Marines To Join Firefighters

Fri., Aug. 30, 1996

Jeff Barnard Associated Press

A battalion of Marines began packing their gear Thursday to join the firefighters stretched to the limit by the West’s worst wildfire season in 27 years.

Wildfires across the country this year have surpassed 5 million acres, eclipsing the total of 1988, the year Yellowstone National Park burned. They are growing at the fastest rate since 1969, when 5.69 million acres burned, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

The worst season on record was 1924, when 28.8 million acres burned.

An 80,000-acre range fire was contained 24 miles east of Thermopolis, Wyo., but 46 major fires covering 654,586 acres were still burning Thursday in Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Washington and Utah.

Crews rotated back into action after much-needed rest boosted the number of firefighters around the country by more than 3,000 to 21,355, “And we’re getting ready to boost it again,” fire center spokesman Mike Brown said.

The 2nd Battalion of the 5th Marine Regiment at Camp Pendleton, Calif., was briefed Thursday and set to begin classroom training today. The 550 Marines plan to fly to northeastern Oregon Saturday evening or Sunday morning to begin on-the-job training mopping up cold fire lines, said spokeswoman Lt. Minique Suttles.

“We’re excited about going,” Suttles said. “This is not uncommon for Marines at Camp Pendleton. In 1994 and 1988 we were asked to help with firefighting in Montana, Washington and Yellowstone.”

Some seasonal crews will be breaking up as college students return to school, but they make up only 10 percent of the firefighting force, Brown said. As those crews break up, more military crews will be formed and people with firefighting experience can be activated from state and federal natural resources agencies.

The Marines will be joined on the Umatilla National Forest over the weekend by about 500 Army troops from Fort Carson, Colo., already experienced from fighting fires in Northern California and the Park Meadow Fire outside Sisters in central Oregon.

They will join 2,635 firefighters fighting the Bull, Summit and Tower fires, which have burned more than 90,000 acres of largely dead and dying timber on the Umatilla and Malheur national forests.

Washington

The stubborn range fire that has burned 15,000 acres on the Colville Indian Reservation in Washington was 90 percent contained.

Idaho

In Idaho, authorities said the 14,000-acre Eighth Street Fire, which burned a luxury home on the outskirts of Boise, was accidentally started by an off-duty police officer shooting tracer bullets from his M-16 rifle at a firing range.

“While he was shooting, he smelled the smoke,” Boise Fire Marshall Steve Minnis said. “He walked around the clubhouse, out of the berm pit and then saw a small fire up in the draw, still within the confines of the range.”

Oregon

In Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber toured facilities in Redmond where Oregon National Guard troops are training to join firefighters battling blazes on nearly 190,000 acres.

Montana

In Montana, firefighters contained the Coyote Gulf Fire at 4,200 acres east of Big Timber and moved on to battling new lightning-sparked blazes.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WORST YEARS Wildfires burning across the nation this year have exceeded 5 million acres, but are still a long way from the worst years on record. Here are the five worst, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. 1924 - 28,822,735 acres burned 1925 - 26,518,715 acres burned 1923 - 26,135,177 acres burned 1917 - 18,710,751 acres burned 1916 - 12,699,485 acres burned

This sidebar appeared with the story: WORST YEARS Wildfires burning across the nation this year have exceeded 5 million acres, but are still a long way from the worst years on record. Here are the five worst, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. 1924 - 28,822,735 acres burned 1925 - 26,518,715 acres burned 1923 - 26,135,177 acres burned 1917 - 18,710,751 acres burned 1916 - 12,699,485 acres burned

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