Eastern Washington University EWU Digital Commons Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines University Archives & Special Collections October 2018 Smokejumper Magazine, October 2018 National Smokejumper Association Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.ewu.edu/smokejumper_mag Part of the Forest Management Commons Recommended Citation National Smokejumper Association, "Smokejumper Magazine, October 2018" (2018). Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines. 103. https://dc.ewu.edu/smokejumper_mag/103 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the University Archives & Special Collections at EWU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines by an authorized administrator of EWU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SPECIAL The National Smokejumper Quarterly Magazine Association October 2018 ISSUE Smokejumper Wildfire—A Problem No One Can Solve? ............................ 4 Large Fire Growth .................................................................10 No Fault Fire Zones ..............................................................13 CONTENTS Message from Message from the President ....................................2 Special Wildfire Series the President Wildfire Suppression—A Problem No One Can Solve?...............................................................4 Large Fire Growth .................................................10 Firefighting Costs Soar as They Reflect Today’s are available because the ap- Methodology ..................................................12 Stop the Fire—No Fault Fire Zones.......................13 plicants are so worthy, based A Campus and Curricula for a U.S. Forest Service on their scholarship, their Academy ........................................................15 Klump Pump Offers Many Significant Advantages ..17 need, and their vision for their Letter to the Editor of the Missouli ........................19 future. Applicants of this qual- Fixed Lookouts vs. Aerial Detection ......................20 ity are an indication that our Fire Lookouts: Then, Now, and Maybe Always .......21 Let’s Talk About the Chetco Bar Megafire ..............26 future will be in good hands Hiring Problems ...................................................28 with the next generation. Management of Wildfires on National Forest Lands ..................................................31 I want to challenge you The Forest Fire Debate..........................................32 readers to consider making Sounding Off from the editor ................................36 by Jim Cherry a special gift to the Scholar- Struggle with the Titan ..........................................37 (Missoula ’57) ship Fund. If the response is Former Jumper Davis Perkins – Ever Watchful .....38 Off the List ............................................................39 President sufficiently strong, we could Snapshots from the Past........................................41 increase our scholarships in Jerry Chisum: At the Controls Wherever Mark your calendars, ladies 2019 from the present six to You Find Him .................................................42 Odds and Ends .....................................................43 and gentlemen! Our next Na- maybe seven, eight or nine The Jump List .......................................................45 tional Smokejumper Reunion annual scholarships of $2,000 Sexual Harassment … There Is More To It ...........46 Blast from the Past................................................48 will be taking place during the each. Some of you might even third week in June 2019 in have the individual means to Boise. establish an NSA scholarship – There will be details in the maybe through a gift of appre- months ahead as the organiz- ciated assets or the designation ing committee works through of funds from an IRA. Give it the logistics of schedules, food, some thought. Contact me at beverages and meeting places. [email protected] if you Major emphasis will be placed have questions. SMOKEJUMPER, Issue No. 102, October 2018 on providing blocks of time Even though we are pres- ISSN 1532-6160 Smokejumper is published quarterly by: for conversations with old ently soaking wet here in Iowa, The National Smokejumper Association friends and the telling of tall where I live, I am fully aware c/o 10 Judy Lane tales over a suitable beverage of of the Western fire season Chico, CA 95926 The opinions of the writers are their own and do choice. Stay tuned to the NSA making its annual migration not necessarily reflect those of the NSA. Permis- webpage at www.smokejumpers. from the Southwest to the sion to reproduce Smokejumper in any manner must first be obtained in writing. com and the January 2019 is- northern