Get Ready for a Fearsome Fire Season

By Steve Wilent, For The Mountain Times

I recently had the pleasure of visiting Little Crater Lake, one of my favorite places on the Mt. Hood National Forest. The sun was shining, the air warm — t-shirt weather. But in a way it was a bit eerie: It was April 8 at about 3,000 feet in elevation, and there was no snow in sight. In most years, deep snow would make driving to the lake in April impossible. A woman walking her dog on the trail to the lake said, “It’s weird. We shouldn’t be here at this time of year. There’s no snow!”

There wasn’t even a small patch of snow in the shade of the big Engelmann spruce trees near the lake and in the campground or along the Pacific Crest Trail to the west. That day I saw no snow along Highway 26 at Blue Box Pass, at just over 4,000 feet. Higher than that on Mt. Hood, ridges normally covered in snow until early summer or later were bare. A mid-April snow covered these bare places, but not for long.

“Oregon’s snowpack just broke a terrifying record, and the consequences could be devastating this summer,” read a headline in The Oregonian on April 9. The article noted that more than half of Oregon is already experiencing drought conditions, and much of the rest of the state is abnormally dry. And it’s not just Oregon.

The article included a statement from the National Integrated Drought Information System and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration: “The worst impacts will likely be seen in parts of the Pacific Northwest, Rio Grande Basin and Colorado River Basin — areas that experienced consecutive years of droughts or snow droughts, and that are starting the spring and summer with water storage deficits that are expected to worsen and further deplete.” 

One of the likely impacts: A longer fire season with the potential for large wildfires that are difficult if not impossible to control.

Another factor: longer, warmer summers. In Clackamas County, the annual average temperature is about 2 degrees warmer today than it was 100 years ago, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Summers are longer, too, and not just in our area. According to a study published recently in the journal Environmental Research Letters, summers in most of North America and Europe now last roughly 30 days longer than they did in the 1960s.

A low snowpack, warmer temperatures, and longer summers. To paraphrase a saying about planting trees, the best time for homeowners to prepare for wildfire was last year. The next-best time is now.

This message was driven home by Chris Grant, the speaker at the Mountain Science Pub event at Rendezvous Bar & Grill on April 9, the latest in a series of presentations organized by three awesome folks: Melinda McCrossen, Chelsea Lincoln Lane, and Simone Cordery Cotter.

Grant, division chief at Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue, talked about his experience in battling the Rowena Fire in June last year, which destroyed 58 homes in the first eight hours after the fire started, thanks to 60-miles-per-hour wind gusts and plenty of dry grass, brush, and other ladder fuels around homes. The fire also burned numerous vehicles, garages, sheds. Granted, Rowena is a much drier place than here on the west side of the Cascades, but the fire has important lessons for us. Number one: Embers are the main threat.

“Ninety percent of structure ignitions come from embers,” Grant said. “ Don’t give embers a place to call home.”

Embers landing in debris on a roof or under a deck, or in dry grass and brush around a home, can easily start a fire.

Lara and I recently spent a few days in Sunriver, a residential and resort community south of Bend, with a population of more than 2,000, not counting hundreds or thousands of visitors. We picked up a copy of the April edition of the Sunriver Scene, the newspaper of the Sunriver Owners Association. Front-page headline: “2026 Ladder Fuels Compliance Season Underway.” Homeowners there are required to participate in the community’s Ladder Fuels Reduction Program, which includes fuels reduction and vegetation management on private properties as well as common areas. The association’s Natural Resources Department inspects all private property for compliance and may assess penalties for noncompliance. Sunriver has been a Firewise USA community since 2012 (see tinyurl.com/3s8w9avr).

You may be breathing a sigh of relief that you don’t live in such a community. I get it — no one likes to be forced to take action. But it won’t be long until your insurance company forces you, or drops your policy. I’ve heard from locals in our area that insurance companies are already demanding that policy holders create defensible space around their homes.

Lara and I have a Safeco home insurance policy, and so far they are merely encouraging us to take action. A recent email directed us to the company’s Wildfire Resilience web site, which is designed to “help you keep your peace of mind and stay safe during wildfire season.” They provide information about creating a fire buffer zone around your home, removing foliage near structures, removing roof debris, and so on. Excellent advice, and timely.

Still not convinced that you need to take action to safeguard your family and property? Listen to an experienced firefighter:

“Don’t wait for someone to save you,” Grant said. “It’s your responsibility.”

Have a question about wildfires? Want to know how Sunriver Brewing’s Emotional Support Peacock Hazy IPA tastes? Let me know. Email: SWilent@gmail.com.