Page 28 - bon-dia-aruba-Sept 17 2020

A28 u.s. news
Diahuebs 17 september 2020

Nothing left in the bucket': Wildfire resources run thin

lometers) or more. ing some to burn. The idea calls from home, where their
was to minimize large con- families are dealing with
The growing severity has centrations of firefighters by school and child care be-
spurred federal lawmak- extinguishing blazes quickly. cause of COVID. It’s stress-
ers to push prevention ef- Fighting the flames from the ing them out, and we have to
forts, including controlled air was key to the strategy, keep their heads in the game,”
burns, faster approval of log- with 35 air tankers and 200 he said. The pandemic also
ging projects and upgrading helicopters used, Forest Ser- has limited the state’s use of
homes to make them more vice spokesperson Kaari Car- inmate fire crews — either
fire resistant. penter said. because of early releases to
“We are at a critical time: The Yet by Aug. 30, following the prevent outbreaks in prisons
West is burning. People are deaths of firefighters, includ- or because many are under
dying. The smoke is literally ing four aviators, fire officials quarantine in those prisons,
starting to cover our coun- in Boise warned that long- officials said.
try, and our way of life as we term fatigue was setting in. Aside from the human toll,
know it is in danger," Repub- They called for a “tactical the conflagrations in Colo-
lican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines pause” to reinforce safe prac- rado, Montana, Utah, New
of Montana said Wednesday tices. With no end in sight to Mexico, Arizona, and now
during testimony in support the pandemic, some worry California and the Pacific
of an emergency wildfire bill, the focus on aggressively at- Northwest have cost hun-
co-sponsored by Democratic tacking every fire could last. dreds of millions of dollars.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of Allowing instead for more
Justin Silvera came off the George Geissler says there California, that would direct fires to burn if they are not California alone has spent
fire lines in Northern Cali- are hundreds of unfulfilled more resources to preven- threatening life or property $529 million since July 1 on
fornia after a grueling 36 requests for help throughout tion. Andy Stahl, a forester would free up firefighters for wildfires, said Daniel Ber-
straight days battling wild- the West. Agencies are con- who runs Forest Service Em- the most dangerous blazes, lant, assistant deputy director
fires and evacuating residents stantly seeking firefighters, ployees for Environmental said Tim Ingalsbee with the of Cal Fire. By comparison,
ahead of the flames. Before aircraft, engines and support Ethics, an advocacy group advocacy group Firefighters the state spent $691 million
that, he and his crew had personnel. Fire crews have in Oregon, said it would United for Safety, Ethics and the entire fiscal year that end-
worked for 20 days, followed been summoned from at least have been impossible to stop Ecology. Cal Fire’s roughly ed June 30. The U.S. govern-
by a three-day break. Silvera, nine states and other coun- some of the most destructive 8,000 personnel have been ment will reimburse most
a 43-year-old battalion chief tries, including Canada and blazes, a task he compared to fighting blazes from the Or- state costs for the biggest di-
with Cal Fire, California’s Israel. Hundreds of agree- “dropping a bucket of wa- egon border to the Mexico sasters.
state firefighting agency, said ments for agencies to offer ter on an atomic bomb.” Yet border, bouncing from fire Back in the field, Silvera and
he’s lost track of the blazes mutual assistance have been Stahl contends the damage to fire, said Tim Edwards, his crew saved two people at
he’s fought this year. He and maxed out at the federal, state could have been less if gov- president of the union for the beginning of their 26-day
his crew have sometimes and local levels, he said. ernment agencies were not so Cal Fire, the nation’s second tour. Two hikers encountered
been on duty for 64 hours at “We know that there’s really keen to put out every blaze. largest firefighting agency. the crew after the firefight-
a stretch, their only rest com- nothing left in the bucket,” Extinguishing smaller fires ers themselves were briefly
ing in 20-minute catnaps. Geissler said. “Our sister and those that ignite during “We’re battle-hardened, but trapped while trying to save
agencies to the south in Cali- wetter months allows fuel it seems year after year, it gets the headquarters building at
“I’ve been at this 23 years, fornia and Oregon are really to build up, setting the stage tougher, and at some point Big Basin Redwoods State
and by far this is the worst struggling.” Demand for fire- for bigger fires during times in time, we won’t be able to Park.
I’ve seen,” Silvera said be- fighting resources has been of drought and hot, windy cope. We’ll reach a breaking “We got in a bad spot, and
fore bunking down at a motel high since mid-August, when weather, he said. point,” said Edwards, a 25- there were a few hours there
for 24 hours. After working fire officials bumped the na- year veteran. we didn’t know if we’d make
in Santa Cruz County, his tional preparedness level to That’s been exacerbated this The immediate dangers are it," Silvera said. “Those
next assignment was to head critical, meaning at least 80% year by the pandemic, which compounded by worries people found us, and we
north to attack wildfires near of crews were already com- led U.S. Forest Service Chief about COVID-19 in camp wouldn’t have been in there."
the Oregon border. His ex- mitted to fighting fires, and Vicki Christiansen to issue a and at home. "That's what you sign up for.”
haustion reflects the situation there were few personnel and directive in June to fight all Firefighters "see all this de- Anderson reported from
on the West Coast fire lines: little equipment to spare. fires aggressively, reversing a struction and the fatigue, and Denver and Brown reported
This year's blazes have taxed decadeslong trend of allow- then they’re getting those from Billings, Montana.
the human, mechanical and Because of the extreme fire
financial resources of the na- behavior, “you can’t say for
tion’s wildfire-fighting forces sure having more resources
to an extraordinary degree. would make a difference,”
And half of the fire season is said Carrie Bilbao, a spokes-
yet to come. Heat, drought person for the National In-
and a strategic decision to teragency Fire Center. Offi-
attack the flames early com- cials at the U.S. government
bined with the coronavirus to operation in Boise, Idaho
put a historically heavy bur- help decide which fires get
den on fire teams. “There’s priority when equipment and
never enough resources," said firefighters run scarce nation-
Silvera, one of nearly 17,000 wide. Government spend-
firefighters battling the Cali- ing on fighting wildfires has
fornia blazes. "Typically with more than tripled since the
Cal Fire, we’re able to attack 1990s, to an average of $1.8
— air tankers, choppers, doz- billion annually. That's failed
ers. We’re good at doing that. to reduce the problem as cli-
But these conditions in the mate change, drought and
field, the drought, the wind, millions of trees killed by
this stuff is just taking off. We pests led to more fires in the
can’t contain one before an- Western U.S. over the same
other erupts.” period, particularly danger-
ous “megafires" that burn
Washington State Forester 100,000 acres (404 square ki-