The Rogersburg Fire

I looked up from my checklist to see a 20-foot wall of flame and smoke coming at me very rapidly. The only good thing was I would be taking off into the wind. Five years earlier, this old dirt and grass road near the settlement of Rogersburg, Wash., was used as an airstrip. When ownership changed from private to the BLM, the airstrip closed. It took five years of negotiating with the feds, including Congressional, AOPA and EAA involvement, to get back part-time use. This dirt and grass strip is 1550 feet long at 850 feet msl and parallels the Snake River. Shortly after BLM again allowed access, we got permission to mow it. Two friends used their Super Cub to fly in a brand-new lawn mower and I brought a weed-whacker. I parked my 172 at the end of the strip, in front of the Super Cub.

Key Takeaways:

• A routine airstrip maintenance task quickly escalated into a perilous emergency when a faulty lawn mower sparked a rapidly spreading fire, forcing the pilot to execute a hasty takeoff.
• During the escape from the encroaching "wall of flame," the pilot experienced engine sputtering and a stall warning, attributed to the fire consuming vital oxygen.
• The incident highlights the extreme dangers of operating aircraft near fires and underscores the critical importance of having appropriate fire suppression equipment readily available.

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