Navajo fire danger at maximum
By Marley Shebala
Navajo Times
FORT DEFIANCE, June 16, 2011
The area is at high risk for wild fires because of "tinder dry" grass, hot weather, wind and lack of rain, said Pat Willeto, dispatch manager for the Navajo Region BIA Wildland Fire Management Department.
So far, the Navajo Nation has been lucky, with fires being discovered before they grow and the Navajo Scouts, the reservation's Type 2 wildland firefighters, quickly bringing them under full control.
Willeto said the Scouts "jumped on" some small fires in the Greasewood, Ariz., area on Tuesday and prevented them from spreading.
"It was a good thing there was no wind," he noted.
Federal fire officials have repeatedly said high winds were a major factor in the rapid growth of the Wallow Fire, which started May 29 from two fires about a mile apart in the Wallow Bear Wilderness area of the Apache Sitgreaves National Forest.
By 10 p.m. the fires in the Wallow area, located about 18 miles southwest of Alpine, Ariz., had burned 100 acres and were estimated to be spreading at a rate of one mile day. They exploded, fueled by the wind and parched forest vegetation.
On Wednesday, the Wallow Fire had consumed 478,452 acres and was 20 percent contained. Federal fire officials reported Tuesday that the Wallow Fire had surpassed the 2002 Rodeo-Chediski Fire as the largest in Arizona history.
The Rodeo-Chediski Fire, which started June 18, 2002, consumed a total of 468,638 acres before it was 100 percent contained on July 7, 2002, just two days longer than the Wallow Fire has burned at this point.
Willeto also said three small fires started June 5 northeast of the Wheatfields Chapter House and burned 2.7 acres.
The Scouts responded in force, sending in a helitack crew and an engine crew to contain the fires, which were close to dry logging debris and posed the risk of quickly becoming a conflagration. Had that come to pass, it could have endangered the nearby communities of Wheatfields and Tsaile and the Wheatfields Lake recreational area, he added.
The Scouts stayed busy over the weekend fighting four wildland fires that started June 11 and 12 in the Shiprock area and covered a total of three acres, Willeto said.
Immediate response by Scout crews kept fires in the Ganado, Teec Nos Pos and Red Valley areas to less than an acre each over the weekend, he added.
Both Willeto and Navajo Region BIA Fire Management Officer Dale Glenmore said the reservation fires were caused by people.
Glenmore noted that human-caused fires are much more complicated to plan around than those from natural causes such as lightning, because weather forecasts assist him in determining where to assign fire prevention resources in anticipation of naturally occurring fires.
Willeto said most human-caused fires were started inadvertently by people burning trash, cornfields and weeds, or by pulling off the road into dry brush, where a hot muffler can ignite a fire.
Yazzie advised motorists across the reservation to find a cleared area to drive onto if they must drive their vehicles off the road.
Some people have continued to burn weeds, trash, etc., even though President Ben Shelly issued an executive order June 8 banning open fires throughout the reservation, including cropland, fields, rangeland, debris and weeds.
The executive order also prohibits all open fires, such as campfires, in Navajo forests and woodlands and the use of internal combustion engines, such as chain saws, without a spark arrestor.
All non-ceremonial smoking is prohibited outdoors as well, including pipes and cigarettes.
Residents and visitors are reminded that it is illegal to own, use, manufacture or sell fireworks on the Navajo Nation.
Burn permits from the BIA will be required for all traditional ceremonies that require the use of fire and will only be issued for those ceremonies.
The use of propane- or petroleum-fueled stoves is allowed only in developed recreational areas.
BIA burn permits are only being issued for traditional ceremonies requiring the use of fire.
The penalty for violating Shelly's executive order is a fine and possibly restitution for the full cost of the fire suppression and/or the fair market value of the timber, woodlands and improvements destroyed or damaged by the fire.
For more information about burn restrictions call Navajo Forestry Department at 928-729-4007. To report a wildland fire, telephone the BIA Fire Dispatch Center at 928-729-2307.
Glenmore emphasized that the enforcement of Shelly's executive order is the responsibility of the tribal Forestry Department. The Navajo Region BIA Fire Management Office is responsible for the prevention and containment of the reservation's wildland fires, he said.
Navajo Forestry Department wildland fire investigator Michael Yazzie said Monday that he and his officers have not cited any of the people who were illegally burning trash, weeds and cropland because most of them claimed that they didn't know about Shelly's executive order.
Any repeat violators will be cited, he said.
The executive order reportedly has gone out to all chapter houses, where officials are supposed to spread the word.
Glenmore noted that he had not seen the order posted at the tribal fairgrounds and was planning to ask Navajo Parks and Recreation Director Ray Russell why they aren't visible there and at all parks and recreational areas.
The seven wildland fires reported last weekend raises the total number of fires on the reservation reported since January to 96.
Yazzie said the largest fire so far occurred April 11 in Shiprock and burned 120 acres. The cause is still under investigation.
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