About fighting fire with fire

As we enter another summer of smoke I am given cause to question the wisdom of the policies of forest management that believe that fighting fire with fire is the best course of action.

I bought my property on the road to the Ironside lookout 10 years ago as it beautifully met the criteria for the happily-ever-after home I envisioned. Since then 9 out of 10 years that I have lived here I have faced forest fires in the near vicinity, although none as close to home as this year, and I have stopped my life as of the solstice in order to put all my resources into protecting my home and property from imminent danger. I have 3 fires nearby and as I believe I can relax from the threat of one after a successful burn-out to the west, there is still active fire to the Northwest and Northeast.

I am well aware of the limited resources available to take on the task at hand. I have made myself available to help and inform the incoming and outgoing crews as best I can and also rely on them to update me on the progress of the fires. These crews have come from all over the country. I feel fortunate to have been associating with well trained men from the Great Basin area and Alaska, and as I talk with individuals they confide in me their wonderment as to why we don't put the fires out.

What the public is little informed about is the use of burn-out procedures that so far have helped this be a cleansing fire for the forest. The next few days high heat is predicted which can change the fire behavior. I am acquainted with several locals with past fire fighting experience who saw that the Eagle fire could have been stopped at Soldier Creek before getting close to threatening the community of Big Flat.

I personally had to go and request structure protection from the Forest Service personnel that were lighting the burn-out across the creek from me as snags ignited behind me and ash and embers floated across my land. I now know to be self reliant and not trust those who say that there will be someone there to help protect you. I returned to my home, after being told to evacuate the night before, to vacant dry property. Why did I bother to show the crew the night before the intricacies of my water system?

I am not a firefighter, so I know there is much of the picture I don't understand. I am an Acupuncturist and I am sorry that I cannot be there for my clients this summer, but I cannot risk not being home when the afternoon winds blow ash and embers in from whichever direction the fires are most active on each day.

I ask us all to look at what options we have in managing our forest resource that so many of us treasure for its beauty and location--that can be lost and become an eyesore and continued hazard if the fires crown. May we consider our options to adding acres to areas burned each year in the effort to control, and hope to see these fires go out in yet another summer of smoke.