The Logging Fire

                                         Gold Beach Ranger District

                                            Siskiyou National Forest

 

South Coast Lumber Company had been given a deadline to start road preparation work for dust abatement along their haul route from the North Lobster Timber Sale.   This work consisted of watering and grading Forest Service gravel roads prior to the application of dust oil.   On the deadline date in the summer of 1979, I drove up to the sale area to see if they were in compliance with this contract requirement.    As I drove the haul route there was a grader and water truck working on the roads.   I drove into the unit where they were yarding and loading trucks, parked and began filling out a Timber Sale Inspection Report to document that the Purchaser was in compliance with the dust abatement provision of the contract.    As I was writing a log truck driver came up to my truck saying” You better come and take a look at this.”   We walked to the edge of the road where we could look downhill into the clear-cut unit that was being yarded.    There was smoke coming from the bottom of the ravine in this V shape unit with a road around two sides of it.   Soon after that the rigging crew blew one long whistle to shut down the operation as the fire was spreading uphill through down logs toward the landing.   The landing crew took down the two guy lines anchoring the mobile yarder and drove it along with the loader out of harm’s way.   The rigging crew took fire tools from the fire truck and pulled hose from the reel in an attempt to extinguish the fire, but it was moving fast up both slopes.   I called in the fire over the radio to the District fire management people and a few minutes later they called back informing me that an air tanker had been dispatched from Medford and would arrive in 20 minutes.   The next radio call I received was from a local logger, Shirley Laird, asking if I wanted his helicopter to dump water on the fire and I replied,” Yes”.  Later I was reprimanded by the District Administrative Assistant for this as there was no pre-rental agreement between Laird and the Forest Service.   Since I verbally hired Laird as an authorized Forest Officer the Forest Service was obliged to pay at $600/hour (don’t remember the final billing).   My reply to the Administrative Assistant was “I would do it all again under the circumstances”.   He was not pleased with my reply.

After I drove my truck away to a safe distance, I looked back to see the fuel truck was still parked by the unit.  With all personnel busy moving equipment and trying to fight the fire I ran back and drove the truck to a safer location.   The air tanker arrived and dumped the fire retardant, which only slowed the advanced of the fire as it was now spreading spot fires in the adjacent standing forest.   Laird’s helicopter was unable to suppress the fire either, as it was consuming all the down timber in the 20 acre unit.   The logging crew had to leave the unit for their own safety.  Their 500 gallon fire truck parked along the road on the back side of the unit was destroyed by the fire.  Within an hour the Forest Service fire crew arrived and took over management of the fire.  I was told to return to the station. 

Over the next few days the Forest Service assembled an investigative team, made up of management people from adjacent Forests (Rogue River and Umpqua Forests) and was headed up by the Siskiyou Forest Timber Staff Officer.  This team was to determine if the Purchaser was negligent in starting this fire.    If they were found to be negligent South Coast Lumber would have to pay 100% of the fire suppression costs.   The logging crew and I were the primary subjects of this investigation.   A week before the fire I performed a fire inspection of this operation and all fire precautionary requirements were in compliance with the contract.   This was all documented on a Fire Inspection form, including an agreement that any smoking by the logging crew was only allowed in vehicles.  This form was signed by me and the logging supervisor, who happened to be a son of the owner of South Coast Lumber.    One requirement of the fire precautionary provisions of the contract is that any moving cable blocks on the ground had to have a 10 foot radius clearing of all vegetative debris along with a shovel and 5 gallon water pump can nearby.  These can emit sparks when cable in going through them at a high rate of speed.    Since the tail block on this operation was just below the road on the back side of the unit it was easy to inspect and was found to be in compliance.   During my interview with the investigative team I was questioned twice on the logger’s compliance with clearing around the tail block.   As documented I repeated they had been in compliance and that the fire had started at the bottom of the unit, not at the tail block.   They started to question me a third time on this subject, and my patience was becoming thin.  I replied.” I am tired of repeating myself” and got up and left the building before doing something foolish.   The team leader told the interviewer questioning me enough had been said.   It was learned later that one of the choker setters had been smoking in the unit, but said he made sure he had extinguished his cigarette in the dirt.  Others on the rigging crew said they had seen sparks coming from the carriage when the yarding cable was moving through it.  In the end there was no definite proof of what started the fire and it could have been sparks or hot metal coming off a frozen sheave in the carriage.    

The fire was contained in a few days after consuming 40 acres, including the 20 acre clear cut unit and 20 acres of adjacent forest.   Since it was considered an operational fire South Coast Lumber and the Forest Service split the suppression costs and I still had a job.