Small fire, big concern: Human-caused fires on the rise

A fire burned an area no bigger than a house Thursday afternoon on a small hillside northeast of Bend, on BLM land off McGrath Road. But the small fire pointed to bigger issues, of a wealth of flammable cheatgrass this year — and a rise in human-caused fires in recent years.

The cause of this fire is still under investigation, but on the scene were a couple of targets, some bullet casings and what looked to be a shot-up punching bag.

The Mayfield Fire in 2012 was sparked by target practice, and that possibility is in play with this one as well.

Officials have classified it a human-started fire — and that’s been more common lately than in previous years. But they’re not pointing the finger only at people.

One of the main culprits is cheatgrass, which is highly flammable, especially when it cures out. Central Oregon has been seeing more of it this year.

“We have a really big cheatgrass crop this year, so what we’ve been seeing is a lot of the bunch grasses maybe haven’t been burning yet,” Deschutes National Forest Assistant Fire Management Officer Jake Akerberg said. “But the cheatgrass is definitely going, and it’s causing a lot of problems.”

That’s due in large part to the weather over the last several months.

“We had a lot of snow this last winter, and then this spring, it seemed like it rained once a week,” Akerberg said. “And it was warm enough, so really good for growing. And that’s what we’re going to have right now. As the additional heavier fuels start to dry out over the summer, it will become even more of a problem.”

In order to reverse this trend toward human-caused fires, the Forest Service says to be more aware of your surroundings — like the backdrop of your shooting range.

About half of all wildfires are caused by humans. But the NW Fire Coordination Center said in 2016, humans caused 83 percent of the wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, which means those fires could have been prevented.