On May 29 we posted information about two firefighters, members of a Hot Shot Crew, that were injured by lightning while working on a prescribed fire west of Whitefish, MT on the Flathead National Forest. We are pleased to report that they have been released from the hospital. Apparently lightning struck some trees near where they were working.
On May 22 we wrote about the Frye Mesa fire, the result of an escaped prescribed fire on the Coronado National Forest south of Safford, Arizona that eventually burned 3,100 unplanned acres. Today an editorial in the Eastern Arizona Courier blasted the US Forest Service for lighting the prescribed fire on a day when the National Weather Service had issued a red flag warning for Graham County.“We strongly discouraged them from starting it. We had red-flag criteria everywhere.”The NWS reported that a few hours after the fire escaped, the temperature was 102 degrees, the RH was 11%, and the wind speed was 22 mph.
Associated Press - May 28, 2008 7:44 PM ET
RENO, Nev. (AP) - Five federal firefighters from Nevada and four from Montana have been recognized as heroes for their courageous rescue of a pilot whose air tanker crashed in the path of a quickly advancing wildfire south of Winnemucca last summer.
Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne recently presented them with the department's prestigious valor award in recognition of the bravery and decisive action taken by the members of the Bureau of Land Management fire crew members based in Winnemucca and Lewiston, Mont.
The July 17 rescue occurred after a large lightning storm ignited the 8,000-acre Barrel Springs Fire.
The pilot of a single engine air tanker crashed while trying to make a strategic retardant drop so the crews cleared a buffer and scrambled to slow the fire's advance toward the plane. They grabbed the disoriented pilot, removed him from the crash site and helped him remove his fuel-soaked clothes.
As they drove away, the flames consumed the plane.
Kempthorne presented the awards at a ceremony in Washington on May 13 to Mike Hendrickson, Lester McDonald, Mike Sperry, Scott Brandt, Mike McMaster and Andrew Snyder of Nevada, and Andrew Rishavy, Andrea Robinson, Scott Meneely and Steven Spellberg of Montana.
Hometown Heroes Sales EventRumor has it that the employee discount varies from 0-25%, depending on the item.
Cabela's Retail is hosting an Appreciation Day for all Emergency Response team members, Firefighters, Law Enforcement, Military and Veterans. Stop in and receive Employee Discount with valid identification. Cabela's appreciates all that you do! Certain restrictions do apply* Contact Store Event Coordinator for more information.
*During regular store hours, must show valid identification, Exclusions include but are not limited to Boats, Firearms, Ammunition, ATV's, Trailers, Gift Cards, Gift Certificates, Licenses and certain other items. Discount can not be combined with any other offer and is on regular priced merchandise only.
1. 10 years after the Tri-Data Study: what is different?If you would like to help put the conference together, contact Dick Mangan at:
2. Aviation Safety on Wildfire Operations;
3. Issues in Wildfire Safety around the World;
4. Safety in the emerging Wildland-Urban Interface.
5. New research in Wildland Fighter Safety practices, training and equipment
6. Firefighter Health and Fitness
ScienceDaily (May 15, 2008) — A new study presented at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) suggests that firefighters may be at an increased risk of developing transitional cell carcinoma (TCC, or bladder cancer) and should be considered for routine annual screening. Currently, no guidelines exist for regular TCC screening.
Researchers are from the University of California, San Francisco.
It is well known that prolonged exposure to certain environmental pollutants and chemicals puts humans at a major risk for developing bladder cancer. As the body absorbs carcinogenic chemicals, such as cigarette smoke, the chemicals are transferred to the blood, filtered out by the kidneys and expelled from the body through the urine. Greater concentrations of chemicals in the urine can damage the endothelial lining of the bladder and increase a patient’s odds of developing transitional cell carcinoma (TCC). Firefighters, who are regularly exposed to smoke and chemical fumes, may be at a higher risk for developing the disease than other groups.
