NOTE: The Enterprise is making coverage of this fire information available to all because of the emergency circumstances.
VALE – The commander of the firefighting team coordinating efforts to extinguish the Cow Valley and Durkee Fires said he was surprised by the weather conditions that energized the two blazes.
“I’ve never seen a stretch of heat this long with winds that constantly blew this strong with fuels that way in 32 years,” said Tyson Albrecht.
For the better part of three weeks, Albrecht retained a front-row seat for both fires as he spearheaded the Northwest Team 6, the federal firefighting cohort assigned to battle the twin blazes.
Albrecht’s group turned over management of the two fires to the Southern Area Gold Complex Incident Management Team, Sunday, July 28.
As of Friday, July 26, the Durkee Fire had burned 288,690 acres while the Cow Valley Fire scorched 133,490 acres.
Albrecht directed firefighting efforts that included a wide swath of state, federal and local agencies and Rangeland Fire Protection outfits.
Both blazes, he said, presented firefighters with unique weather-related features that made the effort to extinguish them difficult.
Albrecht said the conditions on both fires was “truly unprecedented.”
“That resulted in a fire that was truly unstoppable,” he said.
Dry conditions and winds were not the only challenge Albrecht and his team faced. Albrecht and other fire officials were forced to contend with a lack of firefighters.
“We have limited resources because of the fire situation regionally and nationally is so busy,” he said.
The dearth of firefighters forced leaders like Albrecht to sift through a competing set of priorities on an almost hourly basis.
Those choices often meant a narrow focus on the most severe portion of a fire before shifting resources – such as firefighters and water trucks – to other areas.
He said responding to the most severe part of a fire “takes time.”
“Sometime if you see resources sitting or staged, we are still determining the most active part of the fire. There is some delay to get resources moved and to where they need to be,” he said.
The behavior of the fire also stymied firefighters, he said.
The aim, he said, for firefighters is to find or construct a feature – such as a fire line – ahead of the blaze to slow it down. Roads are often key in this tactic but firefighters often ran out of time because the fire moved so fast, he said.
“It was burning with too much intensity and speed,” he said.
The size of the Cow Valley and Durkee Fires also created challenges, he said.
“It is such a huge area that to have an understanding of what is going on in real time and it doesn’t happen perfectly,” he said.
As winds and dry fuels created a nearly perfect firestorm, Albrecht said his team deployed every resource available, including aircraft.
At one point the Durkee Fire consumed the most air power in the nation, including 24 aircraft – helicopters and air tankers – dropping water or retardant.
Even then, he said, the Durkee Fire proved to be resilient.
“It still outpaced us,” he said.
Albrecht said the deployment of air power – a crucial firefighting tool, especially in remote areas – isn’t automatic.
“They (aircraft) are controlled nationally and regionally. We order what we need every day and we get what we get based on national prioritization,” he said.
The plethora of fire trucks visible throughout the community for weeks are used to protect structures or to spray water at the edge of a fire.
“In a dynamic fire like this, you will move them (trucks) around throughout the day and their mission may change during that day,” he said.
Albrecht’s team worked a day and night shift. The number of people per shift grew or contracted, depending on need.
“Sometimes the night shift is bigger, sometimes it is the opposite but we staff each as much as we can,” he said.
Albrecht said one advantage firefighters count on is the seamless coordination between different agencies.
“The collaboration has been outstanding. ODOT (the state Transportation Department), utilities, railroads – it’s been a team effort,” he said.
Jessica Reed, public information officer with Northwest Team 6 said firefighters understand how traumatizing the fires have been for area residents.
“We do know that this fire has been catastrophic to this community. But we’ve made progress and had some successes,” she said.
News tip? Contact reporter Pat Caldwell at [email protected]
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