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For the week of June 7 through June 13, 2000

Fire danger could be high this summer


"We’re still green up here, but June will make or break us."

Troy Hagan, Sawtooth National Forest assistant fire management officer, on Idaho’s potential fire danger.


By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer

The forest fires spreading across the West this spring could be indicative of what might happen in Idaho’s forests this summer, Sawtooth National Forest assistant fire management officer Troy Hagan said Friday.

"It’s extremely dry. So far, all indicators are, yes," he responded when asked if the fires blazing around the West could take hold in Idaho as temperatures rise and the flora dries.

Hagan, 35, has fought fires for the U.S. Forest Service for 15 years and was one of several Sawtooth National Forest firefighters to tame fires in New Mexico that occurred during the disastrous Los Alamos blaze.

"There were lots of ground fires and very high intensities," he said. "All that was left was a lot of charred landscape and a few foundations—extreme fire behavior."

Hagan worked on two fires, both south of Los Alamos, in Southern New Mexico. The so-called Cree Fire and Scott Able Fire, he said, consumed approximately 16,000 acres each. They burned near the town of Ruidoso in the Lincoln National Forest.

One started when a tree fell on a power line, and the other when a campfire was left unattended.

"It was just dry," he said. "They had 12,000-foot peaks without a drop of snow on them."

And dry weather patterns have already taken hold in Idaho this spring.

"We’re still green up here, but June will make or break us. We were low on precipitation for May. We’ll wait to see what June brings us," Hagan said via telephone from the Sawthooth National Recreation Area’s Stanley ranger station.

Hagan, a native of Oregon, said he can’t remember a summer when Idaho or the Northwest didn’t have a few forest fires. It’s just a matter of how many fires there will be, he said.

He warned that those heading out to camp should take extra caution to make sure their campfires are completely extinguished before leaving them.

"Keep them small and secure," he said.

Last year, there were 49 forest or brush fires in the Sawtooth National Forest. The 15-year average is 51 fires a year, Sawtooth spokesman Ed Waldapfel said in a Friday interview.

Last year, 6,095 acres burned in the Sawtooth. The 15-year average is 7,109 acres, he said.

Many of last year’s fires, he added, were small, lightning-caused fires.

"We’ll see what happens this year," he said. "It’s tough to tell this early."

Fires continued to rip across the West in New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado last week as hot and dry temperatures fanned the flames.

 

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