Fire crews descend on Juntura

By Larry Meyer - Argus Observer
Sunday, July 22, 2007 12:09 AM PDT

VALE - The population of Juntura has multiplied several times as the Northern Arizona Incident Management Team moved in to manage and contain the Juniper Reservoir fire.

The blaze, ignited July 13 by a thunderstorm, has scorched rangeland between Juntura and Beulah Reservoir, and the United State Bureau of Land Management has officially titled the incident the Juniper Reservoir fire.

The Northern Incident Management Team received authority to manage the blaze Thursday and immediately began setting up camp.

At last count Saturday, the fire was staffed by 344 people, including the 53-person management team, eight hand crews, 17 engine crews, helicopter pilots, and dozer and water tender operators.

“We have more resources on order,” Mary Rasmussen, public information officer with the management team said.

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The Juntura School is the incident command post, with the camp set up in meadows and hay fields adjacent to the school.

“We’re using the gym as the dining hall,” Rasmussen said.

The current size of the fire is 29,000 acres and it is 50 percent contained, she said.

“The decrease was to due to more accurate mapping. We expect several days of hard work,” Rasmussen said. “We are making good progress.”

During a Wednesday briefing, prior to the fire being turned over to the incident management team, Vale BLM District Manager Dave Henderson said a $1.9 million cost target had been assigned to the blaze and $900,000 had already been spent to fight it.

“This is West Nile virus country,’’ Henderson told the leaders of the new fire crews. Pat Ryan, Malheur Area Resource Area Field Manager, said the fire was burning critical deer and elk habitat and as well as grazing areas for the cattle of local ranchers.

“A lot of their areas are already burned,” he said, referring to the ranchers. “It’s very steep and rugged country.”

Dave Toney, previous incident commander, said during the Wednesday briefing, at one point 10,000 acres burned in about three hours because of the wind.

He quoted one dozer operator who said, “The dirt is burning.”

The fire season has so far been more arduous than expected.

“The severity of the fires is earlier,” Hyde said. “We’re seeing 40,000-acre fires, when they would normally be 5,000- to 7,000-acre fires. The fuel moisture has gone out of everything.”

Bringing in the incident management team gives local crews some time to recoup before the next round of fires, he said.

Meanwhile, local crews have been battling other fires, including a blaze on the Oregon side of the Snake River, near Weiser. That fire, which erupted Thursday night, was held to about 50 acres, according to Randy Hyde, interim Vale Bureau of Land Management public information officer, and is still under investigation. It is believed to be human caused, he said.

Down south, crews were nearing containment of the 2,500-acre Old Maid fire, north of Jordan Valley, he said.