Farm Bureau Questions Firefighting Priorities

August 16, 2001

Lifesaving efforts apparently were delayed in assisting trapped firefighters, four of whom were killed fighting blazes in the Thirty Mile fire in Washington state last month because personnel feared they might violate provisions of the Endangered Species Act, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation.

AFBF says several news services noted that Forest Service helicopters may have held off bringing water to the fire site for at least two hours, because personnel thought they needed approval to take water from the Chewuch River. The river contains species protected under the ESA, and apparently, personnel, attempting to follow what they felt was proper procedure, delayed the water drop as they sought authorization to take the river's water.

The Thirty Mile fire in Washington ultimately engulfed more than 9,000 acres before being contained on July 23 and killed four firefighters July 10 when they became trapped and overrun by the fire in a canyon along the Chewuck River. Four other firefighters and two civilians were injured in the incident.

To its credit, the Forest Service is conducting an investigation into the incident, AFBF notes in an article written by Amy Bakker, an assistant director of news services. While it is not certain that an earlier water drop would have saved the lives of the firefighters, "this tragedy does point to the regulatory confusion caused by the Endangered Species Act." Bakker writes. In May, the American Farm Bureau Federation testified before a Senate committee urging a re-evaluation of the act in hopes of incorporating more balance and common sense in its implementation. At that time, the main concern was the harm the act has imposed on farm and ranch families who tend the land where so many species live.

For example, writes Bakker, on the West Coast, an estimated 1,400 farm families in the Klamath Basin have faced total economic devastation due to lack of water since April 6, when the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced that no water would be made available from Upper Klamath Lake. The decision was based on a new biological opinion released by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that indicated irrigation water be set aside for endangered Coho salmon and sucker fish.