned more than 3,000 acres in the
Eagle Cap, the largest such blaze
since the Forest Service instituted the
policy about 25 years ago.
“That’s not a risk we’re going to
take this year,” Livingston said.
pack had killed a fi ve-month-
old calf on a public land
grazing allotment, also in the
Manning Creek area.
A wolf from the Lookout
Mountain pack that’s fi tted
with a GPS tracking collar
was at the location where
the carcass was found at
about the approximate time
of death, according to an
ODFW report.