| Fire News - July 2008
To read the full article, click on the link to be redirected to the news site. July 31, 2008 Mission Canyon has its allures: wildlife, scenic views and tranquillity. But it's a firetrap with too few exit roads serving too many homes. Some people are taking precautions. SANTA BARBARA — Sometimes when Ralph Daniel looks out the huge plate-glass windows of his 1959 ranch house, a bobcat stares back at him from the patio. He delights in the quiet, the bird songs, the expansive view of the Santa Ynez Mountains. Like millions of other Californians, Daniel, 63, likes to live on nature's edge. He is a 10-minute drive from both downtown Santa Barbara and Los Padres National Forest. But he has no illusions. One day he expects to see a wildfire bolt through the chaparral and down the slopes toward his house on the fringes of Mission Canyon. July 30, 2008 REDDING, Calif. - Fire conditions were so dangerous where a local fire chief was killed Saturday that had the full firefighting crew been asked, they would have refused to go back to the ridge, a source said. Speaking with KOMO News on condition of anonymity, the source, a wildland firefighting expert who is close to the firefighting crew involved, said the firefighters made the decision in a vote after a dangerous battle with flames the night before Chief Daniel Packer was killed. The next day, Packer either volunteered or was ordered to go back to the same dangerous ridge to survey fire conditions. That's when Packer, chief of East Pierce Fire & Rescue, and another firefighter faced a blow-over – a fast-moving fire that you can't outrun. Homeowners help battle wildfire in North Idaho Homeowners lend a hand to put out a wildfire burning close to several homes and outbuildings near Blanchard, Idaho BLANCHARD, Idaho -- Firefighters have called in an air tanker to drop water on a wildfire burning close to several homes and outbuildings near Blanchard, Idaho. The fire started around 12:30pm Wednesday along Redneck Lane, off Highway 41 north of town. Homeowners jumped on their tractors and grabbed rakes and shovels to try to control the flames before fire crews arrived. July 29, 2008 The deadly 2003 Cedar fire was raging through San Diego County. Rep. Duncan Hunter, whose home in Alpine would burn to the ground, couldn't understand why military aircraft hadn't been called in to fight the blaze. He decided to do something about it. Hunter phoned Ray Quintanar, regional aviation chief for the U.S. Forest Service, and demanded that giant C-130 cargo planes be mobilized to attack the fire with retardant. Quintanar explained that winds were too high and visibility too poor for aircraft to operate. Forest Service air tankers had already been grounded. But, as both men recall the episode, Hunter would not be dissuaded. He told Quintanar to call "Mr. Myers" and rattled off a Washington, D.C., phone number. "Who's he?" Quintanar asked. "He's the one with all the stars on his chest standing next to Don Rumsfeld," Hunter replied, describing Gen. Richard B. Myers, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. When Quintanar resisted, Hunter called Washington and pleaded his case directly with Myers. Over the next two days, six C-130 Hercules transports were dispatched to Southern California from bases in Wyoming, North Carolina and Colorado. The planes saw action once the weather improved, but in Quintanar's view they contributed little to controlling the fire. Hunter says he has no regrets about his end run around the chain of command. "California was on fire, I got 'em the planes," he said in a recent interview. "That's my job." To professional firefighters, though, it was a prime example of a "political air show," the high-profile use of expensive aircraft to appease elected officials. NO REST FOR FIRE CREWS Reaching a milestone in their fight against the Basin Complex blaze, fire officials have little time to celebrate. Sunday evening, 37 days after the massive fire was sparked by lightning June 21, officials declared the fire fully contained and started sending crews on their way. But the crews aren't going home. Instead, firefighters are headed to other blazes still burning around the state, including the Telegraph Fire near Yosemite National Park in Mariposa County. "They are off to the battle again," said David Olson a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. "There's minimal rest and a lot of work." July 28, 2008 It's not yet known exactly what happened Saturday, when Dan Packer, a Pierce County fire chief, went missing — and is now presumed dead — in a California wildfire. But it's clear Washington state lost someone who was respected throughout the state for his ability to bring people together. "He's an icon for the Washington state fire service," said Brian Schaeffer, assistant chief for the Spokane Fire Department. "We all looked up to him." Congress, White House shift blame for fire costs WASHINGTON – The cost to rent a P-3 Orion aerial tanker that can carry 3,000 gallons of fire retardant: $6,000 an hour. The price of a shelter to protect firefighters caught in a firestorm: $200. The cost of a heavy-duty shovel to dig fire lines: $50 to $100. The cost to fight forest fires: Far from priceless. In fact, the Forest Service has already spent roughly $900 million this year – almost 75 percent of its fire suppression budget – and the season is just nearing its peak. July 27, 2008 Residents in Piedmont can have a private fire protection company try to save their homes from a wildfire, a luxury not offered to residents living