94-17CC Forest Fires Christmas CardFIRE! The dread of all loggers and timber landowners and users; feared by all of us living in or near the great forests of North America.Our fears for this fire season are about the same as for every year. Severe bug-kill throughout the timber region of the Northwest; the dead tree and ground litter of broken limbs is incredible. Each year brings more tourists to our forests and the ever-increasing danger of camper-started fires in summer-dry forests. Summer also brings increased lightning-caused fire danger. Two-thirds of all wildland fires in the west are started by lightning. Fortunately, we in the west have 90 percent of our country's wildland firefighting resources stationed in our backyard, including smoke-jumper bases, state-of-the-art lightning detection devices, etc. The National Center in Boise, Idaho, can mobilize up to 15,000 firefighters in less than 3 days! In 1992 alone, 87,394 fires were reported to the Boise center - the Pentagon of fire combat. This scene shows a typical "combat" firefighting crew passing through a "burn" to a new "hot spot." Firefighters must be in good physical condition; their lives depend on it. Some items carried with them are maps, a good compass, canteens of water, fire shelter, first aid kit, additional clothing, Fusees (flares for igniting backfires), portable radio, basic firefighting tools (Pulaski, shovel, chain saw), hard hat, goggles, and leather gloves. "People believe," explains our National Park Service Director, "we have such technological power that we can always control fire. We can't." (Thanks to Mr. Herb Wick, Rigdon Ranger District, Willamette National Forest for some of the details in this oil painting.) |
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