The B&amp;B Complex fires were a linked pair of wildfires that together burned of Oregon forest during the summer of 2003. The fire complex began as two separate fires, the Bear Butte Fire and the Booth Fire. The two fires were reported on the same day and eventually burned together, forming a single fire area that stretched along the crest of the Cascade Mountains between Mount Jefferson and Mount Washington. On the western side of the Cascades, the fire consumed mostly Douglas-fir and western hemlock. On the eastern side of the mountains, the fire burned mostly Ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and jack pine. Most of the burned area was on public land administered by the United States Forest Service including within the Mount Jefferson Wilderness. The fire also burned forest land on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation and small areas of state and private land. Firefighters battled the blaze for 34 days. At the peak of the firefighting effort, there were over 2,300 personnel working on the fire. Although the cost of fire suppression was over $38 million, there were no deaths and no homes burned as the fire was largely in wilderness areas.
Origin.
The weather in the central Cascade Mountains in the area where the B&amp;B Complex Fires occurred is highly seasonal and heavily influenced by local topography. In early August 2003, a series of thunderstorms passed over the central Cascades. Lightning strikes were recorded on 4, 5, 6, and 7 August. Over the next several weeks, a number of fires resulted from this lightning activity.
Following the storms in early August, local temperatures in central Oregon ranged from 80 to 90 degrees with relative humidity dropping below 20 percent. During this period, winds were to , peaking on 19 August at approximately . This combination of hot dry weather and high winds created extreme fire conditions. As a result, creeping fires ignited by the early August lightning storms began to burn more actively. On 15 August a small fire was reported on the Warm Springs Indian Reservation. On 18 August, two more small fires were reported south of Santiam Pass near Hoodoo Ski Area. All three fires were quickly contained.
The B&amp;B Complex Fires occurred in August and September 2003 in the central Cascades, west of Sisters, Oregon. The fire complex began as two separate wildfires; both were caused by lightning striking in early August. The Bear Butte Fire started at the north end of the Mount Jefferson Wilderness area (), approximately northwest of Sisters. It was reported by a helicopter crew from Warm Springs on 19 August at 1309 PDT. The Booth Fire started near Henkel Butte (), about west of Sisters. It was reported by the Henkel Butte Lookout the same day at 1523 PDT. The next day, the fire suppression efforts on these two fires were consolidated because of their size and proximity, creating the B&amp;B Complex Fires.
Fire area.
The size of the fire was originally reported to be . Most of the burned area was Federal land. However, forest lands belonging to the State of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, and various private owners were also burned.
The burned acreage was identified as follows:
After carefully mapping the burned area, the Forest Service changed the official total of acres burned to . During the course of the B&amp;B Complex Fires, there were 13 structures destroyed and 8 firefighters injured. The total cost of the fire suppression effort was over $38.7 million.
On the west side of the Cascades, most of the burned forest was Douglas-fir and western hemlock. On the east side of the mountains, the fire burned mostly Ponderosa pine, lodgepole pine, and jack pine. The two largest Rocky Mountain Douglas-fir trees in the United States are located in the area where the Bear Butte and Booth fires burned together, well within the fire's perimeter. Both forest giants survived the fire, probably due to their size and thick bark. Oregon Department of Forestry keeps track of the record trees within the state and nominates the largest to the National Register of Big Trees. The larger of the two Douglas-fir trees in the B&amp;B burn area is in circumference and tall.
Post-fire activity.
On 5 September, the Forest Service dispatched a "Burned Area Emergency Response Team" to begin evaluating the rehabilitation requirement for the B&amp;B Complex Fires. The team consisted of archaeologists, botanists, geologists, hydrologists, soil scientists, and forest engineers. The team assessed the environmental damage caused by the fire and related fire suppression activities. Following their report the Forest Service allocated $1.5 million for emergency stabilization and recovery of the affected area.
Shortly after the fire, smokejumpers and professional timber fallers cut hazard snags along Forest Service roads. Approximately 950 fire-killed trees were removed, allowing survey teams and rehabilitation crews to safely conduct their work.
The next stage of the recovery work focused on high and moderate severity burn areas where there was an increased risk of runoff damage. Special attention was given to preventing water pollution and soil degradation in the Metolius River watershed. Forest Service crews removed fire debris from the banks of Abbot Creek, Bear Valley Creek, Bush Creek, Canyon Creek, Davis Creek, First Creek, Link Creek, and Jack Creek. They also replaced a number of small culverts with larger ones. This helped minimize drainage onto roads and ensured streams were able to accommodate increases flow from surface runoff. This was especially critical in streams with native bull trout, which are a threatened species. Crews also cleared forest recreation sites and hiking trails. This included a project that improved drainage along of the Pacific Crest Trail in order to reduce surface erosion. Finally, the Forest Service posted 40 new signs warning visitors of post-fire hazards.
Forest botanists identified fifty noxious weed sites within the fire area, covering . To deal with this problem, the Deschutes National Forest implemented a program to prevent the spread of noxious weeds especially along roads, trail, and in heavy use areas. These efforts helped encourage the return of native grasses and herbaceous shrubs throughout the burned areas.
In 2005, the Forest Service approved a plan for salvage logging on burned by the B&amp;B Complex Fires. The plan allowed commercial loggers to harvest trees killed by the fire. There was some criticism of the plan; however, the Forest Service determined that in the specific areas identified for post-fire timber harvest, the prescribed operations would utilize valuable timber assets, prevent the build-up of light fuels in burned areas, and help prevent soil degradation by encouraging rapid reforestation.
In 2007, interpretive exhibits describing the B&amp;B Complex Fires and post-fire forest recovery were installed at three locations along Route 20. The exhibits were jointly sponsored by the Forest Service, Oregon Department of Transportation, Oregon State University, and the Oregon Forest Resources Institute.
References.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;