blocks away in a less affluent ZIP code in Oakland. In Ukiah, Mendocino Redwood Co. hired more than 100 firefighters from an Oregon firm and rented a water-dumping helicopter to battle 31 wildfires that threatened its 229,000 acres of timber in June while state fire crews were engaged elsewhere. Across California, many of the bulldozers used to cut firebreaks are from private contractors, as are some of the aircraft used to drop retardant. Hundreds of private firefighters work alongside counterparts from government agencies, cutting fire breaks, setting backfires and mopping up. Increasingly, the job of fighting fires and protecting homes is being done not by the government, but by private companies. "We call it the fire industrial complex," said Timothy Ingalsbee, a former U.S. Forest Service firefighter and now executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics and Ecology, a nonprofit in Eugene, Ore., dedicated to environmentally sound fire management. "It's big business, and business is booming." Forest Service burns through its budgets WASHINGTON – The Forest Service has struggled for years to pay for fighting fires that last year alone scorched almost 10 million acres, mainly in the West. As fire seasons grow longer and the blazes more intense in forests stressed by global warming, the agency's funding woes mount. In fact, the Forest Service has already spent roughly $900 million this year, almost 75 percent of its fire-suppression budget, and the season is just nearing its peak. Nearly half the Forest Service's annual budget now is spent on battling wildfires or trying to prevent them. In 1991, 13 percent of its budget was spent on fires. Second firefighter dies in area A second firefighter has died battling the north state's wildfires, Klamath National Forest officials announced Saturday. The unidentified firefighter died Saturday while working on the Panther Fire south of Happy Camp in Siskiyou County. The firefighter's name will be released by the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department once family members have been notified. 'Only you' can change how we deal with fire We can protect cabins, make the forests healthier and save money by allowing more fires to burn. Why is it so hard, then, for us to do it? Salmon outnumber people in the rugged backcountry outside McCall where Cris Bent and his wife, Nanci, bought a cabin 33 years ago to immerse themselves in the wild, green landscape. Today, much of that terrain is black after several large wildfires swept through the area last summer. Bent, the fire chief for the cabin community of Secesh, agrees with scientists and forest managers that the forest would be healthier if more fires were allowed to burn. But he shares his neighbors' grief at the loss of the forest he loved. July 26, 2008 Firefighters battling blazes are now battling grief. National Park Service firefighter Andrew Palmer, 18, died Friday from injuries he sustained while performing mop-up operations in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest WA firefighter dies in California wildfire REDDING, Calif. -- A Washington state firefighter died when he was hit by a falling tree while assisting in a wildfire in California. Andrew Palmer, 18, based at the Olympic National Park in Port Angeles, Wash., was part of a four-member park engine crew that was dispatched Tuesday to a fire in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, about 50 miles east of Redding, Calif. As wildfires get wilder, the costs of fighting them are untamed Los Angeles Times LIVE OAK COMMAND POST -- It was Day 42 of the Zaca fire. A tower of white smoke reached miles into the blue sky above the undulating ridges of Santa Barbara's backcountry. Helicopters ferried firefighters across the saw-toothed terrain and bombed fiery ridges with water. Long plumes of red retardant trailed from the belly of a DC-10 air tanker. Bulldozers cut defensive lines through pygmy forests of chaparral. A few miles south, in a camp city of tents and air-conditioned office trailers, commanders pored over computer projections of the fire's likely spread, trying to keep the Zaca bottled up in the wilderness and out of the neighborhoods of Santa Barbara and Montecito. Platoons of private contractors serviced the bustling encampment, dishing out hundreds of hot meals at a time from a mobile kitchen, scrubbing 500 loads of laundry a day, even changing the linens in sleeping trailers. On this single day, Aug. 14, fighting the Zaca cost more than $2.5 million. By the time the blaze was out nearly three months later, the bill had reached at least $140 million, making it one of the most expensive wildfire fights ever waged by the U.S. Forest Service. A century after the government declared war on wildfire, fire is gaining the upper hand. From the canyons of California to the forests of the Rocky Mountains and the grasslands of Texas, fires are growing bigger, fiercer and costlier to put out. And there is no end in sight. Burnouts criticized Smoke blankets downtown Redding on Thursday night, when hourly Air Quality Index readings reached “very unhealthy” levels. U.S. Forest Service techniques of fighting fire with fire are drawing the ire of smoke-sickened north state residents. Crews battling the mammoth blazes in Trinity County have taken advantage of relatively calm, stable weather to light "burnouts." These fires are supposed to consume the grass and underbrush between an advancing wildfire and the homes in its path, robbing the inferno of fuel. Forest Service officials have claimed success