STEVENS COUNTY, Wash. — Large burn scars left by the Autumn Lane fire raised concerns about potential erosion in Stevens County. Last week, a Burned Area Emergency Response team, known as BAER, analyzed the burned patches and say they pose no immediate threat.
“Summary for our area — we got a pretty good report card on it,” said Mike Bucy, fire chief for Stevens County Fire District One. “We had one area that is going to need some rehabilitation potential, but it’s small and not really going to affect any structures.”
The team is composed of specialists who study water flow, soil health, infrastructure, and cultural site archeologists.
After working closely with Stevens County Fire District 1, the BAER team concluded that large-scale erosion is not a concern for the region unless an extremely intense rainfall event occurs.
“They’re looking at what would amount to, like a microburst, something extremely rare — possible, but rare for the area,” said the fire chief said.
Cheif Bucy says the team noted that vegetation is already beginning to regrow in the burned areas, particularly around the Suncrest community, where the fire passed through.
“With the regrowth of vegetation already starting, you can’t ask for anything better when you’re concerned about soil erosion,” Bucy said.
The BAER team determined that no replanting of seeds or treatment of the burn scars is necessary. Instead, the natural reseeding process that has already begun will help stabilize and fortify the scarred areas over time.
“The area needs to come back as natural as possible. It doesn’t need help right now. And that was an assessment from the BAER team as well,” Bucy said.
Another area of ongoing concern involves erosion along Highway 291. The fire district is waiting to hear back from Washington State Department of Transportation engineers about potential impacts in that location.
“Nothing really large has come down,” Bucy said. “We just want to make sure that we don’t see any additional problems caused by this fire.”
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