Wildfires are serious business. This year in Oregon dozens are burning, consuming more than 1 million acres in the last month alone. Some are caused by lightning, others by human activities, some accidental and some not. With the many notifications every day I began wondering about how fires are named. Some seem obvious, based on geographic locations or markers. If you, like me, subscribe to the Watch Duty app (run by active and retired first responders and reporters), daily, sometimes hourly, sometimes more minute by minute, alerts arrive with a recognizable sound. As this season has progressed, I also noticed the information the app includes and, in particular, the names given to fires. Who names them? What are they named and why? For example, where and what are Crazy, Kitty or Monkey Creek? What do the numbers mean?
I live in Powell Butte. To find out more, I first reached out to Crook County Fire and Rescue to find out who makes the decision on how fires are named. Fire Chief Matt Smith said typically it's the incident commander who names the fire. Smith referred me to Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center and from there, to Central Oregon Fire Info. From there I talked to Jammie Olle, public affairs specialist with the U.S. Forest Service, who confirmed that it's the incident commander who first arrives on the scene, assesses the situation, and names the blaze. According to a recent posting by Olle on X, "New fires are first assigned a number when they are called into the dispatch center. Once firefighters are on scene, they will name the fire based on a nearby geographical feature." For example, in Central Oregon there is a two-letter identifier before the incident number. CS means Cascade Division, RV### is for the Rivers Division. The Darlene 3 (and previous Darlene fires) were so named for the road near Finley Butte. The recent Northeast Bend blaze, Mile 132 Fire, was selected for its proximity to that mile marker off Highway 97.
Fires ironically provide a lens through which we can learn about communities and landforms that might otherwise not appear on our radar.
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While these are especially challenging times, for those interested in our Central Oregon (and wider) landscape, fires ironically provide a lens through which we can learn about communities and landforms that might otherwise not appear on our radar. Some of the names might appear unusual or spark (no pun intended) curiosity about interesting and unusual places with histories we can learn more about, once the smoke clears and the dust settles. Lost Bucket, Jack Saddle, No Man, Crazy Creek, Durgan. Whatever the causes of fires, the names given are human created, and indicate how we mark boundaries and how we describe places.
To name names, to think of them, even say them out loud is a way of bearing witness to events, personal and environmental. It can be a way of honoring and noticing. Paying attention to the names of fires is important. Lives and livelihoods depend on the dissemination of accurate and timely information. Naming fires makes them real, rather than simply assigning numbers. Paying attention to them not only alerts all of us to where they are happening, but also offer a look into Oregon's past, some locations no doubt steeped in local history and lore.
For more information, check out a variety of local and state resources. centraloregonfire.org which includes maps, containment information, personnel numbers and other information relating details of an event. Oregon Wildfire Response & Recover (wildfire.oregon.gov) provides information on air quality, evacuation information, satellite images, smoke forecasts and state-wide overviews and maps. People can also sign up for emergency alerts at this site specific to zip codes.
