On Tuesday August 13th, 1996 one of the most significant land changing events on the Umatilla National Forest, North Fork of the John Day district and our Winom-Frazier OHV complex occurred; The Tower Fire.
The Tower Fire was the largest part of three fires called Tower, Bull and Summit. The Bull fire was 1 mile north of Desolation Lookout and the Summit Fire was southwest of Olive Lake.
The Tower Fire, located to the north and south of Forest Road 52, which leads from Ukiah to Sumpter. It was first reported @ 5:55pm on August 13th. This lightning started fire was difficult to find and it was unmanned until the morning of August 15th. Smokejumpers then landed in the area and by the late afternoon were reporting “blowing up, abandon the area, get the helicopter to get those smokejumpers out”. On August 16th a northeast direction of the fire was determined and it was estimated to be of 80 acres in size. Tower Mountain Lookout was evacuated @ 3:30 on August 16th.
The Tower Fire progressed “normally” until late in the afternoon of August 25th, when strong northeast winds, high ambient temperatures, and low humidity “blew up” the fire. The next 24hrs saw the Tower Mountain fire quickly increased in size to 20,000 acres. Due to other fires in the northwest, the federal government to activated Marines units out of Camp Pendleton to be dispatched to fight the fire alongside of over taxed fire crews.
These fires of 1996 encompassed almost 100,000 acres, with the Tower Fire burning around Tower Mountain Lookout area and south into the Oriental Basin to the North Fork of the John Day. They were declared OUT in Mid-September of 1996.
TOWER: 50,650 ACRES
BULL: 9,533 ACRES
SUMMIT: 37,842 ACRES
WHAT:
The Tower Fire was a Crown Fire, which is one that spreads through the forest canopy. Crowning is one of the most spectacular fire behaviors, which spread fast and release a tremendous amount of energy in a relatively short period of time. Spread rates can exceed 7 mph with flames over 150 feet high. Since the Tower fire was a wind driven or convection fire, the air near the ground was sucked into the column which further accelerated the spread of the fire. The fire was travelling faster than the wind speed. Later indications showed that the Tower Fire exhibited a dangerous condition called a downburst, where winds blow outward near the ground due to localized moisture and the convection column collapses. Downburst events cause the fire to move horizontally at the ground surface, so that not only was the fire moving rapidly along the tree tops, it was rushing along at the ground level. Any convection crown fire is the most intense disturbance events that wildland forest ever experience. They cause enduring changes to stand structure, species composition, and other ecosystem components. Post events results of the Tower Fire showed that 45% of the burned are experienced heavy mortality, with 55% partial (under) mortality.
HOW:
Besides the actual lightning strike starting the fire, the fuel conditions of the area were prime for a fire, it was always a matter of “When” not “If”. The Why of the fuel conditions is more complex.
WHY:
The Mountain Pine Beetle had invested a large track of the forest at this time. This beetle feeds on the bark of the tree, progressively kills it while it stands, reproduces, and moves on to the next likely tree. Larger trees are more attractive, as well as dense stands of trees. The Tower Fire occurred within damaged forest.
Fire Suppression also had a hand in the intensity of the fire. Most believe that fire is an undesirable event, but in dry forest areas, low intensity fires, can greatly increase the health of the forest by removing excessive organic matter below the trees, fertilizing the healthier trees, and removing the non-healthy trees. With Forest Fire suppression, less drought resistant trees get established and excessive undergrowth flourishes, thus contributing to unnatural fuel levels as well.
TODAY:
The conditions you see today are the result of a number of human created conditions.
By January of 1997, the Umatilla National Forest had proposed a plan for recovery. First it addressed public safety, then it focused on long-term rehabilitation. It included Tree Salvage of dead or dying trees and those highly susceptible to insects. Reforestation of areas heavy mortality. Also some thinning of forest uplands of small trees to increase large tree health and decrease insect population. Fertilization was also recommended in areas were the nutrients were vaporized. This plan was signed by September of 1997.
However this was challenged in court and eventually lost in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in November of 1998. This caused the Forest Service to create a different plan that was not signed into effect until June of 2003.
The 2003 Tower Fire Recovery Project looked at protection of soil and water, fish habitat recovery, wildlife enhances, rehabilitation of recreation infrastructures and forest revegetation/fuel reduction. The original plan was modified upon final signing due to the seven years that had passed. Those salvageable trees had cracked and rotted to provide no value, tree tops that had been possible for wildlife were too dangerous to trim, and no herbicide was used. The Umatilla National Forest did complete the proposed reforestation plan due its critical nature before this plan was implemented.
For OHV riders in the Winom-Frazier OHV complex, the Tower Fire Recovery Project plan, had a number of items that were very important. Forest Supervisor Jeff Blackburn made changes to the plan alternative he selected to include raising the roadbed of forest road 5448-550, which goes from the bottom of Woop-De-Doo to the start of Round Meadows, to help with drainage and erosion, the original Alternative would have closed it. Additionally, wooden bridges were identified to replace culverts. Most significant to the system though was the approval of a ATV (Class I) trail to parallel Roundaway. We know this trail as Lennis Memorial Trail.
With this plan of 2003, a great concern was expressed about future fuel loads, due to inability to salvage the trees, would lead to another Tower Fire. Today that possibility is real, as seen by other area fires in the northwest. The Umatilla National Forest also sees that threat as they pursue the Blue Mountain Resiliency project.
The scorched earth of the 1996 Tower Fire may not be as visible, but the effects of that fire are still with us 20 years later.
REFERENCES:
TOWER FIRE VEGETATION REPORT (JANUARY 1997) David C Powell
TOWER FIRE RECOVERY PROJECTS, RECORD OF DECISION AND FINDING OF NON-SIGNIFICANT FOREST PLAN AMENDMENT, JEFF BLACKWOOD