The Darlene 3 Fire started Tuesday, June 25, a mile from the town of La Pine, Oregon, near Bend. Writing for the Capital Press, Morgan Owen and Michael Kohn reported that firefighters responded quickly, establishing “a full perimeter line around the fire Tuesday night.”
According to the news report, “Dozers, hand crews, engines and air resources fought the fire,”but by Wednesday afternoon, the fire escaped containment due to winds gusting up to 33 miles per hour.
Stefan Myers, a spokesperson with the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office, said water and fire retardant were deployed from aircraft to help contain the fire; nonetheless, it rapidly grew to 2,600 acres after escaping containment June 26.
In addition to demonstrating the ineffectiveness of aerial fire retardant, the Darlene 3 Fire shows yet again that wind creates catastrophic wildfires, regardless of “fuel loads” used to justify logging for “wildfire resilience.”
Photo: Smoke on the right side of the photo reveals that the 2020 Green Ridge Fire burned through forest saturated with red fire retardant (photo by Randal O’Toole).
