Aftermath - A Mountain on Fire

Recently I spent the day on the fire with overhead team staff Justin Correll looking at the 6,000 acre burn-out that I photographed Aug. 25.

That day the burn-out fire was roaring like a freight train with 150’ tall flames; now the forest is still and quiet.

The burn-out intensity varied, just like a natural fire, burning everything in some areas and leaving patches of green trees in other areas.

Was the huge burnout the right thing to do? Heavy rains came in several days after the burn-out quenching the fire.

Correll, from the Bernadino National Forest, said to question the burn-out was “Monday morning quarter-backing. The team did what they thought was the best strategy at the time.”

We saw many areas where the burn-out removed small trees and brush, making the area more fire-resistant.

Mop-up crews were putting out smoking spots that could flare up. After working the spot with dirt and water, pulling it apart, they use the bare hand test: Put the back of your ungloved hand close to the spot, and if you still feel heat continue working to get that spot cool.

It’s dirty, dusty and hot work.

We tried to get in to Bird Creek Meadows. But our planned route had many burned-out snags next to the road that could fall at any moment, blocking the road or hitting us.

The land at our turn-around point on the Yakama Nation was a very hot burn, re-burning ground from the 2008 Cold Springs Fire. Many standing, sound dead trees from the 2008 fire are now charred deeply, soon to fall over.

Photographer Darryl Lloyd flew over the fire the same day I was on the ground. While he observed areas around Mirror Lake, Bird Lake and Bluff Lake that were hit pretty hard, overall he saw a diverse pattern of fire intensity.

Steve Andringa, Yakama Nation Forestry Manager, agreed with Lloyd’s assessment and said the fire created a pattern with very hot areas where all vegetation burned, low intensity burned areas and many areas unburned.

As I observed, Steve said the Bird Creek Meadows recreation area has many dangerous snags next to the access road and on trails.

The area will have to be made safe; it’s too early to tell when it will reopen he said.

There will be salvage timber sales where feasible. When describing the burned forest to tribal council, Andringa used a line from a Clint Eastwood movie and called the area, “The good, the bad and the ugly.”

A Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team has formed and will create a plan to restore the watershed and forest from wildfire and suppression impacts.

I know wildfire is a natural force and we need to learn to live with it. But that day I was feeling somber, thinking about how long it would take the forest to restore itself.

Orrin Miller, Jr., a Yakama Tribal member I talked with at a road block, said elk will lick ash.

As I walked through a burned area, I looked down and saw fresh elk tracks.

— Jurgen Hess is a photographer and Mount Adams supporter. He resides in Hood River.