Rangeland Fire Protection Associations Helps Protect Western Lands

The last several summers have produced some catastrophic wildfires across the Pacific Northwest. In addition to the federal and state fire crews, the Rangeland Fire Protection Associations aid in the firefighting efforts and are made up of volunteers. These organizations were established to prevent and suppress range fires, where many of the volunteers run their livestock.
In 2012 these groups were instrumental in assisting to put out the historic Southern Oregon fires that devastated Harney and Malheur counties.
Oregon’s Public Land Council Director and past Oregon Cattlemen’s Association President Bob Skinner shares more about the current resources
Skinner: “We’ve got over 175 active young firefighters on line. We’ve got 25 light pumpers, we’ve got four or five heavies. We’ve got a bunch of caterpillars, we’ve got graters and five or six tenders all ready to go during fire season and ready to go. The state lists about 250 people in our organization — that are capable and that is wives mostly included on top of the 175 firefighters that are support people who bring us fuel, food and water. We couldn’t operate without them either. We are operating down in one of the most remote areas with the least population with about 250 people — its a large firefighter force.”