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California Firefighters Forced To Pick Battles

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The Associated Press

Published: July 1, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO - SAN FRANCISCO - With hundreds of wildfires raging across remote, rugged parts of California for a second week, fire officials have been forced to strategically choose which to fight and which to leave to burn for weeks, even months.

The number of fires in central and Northern California totals more than 1,000, according to state fire officials. That means authorities cannot send firefighters to battle every blaze, Jason Kirchner, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service, said Monday.

"It's like eating an elephant; you've got to eat it one bite at a time," he said.

It's also impossible to attack wildfires in some rugged, remote areas because the risk to firefighters is too great, he said.

"We have to take a step back, figure out where the best place is to make a stand and sometimes wait for the fire to come to us in those situations," he said. "We've got to pick the battles we can win."

Long-running wildfires are not unusual in California. It was four months before firefighters controlled a blaze that had blackened more than 240,000 acres in the backcountry of Santa Barbara County last year.

What is extraordinary this year is the number of fires burning at the same time, Kirchner said.

The weekend of June 21, some 1,200 fires were burning - a figure Forest Service officials said appeared to be an all-time state record.

Also unusual, Kirchner said, was that there have been no significant injuries to civilians or firefighters, though some 570 square miles have burned in California this season. There were a few minor injuries as harsh terrain hampered firefighters' efforts to battle a blaze in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.

"It is extremely steep, very rugged territory, and there are a lot of injuries, twisting ankles, slipping on hills," Kirchner said.

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