with burnouts, especially on the Eagle and Cedar fires in the Iron Complex. But the burnouts are contributing to an eye-stinging, headache-spawning smoke shroud that has made ordinary breathing difficult in the far northern Sacramento Valley and downright dangerous in small Trinity County towns. July 25, 2008 The wildfires that have ravaged California this summer are the most extensive on record for the state, covering an area the size of Rhode Island. That's the bad news. The good news, except for those in the path of the flames, is that damage to the state's $2 trillion economy may be a fraction of that caused by wildfires last October. That's because this year's fires have hit mostly in rural areas. Freelance Firefighters Protect High-End Homes BIG SUR, California (AP) -- Seated behind the wheel of a fire engine, Dave Breglia follows a map dotted with expensive homes threatened by wildfires. His job: protect high-end real estate and save an insurance company millions of dollars. July 24, 2008 SAN FRANCISCO—Now that the flames have subsided some, firefighters have found dozens of additional homes destroyed by the wildfires in Butte County. State fire officials said Thursday that crews tallied 36 previously uncounted homes torched in the blazes that forced thousands of people to leave the towns of Paradise and Concow two weeks ago. That brings the total number of homes lost in the area since a June 21 lightning storm ignited thousands of fires in Northern California to 106. Eighty more homes in and around Paradise were destroyed in an earlier fire that arson investigators say was set intentionally on June 11. Firefighting’s hired guns: Contracted crews battle blazes, controversy Since the third week of June, David Breglia has been a road warrior as well as a firefighter. Firefighters gear up for this time of year, when they put into action every bit of knowledge, experience, ardor and endurance they possess in service to the communities they passionately work to protect. In Breglia’s case, there’s a slight distinction: He’s a wildland fire contractor, working with the newly established Chubb Insurance Wildfire Defense Service, often protecting high-end homes in exclusive canyon enclaves. REGION: Low turnout disappoints fire safety organizer North County Times RANCHO BERNARDO ---- The organizer of a fire safety meeting in Rancho Bernardo on Wednesday night said she was disappointed by a low turnout. "We needed to fill this whole room, and I was a little surprised we didn't," said organizer Trisha Bennett, who lost her Lake Hodges Hills home near Escondido in last October's wildfires. "The public is apathetic." More than 50 people attended the meeting at the Rancho Bernardo Presbyterian Community Church. Bennett said 1,000 should have been there. July 23, 2008 This year, as in every previous year, fires are occurring in the forests of the western United States. And, as in previous years, we read the predictable headlines about how many acres of forest were "destroyed" by wildland fires. Of course, when fires burn houses, this is a catastrophe, and we must redouble efforts to prevent this through programs to clear brush immediately adjacent to homes and encourage fire-resistant roofing and siding. But the question remains: Does fire harm our forest ecosystems? Recent scientific evidence is providing answers that contradict many long-held assumptions. July 20, 2008 We spend billions attacking almost every wildfire, but scientists say that's bad for the forest, can put firefighters in unnecessary danger and doesn't protect communities as well- or as cheaply - as we now know how to do. The town's ability to withstand a frontal assault by a major wildfire demonstrates what fire behavior experts have been saying for more than a decade. Clearing brush and other flammables and requiring fireproof roofs will protect houses even in an intense wildfire - without risking firefighters' lives. More provocatively, the research suggests that fighting fires on public lands to protect homes is ineffective and, in the long run, counter-productive. It is also far more expensive. July 18, 2008 Forest Service explains its 'let it burn' policy If every cloud has a silver lining, what good can be said of the big brown dome of wildfire smoke that capped much of California these past few weeks? Plenty, say ecologists who study the effects of fire on the landscape. While the siege of lightning-sparked fires continues to inundate parts of Northern California with hazardously smoky air, the blazes also consumed more than 1,400 square miles of dangerously overgrown forests and oak woodlands – the size of nearly three Lake Tahoe basins – leaving that much less fuel for future, more catastrophic and expensive fires. July 17, 2008 Posted: 10:52 PM- A firefighter was injured after a fall Thursday while battling the Mill Hollow wildfire in the Roosevelt area. Wildfire's role in the life of a forest Editor - The recent guest column ("While California burns," July 8) by timber industry spokesperson Tom Bonnicksen is a wildly misleading attempt to promote increased logging of national forests in California under the guise of reducing wildland fires and mitigating climate change. Bonnicksen makes numerous scientifically inaccurate assumptions about fire. For example, he states, "The wildfire crisis is becoming more serious each year. Fires are getting bigger and more destructive, killing wildlife and polluting the air as well." The fact is that there is far less fire in our forests now than there was historically. The total area of forest