Snowpack in western United States

The snowpack in most of the western United States is average to much above average. The exceptions are southern Arizona and New Mexico. In the map below, the green, blue and purple colors are 90% to more than 180% of normal, while the orange and red colors are 69% to less than 25% of normal. (Click on the map to see an enlarged version.)

This is quite different from last year when most of the west was below normal.

But, as in an earlier post, I still believe the severity of the fire season is mostly determined by the weather in the fire season, and less so by the amount of precipitation during the winter.

Here is what the director of the Colorado State Forest Service said about the snowpack and the fire season. From the Durango Herald.

March 27, 2008
By Joe Hanel | Herald Denver Bureau

DENVER - Even though the snow is still deep in the mountains, above-average temperatures could set the stage for a bad fire season, Colorado's top forester said Wednesday.

Temperatures in Southwest Colorado are predicted to be significantly above average, and drought is likely, especially in the southeast, said Jeff Jahnke, director of the Colorado State Forest Service, during a meeting of the Legislature's two agriculture committees.

"All those things mean the potential for a significant fire season is there," Jahnke said.

Rep. Kathleen Curry interrupted him.

"The potential is there even though we have a record snowpack?" asked Curry, D-Gunnison.

Yes, Jahnke said.

"Once the snow's gone, it takes only a couple weeks of very dry, very hot weather to create the potential" for wildfires, Jahnke said.

However, Jahnke says he never makes predictions for how the fire season actually will play out. He was only saying the potential for big fires exists.

The deep snow means the fire season probably will start later than usual. And as long as the fall monsoon arrives on time, the fire season will be compressed, Jahnke said.

The Front Range has seen three fires in the last week that totaled 600 acres, he said.

Trees are still drier than normal after the drought years earlier this decade, Jahnke said.

El Cariso Hot Shots, Photography, and Sadowski

The El Cariso Hot Shots are having a reunion today and tomorrow. I wish I could be there--I wish them well and congratulate them on a great history.

I recently re-established contact with another El Cariso veteran, Tom Sadowski, from the early 1970's. We worked on the crew for 2 or 3 years together. A few weeks ago I started a project to digitize some of the thousands of slides I began taking a long time ago. I took the photo below of Tom in 1975 at Mt. Laguna, California.Tom (we sometimes called him Ski) is alive and well and living in Maine. He recently designed the commemorative logo (at the top of this post) for the crew. Tom taught me a lot about photography.

He was always interested in heavy-duty machinery. We were on a fire in Wyoming back then, and Tom had climbed on top of an old, beat-up water tender to check it out. I was taking a picture of him with my old beat-up Argus 35mm camera. When I pressed the shutter, I could hear and feel the guts of the camera come apart. I shook it and it rattled--never a good sign. I blamed Tom then for breaking my camera. I still do. I took a picture of him and he literally broke the damn camera.

Since then I have gone through many cameras. Minolta, Nikon, Canon, Nikon, Canon, Canon, Canon, and Canon. I'm planning on sticking with Canon, in case you didn't guess. These days I'm using a Canon EOS-20D. I like it a lot, but it's big and heavy as hell, at least with the EFS 17-85 lens that I usually have on it.

Garry Briese, new Regional Admin. for FEMA

Garry Briese was the Executive Director for the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) for 20 years until he resigned in February, 2007. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced this week that Briese has accepted a position as Regional Administrator for FEMA Region 8, which includes the states of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.

The Democratic National Convention will be in Denver this summer, and no doubt he will be involved in some of the planning for that event.

After his position with the IAFC, on March 13, 2007 Briese began working for ICF International as a vice president for emergency management and homeland security. According to their web site:

"ICF International (Nasdaq: ICFI) partners with government and commercial clients to deliver consulting services and technology solutions in the energy, environment, transportation, social programs, defense, and homeland security markets."

A blog called Disaster Zone, written by Eric Holdeman, a "principal" with ICF, said

"....Briese will be appointed to lead the (FEMA) region for the remainder of this administration."

On September 27, 2007, Briese was appointed a Board member of the newly formed International Fire Service Research Center and Policy Institute which was established by the IAFC.

Western Governors advise Congress about fire funding

From the Western Governors Association today:

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Gov. Janet Napolitano told the U.S. House of Representatives’ Natural Resources Committee today that federal funding to fight catastrophic wildland fires must not come at the expense of fire prevention programs.

The governor, testifying on behalf of the Western Governors’ Association, said the proposed Federal Land Assistance, Management and Enhancement Act (FLAME Act) would help relieve the burden on the U.S. Forest Service’s already tight budget and the drain on wildfire prevention funding by creating a permanent fund for fighting the most catastrophic blazes.

“Large fires that used to burn hundreds of acres have been supplanted with mega-fires that burn tens of thousands of acres – sometimes in a single afternoon,” Napolitano said. “It is time to face reality and address the funding requirements to suppress these catastrophic fires."

The governor said forests throughout the West are now in the midst of a “perfect storm” and there is “no time to waste” in addressing ever worsening catastrophic wildland fire activity.

“Decades of fuel accumulations and acres of beetle-killed timber, the rapid expansion of wildland/urban interface, and the overarching presence of drought and climate change have now combined to dramatically increase the numbers and size of mega-fires,” Napolitano said. Passage of the FLAME Act, she added, would “ensure that funding is not swept from vital restoration and prevention activities.”