Rockies. I look from NSA Website: http://www.smokejumpers.com sue of Smokejumper magazine. time to time at the Incident Managing Editor: Chuck Sheley For the second year in a Information System link on our Associate Editor: Ed Booth row, the NSA Scholarship pro- smokejumper website to get a Editing: K. G. Sheley gram has received a total of 19 broader look at the fire picture Photo Editor: Johnny Kirkley applications. As of late June, beyond what the evening news Illustrators: Dan Veenendaal, and Eric Rajala the selection committee is in shows us. Layout/Printing: Larry S. Jackson, Heidelberg the process of reviewing the It’s another tough and Graphics, www.HeidelbergGraphics.com applications. It’s a tough job. tragic year with the loss of for- Front cover: Casa Jumpship drops paracargo ahead of smoke column, Interior Alaska I wish we had many more est and rangeland acreage, and wildfire, 1997. (Courtesy Mike McMillan) than the six scholarships that the loss of homes and liveli- Check the NSA website 2 www.smokejumpers.com hood for so many in the paths of these fires. It has The next meeting of the NSA Board of Di- become a very different fire environment than the rectors is scheduled for the Seattle area Oct. 24, ones we knew in the 1940s, ’50s, ’60s and ’70s. 2019, at the Residence Inn in Tukwila, Wash. I also check the Smokejumper Status Report link Our meetings are always open to having you on our NSA webpage and see that there is a lot of come as a visitor. We are always interested in boosting taking place from one base to another. having your input. Just let me know in advance so It’s good to see that jumpers are being stationed we can include you in the count for our working where the action is taking place. lunch. NSA Members—Save This Information Please contact the following persons directly if you have business or questions: Articles, obits, change of address Chuck Sheley, 530-893-0436, [email protected], 10 Judy Ln., Chico, CA 95926 Membership John McDaniel, 785-404-2847, [email protected], 807 Eileen Ln., Salina, KS 67401-2878 All else NSA President, Jim Cherry, 641-927-4428, [email protected], 2335 300th St, Ventura, IA 50482-8502 Smokejumper base abbreviations: Anchorage ...................ANC Fort St. John ................. YXJ McCall ........................MYC West Yellowstone ........ WYS Boise ..........................NIFC Grangeville ................. GAC Missoula .....................MSO Whitehorse Yukon .........YXY Cave Junction ................. CJ Idaho City ................... IDC Redding ......................RDD Winthrop ..................NCSB Fairbanks ..................... FBX La Grande ................... LGD Redmond .....................RAC Check the NSA website 3 www.smokejumpers.com SPECIAL WILDFIRE EDITION Wildfire Suppression— A Problem No One Can Solve? by Chuck Sheley (Cave Junction ’59) ne big advantage of being part of the over the highways certainly involves one heck of a smokejumper community from past risk. Highway accidents are commonplace. Oyears is getting continual feedback from If prompt IA can limit a fire to a couple of people who went on to jobs “in the real world.” engines and two Hotshot crews to control it, isn’t Many of these individuals formed the backbone of the “risk” greatly decreased from a fire that eventu- the USFS and were movers in wildland firefight- ally grows into an incident that requires several ing for years. hundred or a thousand firefighters? Their experience and insight, in my opinion, The article by Ben Smith (MSO-64) in the has been relegated to the back burner by the cur- April 2018 issue of Smokejumper concerning the rent wildfire community. There is a new genera- Whetstone Ridge Fire stands key in my thoughts. tion in control. Refer to Dick Rath’s (MSO-73) Please read that one again just to refresh your article on page 10. I know there has been a cli- mind. Ben was run around the block by the USFS mate change, the fire season is longer, and many all the way from the district level to the regional things have changed. But, as much as things have level. He immediately found out the FS was off changed, many things have not. base on the initial reporting of the fire by four I’m going to print as much feedback and hours. Refer to Ben’s “Letter to the Editor” on thoughts from these individuals as possible in this page 19. issue. Anything coming from our membership Ben asked the question as to why smoke- and the NSA that will change the current meth- jumpers were not called immediately as there ods of operation will have a snowballs chance of were available resources listed on the daily re- effecting change. source report. We were told at the Boise meeting Somewhere along the line, the taxpayers will that the daily status report is not