Researchers explored this possibility in a screening study of 1,286 active and retired San Francisco firefighters. From August 2006 to March 2007, the subjects – mean age 45 (SD+9.7) – participated in voluntary urine dipstick testing and point-of-care NMP-22 testing. 93 Patients tested positive for hematuria and six tested positive for NMP-22. These 99 patients were referred for upper tract imaging, cystoscopy and urine cytology. Of the group, a single firefighter tested positive for both NMP-22 and hematuria, with two patients – both retired firefighters – ultimately diagnosed with TCC.
The age and sex-adjusted incidence for TCC is 36 per 100,000. These findings represent a higher incidence, suggesting that retired firefighters may be a high-risk group.
"We kill enough firefighters over their own desire to do their best and protect the community. I regret that the houses were lost, but we would not have sent our firefighters into that situation."I wonder what the person that questioned the CalFire response did in advance to make his house fire safe?
A company in Missoula, Montana has developed "cultured logs", a fire resistant building material which looks very much like wood logs. Dick Morgenstern, Chairman of Cultured Log Systems, had experience in precasting concrete for bridges and sewer manholes.
Google has some interesting maps and photos of the fire.
This fire started out as a 100-acre prescribed fire in the Pinaleno mountains south of Safford, Arizona on the Coronado National Forest, but on Tuesday it escaped control. Strong winds and red flag conditions on Wednesday caused it to blow out on all sides and by Thursday it was 2,500 acres. Small's Eastern Arizona Incident Management Team assumed command at 1800 on Wednesday. As of Thursday afternoon rain was falling on the fire and no homes were threatened.
The pilot of an F/A-18 Super Hornet meant for his laser guided bomb to land on a Florida bombing range on Tuesday, but he missed it by a mile--exactly--starting a fire in a national forest. Today U.S. Forest Service firefighters are mopping up the 250-acre fire started by the bomb outside the Pinecastle target range about 60 miles northwest of Orlando.Brigadier Rashid Thani Al Matroushi, Director of Dubai Civil Defence, said the civil defence will soon start using a customised Corvette car to attend to fires quickly, to prevent them spreading.
He said the car is a small, light and fast car which can beat traffic and contains highly-effective firefighting and prevention systems in addition to rescue equipment in cases where people are trapped in cars.
Equipment in the car includes a portable fire extinguisher, hydraulic equipment, firefighting equipment and first aid equipment.
Brigadier Al Matroushi who suggested the idea of developing a sports car and followed up its development daily, said one of the reasons behind a fire getting worse was the distance between civil defence centres and accident locations. The large size of civil defence vehicles makes it difficult to arrive quickly at the scene, therefore the need arose to develop a fast car.
Captain Sulaiman Abdulkareem, Director of Civil Defence Technical Affairs, said the developing of the car took two months by four members.
Firegeezer has information about a suspect being arrested this morning for starting a fire in Brevard County in Florida. It is Brian Crowder, who was arrested after a surveillance effort by 60 officers observed him exit his car, walk into a vegetated area, and drive away. A fire then started in that location.
The map below shows heat detected by satellites last night. Click on the maps to see larger versions.
"Beginning in June, we will be merging Wildland Firefighter into a new Wildland/Urban Interface (WUI) section in FireRescue magazine.....Wildland Firefighter and FireRescue are both published by Elsevier Public Safety. Wildland Firefighter became the "official publication of the International Association of Fire Chiefs" a couple of years ago after the IAFC severed their relationship with Fire Chief magazine.
But from a business perspective, we simply have not been able to grow the readership or advertising beyond that loyal core. At the same time, publishing costs have risen at unprecedented levels."
FALLBROOK ---- The emerging business of private firefighting just got another competitor in North County.HERE is a link to a video of one of the companies applying a long term fire retardant to some property.
Based in Fallbrook, Fire-Pro USA opened for business in April, said founder Don Green. That's just a few months after the debut of another private firefighter, Pacific Fire Guard.
Fire-Pro differs from traditional firefighting by putting more stress on prevention and preparation, Green said. Public fire agencies use what he calls "the Ben Franklin model," of waiting until a fire occurs and then dousing it with water.
Green, a veteran of firefighting, founded the company with partner David Wilterding last fall. Its services start at $519 per property per year. Fire-Pro will examine a customer's fire risk, treat the property with a fire retardant and, in the event of an approaching fire, apply a heat-absorbing gel, Green said.
