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Active Fire Seasons Puts A Strain On Northwest Fire Resources

ODF Klamath Unit personnel prepare to protect the area around the Parker Mountain RAWS station and lookout tower on August 2, 2014.
Dennis Lee
/
ODF
ODF Klamath Unit personnel prepare to protect the area around the Parker Mountain RAWS station and lookout tower on August 2, 2014.

This summer's active wildfire season is stretching fire crews to the limit. This week, virtually every available wildland firefighter in the Northwest is on the scene of a blaze.

ODF Klamath Unit personnel prepare to protect the area around the Parker Mountain RAWS station and lookout tower on August 2, 2014.
Credit Dennis Lee / ODF
/
ODF
ODF Klamath Unit personnel prepare to protect the area around the Parker Mountain RAWS station and lookout tower on August 2, 2014.

Fighting wildfires requires a lot of specialized equipment - and specially trained firefighters. Deborah Miley, director of the National Wildfire Suppression Association, said virtually all of the private fire crews she represents in the Northwest are out on a fire line right now.

She said the agencies who coordinate their use have some out-of-the-area back-up they can call, but that option is used judiciously.

"They're definitely going to look at what resources they have in particular regions where the fire danger at any given time might not be as great and make sure they try to utilize those as best they can, because they certainly don't want to leave somebody unprotected,” Miley said.

The largest fires require more than a dozen crews to tackle the blaze at any given time. A standard crew size is 20 people. More than 40 crews are deployed at the massive Beaver Complex Fire in southern Oregon.

Copyright 2014 Northwest News Network

Chris Lehman graduated from Temple University with a journalism degree in 1997. He landed his first job less than a month later, producing arts stories for Red River Public Radio in Shreveport, Louisiana. Three years later he headed north to DeKalb, Illinois, where he worked as a reporter and announcer for NPR–affiliate WNIJ–FM. In 2006 he headed west to become the Salem Correspondent for the Northwest News Network.