annually affected by fire currently is only about one-tenth of what it was prior to 1850, due to fire suppression. Increasingly, forest managers are realizing that, despite increased spending on fire suppression, fires cannot be indefinitely kept at unnatural levels in ecosystems that are adapted to frequent burning. Far from being "destructive" and killing off all wildlife, these areas show some of the greatest rejuvenation and ecological richness. In such areas, natural conifer regeneration occurs, often with thousands of seedlings per acre after the fire. Moreover, some of the highest levels of biodiversity are found in the most heavily burned areas for both wildlife and plants. Many flowering plants and shrubs depend upon fire for germination and reproduction. Severely Burned Forests: One of Nature’s Best-Kept Secrets As summer wildfire season begins in earnest throughout much of the West, it’s important for the public and policymakers to recognize the important role that severely burned forests play in maintaining wildlife populations and healthy forests. Severely burned forests are neither “destroyed” nor “lifeless.” From my perspective as an ecologist, I have become aware of one of nature’s best-kept secrets —there are some plant and animal species that one is hard-pressed to see anywhere outside a severely burned forest. Crews start repairing fire-marred land As the Basin Complex Fire continues to burn, some firefighting crews have started repair work on areas where there are no longer flames. On the coastal side, the blaze that threatened Big Sur has fizzled out and crews have completed about 90 percent of their mop-up work. They are now making their way to the interior of the fire, where they will try to recondition areas left barren or were otherwise disturbed while the fire was being fought. Cal Fire: Changing the play book in a wildfire emergency Beginning on Friday, June 20, 2008 a violent dry lighting storm crossed northern California covering the area from Monterey to the Oregon and Nevada borders. Of the approximate 8,000 lightning strikes produced by the storm, nearly 6,000 of them struck in California igniting over 2,000 wildfires on local, state, and federal lands. The area of coverage, duration and intensity of this storm are unprecedented. Bush surveys record-breaking Calif. wildfires President Bush offered federal help and encouragement Thursday to some of the 25,000 firefighters working under a blazing sun to contain wildfires that make up the single largest fire event ever recorded in California. July 16, 2008 The FLAME Act: its acronym is as vivid as any news footage of the hundreds of fires currently roaring across California. More properly known as H.R. 5541, the Federal Lands Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act establishes a long overdue emergency firefighting fund, a measure that finally passed the U.S. House of Representatives on July 9. The terrifying images of California ablaze were partially responsible for the passage of this critical piece of legislation. Confirmation of this connection comes from West Virginia representative Nick Rahall, the chair of the House Natural Resources Committee: the "ongoing California fires, which started in unprecedented fashion when 1,700 fires erupted in a 48-hour period," he explained, "are only the most recent example of the dramatic and tragic expansion of our Nation's wildland fire season." It took a lot of smoke to clarify why Congress needed to support the national firefighting effort. The act's central contribution - the creation of a stand-alone fund separate from individual federal agencies' appropriated firefighting dollars - appears to tinker with a technicality: it will not immediately add more boots to the ground; boost the number of bulldozers clearing firebreaks; or send skyward new squadrons of tankers or helicopters. But it will do something just as vital: by untangling federal firefighting budgets, the act will straighten out the equivalent of a fire hose full of cash, money desperately needed to battle the life-threatening infernos that annually torch millions of acres of our national forests, parks, and grasslands. In resolving the funding stream, The FLAME Act will help a beleaguered California successfully respond to its increasingly red-hot fire seasons. You Think Wildfire Season Is Bad Now? Just Wait As of Tuesday, there were 36 large fire complexes in the United States, burning nearly 730,000 acres in 11 states. That's 1,100 square miles, an area about three-quarters the size of Rhode Island. Flare-ups in Washington have come just as firefighters gain ground on the raging fires in California that have dominated the nation's attention. So far in 2008, 3.2 million acres have burned (15.5% more than the 10-year average, but actually 7.8% less than the five-year average), many millions of dollars have been spent, dozens of homes have been reduced to ash, and nearly 20,000 firefighters continue to put their lives at risk every day to battle the blazes. And it's likely to get worse, according to a new study. Florida looking for firefighters to help California Wanted: Florida firefighters interested in helping to put out wildfires in California. Florida's forestry division is putting out a request for firefighters who are federally certified to fight wildfires. "Right now, we are taking down names of firefighters from Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties," Scott Peterich, a division wildlife mitigation specialist, said today. "They will be on that list for anytime between today and