Cave Junction man may have solution to wildfire problem

CAVE JUNCTION, Ore. — With the 2019 wildfire season fast approaching, one Josephine County man says he has an idea that could change everything.

“We’re not sitting here having meetings…,” said John Pappas, owner of Dream Flight. “We’re not sitting here forming a group that will give me another report at the end of the fire season this year. We’re not doing that.”

Pappas has been a pilot for over 57 years. He says he’s fed up with the bureaucracy behind how government agencies battle wildfires.

“I hear well this agency can’t respond because the fire’s on another agency’s property… or we can’t respond because of this or that,” he said.

It’s why he’s starting IRAT, which stands for Immediate Response Action Team, to combat fires in Josephine and Jackson Counties.

“We can stop the fires when they start rather than waiting,” he said.

So, how will it work?

Pappas says his own aviation company, Dream Flight, will handle a lot of the operations.

“[Dream Flight] will manage the helicopters and manage the maintenance and manage the training when a fire starts,” he said.

He hopes the counties will compensate pilots.

“[The counties] will have employed the pilots on a contractor basis and they will be flying to the fires.”

But he acknowledges it’ll cost a lot of money.

“We’re going to businesses to organizations,” he said. “We’re saying we’re all affected, will you come in and donate?”

Pappas admits he hasn’t worked out all of the logistics just yet, but he says his idea’s already caught the attention of Josephine County Commissioners and local fire agencies.

“We have to have some form of a rapid response,” said Chief Dennis Hoke, Illinois Valley Fire District.

Chief Hoke says local fire agencies are exhausting their resources every year.

“Could those fires have been handled by if we had the resources to go out there and put them out? Probably so,” he said.

But even if Pappas’s idea doesn’t come to fruition, he says at least he’s still getting the conversation started.

“Something has to change,” said Chief Hoke.

Because outside the box thinking may be just what the situation calls for.