The least we can do, Idaho, is reduce human-caused wildfires during costly drought

With a hotter, drier climate and drought conditions taking hold in Idaho, 2021 is already shaping up to be a bad fire year.

Making matters worse are human-caused fires.

We are our own worst enemy. We’re the No. 1 cause of wildfires.

In Idaho last year, 661 fires burning 237,000 acres were started by humans, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise.

That’s 70% of all 2020 wildfires in the state.

Over the past three years, humans have caused 1,943 wildfires, burning more than a half-million acres of land in Idaho. That translates to 64% of the fires in Idaho the past three years, accounting for nearly half of all acres burned.

The saddest reality is that most human-caused wildfires can be avoided. We likely can’t eliminate all human-caused wildfires, but we can do a lot to reduce them.

Among the leading causes of these wildfires are campfires, fireworks, smoking, firearms and trailer hitch chains.

“The message, I think, is just be super fire-cautious if you’re out recreating,” said Ivy Dickinson, executive director of Idaho Firewise, a nonprofit fire prevention education organization based in Moscow. “Literally, inspect your vehicles, make sure you’re not dragging anything. If you have a barbecue, make sure it’s in an appropriate grill that you’re covering, you’re disposing of your coals properly. Do not dump them on the dry grass next to your campsite.”

Campfires are a big problem, causing as much as 25% of all human-caused wildfires, according to Idaho Firewise.

“It really comes down to just being a conscientious recreator,” Dickinson said. “Let’s all enjoy our spaces in Idaho. Yes, get out, but also be very, very careful.”

Adding to the problem, wildfires in California, Oregon and elsewhere are draining firefighting resources, limiting the availability of forces able to respond to new blazes. And human-caused fires are a major problem in those states as well.

“The drought conditions this year, coupled with the fact that all firefighting resources are basically already allocated out, means that response times are going to be slower, and so fires have the potential to grow rapidly due to the drought conditions and also the fact that there’s nobody to respond,” Dickinson said.

Idaho Gov. Brad Little recently issued an emergency declaration at the urging of the Department of Lands — the first time the department has made such a request. The declaration allowed Little to mobilize Idaho National Guard firefighters, aircraft and resources to assist efforts around the state.

Little said that of the $30 million budgeted by the Idaho Legislature to go to firefighting efforts this year, Idaho has burned through about half of it already.

Across the Northwest, the number of human-caused wildfires has nearly tripled in the past 10 years, from 1,078 in 2010 to 3,107 last year, according to NIFC.

Even worse, though, as a hotter and drier climate makes wildfires larger, the number of acres burned by human-caused wildfires has gone up by a factor of 21 in the past 10 years. Last year, 1.5 million acres in the Northwest burned in fires with human causes. Nationally, nearly 6 million acres burned last year because of human activity.

Most of Idaho right now is under some sort of fire restriction, in what seems like a futile attempt to get people to do the right thing.

North Idaho is under the most restrictive Stage II fire restrictions, which ban all fires (except liquid or gas stoves) in any location, including developed campsites.

Most of the rest of the state is under Stage I, which affects what sort of fires recreators can have and where those fires can be built. Under the restrictions, open campfires are banned on dispersed camping sites and are permitted only in permanent fire structures — concrete or metal fire rings — typically found at developed campsites.

“Truth be told, right now, human-caused fires should be not happening because there’s so many restrictions to try to prevent them from happening in place everywhere,” Dickinson said. “So certainly a message is, ‘Hey, take these restrictions seriously.’ It’s super hot, super dry.”

But we wonder whether the restrictions are enough. It can be hard to keep track of what fire restrictions are in place, and what’s allowed and what’s prohibited under the different stages.

Even then, given our track record, it’s hard to trust people to be careful and mindful.

PotlatchDeltic, which opens up 615,000 acres of its private land in North Idaho to the public for camping, fishing and hunting, announced this month that the company temporarily suspended all permit and campsite lease sales, and restricted all motorized vehicles on its land until fire conditions improve.

That might seem overly restrictive, and the idea of closing public lands to public use might seem like a drastic measure.

But drastic times call for drastic measures. Before we get to that point, do your part, follow the fire restrictions in place and make sure you’re not the cause of the next wildfire.

This story was originally published July 21, 2021 at 4:00 AM.