5 Changes Needed to Prevent More Wildfire Deaths

Wildfire veterans with decades of experience have a different perspective than the Washington bureaucrats to whom they ultimately answer. But while the wheels of bureaucracy grind slowly, the people putting their lives on the line point to some simple, straightforward solutions to the dangers they confront. Wage timely, forceful attacks on fires when they first materialize, they suggest. Schedule safer, more effective work shifts rather than sending crews into the fray in the afternoon, when they’re exhausted, the fire is burning hottest and winds pick up and shift flames in various directions. Let fires that don’t threaten lives or properties burn themselves out rather than attacking every fire in the middle of nowhere, they advise, as the ecology of many areas depends on occasional wildfires to burn out excess fuels. And perhaps most important: Stand down when danger looms. National wildfires policy was borne of the “Big Blowup” of Aug. 20-21, 1910, when forest fires killed 85 people, burned 3 million acres and destroyed several towns in Idaho, Montana and Washington. But the push to suppress all wildfires may not be serving the nation well today — practically, financially or environmentally, fire managers suggest. The fire-prevention and -suppression approach held steady for more than 100 years, with one interlude in the 1970s, when the public heeded scientific findings that wildfires can help forest ecology. That controlled “let it burn” approach came to a quick halt after the 1988 fires in Yellowstone — the nation’s original national park and the crown jewel of its parks system. The beloved icon of the West was ravaged by fires from that June until November, with more than 150,000 acres burned. The public was apoplectic...more