Two of the nation’s highest-priority wildfires are burning almost unchecked in Oregon – the Chetco Bar and Eagle Creek fires.

What is it about Oregon that creates such disastrous fires? When I asked, State Forester Peter Daugherty said it was just Oregon’s “plain bad luck.” The state has experienced record bad conditions for wildfires.

Some 2017 wildfires are in the scars of previous fires. The Chetco Bar Fire is burning in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness in the scars of the 2002 Biscuit and 1987 Silver fire. A Portland fire official told me that is a coincidence, not a consequence of previous fires. Others may disagree.

• No more firefighting resources: The U.S. is tapped out on firefighting resources, according to the new chief of the U.S. Forest Service, Tony Tooke. He and the Forest Service’s top firefighting officials joined members of Oregon’s congressional delegation, Gov. Kate Brown and local officials at a press conference in Troutdale on Saturday after being briefed on the Eagle Creek Fire.

State Rep. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford, and Sen. Herman Baertschiger Jr., R-Grants Pass, have called for public hearings on wildfire-fighting and timber-management strategies when lawmakers return to the Oregon Capitol next week three days of meetings.

Lightning started the Chetco Bar Fire on July 12. Five days later, the fire had grown to just under 100 acres, according to the Forest Service. Now it covers more than 186,000 acres, is only 12 percent contained and will burn until the rains come. Among the Oregon National Guard members mobilized to help with the firefighting are ones whose families have been displaced by the fire.

“While the narrative in Salem surrounds carbon reduction through carbon caps and penalizing Oregon’s economy-drivers, our state is engorged in flames due to wild forest fires. Flames that will put out more carbon emissions than tailpipes,” Baertschiger said in a letter to Sen. Michael Dembrow, who chairs the Senate Environment and Natural Resources Committee.

Baertschiger has both political and practical expertise. He operates a forestry and wildland firefighting company based in Southern Oregon. Many of the nation’s private wildfire crews are headquartered in Oregon.

• No messing around: State Forester Daugherty gave Gov. Brown credit for authorizing whatever firefighting resources were needed while leaving deployment of those resources to the firefighting professionals, instead of telling him how to do his job.

One of those requests came in the middle of the night last month, when Brown was awakened and asked to invoke the Emergency Conflagration Act to mobilize more state resources for the Chetco Bar Fire, which she did. “They don’t mess around,” she said.

Brown has visited a number of wildfire communities and command centers. When she spoke after one briefing in Troutdale on the Eagle Creek Fire, I was struck by her ability to exude both leadership and compassion. This season’s wildfires will have long-term impacts not only on the environment but also on the economy.

• Ode to the oddities of the PERS task force: Brown’s PERS task force got off to an odd start at its most recent meeting.

Brown’s chief of staff, Nik Blosser, read a nearly four-minute prepared statement about the task force’s role. It included a reference to “sometimes breathless press coverage” of the task force’s work, along with a snarky side reference to a specific broadcast journalist. It reiterated that the task force was to consider unconventional ideas for reducing PERS’ unfunded liability, including ideas that individual task force members might not like. It reaffirmed that Brown appreciated the members’ work and she would be the one to decide which proposals to implement.

The more I thought about Blosser’s remonstrance, which he read off his laptop, the more I wondered, “What was the problem for which his prepared statement was the solution?”

The task force largely comprises members unaccustomed to operating in public view. They should not be surprised by the close attention being paid to their work, and whatever behind-the-scenes lobbying is going on. The Oregon Public Employees Retirement System — both finances and benefits — remains a heated issue among taxpayers, public employees and government budget writers. PERS involves more than 900 public employers in Oregon.

Few task force members appear familiar with the intricacies of Oregon’s public schools and government. That could be an asset, encouraging them to ask insightful questions and take nothing for granted. It could be a detriment if they accept superficial explanations or rationalizations for why a particular PERS idea can’t work.

• Not so transparent: According to the Governor’s Office and its lawyers, the PERS task force is not subject to the Oregon Public Meetings Law. That is unfortunate, for it does not inspire trust in the outcome.

The good news is that the public meetings are shown live online. For government agencies, public-employee unions and lobbyists, it might be compelling TV.

However, less than 24 hours before Friday’s meeting, the agenda and related items still were not posted on the task force website. The fourth, and presumably final, meeting is scheduled for next month, yet I could not find that information on the website.

At the end of the second and third meetings, the members and some staff went behind closed doors for private discussions of … what?

• Deciphering legislators’ expressions: Speaking of lobbyists, a large contingent attended last month’s unveiling of the quarterly state economic and revenue forecasts, which was done at a meeting of the legislative revenue committees. Lobbyists could have read about the forecasts later or watched the meeting online. But by being in the room, they could gauge individual legislators’ facial expressions and other reactions.

• The veto that didn’t happen: Gov. Brown had announced plans to veto a $2 million appropriation for the Southwest Capitol Highway Project in the Multnomah Village and Hillsdale areas of Southwest Portland.

That raised eyebrows because fellow Democrats represent the region, including House Democratic Leader Jennifer Williamson, Senate Democratic Leader Ginny Burdick and Sen. Richard Devlin, who is co-chair of the Legislature’s budget committee.

The threatened veto drew strong opposition, and Brown relented.

Even Democrats wonder whether the veto of a Democratic project was being done to give Brown political cover for vetoing projects promoted by Republican Rep. Sal Esquivel of Medford. He was singled out because he has supported referring health care taxes to a public election after previously agreeing with Democrats to provide the one Republican vote to pass those taxes in the Oregon House.

• The return of Bill Sizemore: Bill Sizemore, long a thorn in the side of public-employee unions with his ballot measures, says in a Facebook post that he has moved back to Oregon from Idaho and is painting houses.

Dick Hughes has covered the Oregon political scene since 1976. He welcomes your responses at TheHughesisms@Gmail.com, Facebook.com/Hughesisms, YouTube.com/c/DickHughes or @DickHughes on Twitter.