Points to be aware of during fire season
It has been a productive spring for burning and getting fuels reduction work done, but local fire management authorities say it is now time to stop lighting fires and start fighting them instead.
With the 2009 summer wildfire season officially beginning July 1, when all local fire offices – including U.S. Forest Service district organizations in Plains, Trout Creek and Superior, and the Montana DNRC in Plains – will stop issuing burn permits until further notice, except on a case-by-case basis.
“We appreciate the conscious effort people have made to burn responsibly this spring,” Cabinet District Fire Management Officer (FMO) Alan Osborn said from Trout Creek Friday morning. “We have issued a lot of permits, people have got a lot of good fuel reduction work accomplished and have burned on their properties very responsibly.”
“People have been pretty good about burning,” Superior District FMO Bob Derleth agreed, “but, ready or not, it’s turning into fire season. Even though it has been rainy and wet for the most part this spring, things can dry out quick, and we expect a typical fire season this summer.”
Portions of western Montana have received fairly significant precipitation in the form of scattered, sometimes heavy rainstorms over the past few months, but fire managers in this area have seen conditions change rapidly at this time of the year in the past, and anticipate another normal fire season, although the normal fire seasons seem to becoming hotter and longer with each passing year.
Ongoing beetle infestations mostly in lodgepole pine forests and the natural succession of forests, without any fire for the past several decades, exacerbates the wildfire potential.
On top of that, the July 4th weekend, complete with its usual plethora of fireworks, is also rapidly approaching, all of which makes the people charged with controlling unwanted fires a cautious lot.
And understandably so.
The burned-in memory of a few recent very active fire seasons – 2000, 2003 and most recently 2007 when the Chippy Creek fire burned almost 100,000 acres in northeastern Sanders County – underscores why managers have cause to worry.
“There was plenty of time, and good conditions for folks to burn this spring,” Plain/Thompson Falls FMO Rick Cavill said. “But, if people have not gotten it done yet by now, it might be best to start think about waiting until fall.”
Montana DNRC Plains Unit fire manager Calvin Minemyer echoed those sentiments. “We got together and talked about it, the Forest Service people and the state,” he said, “and we all agreed that it time to quit issuing burn permits, except on an emergency case-by-case basis. Fire season is here.”
Incidentally, the use of fireworks is prohibited on all Forest Service, DNRC and other classified forested lands. Private properties included within the classified lands category include all properties with fire protection coverage from the DNRC or the Forest Service, meaning the use of fireworks is also prohibited on those private properties.
To report a fire, call the Plains Dispatch Center at 826-4338 or 826-3061.