two weeks from now. They have to be available immediately for two weeks," Peterich said. The call comes as wildfires in California continue raging since a massive lighting storm ignited them June 21. About 2,010 separate blazes have burned statewide since then, ravaging nearly 1,400 square miles, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Florida is among several states sending reinforcements. So far, 40 Florida firefighters are being sent and will assist in all phases of wildland firefighting in California -- building fire lines, burning out, setting backfires and mopping up, according to the forestry division. July 13, 2008 WASHINGTON (AP) — More federal dollars would be dedicated to fighting major wildfires under legislation passed by the House on Wednesday. The measure, approved by voice vote, would establish an emergency federal fund for suppressing catastrophic fires. Federal spending on wildfires has jumped significantly in recent years, with nearly half of the Forest Service's budget devoted to fire suppression and prevention. Two percent of the most devastating fires account for 80 percent of the federal firefighting costs. To pay for the increased expenditures, the Forest Service has resorted to borrowing funds from other programs and agencies. "This act is important because this fund will prevent the soaking up of all the other dollars that should be used for prevention," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Group files second suit against USFS An environmental watchdog group on Wednesday sued the U.S. Forest Service for a second time over the agency's use of aerial fire retardants. The Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, an Oregon-based nonprofit group, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Missoula. The lawsuit is part of the group's campaign to reform the Forest Service's wildland firefighting mission. The campaign includes banning retardant airdrops nationwide unless people or homes are threatened, focusing on fire prevention around communities, and allowing more remote wildfires to burn as a natural part of the ecosystem. Save money or save lives? Carbondale Fire Chief Ron Leach looked up from outside the fire station into the hills of Missouri Heights, where a growing number of high-dollar homes are being built amid towering piñon and scrub oak ready to burn. If a fire starts there, Leach said, firefighters face a thin line between containment and conflagration. “Our only hope is to get on it early and get slurry bombers on it and prevent a tragedy,” Leach said. “That’s our only hope.” Trends in federal funding for wildfire fighting efforts make that kind of strategy tougher for local firefighters, though. A few years ago, federal agencies often picked up the tab for expensive efforts that can keep smaller fires from becoming big ones. Planes dropping fire retardant slurry, helicopters dropping loads of water and teams of trained hand crews can cost thousands, but they can make a big difference in the early hours of a fire. Wanted: firefighters With the California fire season off to a blazing start, some firefighters with the U.S. Forest Service and their advocates say staffing shortages are making it more difficult to fight the fires. "Our staffing levels on a daily basis are below normal," said Robert Ethridge, president of the local chapter of the National Federation of Federal Employees for the San Bernardino and Angeles national forests. The shortage is particularly pronounced because of the challenge of having to tackle what could be a record number of wildfires burning across California at one time. Still, the lack of firefighters has meant fewer Forest Service engines could be staffed locally. July 12, 2008 CONCOW -- The first known human fatality from the Butte Lightning Complex fires was reported in Concow Friday morning by the Butte County Sheriff's Office. Deputies learned there may have been a body among the charred remains of a residence at the junction of Hogs Ranch and High Winds roads on Thursday. "We checked it out at first light on Friday and found the remains of one victim," said Lt. Andy Duch. Authorities said they didn't know if the person is a man or a woman, but the death of the victim is being attributed to the fire. Wildfire protection tax stalled by details: County supervisors must vote by Aug. 8 DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO – The group tasked with resolving the county's most pressing wildfire problems seems poised to support a tax increase, but a handful of details kept it from moving forward yesterday. Members of the San Diego Regional Fire Protection Committee met at the County Administration Center in downtown San Diego. They agreed to gather one more time, in six days, to finalize the plan for an annual parcel tax. Their proposal would be sent to the county Board of Supervisors, which would have until Aug. 8 to reject or approve it for the November ballot. For the tax to take effect, voters would have to pass it by a two-thirds majority. Every landowner in the county would be affected – most would pay $52 a year – and roughly $50 million would be collected annually. Half the money would be used to create and finance the San Diego Regional Fire Protection Authority. The other half would be divided among municipal fire departments and fire-protection districts. The committee was formed after the 2007 wildfires, which, like the ones in 2003, showed how the region's patchwork of fire agencies lacks the resources to deal with major firestorms. San Diego is the most populous county