LONG CREEK — The tiny town of Long Creek saw its population temporarily rise to one of the largest in Grant County with the construction of a fire camp this summer.

The fire camp, just up the road from Long Creek School, was divided into three smaller units on separate fields and served as home to anywhere from 800-1,300 camp staff and firefighters from all over the country who fought the Battle Mountain Complex and Courtrock fires in northwestern Grant County and southwestern Umatilla County.

Construction of a fire camp is a massive logistical undertaking that begins many hours before the first tents are erected and the meals served.

Consisting of several hundred tents, a fire camp resembles a colorful nylon city with its own portable kitchen, laundry service, showers, garbage pickup, medical facilities and internet connectivity.

At the same time, it’s not entirely self-sufficient. One of the challenges of operating a fire camp is to be careful not to exhaust the camp’s own resources or those of its host community.

A constant game of supply checks and coordination takes place in the camp, ensuring those who call the camp their temporary home have everything they need to effectively tackle whatever wildfire they fight, whether they’re resting and recovering at the camp itself or out working on a fire line in the remote wilderness.

Home away from home

The most critical time in setting up a fire camp is the 48-hour prep period before any actual construction begins.

The first steps toward constructing the fire camp in Long Creek actually happened in Monument, where the camp was originally slated to be built. David Allen, a fire cache manager with the Oregon Department of Forestry, said he and his team started scouting fields near the Monument School, which was set to be the camp’s command and control center.

That plan changed after a Level 3 “go now” evacuation notice came July 22 for the town of Monument.

“That’s where the team looked to Long Creek because of past experiences here in this town, at this school, and then fields right across the street where we’ve had previous (fire camps),” Allen said.

Once the location and size of a camp is set and the fields are prepped, Allen puts in a request for one of 24 caterers contracted to provide food to fire camps. Then he goes on the hunt for three things: potable water, ice and Gatorade.

“Right off the bat, the kitchen comes in with 400 gallons of potable water,” he said, but that goes fast. He also has to line up water tenders to keep a steady stream of clean water for drinking, cooking and cleaning coming into the camp.

“That’s really, really important,” he said.

Gray water, or water that has been used to wash dishes or shower with, also requires disposal, and that means working with local public works officials and wastewater treatment plants so as to not stretch a municipality’s resources too far.

Allen said the key is being aware of what a city can and can’t produce. This dynamic caused Allen to reach outside of Grant County — and, in some cases, outside the state — for suppliers who provided what the Long Creek camp needed.

The camp’s ice came from Kennewick. Trucks from Boise came every few days with Gatorade and Powerade. And vehicles at the camp relied on gasoline and diesel fuel delivery trucks to ease the burden on Long Creek’s only gas station.

Once the kitchen was set up, the shower trailers came in. As the number of camp residents increased, the number of shower trailers also grew, peaking at three plus a laundry trailer to support a population of 1,300 firefighters and camp staff.

Portable toilets, handwashing stations and air-conditioned group tents for night shift firefighters who sleep during the day also made their way to the camp.

“We basically are able, within 24 hours, to launch a fleet (of supply trucks) out of Salem where I work at the headquarters and bring it to any city in Oregon,” Allen said. “And, within another 24 hours, set up a mobile city.”

Supplying the troops

Justin Bush was the Long Creek camp’s receiving and distribution manager. The Astoria native is in his sixth year with the Oregon Department of Forestry and is responsible for outfitting firefighters with whatever they need while they are toiling on hot fire lines.

Bush said he has an initial cache of supplies that arrive by van, and extra supplies are ordered as needed. Those supplies are bound for firefighters on the front lines.

As those orders come in via radio, Bush coordinates runner trucks to make deliveries to any of more than 90 drop points. Commonly requested items such as hose kits are ready to go out to fire lines immediately, while more unusual requests can take time, Bush said, although he added emergency needs can be fast-tracked.

Unforeseen circumstances can create logistical challenges. On one recent fire, for instance, Bush had to place an emergency order for extra cold weather sleeping gear.

“We had a cold snap,” he said, “and burned through all of our sleeping bags.”

Bush described supply distribution as “organized chaos.” What makes that chaos work, he added, is his crew, saying they are prepared, motivated and work as a team.

“This can’t be done by myself,” he said.

When the time comes to pack up and head out of town, Bush and his crew will reacquire the resources they issued to firefighters and move on to the next fire.

“The most fun about this is knowing we’re getting people what they need,” Bush said.

Getting ready to move

By the beginning of August, the fire Long Creek camp’s population had shrunk from a high of around 1,300 to just about 800 as crews gained more control of the Battle Mountain and Courtrock fires and some resources were demobilized or reassigned.

“We have the ability now to start packing some of that (equipment) up and sending it back to Salem for rehab,” Allen said at the time, “so my guys in Salem can get the fleet turned around, replenished, counted and ready to go to the next fire.”

Planning begins several days prior to teardown to ensure demobilization of a camp goes as smoothly as possible. When the incident management team decides a fire is going to be turned back to the local fire district, Allen sends a group from the cache to help break down the tent city and transport it back to Salem to rehab it before it gets sent out again.

Justin Davis is a reporter for the Blue Mountain Eagle.