Fight for resources defines wildland battles

By Larry Meyer - Argus Observer
Wednesday, July 11, 2007 11:07 AM PDT

Aero Union slurry bomber 21 makes a drop while helping fight the Angora Fire June 25,in South Lake Tahoe, Calif. Locally, bringing all the resources together to battle wildfires is often just the first, big step for federal and state agencies.

VALE - When lightning strikes and fires erupt, a host of actions are unleashed at the local and district level to bring those blazes under control.

Resources — at the state, local and national levels — are often tapped and fire managers decide how to tackle a blaze based on its size, complexity, the total number of fires and the available fire crews.

The first step for federal, state and even local firefighters is often a simple one: deploying someone to a fire to assess it then calling in their information to dispatchers.

“It’s up to the incident commander to come up with the strategy on how to fight the fire,” United States Bureau of Land Management, Vale District Public Affairs Officer Debbie Lyons said.

“Their main concern is what are the safety issues,” Lyons said.

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Those safety issues may involve people, structures and animals.

Protecting natural resources is also a consideration.

Digging into the national resource reserve usually means going on a national priorities list, Lyons said. The fire management team from La Grande is on one of the national lists, and given the situation, including the steep terrain, the Vale BLM was able to get the team assigned to the Ironside Complex fire, and it is now based in Unity.

The La Grande fire management team may be based in Vale but the Snake River Valley firefighters and the Vale hotshot crews are considered national assets.

“We don’t get to decide where they go,” Lyons said.

When it needs additional resources, the Vale BLM works through the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center in Portland, Lyons said.

It provides logistical support and eases the movement of resources between federal fire suppression agencies, primarily in Oregon and Washington.

Requests for additional firefighting resources are weighed carefully against other fire incidents occurring elsewhere in the Vale BLM district, Lyons said.

Besides looking at the district’s resources, BLM officials are also searching to see if there are firefighting resources close by.

“You’re talking to the neighbors and finding out what they have available,” Lyons said.

Those neighbors can include adjoining BLM districts or officials from the nearest national forest.

BLM officials are also talking to local farmers and ranchers, often asking them to bring out equipment already signed up and certified to be used for firefighting.

Also, BLM may work with local range fire protection associations.

“That has been a really valuable thing on the Clark fire (burning west of Jordan Valley),” Lyons said. “(The local association) has been tremendous and key to avoiding potential conflict.”

About 75 personnel from the Vale BLM have been fighting fires since the weekend, Lyons said, including 19 engine crews, totaling about 50 people.

However, the number of people on fires around the county stood at more than 400, with approximately 200 on the Clark Butte fire and estimated 200 people on the Ironside Complex fire which includes the special management team charged with the responsibility of controlling the fire.

Besides a blaze on Ironside Mountain, the complex includes fires in the Westfall area, bringing acreage burned to about 2,000 acres Monday afternoon.