Heat, wildfires put premium on Fourth of July safety
Heat, wildfires put premium on Fourth of July safety
03 July 2013
published by www.oregonlive.com
USA — The Fourth of July is rarely hot as a firecracker in Oregon. But the holiday arrives this year after a week of dry days with peak temperatures in the 80s and 90s, leaving police and fire departments on high alert today.
Of course, even when summer heat waits until July 5 to arrive, as it often does in Oregon, holiday revelers should obey fireworks laws. In Oregon, all but the tamest fireworks — mostly those that don’t move more than a foot vertically or six feet on the ground — are illegal. Police note a simple rule of thumb: If you can’t buy it legally in Oregon, you can’t use it legally in Oregon.
But it will take more than exercising common sense at Fourth of July parties for Oregon to escape this summer without some significant fires.
If forecasters are correct, the temperature in the Portland area will peak in the 70s Thursday but potential for fires could be high for weeks unless an extended period of cool, damp conditions rehydrates forests and fields. The recent hot weather came after a winter with lower-than-normal snowpacks. The combination of low snowpacks and early warm weather sets the stage for a potentially dangerous summer.
Oregon has not had a really bad fire season since 2002, when the Biscuit Fire burned almost a half million acres, said Oregon Department of Forestry spokesman Rod Nichols. In preparation for a potentially severe fire season the department has begun pulling back fire-fighting personnel who had been on assignments in other states, he said.
A sober reminder of how quickly wildfires can become calamitous came this week in Arizona. A windstorm pushed a fast-growing, unpredictable blaze across brush and grass lands, trapping an elite team of Hotshots firefighters. Nineteen, including John Percin Jr. of West Linn, died in the worst wildland fire tragedy in 80 years.
The largest and deadliest fires, like the Biscuit fire in Oregon in 2002 and the Yarnell Hills blaze in Arizona this week, usually are started by lightning strikes. No amount of planning, or debate over forest practices, can eliminate the risk of wildfires. But a little bit of caution can improve the odds.
Two-thirds of all wildland fires are started by people, most of whom had no ill intent. They just left a campfire untended for a little while, or didn’t quite extinguish a fire as they rushed to leave. When hot, dry days stack up, the margin for human error shrinks.
This week’s tragedy likely will trigger a needed discussion about whether U.S. Forest Service firefighting budgets have been trimmed too much. In Oregon, we hunger for a legislative compromise on federal forest policy that will improve fire suppression and increase logging. But the 2013 fire season will pass before those policy puzzles are solved.
Until then, each of us can do our part by respecting the danger that exists and acting accordingly, whether at a Fourth of July picnic or on a summer camping trip.
