The 2002 fire season was one of the biggest of the past half-century. By the end of the year, fires had burned across 7.2 million acres, costing over $1 billion to fight. Almost uniformly, the fires of 2002 were characterized as catastrophic, but in fact, each fire was unique in character, offering individual lessons for the future. The following fact sheet is one of five analyses prepared by The Wilderness Society to better understand the causes and consequences of major 2002 wildfires.

"It's not to diminish that large fires are going to happen, but to temper it with the idea that these things are also accomplishing a lot of good that may turn out to help us."
-- Bruce McCammon, U.S. Forest Service hydrologist on the Biscuit Complex fire.¹

The Biscuit Fire began July 13, 2002 as the result of a widespread lightning event that moved across northwestern California and southwestern Oregon. From July 12 to July 15, 12,000 lightning strikes were reported in Oregon, resulting in 375 fires. Of these fires, four -- the Biscuit, Sour Biscuit, Florence and West Florence -- eventually burned together to form the large fire named Biscuit.

For every day that the fire burned, Oregon, like much of the western United States, recorded very high to extreme indices of fire behavior, indicating a high capacity for rapid spread and erratic behavior.²

Difficult terrain and extreme weather hampered containment
The Siskiyou National Forest embodies the most complex soils, geology, landscape, and plant communities in the Pacific Northwest posing unique challenges to firefighters. Topography varies greatly, reflected in rapid changes from rainforest to open savanna over short distances and generating random wind patterns over a complex landscape. Fire management teams frequently noted that rugged and inaccessible terrain hampered containment efforts throughout July, the same time in which the fire saw its most rapid growth. The Fire Management Teams also noted a clear correlation between active fire behavior and strong winds and low humidity.

Approximately 73% of the Biscuit fire burned in wilderness and inventoried roadless areas
The Biscuit fire fulfilled a crucial natural role in a wilderness ecosystem. Virtually all of the 179,655 acre Kalmiopsis Wilderness Area was within the Biscuit perimeter, comprising approximately 36% of the fire.

Designated as part of the original Wilderness Act of 1964, this rugged area, where elevations range from 500 to 5,098 feet, is acclaimed as one of the most ecologically diverse landscapes in North America. In addition to the Wilderness, approximately 37% of the fire consists of inventoried roadless areas. Amongst this diversity, the Biscuit fire functioned as a complex of many smaller fires acting independently of each other, dictated by local weather and topography. This fire pattern resulted in much of the landscape being unaffected by the fires themselves. The diversity of topography and geology provides excellent habitat for the wide variety of species for which the Wilderness is legendary. Periodic wildfire is recognized as an essential disturbance element in maintaining this diversity.

Despite being technically the largest fire of 2002, much of the area was unscathed. "There is a lot of unburned area, and there's a lot that burned at a very low intensity," said Greg Clevenger, Rogue River and Siskiyou National Forests resource staff officer.³ In fact, the initial post-fire assessment classified approximately 61% of lands within the burn perimeter as unburned or low burn severity.⁴ Only 16% of the fire was classified as high severity, where crown fire consumed foliage. A subsequent assessment found that less than half of the fire area suffered > 75% mortality.⁵

The Land Management Plan for the Siskiyou National Forest recognizes the essential role of fire in maintaining the character of the Kalmiopsis Wilderness and directed that a plan be developed to use natural fire for "resource benefit." Such programs have been shown to be a very cost-effective way to restore fire to fire-dependent ecosystems. Despite this direction, over $150 million dollars was spent suppressing the Biscuit fire.

For More Information

• Download this science brief (PDF)
• Dr. Greg Aplet, Forest Ecologist, The Wilderness Society, 303-650-5818 x104
• Jay Watson, California/Nevada Regional Office, The Wilderness Society, 415-561-6641

Footnotes

1. Seattle Post-Intelligence, "For Its Size, Oregon Biscuit Fire Did Little Severe Burn Damage," 9/3/2002 
2. Archived NICC Incident Management Reports (http://www.cidi.org/wildfire/)
3. Ibid.
4. Biscuit BAER Report, http://www.biscuitfire.com/burn_severity.htm
5. Biscuit Post-Fire Final Assessment, http://www.biscuitfire.com/post_fire.htm