As I’m writing this letter (mid April) there was just a healthy dose of snow on the Oregon Cascades, which made for an enjoyable weekend of snowboarding, my first since the 2020 closures. It was much needed.
However, before going into the snowy weekend I had just finished reading over a series of briefings on fire season along with the new challenges the year will bring, particularly staffing shortages among wildland fire agencies. With drought conditions being a consistent factor in the west, I have no doubt that wildfires will be a pressing issue once again in our late summer and require some volunteer SAR commitment to help evacuees.
Like all seasonal things, it’s best to prepare now and be ready for that eventual callout. Fire evacuations are a challenge of logistics. Roads, supplies and locations for safe haven need to be known, stocked and accessible. It’s a classic exercise of the incident command courses we’ve taken over our volunteer careers. From that macro perspective of preparedness, we can get down to the personal or micro view. Is our quick response gear kept up and in the right places?
Do we have all the batteries we need for our electronics? Do we have the materials ready for sustaining an overnight callout quickly accessible? I’m sure just about all of us will give thumbs up answers to those concepts, and I bet some of us will realize the energy bars in our 48-hour duffles are long overdue for replacement. I am in that boat.
Cheers,
Rick Lindfors
Meridian Editor in Chief
Eugene Mountain Rescue
Pacific Northwest Search Dogs
