Tom Koenninger June 24: Wildfire teams prepare for summer
Wednesday, June 24 | 1:00 a.m.
BY TOM KOENNINGER
Tom Koenninger
Don't be deceived by summer's damp debut last weekend. The outlook is for a "dry, extended" season into September. That's the word from Predictive Services, part of a little-known, but very important agency called the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center, located on the north edge of Portland International Airport.
The coordination center was formed in 1988 to focus firefighting response on wildfires. It is one of 11 regional centers in the nation that share people and resources. This "guardian angel" draws its strength from eight participating agencies: Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Oregon Department of Forestry, National Weather Service and Washington State Department of Natural Resources.
It can coordinate highly skilled "hot-shot" fire-fighting crews, smoke jumpers, air tankers and helicopter rappel crews in any part of its region, and sometimes aid other regions when more serious wildfires require extra help. If an overwhelming fire occurs in the Northwest, the center can call in people and equipment from other areas of the country, working through the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho.
While operational throughout the year, its staffing peaks at some 27 people between June and October, according to Jeree Mills, seasonal public affairs officer, on loan from the Mount Hood National Forest.
Although it can pull together scores of firefighters, and equipment to fight a massive blaze, the center doesn't receive much public attention. Mills said the center sent a crew to help after the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York. The center also responds to natural disasters such as floods, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center explains that it: "Offers things that no agency on its own can afford to provide," including pools of people and equipment, "a mutual way of working together in times of need," continuous preparedness, help in setting priorities in responding to emergencies, and a commitment to serve the public in emergencies or disasters.
But its main activity is fighting wildfires. Part of that response is determining through long-range weather forecasts when and where fires will occur in Washington and Oregon.
The year in preview
Last year, there were 2,202 lightning-caused fires in Oregon and 1,261 human-caused fires. In Washington, the tally was 501 lightning-caused fires, and 925 ignited by humans.
Lightning strikes (925 in Oregon and 12 in Washington in two days last week) or man-caused fires can change that normalcy to frenzied action if large fires result. The agency has a "dispatch center" dominated by a large wall map with lighted markers indicating the location of large fires (blazes of 100 or more acres in timber, or 300 acres in grass and range lands). Using computers to factor in wind, fuels and weather, the center staff can predict the path and intensity of fires.
As the summer progresses, information about Northwest fires, as well as links to fires anywhere in the nation, can be obtained through the coordination center's Web site, nwccweb.us, or the national center's, inciweb.org.
The coordination center points out that the "good old tools" — pulaskis (combination axes and mattocks), hard hats and sweat — remain in demand, even as the new technology continues to evolve and improve. Now, armed with new tools, Smokey Bear, the Forest Service mascot created in the 1940s, is more effective than ever. But he still needs a little help from his friends.
