Work together to reduce wildfire risks

Thurston County Emergency Management is hosting an Emergency Preparedness Expo on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Lacey Community Center, featuring free emergency kits and live fire safety resources.

We are nearing the end of wildfire season. Thurston County averages 63 wildfires per year. Your participation can help keep our community safe.   

I grew up in Northeast Wisconsin, which has the grim distinction of being home to the world’s deadliest wildfire, the Peshtigo Fire, “the Forgotten Fire.” It occurred the same night as the Great Chicago Fire. Still, the latter gained notoriety because it happened in a large city with better communication systems, not because of the devastation it caused. 

The environment has changed since that time. Months without rain would go by, but moisture remained in the air. Today, rapid, intense heat in a drier atmosphere causes faster evaporation and draws moisture from surface soil and plants. Fires are like a blowtorch now and are up to four times more severe than historical ones.  

The forest once had natural firebreaks. Low-intensity fires, often ignited by Indigenous tribes performing cultural burns or started by lightning, burned through forests, clearing dead wood, small brush, and saplings while leaving mature trees with thick bark alive. 

Imagine it as a house-cleaning service. Today, forests face a different fuel problem. One hundred years of aggressive fire suppression has caused an unnatural buildup of underbrush and thick vegetation. This is the dense jungle of trash that litters forest floors. 

Small, weak ground fires wouldn’t have enough energy to do much with low-hanging branches. The massive buildup of underbrush we have now acts as a literal ladder for fire. A fire starts in the heavy piles of dead brush on the ground, grows incredibly hot, climbs up the shrubs, grabs onto the low branches, and climbs all the way into the treetops (the canopy). Once a fire reaches the canopy, it becomes a “crown fire.” These are the devastating, unstoppable megafires we see today, destroying entire ecosystems — completely unlike the mild ground fires of the past. 

Nineteenth century, unmanaged slash-and-burn practices were common for railroad expansion and farmland development. Piles of brush, bark, and logs were left drying along railroad tracks, where passing steam trains ignited fires. In many places, set fires burned out on their own, and volunteer bucket brigades contained them when needed. 

Frontier towns were isolated, and homes were scattered throughout the forest. Entire towns were built of wood, with sawdust streets and wood sidewalks. Telegraph poles were made of untreated wood. Peshtigo's single telegraph line was damaged or burned out by small brush fires before the main firestorm hit. With other regional telegraph lines burned at the start, survivors could not notify anyone of what had happened. 

The National Weather Service was in its first year of operation and focused mostly on assisting ship navigation on the Great Lakes and Atlantic coast. Concepts, such as the fire weather index, humidity tracking, and red flag warnings did not exist in 1871. 

The first fire safety laws grew out of lessons learned from historic fires. For example, the ban on building with wood in city centers shows how regulations have evolved. This history encourages residents to support current fire prevention measures and building codes. 

Before 1871, towns used cheap sawdust to pave muddy streets and boardwalks. This practice was outlawed because it acted as a fuse connecting burning buildings to surrounding forests. 

Wisconsin eventually enacted progressive forestry laws that legally required logging companies to manage their waste. Requirements included logging camps and companies stacking debris away from ignition hazards or burning it in controlled conditions. These rules helped separate logging debris from fire danger. 

Because the fire melted the regional telegraph wires, Peshtigo was completely isolated, and help didn’t arrive for days. Railroad and telegraph companies improved their infrastructure by using increasing insulation on main lines, cutting wider paths through trees to protect poles, and developing a backup system so the population wouldn’t be cut off from emergency aid during a single line failure. 

Cleveland Abbe helped found the precursor to the National Weather Service. His research helped track severe regional droughts and high winds to issue public fire warnings. Over time, that practice evolved into our modern Red Flag Warnings. 

One hundred and fifty-five years of technology, knowledge, and interventions have helped. In 1995, the U.S. Forest Service slowly integrated routine prescribed burning into its core landscape management policies.

Even so, climate change, expanding population centers, a massive network of power lines vulnerable to high winds, and over 100 years of fire suppression still leave us vulnerable to wildfire devastation. The past informs the present, but reminds us that we must continue working together to reduce risks. 

Susan M. Gordon is the author of  "Conflagration: How Love and Courage Survived America's Deadliest Fire" and a resident of Olympia.