"That buys us time," Green said of the fire retardant, which is clear and can be applied to surrounding brush as well as to the home. "We can spray this long-term fire retardant, and it literally makes their brush and wildland area a fire barrier."
The fire retardant is not toxic to animals who eat the treated vegetation, Green said.
Pacific Fire Guard's services cost $1,800 per year, according to a Feb. 9 story in the North County Times. The company also uses a heat-absorbing gel substance on property, and its firefighters will stay on the property until the fire threat has passed.
Nick Schuler, a Cal Fire spokesman, said homeowners who use such private firefighting companies still need to create a "defensible space" by clearing brush around their property for 100 feet.
"Cal Fire supports any homeowner who's doing things to help reduce their fire risk," Schuler said. "This does not replace defensive space, it does not replace good clearance and it doesn't replace the need for having a protection plan for you and your family."
Green said skepticism is understandable because Fire-Pro is so new. The company will have to prove its mettle by actually saving homes, he said.
The company may soon get that chance.
On Friday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issued an executive order ordering the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or Cal Fire, to "immediately mobilize" its resources.
"This year's fire season has already begun," Schwarzenegger said in a Friday press release announcing the executive order.
Dry weather throughout the state in the last two months has heightened the risk of fire, Schwarzenegger said in the press release. In Southern California, dead and dying trees infested with bark beetles add to the fire risk, he said.
Trees stressed or injured by a lack of water are known to be susceptible to bark beetle infestation.
Yellowstone Park: 20 years of recoveryIn September there will be a conference in Jackson, Wyoming on the topic.
Posted: May 12, 2008 08:23 AM
Updated: May 12, 2008 11:30 AM
During the summer of 1988, devastating wildfires scorched more than one third of Yellowstone National Park.
The catch phrase in Yellowstone this summer is "Come and see for yourself".
So that's exactly what we did as we joined the park's vegetation expert on a guided tour to get an update on how the park is doing 20 years after the fires.
Driving along the narrow, winding roads of Yellowstone is like visiting the world's largest Christmas tree farm. Yellowstone National Park vegetation expert Roy Renkin rode shotgun, and we learned more about lodge pole pines that we ever wanted to.
"The trees that you see out here were trees that were born when the cones in the lodge pole pines burn.' Renkin said, "The fire burned through, and the heat melted the resin on the cones, the scales opened up and the seeds came out."
But the story of the lodge pole pine is what dominates the Yellowstone landscape these days.
"All these trees out here are roughly the same age...they're 20 years old." said Renkin about the forest which was planted by the fires of 1988.
During, and after the 1988 fire storm, many people thought it would take the park hundreds of years to recover. Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson even predicted it would take a 1,000 years.
But just two decades later, Yellowstone may have never looked better.
"People can see for themselves that it's well on its way of becoming what it was before it burned, but it will take quite a long time to get there," said Renkin.
Even before the 1988 fires were finally snowed out, park naturalists, biologists and fire scientists were busy collecting samples and data on what they had just witnessed.
Yellowstone National Park Chief of Public Affairs, Al Nash, told the news station, "This was not just a big fire season. This was an extraordinary fire season".
Ironically the fire storm of 1988 taught us more about forest health and fire behavior than any previous event.
"We were a little short sighted in predicting or forecasting what the park wag going to be like forever more" explained Renkin.
The story of Yellowstone's recovery is the message park officials are quick to share.
"If the anniversary prompts people to come and investigate those changes, you know, that's another great reason to come to Yellowstone" says Nash.
Shortly after Yellowstone National Park was established in 1872, it was referred to as "The best idea American ever had". That's still the case but you have to see it, smell it, and feel it to believe it.
Mlive.com has an interesting article about a prescribed fire in Montcalm County conducted by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Here is an excerpt:A wall of flames swept across dried grasslands in southern Montcalm County on a recent weekday, sending skyward a column of smoke visible for several miles.Photos courtesty of Mlive.com
Winds from the northwest fanned the April 29 blaze, which charred 60 acres in the Flat River State Game Area before dying out.
There were no evacuations or live TV coverage like we saw April 25-26 when an 1,100-acre forest fire near Grayling forced the closing of part of Int. 75. The cause of the Grayling fire remains undetermined.
