Late fire season serves as a reminder to us all

For the better part of the summer of 2016, the Inland Northwest has been living on borrowed time when it comes to wildfires.

It was just a year ago, as school was about to start, that a dingy horizon and smelly air greeted us for seemingly days on end as fires torched hundreds of thousands of acres in Okanogan, Ferry and Stevens counties.

This year, both mornings and evenings, have been generally delightful.

But on the afternoon of Aug. 21, the predicted dry cold front that passed through our region proved to be the trigger to ignite a series of fires that brought us all a smoky dose of reality.

The Spokane Complex, made up of the Yale Road (6,358 acres) and Wellesley (341 acres) fires combined to burn 12 homes, but both are now almost completely contained.

Further west in Lincoln County the Hart Road Fire, which started at the same time, suddenly blew up and jumped the Spokane River where that portion became the Cayuse Mountain Fire. As of Aug. 29 the Hart fire had consumed 5,000 acres and 95 percent contained, while the Cayuse blaze on the Spokane Indian Reservation burned over 18,000 acres and was 85 percent contained.

An Aug. 23 news release from the Department of Natural Resources reported that firefighters had responded to 592 fires that had burned 14,671 acres. At this point in 2015, there had been 857 fires burning 326,179 acres. In 2014 by this date, 653 fires had burned 191,504 acres.

So yes, if it has felt like a vastly different fire season, these DNR statistics back up the notion. And luckily it was not a sequel to Firestorm 1991 where dozens of homes and two lives were lost in that mid-October conflagration.

As with most disasters, these fires brought together many communities in that great spirit of cooperation.

In the Yale Road fire, farmers built numerous fire lines with their plowing equipment and in the process, likely saved a number of structures.

But every act of kindness and bravery it seems is blunted by stupdity. Some of the most notable complaints from fire officials have been with the curious bystanders who, on some occasions, lined narrow rural roads in order to get a closer look. These numbskulls made it difficult for fire trucks and other apparatus to reach where they need to be.

And amazing as it might seem, amidst a statewide outdoor burning ban that went into effect in mid August, DNR crews recently responded to 82 fires, of which all but two had a human hand involved.

As schools open for a new year, there is often a sense that summer as we know it also ends. Not so, and neither does fire season which effectively lasts until the first regular fall rains — or early snows, and cooler temperatures.

That means the public is asked to take extreme care for the next couple of months when they take part in any outdoor activities.

But it’s also a time of the year where residents of the Wildland Urban Interface — the places where man has chosen to live in, or in close proximity with the forest — can take proactive steps to make sure their treasured homes, and all they contain, remain safe in case of fire.

Being part of the Firewise Program is one of those steps that can be taken to help protect property — and lives.

“Firewise is a neighborhood effort, kind of like Block Watch,” assistant chief and Public education officer for Spokane Fire District 3, Debby Dodson said.

One road, one area can instigate it, she added.

Funds are available for neighborhoods to get together to do some activities to make their homes safer, such as renting equipment like chippers to help clear branches and other flammable material.

These efforts are designed to create what are called “defensible space,” which allows firefighters to make a much easier decision when it comes to what to and what not to try to save in the event of a fire.

Defensible space not only affords protection for structures, but makes it safer for firefighters to try to save property.

Jolted out of a false sense of confidence, it is now very important that property owners and the general public does its part to try to make sure our fire season goes back into hibernation, and does not roam our region like an angry grizzly bear for the next couple of months.

For information on becoming more safe from wildfire, visit: http://www.firewise.org or Spokane County Fire District No. 3 at http://www.scfd3.org.