in California without a regional fire authority. July 11, 2008 Firefighting fund draws wide support WASHINGTON -- In a rare display of unity, lawmakers of both parties and experts from around the country Thursday all praised a bill to revamp federal funding for firefighting by creating a special program for catastrophic fires. Too much of the U.S. Forest Service's budget -- 48 percent -- is eaten up by ever-growing fire suppression costs, to the detriment of its other programs, everyone agreed at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing. They said a good first step in fixing the problem would be to create a separate fund to pay for fighting the less than 2 percent of fires that grow huge and take almost 85 percent of fire suppression costs. Not enough crews to fight fires A shortage of equipment and staff has contributed to the spread of fires across the state, according to frustrated fire commanders trying to subdue the state's 320 raging wildland blazes. Field experts scattered throughout the state sound similar concerns, suggesting the entire system is overwhelmed. Reports say fires are "minimally staffed," and injuries are "directly related to heat illness and fatigue." "These professionals are not prone to excuse-making. They don't want to be seen as crybabies," said retired fire Capt. Mike Morales, who has been tracking the response on his Fresno-based blog firefighter blog.blogspot.com. "But there are too many fires and not enough resources." July 10, 2008 Assistance, Management and Enhancement (FLAME) Act. The passage of this bill is an important step towards establishing a federal emergency fund for the suppression of large and costly wildfires that often have devastating impacts on forests and communities. The fund will also allow federal land management agencies to reestablish more reliable funding for other vital land management programs. House approves fund to fight major fires WASHINGTON - The U.S. passed legislation Wednesday that gives the Forest Service a dedicated fund for fighting catastrophic fires, meaning the agency won't have to raid its fire prevention budget to cover the costs of firefighting unanticipated fires. The firefighting money will be known as the "FLAME fund," short for the Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act. The fund will "help ensure that fire prevention resources are not consumed by emergency firefighting expenses," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. An estimated 2 percent of fires account for about 80 percent of the cost of fighting them. U.S. Rep. Bill Sali, R-Idaho, who led the Republican discussion of the issue on the House floor Wednesday, said the bill is a good first step, but it doesn't go far enough. There's a great need to reduce fuel within the forests themselves to prevent catastrophic fires, Sali said. And people in communities that abut federal forests also need that ability to clear land of fuel around their homes and business, Sali said. July 9, 2008 CONCOW -- Fire officials said a procedure Monday night known as a "firing operation" may have hastened the march of the Camp Fire toward Concow, where several dozen structures were lost Tuesday. Flames from the blaze also burned toward Paradise Tuesday, prompting an immediate threat evacuation for thousands of residents on the east side of town. "We had to try something; the fire was going to get there anyway," said Cal Fire-Butte County Capt. Scott McLean. McLean explained a firing operation is like a back- fire but is planned well ahead of time and done under the most favorable conditions as a way starve a wildfire of fuel. Early on Monday night, he said weather in the fire area was conducive, and a wide bulldozer line had been cut down to bare earth south of the active edge of the Camp Fire. Rim Road at the V-Line, both primarily logging roads, were shut down for the operation, which took place between 8 and 10 p.m. McLean said things went as planned initially, but strong down-canyon winds from the northeast came up after midnight and appeared to carry embers from the fire far ahead of the planned burn. He said humidity in the burn area suddenly plummeted from about 43 percent down to 21 percent. "At that point, we were off to the races," McLean said. Oregon firefighter drowns in Trinity River A wildland firefighter from Oregon who was fighting the local fires drowned Monday after visiting the Trinity River on his day off, the Humboldt County Coroner's Office said. The firefighter, who was in his 30s, was visiting the river near Willow Creek, said Deputy Coroner Charles Van Buskirk. Postcard from Santa Barbara: The Fire This Time You learn to keep your diaries and photographs in a safe-deposit box in the bank. You never burn candles or let the washing machine run when you're away from the house. For five months of every year you instinctively look to the hills as soon as the temperature rises or the wind picks up. If you're living where people were never supposed to live — as many of us in the hills of California are doing — you learn that you are living on borrowed time. Eighteen years ago, TIME contributor Pico Iyer watched a California wildfire destroy his home. Now, he waits to learn whether history repeats itself California Ponders Who Should Pay Firefighting Bill California's fire season has barely begun, but in the past three weeks alone, blazes have burned through 631,000 acres -- and at least $112 million in state money. That is stoking a statewide debate: Who should pick up the bill? July 8, 2008 FORESTHILL — Lack of sleep, intensely