Not so with the Greenville-area fire. Guys dressed in yellow suits started this fire with a mix of diesel fuel and unleaded gasoline and a handy propane lighter. This particular fire was a controlled burn, staged by the state Department of Natural Resources with assistance from certified firefighters.
It is not unlike what's taking place now in Texas, Virginia, Colorado and Wisconsin. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service this year will use fire to improve wildlife habitat on more than 400,000 acres.
Anyone interested in creating better habitat for legions of endangered plants, insects and animals should be grateful for such burns. Like a good soaking spring rain, fire has a way of bringing new life to tired land.
The fire near Greenville targeted a tiny pocket of the 10,000-acre Flat River State Game Area, but long-term benefits extend beyond the still-blackened earth. Once used for farming, the land has been overrun with invasive plants, such as spotted knapweed, autumn olive and Chinese elm.
"We're trying to convert it to oak Savannah," said Steve Cross, a DNR fire management specialist based in Cadillac who served as fire boss this day. "Fire is an important tool to get us there."
Are you a deer or turkey hunter? Perhaps a butterfly fanatic? Or is your passion Michigan native wildflowers? If you value any of the above, then you should be fired up about fire.
They all live within the oak savannas of southwest Michigan. The land is sandy and dry and tree growth sparse. What does thrive, however, are native grasses and wildflowers, including little blue stem, coreopsis and wild lupine.
"I was not aware of it until an expert from the fire department told me that, 'This is terrible. This is a fire hazard all around your house -- you are living in the middle of it, get rid of this grass, get rid of these shrubs or you are going to be in trouble.'He issued a lengthy Executive Order that detailed numerous policies that will affect CalFire this year. Here are some of the highlights:
Staff additional fire crews, fire engines, helitack crews, fire bulldozers, equipment and aviation resources as warranted based on fire threat conditions.
Assign a crew of four firefighters to selected CAL FIRE fire engines as warranted based on fire threat conditions.
Provide for immediate availability and utilization of the Supertanker aircraft.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the California National Guard prepare its aviation assets, and pre-position ground support equipment, as appropriate for immediate response to major wildfires and report to OES weekly on the status of all aircraft.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that CAL FIRE shall provide educational information to homeowners on defensible space and California Building and Fire Codes ignition-resistant building materials, and shall develop training for defensible space inspection and building ignitability in consultation with the Department of Insurance, OES, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that CAL FIRE shall conduct vigorous defensible space inspections, and shall impose fines and/or liens pursuant to applicable authority if necessary.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that to assist landowners to meet their 100-foot defensible space requirements to reduce hazardous vegetation and landscaping, CALFIRE, in consultation with the California Biomass/Biofuel Collaborative, may enter into contracts, agreements, and arrangements for the chipping, hauling, burning, or other methods of disposal of hazardous vegetation removed by landowners as required by Public Resources Code section 4291 and Government Code section 51182.
If you have been staring at the photo for more than 45 seconds, you probably already have too many tools. Put DOWN the credit card and back away!Subject: Heavy Fine Fuel Loads Have Created the Potential for More Active Fire Behavior
Discussion: Above-average rains during the summers of 2006 and 2007 have created heavier than normal fine fuel loads in southern Arizona, especially in desert areas infested with Buffelgrass (Pennisetum ciliare).
Many grassland areas in southeastern Arizona (above 3,500’) have had above average precipitation the past two summers, creating a heavy crop of grass. Historically, this situation has been followed by a year with large fires.
In addition, buffelgrass continues to increase in desert areas. Buffelgrass is a noxious, non-native grass that is roughly doubling each year in Pima County. Fuel loads can be 5-20 times greater than annual grasses like red brome. Because it is increasing so rapidly, firefighters may find thick grass in places that traditionally had little. Because the fuel load is so heavy, it can generate fireline intensity and flame length much more extreme than usual for the desert. Strategies and tactics normally used on desert fires may not succeed on buffelgrass fires.
Common denominators of tragedy fires are potentially present in deserts and grasslands: relatively small fires or deceptively quiet areas of large fires; relatively light fuels, such as grass, herbs, and light brush; unexpected shift in wind direction or in wind speed; fire responds to topographic conditions and runs uphill.
