Fire at Whiskeytown

Whiskeytown firefighter and drip torch during a prescribed burn. NPS Photo/Kurt Moses.

 

With extreme summer temperatures, a significant amount of shrubs and trees, thousands of visitors camping and barbequing, and neighboring communities surrounding the park, wildland firefighers at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area have a difficult task. Just what is that task? It is to protect people, property, and infrastructure from large, high-intensity wildfires, and to bring wildfire back onto the landscape. These two tasks might seem to compete with each other at first thought, but in fact they compliment each other.

In this day and age of increasing temperatures, Whiskeytown suppresses "bad" fire and manages and starts "good" fire. We define "bad" fire as fires accidentally or naturally started during the hot, dry summer season, when wildfires have a real chance of getting out of control. We define good fire as prescribed burning, or fires that we start during the cooler, wetter months of the year that enhance the natural landscape and reduce the threat of more out-of-control summer fires. The Wintu did this type of prescribed burning for centuries up until the widescale arrival of European Americans in the middle and late 1800s.

With the intensity and destruction of wildland fires increasing throughout California and the western United States due to anthropogenic climate change, a century of fire supression practice, and more and more people moving into natural areas away from city limits, wildland fire management is a challenging task and will only become more challenging in the years to come.

Whiskeytown's wildland firefighters uses many different tools to accomplish its difficult tasks...

 

Firefighters protecting a 500 year old oak tree within Tower House Historic District during the Carr Fire.

Suppression
All unplanned fires at Whiskeytown are put out as quickly as possible. Whiskeytown fire staff work closely with interagency partners like CalFIRE, the United States Forest Service, Shasta County and the City of Redding to fight fire aggressively while protecting property and keeping the public and firefighters safe.

Whiskeytown Not-So-Fun Fact: every year, park firefighters put out several fires that are accidentally started by visitors. Since 2021, fires in the park have been started by fireworks (the use of fireworks is illegal in the park), campfires not being drowned out with water, campfires being left unattended, and by vehicle accidents on Highway 299.

 

Whiskeytown firefighter conducting pile burning to reduce fuels.

Mechanical Treatments
A variety of tools and equipment are used to reduce forest fuels in the park. They include the use of chain saws, weed eaters, hand crews, and chippers to maintain defensible space around buildings, create and maintain shaded fuelbreaks, and to clear along roadways. Small trees and brush are cut, piled, chipped and burned during appropriate times. From approximately November to May each year, watch for this work occuring throughout the park - it's a never ending task to keep fuels low, even after the Carr Fire of 2018.

 

Whiskeytown Engine 2 working on Power Tower prescribed burn.

Prescribed Fire
Prescribed fire is used to ignite low intensity fires when weather conditions are right. The goal of prescribed fire is to reduce hazardous fuel build-up while safely reintroducing fire to the ecosystem. The indigenous people of this area, known collectively as the Wintu, conducted prescribed fire for hundreds of years prior to the 1900s.

 

A Whiskeytown firefighter and young visitor inside the Oak Bottom Fire Station during the Junior Firefighters program.

Fire Education
Park firefighters and interpretive park rangers at Whiskeytown work to educate visitors, employees, agency partners and neighbors about wildland fire and fire management policy at Whiskeytown.

During summer, children and their families can learn about firefighters and fire at Whiskeytown by attending the Junior Firefighters program at the Oak Bottom Fire Station. These programs are offered on the Saturdays of Memorial Day Weekend, July 4th Weekend, and Labor Day Weekend. This hands-on program enables kids to touch, see, and even try on firefighting equipment.

Whiskeytown also has a Junior Firefighter Activity Book that can be picked up at the Visitor Center throughout the year. Children or visitors of any age complete the booklet activities and then review it with a park ranger to receive a special badge.

In addition to the Junior Firefighters program and book, interpretive park rangers are available to conduct field trips, in-classroom programs, and virtual presentations to schools and other organized groups. These fire-related presentations include "Record Heat & Rising Challenges: Human-Caused Climate Change & Sustainability at Whiskeytown," which is offered to 6th graders and above as a two and a half hour field trip driving tour around the park or a 60-minute in-classroom or virtual presentation.

"Everything from the Land & Water: Wintu Heritage at Whiskeytown" is another education program partly focused on fire. This third grade program includes, among other things, a discussion of indigenous use of fire followed by students having the opportunity to try and create their own fire using a spindle stick. Visit the park's education webpage for more information on these programs or email us at [e-mail] to schedule a program.

 

 

 

Whiskeytown's Wildland Firefighters Help Nation-Wide

Regional, state, and federal wildland firefighters work together. Whiskeytown's staff help fight fires and restore fire to the land at dozens of locations outside of the park each year.

 

To learn more about Fire Management within the National Park System and Elsewhere...

Fire (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

[Fire Season] | C-SPAN.org - link to a six-minute documentary film focused on fire management in the United States. Film produced and created by a high school senior based out of Klamath Falls, Oregon!

For questions about fire management and firefighting at Whiskeytown, email [e-mail].