Valley Braces For Fire Season

WAITSBURG - In a town like Waitsburg, the start of fire season has an unmistak- able sound. It's not the tone of the Main Street siren, it's the frequency.

If composer Claude De- bussy was right about music being the silence between the notes, the composition that announces the most ignitable time of year picked up sev- eral beats this weekend. And if local fire fighting officials are right about the conditions that can feed the flames, this summer could be more wor- risome than previous ones.

That observation has al- ready been borne out in other parts of eastern Washington, where two enormous wild fires of thousands of acres have triggered evacuation warnings.

"Everyone's saying we're lining up for a bad fire sea- son," said Brian Callahan, captain of the Waitsburg Fire Department who is "very concerned" about the fuel in the fields, forests and moun- tains in this region waiting for a spark.

Callahan said the weather forecast calling for thunder- storms late this week does nothing to put his mind at ease. To the contrary, he is fully expecting the feds to issue another Red Flag Warn- ing predicting a high risk of wild land fire ignition and rapid fire growth.

In the seven days lead- ing up to the Biscuit Ridge fire that started in the small hours on Sunday morning, Fire District 2 responded to five calls for mutual aid in neighboring districts to the west and south.

As the weekend came, the calls increased in intensity. The wailing that sent the volunteer fire fighters to their station could be heard on Saturday afternoon, very early on Sunday morning and again mid morning on Monday.

Monday's alarm was the sixth and only call for aid in town. It was dealt with quickly and safely. The rest were all out in the country where the hot days and warm nights have squeezed every last drop from the vegeta- tion. As harvest moves from the Walla Walla area north and east towards the Touchet River Valley, the fire inci- dents seem to move in the same direction.

The mutual aid calls started on July 21 with a four- alarm blaze near Sudburry and Thiel roads northwest of Walla Walla. It was described as a harvest fire started by a combine. It was followed the next day by a fire near Smith and Waggoner roads blamed on a swather cutting stubble for bales.

Two days later, a downed power line on Hart Road sent fire fighters running, while on Saturday afternoon winds fanned another combine fire off Spring Road near Highway 12. The cause of the Biscuit Ridge fire, which was smaller but potentially more dangerous because of its proximity to forest lands, is still under investigation. Fireworks reportedly are suspected.

District 2 Chief Jim Callahan said in other years, when July nights were relatively cool, the residual humidity kept fire incidents at bay in the morning. This year, even the nights have been warm while winds come and go, creating very hazardous con- ditions any time of day.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Natural Re- sources said those same conditions have allowed fires near Lake Chelan and near Goldendale to explode out of control.

"We're getting fires that are more typical of August," said Janet Pearce. "It will be bad."

Last year, 792 fires burned 68,345 acres on DNR lands, exceeding the 10-year aver- age of 783 fires per year, she said.

So far this year, 345 fires have burned 6,603 acres, Pearce reported.

Last week, forest officials said the lack of rain and unseasonably high temperatures have pushed fire condi- tions into the red zone with the northern Blue Mountains soon expected to qualify for an upgrade from "high" to "extreme."

Cool and rainy weather in June fed the growth of grasses and brush that then quickly dried out in July, creating a ready-made "light flashy" fuel for mishaps, Brian Callahan said. "Most fires around here are non- intentional."

So far, the Touchet Valley and surrounding mountains have avoided the natural kind brought on by lightning storms, which have passed through the area but came with dampening rains or were character- ized by "cloud-to-cloud" strikes rather than "cloud-to- ground" lightning.

The valley may not be so lucky this week, when the so-called "Lightning Activity Level" is expected to be a 2. That's to say not extremely high but nonethe- less apt to issue up to eight strikes every 15 minutes.

The flashing and rumbling may begin as soon as Wednesday night, pick up in likelihood Thursday and see showers on Friday, said Bri- an Callahan, who believes the forecast will prompt the U.S. Weather Service to is- sue its "Red Flag Warning."

And those warnings, like the rooftop wails from Pres- ton and Main, will increase in frequency as July rolls into August.