Forest Inferno In the West

Fighting fire with computers

In the vast tundras of Alaska and in the timberlands and national parks of California, Oregon, Arizona and Utah, forest fires have devoured huge swaths of magnificent territory. Most of the blazes have been started by heat lightning, and many are still out of control. Alaska has lost 1.6 million acres, or 2,500 sq. mi., in the worst destruction since 1971. California, the most scorched after Alaska, has lost more than 288,000 acres, despite the deployment of 10,000 fire fighters.

The most mammoth blaze along the West Coast is in the Los Padres National Forest, just east of California's lovely Big Sur. Roaring on for two weeks, the inferno has consumed 92,200 acres, feeding on miles and miles of vegetation turned bone-dry by a two-year drought. A Forest Service official says the energy ignited in every 1,000 acres of the compacted underbrush is equivalent to that of the "bomb dropped on Hiroshima."

Authorities have sent in 4,856 fire fighters, toting "Pulaskis"--a combination hoe and ax--and "McClouds"--a wide rake. On twelve-hour shifts, the crews cut brush and trees with hand tools and chain saws to bar the approaching blaze. Most find the service exhilarating. Said one woman from Santa Cruz: "It's the most exciting thing anyone can do."

Foresters have used enormous D9 Caterpillar tractors to help dig a 60-mile fire line around 40% of the blaze. Hoping to squeeze off some of the rest, Al West, an official of the Los Padres National Forest, ordered the construction of an eightmile, 30-to 40-ft.-wide road, cut by eight bulldozers near the fire's northern edge. West wanted to save an additional 25,000 acres of wilderness that forms the Carmel Valley Watershed; the effort failed, and now the water supply for 20,000 people around Monterey is threatened.

Ten planes have unloaded about 700,000 gal. of phosphate flame retardant on the fire, at a cost of nearly $4 million. To plot where and when the flames will strike next, experts use airborne sensors that detect where the fire is burning fastest and computers that analyze information about terrain and weather forecasts. With no rain in sight, the battle is expected to continue for many more days.

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