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No region of country is immune to wildland fires

Some states face tougher seasons than others but every state must deal with the threat

Historically, the lion’s share of in-season wildland fires occurs in the country’s western regions, however, as evidenced by the massive blaze in Georgia that torched more than 900 square miles and several in northern states, wildfires are not restricted to the west — and never have been.

The truth is that wildland fires can and do happen anywhere and everywhere.

The National Interagency Fire Center, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, maintains a list of some of the most serious wildland fires in U.S. history. Some were significant because of their size, others because of the value of the resources lost. Some small, but very intense, fires were important because of the loss of lives and property and resources.

NIFC fire statistics date back to 1804. According to their records, the “Great Chicago Fire” of 1871 claimed 250 lives and 17,400 structures were destroyed. The acreage was undetermined.

No region of the country is immune to wildland fires. This August, a fire on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan pushed past fire lines and grew to more than 12,000 acres. The size of the fire made it larger than the 1999 Tower Lake fire, another big U.P. blaze, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

In May, a fire burned about 13,500 acres, almost 20 square miles, of brush and pine forest in southern New Jersey, about 25 miles from Atlantic City.

In the spring and summer of 2007, serious wildland fires have been reported in California, Utah, Colorado, South Dakota, Georgia, Florida and Alabama.

Gillingham & Associates, located at the base of the Rocky Mountains in Westminster, Colo., specializes in coverage of outdoor recreational risks such as hunting lodges, dude ranches and other entities that are located in rural and remote areas, many times in the direct path of wildland or grass fires. According to Glenn Sudol, president and underwriting manager for Gillingham & Associates, there has not been any significant increase nationally in terms of number of major fires — categorized as having burned more than 500 acres.

“It’s been a tough year in Idaho and Montana but in any given year it goes state by state, depending on drought conditions,” Sudol said. “Two of our properties in Montana had to be evacuated this year and the Forest Service took one over as a command center.”

While most wildfires cause minimal damage to land and pose few threats to people, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service points out that some fires cause damage that requires special efforts to prevent problems afterwards. After a fire, the first priority for the Forest Service’s Burned Area Emergency Response team is emergency stabilization in order to prevent further damage to life, property or natural resources.

Fire officials have been forced to try some new tactics.

In a July, the officials with the Forest Service in Idaho began a cracking down on people who abandon campfires that can spark a wildfires. “People who abandon campfires may receive more than a violation notice,” said Sandra Groth, Coeur d’Alene Interagency Dispatch Center fire prevention specialist. “They may be liable for wildfire suppression costs.”

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne authorized Forest Service supervisors to entice retirees back into service. Kempthorne’s was hoping to mobilize about 1,000 additional employees to assist in wildland fire suppression and support activities. He waived the agency’s rules so that retired Interior firefighters could be temporarily rehired without losing pension benefits.

In addition, Kempthorne issued a safety memorandum to all employees stressing the need for increased precautions during the busy outdoor summer season, especially for wildland firefighters.

“Safety is more than just a priority; it needs to be a way of life and a part of our thinking, whether on the fire lines, traveling to fire sites or in camp,” Kempthorne said.

To the extent that wildfires have affected insured properties, claims appear to be being handled in stride. Gary Landry, of the Florida Insurance Council, notes that his association “really did not hear any complaints” regarding insurance, leading him to deduce that those who were affected and filed claims for wildland fire-related property damaged “were covered and from that standpoint, satisfied.”

Since insurers face costly claims in high-value residential areas and in some cases discontinue writing policies due to wildfire proximity, one activist thinks the insurance industry should get more involved in efforts like his to prevent the spread of wildfires.

Fire service veteran Tom Robinson claims his efforts to curb the destruction are being stonewalled by the U.S. Forest Service. Robinson, chief of Global Emergency Response and International Liaison to the Russian Government, has offered the Ilyushin 76 (IL-76) four-engine prop plane supertanker to the U.S. Forest Service each year since 1995. According to Robinson, the IL-76 tanker aircraft could do in days — or hours — what takes the U.S. Forest Service weeks and even months to accomplish.

U.S. Representative Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said he is trying to expand the availability of the tanker type aircraft in case of emergency. “I’ve done my best to try to convince the Forest Service at a time when the old fleet has diminished and to take steps to increase their capacity,” Rohrabacher said. “If they’re caught without the ability to call on the appropriate measures, it will be a great disservice to our people.”

Topics Catastrophe USA Wildfire