Main Story: Wash. Wildfire Virtually Out
LINDA ASHTON
Associated Press Writer
PASCO, Wash. (AP) -- In the already dangerous business of firefighting, crews that battled a giant blaze at the nation's most-contaminated nuclear site contended with another hazard _ radioactivity.
``You have to be extra careful out there,'' said Ben Oakleaf, 20, part of a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service crew that mobilized to put out the blaze on and near the Hanford nuclear reservation. The fire was declared all but extinguished Friday morning.
No one is more aware of the need for care than Don Good, chief of the Hanford Fire Department.
The arid desert climate of south-central Washington is prone to fast-moving, wind-driven fires. The last big one was in 1984, and it burned about 200,000 acres. Smaller blazes are an annual occurrence.
Good said there was a great deal of planning around the possibility of fires just like the one that started Tuesday when a fatal car crash ignited dry grass on the edge of the 560-square-mile Hanford site.
Radioactive and chemically hazardous sites were identified by mapping and with signs. At a contaminated site, firefighters determined in advance how best to fight the fire, whether special radiation-reading gear must be brought in and how to minimize risk.
``There are very few locations on site where we can't go in and do direct fire attack,'' Good said. ``In those cases, we let the fire burn through and attack it on the other side.''
This week's blaze burned over an old trench of buried waste and two dried-up ponds where radioactive waste once was dumped. Radiation monitoring sites were set up to check for signs of possible airborne contamination; none had been found by early Friday.
Andrew Johnson, 34, of the Heppner, Ore., Fire Department has had some experience with hazardous waste duty: He worked in the chemical weapons disposal program at the Umatilla Army Depot in Oregon.
``The main thing is we all want to go home safe,'' he said. ``Put the wet stuff on the red stuff, and go home safe.''
Crews taking breaks at the agricultural convention center in Pasco _ about 15 miles from the fire _ had access to running water, showers and room to set up tents. Volunteers provided fresh fruit, pizza, bottled water and homebaked treats.
Marilyn and John Young, who live north of Pasco, brought several big bags of cherries for firefighters.
``Everybody pulls together in situations like this. They do what they can,'' Marilyn Young said.
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