CRESTVIEW FIRE'S POTENTIAL FOR DESTRUCTION WAS AWESOME

By Sarah Davison

"The force of Mother Nature, when she gets mad, it’s really awesome."

Archie McConnahie, a class one firefighter from British Columbia, describes the Whitehorse forest fire to a motley group gathered among orange oil drums at fire No. 32's staging base.

Now and then, thumping helicopter blades interrupt his speech.

"Mother Nature was very kind. She changed the wind and we had two days of rain... We got a lot of breaks. Yes, we did. Indeed."

As McConnahie says, this natural disaster "had a lot of potential."

It was an impressive and frightening sight, with towers of flame shooting into the air not that far at all from either Echo Valley or Crestview.

A reporter, sounding skeptical, asked if there was ever any possibility the fire, which started last Thursday, could have consumed Crestview.

"Absolutely," replied Al Beaver. "No question about that."

Beaver was the duty officer for the Forest Fire Control Centre when the blaze began. Whitehorse was lucky, he said.

"We were quite fortunate the winds were calm. If we hadn’t contained it, it probably would be over the Alaska Highway by now, across the river, and still going.

"Anytime you’ve got a fire like this burning inside city boundaries, it has disastrous potential."

One of the reasons the fire was so intense is the kind of trees on Haeckel Hill, where it started.

The trees there are old-growth black spruce with very thick limbs down to the ground. It is the most volatile fuel in the territory.

A wall of fire just 1½ meters high can ignite the area around it, said McConnahie. The Whitehorse fire, which went off the scale for intensity, could have ignited trees 20 meters in front.

"That’s why we don’t want to put people in jeopardy."

The forest officials made frequent references to criticism they received from Echo Valley residents. They objected to the forest service’s plan to burn out the rest of the green material leading down to their homes.

They were concerned about their views and property values.

But burning out is a protective and preventive measure that’s standard practice, said Beaver. "It’s not something that’s dreamt up wildly."

With this kind of fire, it’s the only possible control measure. And you don’t have time to debate these issues.

"Forest fires are really dynamic. They change all the time," said McConnahie. "Nobody gets a swelled head when you fight fire because it’ll turn around and burn you."

"A decision has to be made in very short order," said Beaver. "Very short order. You don’t have time to form a committee and discuss it."

And they point to the fire crews working double shifts, and two forest fires in municipal boundaries so far this year without any loss of life or property as evidence of their judgment.

In the end, the idea was dropped because the high humidity level would have made ignition difficult.

But it was possible to see just how close the fire came to Echo Valley and Crestview from the window of a Bell 205 helicopter.

And the charred and blackened landscape on all sides left no one in any doubt about this fire's potential for destruction.

At the top, surrounded by spectacular views on all sides, the mountain’s rolling green slopes are interrupted by rock outcroppings and occasional spots of snow.

Among the green are patches of black, rust, and brown, evidence of the fire as it worked its way uphill, eating moss and greenery in its path.

Further down, the banks of green and rust degenerate into a vast expanse of smoking gray and black stumps. What once were splendid green trees have been transformed into banks of burned matchsticks.

The earth has turned to a muddy grey, smoke rising from occasional clumps.

A thin line circles the mountain. This bulldozed line, resembling a road, prevents the fire from traveling further by getting rid of all the wood and other fuel in the its path.

In some places, the skinny wriggle develops into a solid, thick ridge, most obviously behind Crestview and by the staging area.

In some places, the burn has come right down the line. In others, there are surprising patches of green in amongst the black.

Beneath us, the chopper dumps a bucket-full of water on a trouble spot.

"It’s like buying Perrier," said Beaver of the transported water. Helicopters cost between $400 and $700 per hour. Total costs for forest fires so far this year are approximately $315,000.

Water was carried by helicoper up to holding tanks at the top of the mountain for use by smokejumpers as they worked their way into the blaze.

But during mop-up, fire crews found a welcome series of small ponds throughout the exposed landscape. "They really speed our mop-up," said Beaver.

The fire crews are busy digging out the fire spots which have found their way underground, burning on submerged roots. Beaver said these have to be dug up, otherwise they can lie and fester for months, flaring up again the following year.

"They’re difficult to find and difficult to extinguish."

Beaver said it’s unlikely the person who started this fire, intentionally or otherwise, will ever be discovered.

But he urges everyone to remember the fire hazard, and to be careful with campfires. His crews had just extinguished two that were on the verge of developing into a fully fledged fire.

"It’s hard to fathom why people continue to this," he said. "It continues to be a problem."