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, using a new lawn mower, ignited a severe fire from leaking fuel in dry grass.
• The author and friends were forced to execute a dangerous, rushed takeoff through a rapidly advancing wall of flame and smoke, with the author's aircraft experiencing engine issues in a hazardous canyon.
• The incident highlighted the extreme dangers of flying near wildfires (e.g., oxygen deprivation) and emphasized the critical importance of having adequate fire suppression equipment readily available.

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