thick smoke, sizzling heat and rugged terrain began to take its toll on fire crews Tuesday as hundreds continued to battle two lightning-sparked wildland fires near Foresthill, which have grown to scorch more than 9,000 acres. Crews fought the triple-digit heat and fatiguing conditions on the Government Springs Fire, which has charred around 6,174 acres roughly 13 miles east of Foresthill, and the Westville Fire, which has burned about 2,299 acres as of Tuesday afternoon. “Of all the elements, (lack of) sleep gets you the worst,” said Doug Savor, a U.S. Forest Service fire fighter from Idaho. “It’s the most fatiguing on your brain because it’s not like when you are done for the day you get to go home and sleep in your own bed — at best it’s an air mattress. And you’re sleeping in a camp with a bunch of other people, who sometimes like to talk.” 'Let-burn' policy implemented on 2 recent wildfires When lightning started the Jack Wood Fire late last month in the Coronado National Forest, firefighters took what they hope will become a much more beneficial tactic: They didn't fully fight it. Years ago, they might have done that, leaving a wake of charred material ripe for future, more intense fires. These days, firefighters have more options when they're dealing with a fire that started naturally — for example, by lightning. Officials with the forest adopted a new tactic in fighting wildfires a few years ago, a policy called Wildland Fire Use, which basically means that if the conditions are right, they will let a naturally ignited fire burn. While it might seem contradictory, such burns play a critical role in wildlands by recycling nutrients, regenerating plants and reducing high concentrations of fuels that contribute to aggressive and disastrous fires. National Fire Plan emphasizes fuels reduction in wildland-urban interface As wildfire season returns to the forests and shrublands of Northeast Oregon, it’s worth considering some of the preventative measures taken year-round by resource managers and residents. The Oregon Department of Forestry, for example, participates in a kind of landowner outreach as part of the National Fire Plan, a federal program instituted in 2000 after several years of widespread, mammoth wildfires. “The cost of suppressing the fires escalated, and what they found was that a lot of the expense was in trying to keep fires from going into neighborhoods and communities and destroying homes,” said Angie Johnson, National Fire Plan coordinator for ODF’s Northeast Oregon District. Much of the fire plan’s focus, thus, concentrates on America’s wildland-urban interface, that tense, ever-increasing gradient between residential property and less developed country. And much of that work involves the reduction of woody fuels, which in high density can dramatically power large wildfires. July 7, 2008 The federal firefighting system is "imploding" in California, due to poor spending decisions and high job vacancy rates, as the region struggles to keep pace with what looks to be a historic fire season, a firefighters' advocacy group charges. As a result, the firefighters say, small fires have exploded into extended, multimillion-dollar conflagrations because the U.S. Forest Service has been unable to contain them during the early "initial attack" stage. "The federal fire system is imploding in California. They are crossing their fingers and just hoping they get through the season without a disaster," said Casey Judd, who represents government firefighters from five agencies through the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association. National Guard troops dispatched to battle wildfires More than 20 soldiers from the Atascadero Armory’s 149th brigade support battalion were recently deployed to help douse some of the wildfires raging in the state as part of a California National Guard mission dubbed Operation Lightning Strike. The local group of soldiers will soon join the National Guardsmen who will undergo 40 hours of training before entering the front lines with efforts focused in Northern California. The training will take place at McClellan Air Park in Northern California at the Wildfire Training Center. July 6, 2008 Yellowstone's 1988 fires transformed park's policies Twenty years ago this summer, catastrophic wildfires ravaged Yellowstone National Park. Dry conditions, low humidity, fierce winds and forests that hadn't burned for decades set the stage for epic burns. Lightning started the first major fire on June 25. By mid-September, when rain and snow helped subdue the blazes, 1.4 million acres in the greater Yellowstone area had burned, including 794,000 acres inside the park. The fires prompted the largest firefighting effort in U.S. history, including 25,000 people and costing more than $120 million. The effects of the fires of 1988 are still visible today as lush young forests grow amid blackened reminders of that scorched season.At root of most wildfires, by far: People CROWN KING, Ariz. (AP) — Playing with matches, being careless with a campfire, even burning a letter from an estranged husband: Some of the most devastating wildfires in the country's recent history have been started by people. In Arizona, the latest human-caused wildfire has burned more than 15 square miles, destroyed four homes in the community of Crown King, forced a weeklong evacuation of more than 100 people and cost upward of $2 million to fight. Despite fire restrictions, an aggressive public-awareness campaign and plenty of publicity about the effects of blazes caused by man, fire officials