Concerns to Firefighters and the Public:
• Flame length in grass can exceed 4 feet at almost any time of year, exceeding capability of hand tools. Flame lengths can exceed 8 feet during fire season, exceeding the capability of light engines.
• Grass fuels can be continuous, creating wide flaming fronts.
• Greater fireline intensity can lead to increased torching of shrubs and increased spot fires.
• Anticipate fire whirls because of a combination of fuel loading, terrain, and unstable atmosphere.
• Heavier fuel load raises moisture of extinction, and active burning may occur throughout the night.
• Normally bare, rocky areas and steep, south-facing slopes may have enough grass to carry a fire.
• Washes and trails that formerly served as fuel breaks may no longer be effective.
• Retardant may be less effective at stopping fires where grass is thick.
• Greater fireline intensity and flame length increase threat to structures, power poles, and other improvements.
• Some Wildland Urban Interface areas are infested with buffelgrass. Increased fire behavior increases risk to structures, improvements, and public safety, and there is potential for more human-caused fires.
• Increased fuel loading increases radiant heat output, therefore increasing the risk of thermal burns.
• The outlook for April-June is for above average temperatures and below average rainfall, exacerbating the problem.
Mitigation Measures:
• Indirect tactics may have to be used more often.
• Maintain situational awareness of fuel conditions and fire behavior.
• Safety zone size may need to be larger than usual for the desert. Safety zones may be harder to find.
• Use of Nomex face shrouds helps protect the face and airways.
Area of Concern: Desert
"This summer a palpable cloak of heat and expectation hung over the landscape as though the predictable and cherished past had been replaced by an unfamiliar monster. Make no mistake, northwestern Montana is fire country and has been for centuries. The marks of fire, discovered in tree rings when one of the giant larch trees finally thunders to the ground, show that for centuries fire occurred along the shores of Seeley Lake every quarter century or so - until our forebears stopped the cycle in the wake of the Great Fires of 1910, the subject of Stephen Pyne's Year of the Fires. When I was growing up, the Forest Service, the agency responsible for the federal land around the cabin, did not allow us to cut a tree and even discouraged clearing brush. The offset was the promise that the Forest Service would contain any fire that threatened the area under the full suppression policy that was adopted in response to the 1910 calamity.
That full suppression policy now has been formally abandoned - along with the rule forbidding the cutting of trees around Seeley Lake. In recent years, the Forest Service itself undertook a forest thinning and light burning project in the area. The treated zones provoked complaints in the first year or two because they looked rough, but they have become a glorious sight since then. Densely packed stands of "dog hair" lodgepole pine have been opened up, disclosing centuries-old trees. The big trees, whose growth was stunted in recent decades because they were deprived of moisture and light, now can take their place as giants and future giants. Fuzzy new trees and low brush carpet the forest floor. Wildlife can move freely. Humans can hike or snowmobile through the stands without battling brush. The forest is not fire proof, but a low-intensity fire would likely burn through here without catastrophic damage. Regular clearing by fire is what allowed the giants to grow big in the first place.
During the summer, I mowed down the tall grass near the cabin, felled a couple of dead lodgepole pines, and cleared a year's accumulation of duff from near the cabin. Then I left the place to its rendezvous with fire - which was not long in coming."
"In a New Year's Eve editorial on the last day of 2006, we were willing to concede at the time that "four manslaughter charges brought against a U.S. Forest Service crew boss nearly 51/2 years after the deadly Thirtymile Fire in Okanogan County could finally be proof that justice delayed is not necessarily justice denied."
That hope has been dashed now that a plea-bargaining deal has led to fire crew chief Ellreese Daniels pleading guilty in U.S. District Court in Spokane Tuesday to two misdemeanor charges of making false statements to investigators.
The magnitude of the reduction in charges is staggering: In exchange, the government dropped four felony counts of involuntary manslaughter and seven felony counts of making false statements.
Sentencing is set forJuly 23August 18.
"Like all plea agreements, there was a recognition of the evidence and the law as it exists," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Rice said in an Associated Press report out of Spokane. "We feel this is an appropriate disposition of the case."
