Photo courtesy of InciWeb

A crew member on the 2021 Black Butte Fire.

by Scott Barton
for Burns Times-Herald

Spring has sprung in Harney County. Cold temperatures are giving way to warm/long days, signs of renewal, and new life. Migratory birds have marked their annual return, wildflowers are in bloom, and the landscape is verdant again. However, as temperatures continue to warm, wildfire season looms just around the corner. 

Wildfire outlook 

The Harney Basin witnessed a relatively wet April and May. Logic suggests that this is good news for the upcoming wildfire season. However, Burns Interagency Fire Zone (BIFZ) Fire Planner Casey O’Connor suggests that there’s a little more to the story.

He said, “Despite the welcome relief from a fairly wet April and May, most of our area is still listed as being in an extreme to exceptional drought by the Drought Monitor.” He explained that, “Weak snowpacks are a large factor in this.”

O’Connor added that, “Although the last couple months of good precipitation have reduced some of our concerns in our forested portions, this moisture has also bolstered a healthier crop of grass in the sagebrush steppe portions of our zone. This is great relief for our ranching communities. However, these episodic fluctuations in fine fuels (grass production) are closely correlated to significant fire potential.”

While these early indicators are useful in gauging where the wildfire forecast stands at the current moment, it remains too soon to say how things will play out as we get into the warmer months of summer.

“A lot can happen between now and July,” O’Connor continued. “Summer storm patterns, the amount of lightning, and whether those storms come with precipitation or not are all big variables that we can’t really predict.”

Preparation is key

Training, preparations, and planning are largely left to BIFZ and Rangeland Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs) in Harney County. This effort includes local ranchers, the United States Forest Service Emigrant Creek District, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), and others. 

Under the BIFZ umbrella, these organizations work together year round.

O’Connor said, “There are quite a few core fire trainings [that] all fire personnel have to go through annually — including fire refresher, pack testing, and chainsaw refreshing, to name a few.”

He added, “The younger workforce that is working toward career fire jobs is undergoing some more advanced training, such as Initial Attack Incident Commander, Firing Operations, and other leadership training.”

During the last couple of weeks, seasonal fire crews have been coming back to work for the summer. Guard school kicked off June 12 and ran through the week. This is the introductory training that is required for all new fire fighters.

While training before the season is a vital part of the process, the most valuable work is right on the horizon.

O’Connor said, “Once our agency trucks are all staffed with the seasonal workforce, we’ll do some cross training between RFPAs and the federal side. In my opinion, this type of training has the most value in preparation for the upcoming fire season.”

The Harney County Wildfire Collaborative

The Harney County Wildfire Collaborative (HCWC), a collaborative of High Desert Partnership, is also playing a major role in preparing and strategizing for the upcoming fire season, as well as future fire seasons.

One very recent example is Oregon Senate Bill 762, which was passed in 2021. The bill allocated more than $220 million to help Oregon communities better prepare for, and respond to, wildfires. Largely due to the work of High Desert Partnership and the HCWC, more than $5 million in funding was received for Harney County. 

“We have several projects going that are either directly tied to the HCWC or [are] associated,” O’Connor said. “I have been directly tied to developing Potential Control Lines within the Stinkingwater Mountains region as well as the rest of our fire zone.”

Potential Control Lines are designated routes and points of access where fire crews can best respond to and attack wildfires.

O’Connor said, “The purpose of these lines is to all be on the same page locally on a bad fire day. It also gives clarity to outside resources about important infrastructure to utilize.”

He added, “My process has been to have the fire operations group mark maps across the areas they know to identify the best linear features across the landscape where we could make a stand on a big fire day. Typically, these are major road systems. The next step is to get large maps with these Potential Control Lines to the Rangeland Fire Protection Associations and have them vet the lines we have picked. They know their areas the best and typically have some valuable edits to incorporate in our final lines.”

Current efforts are only the beginning, and O’Connor remains excited about what the future holds.

“Going down the road, I’m optimistic that we’ll further strengthen these identified lines with vegetation and fuels work to make them more defensible. This is already occurring on portions of the Stinkingwaters in which funding was received from Senate Bill 762,” O’Connor said. “The Potential Control Line process is tied to a larger risk management model known as Potential Operational Delineations (PODS) that has been gaining momentum. Locally, Harney County is updating their Community Protection Plan. I believe these identified Potential Control Lines and the PODS process will be utilized to identify areas of risk and focus mitigation efforts going forward.”

Importance of education

There’s no denying that Mother Nature is the most common cause of wildfires. While that might be the case, the consensus is that education plays a critical role in wildfire prevention and mitigation too. O’Connor agrees and can’t emphasize the importance of education enough.

He said, “Locally, our fire workload is still dominated by natural starts. However, we have seen an increase in human starts. The education, prevention, and mitigation components to our fire program have been collateral duties for many of us until this last year. We are excited to have filled two positions to get more focus on these programs. Derek Shoun was hired on the BLM side, as was Shyanne Slate on the Forest Service side. It’s their responsibility to give more attention to the prevention and mitigation programs.”

Final thoughts

Every wildfire season is different. Unfortunately, there’s no predicting how this coming one will play out. While current conditions spell good news for forested portions of Malheur County, the opposite might be true in the sagebrush steppe. 

Whatever the case may be, one thing remains certain: Planning and preparation ahead of time are imperative to preventing the spread of fires when they do pop up.