say people just aren't getting the message, and they're not sure they ever will. July 5, 2008 Heart attack suspected in firefighter's death A volunteer firefighter who fell ill while battling a fire and died Thursday at Ukiah Valley Medical Center apparently had a heart attack. Heart attacks were the leading cause of wildfire-related deaths for volunteer firefighters and the third-leading cause of death for all wild-land firefighters, according to a 2007 report by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group. Yellowstone fires 20 years later: National attention brought sensational coverage BILLINGS - Twenty years ago, Bob Ekey couldn't believe what he was seeing on television. Just outside his room at the Three Bears Lodge in West Yellowstone, a CNN reporter was broadcasting live that ash from fires burning in Yellowstone National Park was falling as he spoke. It was snow. “I wanted to go out and tackle the guy,” said Ekey, a Billings Gazette reporter covering the 1988 fires. “He sensationalized an already sensational story.” Most of the fires started outside the park in May and June. Media interest in the fires was local. “This was a regional story with small national interest until it kicked into August,” said Al Nash, the Yellowstone National Park spokesman, who in 1988 was news director at a Billings television station. “The networks and big newspapers weren't here until August.” By that time, some of the park's treasured places, such as Old Faithful Inn, were threatened, and national news crews poured in.Millions Spent On Fighting Fires: Indians Fire Costs Over $42M MONTEREY, Calif. -- The Indians Fire in the Los Padre National Forest has cost more than $42.8 million to fight since it began burning June 8. Officials said it is nearly contained at 95 percent but not without taking its toll. July 2, 2008 Military assistance in fighting the hundreds of wildfires still burning in California will increase with equipment and ground support, fire officials said Tuesday. Cal Fire reported that nearly 18,500 fire personnel, 1,400 fire engines, 488 crews, 335 bulldozers, 410 water tenders and 100 helicopters are committed to fighting the fires. Approximately 435,894 acres have burned in the 1,459 fires that have occurred statewide beginning June 20, according to Cal Fire. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tuesday announced about 200 National Guard soldiers in the state will provide support in coordination with Cal Fire and the Office of Emergency Services to battle the remaining blazes, according to the governor's office. Wildfire fight gets federal forces: Mendocino County efforts costing $1 million daily, plus loss of valuable redwoods UKIAH — About 200 federal firefighters are en route to Mendocino County to join in the ongoing battle to contain wildfires that have burned nearly 40,000 acres and still threaten 900 rural residences. With the federal buildup, nearly 2,000 local, state and federal personnel soon will be engaged in what’s proving to be a long and costly fight. Fire Bosses Face Personal, Legal Liability BOZEMAN – Those most qualified to manage large fires are turning down assignments after a fire commander was charged with involuntary manslaughter after the deaths of four people under his command, a survey shows. Ellreese Daniels was charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter and other felonies in 2006, five years after the Thirtymile fire. In late April, Daniels, 47, pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of making false statements to investigators. The International Association of Wildland Fire said the fallout of that case "may result in fewer highly qualified firefighters taking leadership roles on fire and a more conservative and less aggressive approach to suppressing wildfires" by those who remain willing to take leadership jobs." An association survey found that, because of the criminal charges against Daniels, 36 percent of the members will make themselves "less available for fire assignments" and 23 percent would refuse the job of incident commander. July 1, 2008 The investigation into what caused two medical helicopters to collide in Arizona is continuing. Six people died in the weekend accident, including a man from Montana, and authorities say it could be a year or more before they know just what caused the crash. Mike McDonald, 26, died when the two emergency helicopters collided in mid-air just north of Flagstaff near the Flagstaff Medical Center. The chopper carrying McDonald was bringing him back from a fire on the south rim of the Grand Canyon, where he'd been injured working a fire line. (SAN FRANCISCO) The unprecedented number and size of wildfires burning in California this year has forced firefighters to strategically choose which ones to tackle. Their plan is this: Crews are dispatched to protect communities in the path of flames, while blazes are allowed to chew through acres of forest land. Officials say the tactic is necessary in a fire season that already has seen hot weather, rough terrain and lightning storms complicate efforts to bring blazes under control. -------------------- FUSEE is a non-profit organization dedicated to public education on fire ecology and management issues. We believe this news service to be 'Fair Use' of the cited copyrighted material for educational purposes and will advance awareness, understanding, and public discussion of issues relating to firefighter safety, ethical land management, environmental protection, ecological restoration, and other issues in the public interest. |