Really? Will there ever be "appropriate disposition" of a case in which so many nagging doubts and unanswered questions remain? Four people died and the only person charged in the incident gets a plea-bargaining slap on the wrist and won't have to face trial -- during which a more complete story of what happened up to and during that fateful day could unfold during testimony.
Frankly, we've been less than impressed from the start with the federal government's handling, at all levels, of the Thirtymile incident.
We also take note of the fact that Daniels was the only one to face criminal charges out of the fire near Winthrop that killed four Central Washington firefighters on July 10, 2001: Tom Craven of Ellensburg, and Karen FitzPatrick, Jessica Johnson and Devin Weaver, all from Yakima.
We remain convinced that Daniels must answer in part for the tragedy because he was directly responsible for the safety of his crew. But we also maintain that the blame for the Thirtymile debacle involves much more than just what happened on the fire line that day. Blame must also extend further up the chain of command and include a culture of stonewalling and cover-up so prevalent in the U.S. Forest Service at the time.
In addition, a September 2001 investigation by this newspaper revealed that the Forest Service broke more than a dozen of its own safety rules. Federal investigators came to an even more damning conclusion: The Forest Service had 28 rules in place to keep crews safe. At Thirtymile, 20 of them were broken, according to the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
The negligence, according to the original charges, included Daniels failing to prepare the crew for the possibility of being overrun by flames.
The fact he was singled out prompts memories of the scandal at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq when Iraqi prisoners were mistreated by United States military personnel. Of 10 people convicted out of that debacle, none ranked higher than staff sergeant. That in a system noted for its chain of command that demands the following of orders.
Reforms within the agency were supposed to ensure a tragedy such as Thirtymile never happened again. Yet, seven firefighters have been fatally trapped since by forest fires in Idaho and California.
That's not to simply say the lessons of Thirtymile have not been heeded. After all, we're talking about a very dangerous line of work, one in which every possible step must be taken to ensure the safety of firefighters on the line.
But we also don't totally agree with the fears of many in the firefighting community that the unprecedented prosecution of Daniels might send a chilling message into the ranks of his colleagues across the nation -- that they could face felony charges if something similar happened on their watches.
Anyone responsible for neglect of duty that leads to tragic consequences should face such charges. In our system of justice, whether such charges are justified is determined in a trial with all the pertinent facts on display, not with plea bargaining.
The plea deal may have technically closed the books on the prosecutorial phase of Thirtymile. But the nagging question remains: Will justice ever be completely, and adequately, served in this case?"
"This is what those earlier people found in Arkansas, said John Andre, ecologist with the Ozark National Forest. He told of records from the 1829-1845 period in the Government Land Office that said (this area) was surveyed with an average of 29 trees per acre, and these had an average diameter of 14 inches. Today, the choked forest has anywhere from 60 to 100 or more trees to the acre.
"In those days, they drove wagons through these forests. Can you imagine trying that today?" Andre said.
Historical accounts of Southern woodlands include descriptions of enormous trees and open, grassy floors. These accounts often detail the abundance of animals that inhabited the woodlands as well. Take a walk in the Ozarks today and you'll likely find a dense canopy of smaller, shade-loving trees instead of a more open forest landscape."
"Some don’t agree with the controlled-burn policy.
Tom McKinney, forest chairman with the Arkansas Sierra Club, said the Forest Service is burning too much Arkansas forest. He said the Forest Service is mistakenly trying to convert the forest from an uplands oak forest to an oak-pine savannah.
Much of the forest doesn’t need fire to rejuvenate itself, he said. The wet climate rots dead trees and leaves unlike Western forests that are in dryer climates.
He said the Sierra Club believes the Forest Service should revert to burn levels of the 1980s, about 20, 000 acres a year.
“We think their policy is to spend money in the guise of restoring biodiversity,” McKinney said."
In February the Washoe County sheriff's office (Reno, NV area) unveiled a helicopter they had just finished outfitting for firefighting. Now due to a rotor strike it will be out of service for much of the fire season. 
The map below shows the fire perimeter as reported today on GEOMAC.
