08/17/07 Secesh prepared for forest fire

The 166 thousand acre East Zone complex fire continues burning northeast of McCall, threatening the small communities of Secesh and Warren. Payette National Forest district ranger Shane Jeffries says fire crews protecting Secesh have a better chance of saving the town thanks to a forest thinning project. JEFFRIES "Basically thinned the forest down to about 17 to 20 foot spacing with the hope that if we got a wildfire as we have there that a couple things. One the fire behavior would be less severe. The second thing is that we have a chance to stop the fire right here along a road or along a fire line that's created." Chris Bent has lived in Secesh for 35 years and he says they used grant money to clear away potential fuels from their properties. BENT "Property owners and the people up here had a chance to pick up wood permits so they could use that material that was cut. Not only do we reduce the fire we serve the community and anybody that needed wood." Where flames had burned on the canopy of the trees everything was blackened. In the quarter of a mile buffer the fire mostly hugged the ground and those trees will survive. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott