We got it last year, when the wind blew the wrong way. Unfortunately, the fires were in wilderness, so there was no need to put them out--if they could. The goal of one fire was simply to keep it on Forest Service land, and off the Yakama Reservation. That was a very expensive fire. We were fairly lucky in that we only got smoke if the wind came out of the east.
It is part of living where we do.
During the timber harvest years, we would get smoke during slash burning seasons, but it only lasted a short time and we knew it would be over quickly. The local paper would write about how it was the smell of money as slash was being burned to make planting spots, which would be cut again some day. A lot of us made good money burning slash, and then later by going to wildfires.
That was all in the past.
I will not blame it on global warming. We've always had lightning strikes, and now we have cumulative effects which help the lightning strikes grow.
We have fewer bodies in the woods. The Forest Service here has 1/3 of the people it used to have and budgets keep on shrinking.
We also have way fewer loggers roaming the woods. Loggers are required to have fire tools in their pickups and more stuff on their work site. Roads have been torn up (decommissioned) that could provide a quicker response to the fires. The Forest Service quit doing salvage logging, which removed dead trees from areas, which now provide fuel for forest fires. Plus the Forest Service has a whole different organization than it used to--more biologists, managers, and computer folks and less folks who actually go out into the woods--foresters. They also have a different fire philosophy. In the olden days, a goal was set to get fires out by 10 AM the next day. Now we have the philosophy that each fire needs to be analyzed, and allowed to burn if practicable. But sometimes those fires blow up and head for town. Then we have a mess. There's also a good buildup of fuels because of the Out By 10AM method, and not enough thinning and controlled burning.
Blame? Everybody is to blame. From the gubmint policies to the NIMBYs who object to prescribed burns and thinning. Some campers also seem to have no sense when it comes to campfire locations and leave without putting their fires out.
We're having the normal season where "something needs to be done" is repeated over and over. That'll stop come the winter snow and rain. Then it will start up again next year. It always works that way and I can't see any change.
End of sermon.
by doug hodder » Thu Aug 29, 2013 6:21 pm 