The Governor noted that in the 1990s, wildfire suppression costs comprised 20 percent of the overall Forest Service budget. Today, with more catastrophic wildfires, suppression efforts consume more than half of the Forest Service budget. Recent fire seasons have cost upwards of one billion dollars, compared to $200 million a season in the ‘90s.

A copy of the Governor’s testimony is available on the WGA Web site at www.westgov.org.

Drought in Spain: more fires

From France 24:

Fires destroyed more than twice as much land in drought-hit Spain during the first three months of 2008 as over the corresponding period last year, the government said Tuesday.

17,364 acres (6,945 hectares) of land were lost between January and March as Spain endured its worst drought in decades, figures from the environment ministry showed.

However, the area of forest, scrub and pasture ravaged by flames during the first quarter was about 20 percent less than the average recorded over the past decade during the same period.

About 80 percent of land lost to fires was located in the northern regions of Asturias, Cantabria, Galicia, Leon, Zamora and the Basque Country.

Spain's water reserves are at 47.6 percent capacity due to a lack of rainfall, the ministry added.

The drought has hurt crops and hydroelectric power production with the northeastern region of Catalonia especially hard hit.

The environment ministry has been trying to reduce the number of forest fires that affect Spain each year through preventative measures such as banning barbecues in the countryside in dry regions, and more effective campaigns to clear roadside garbage and forests of fallen leaves and branches.

Alabaugh Fire Staff Ride

It was a little surreal today standing in the snow trying to picture what a very intense fire was doing in that very spot 9 months ago. The 40 of us participating in a "Staff Ride" for the July, 2007, Alabaugh fire near Hot Springs, South Dakota, were recreating in our minds what two people entrapped by the fire were going through last summer.

(As usual, click on the photos to see larger versions.)

Alabaugh Fire, July 7, 2008. Photo by Bill Gabbert

The all-day experience began with a couple of hours of classroom time, where we got some information about staff rides in general, and some basic information about the Alabaugh fire, including a portion of the video segment about the fire that is in this year's wildland fire refresher. We wrote about this year's refresher training HERE on March 23 where I modestly mentioned that some of my photos of the fire are being used in the training.

Then we spent most of the rest of the day in the field, walking in the very footsteps of the people who on July 7, 2007, were fighting a very complex, rapidly developing, wildland-urban interface fire. Many of those firefighters were with us out there today, telling us what they saw, what they were thinking, and giving us the opportunity to experience the fire through their perceptions--but while standing in 2" of snow, rather than 100+ degree temperatures, 7% relative humidity, and strong shifting winds gusting out of thunderstorm cells.

Al Stover, Initial Attack Incident Commander, showing us the point of origin. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

Jim Cook, Staff Ride Facilitator. Photo by Bill Gabbert

At the entrapment site. Photo by Bill Gabbert

Two firefighters had to share one fire shelter, since one of them forgot his line gear, leaving it in his vehicle while he got out to direct a structure protection operation. Then he became engaged in the some firing, got entrapped, and lived to tell about it.

This hard hat was blown off the head of one of the persons entrapped. It was left on the ground while he was sharing a fire shelter with another firefighter. Photo by Bill Gabbert

An interesting facet of the staff ride was that it served as the 8-hour annual wildland fire refresher that is now required by many agencies. And yes, we practiced getting into a fire shelter in 30 seconds..... with a twist. We all shared a shelter with one other person! WHAT? Yes, it's true!

Illinois: prescribed fire training

I ran across a photo essay about what is apparently a rather informal prescribed fire by students at Knox College. Knox is in Galesburg, IL.

There are 11 photos on the web page that would be interesting to those who are used to having to follow certain, uh, policies, about safety and personal protective equipment. Here are a couple of the photos. You gotta love those safety glasses.

Maybe those firefighters among us who are usually encumbered by long sleeves, Nomex, and hard hats have been doing it wrong.
The web site says:

"More than 75 students worked at the (7 acre) burn, clearing tree limbs from the prairie and from trails through the extensive forest at Green Oaks."

Historic wooden bridge burns in wildland fire near Moab, UT

From the Aspen Times Weekly:

Ace Stryker
The Associated Press
Aspen, CO Colorado
April 7, 2008


MOAB, Utah — A 92-year-old wooden suspension bridge across the Colorado River near Moab was destroyed by a fire that began with a boy playing with matches.

"It's too bad. It was really kind of a historical marker for this area," Grand County Sheriff Jim Nyland said. "People are pretty upset because the bridge was still in pretty good shape."

Dewey Bridge, about 30 miles northeast of Moab, was in the path of a fire that crawled up the riverbank Sunday from a campground about a quarter-mile away, Nyland said.

A 7-year-old boy camping with his parents had gone down to the river and started a brush fire with matches, the sheriff said.

A strong breeze spread the flames over 10 acres, igniting the old bridge, searing the underside of a concrete bridge and blackening more than a half-mile of riverbed. Campers were evacuated but no one was injured.

"It threatened one home at one point, but (firefighters) were able to keep it from that," said Lynn Jackson, associate field director at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management's office in Moab.

Built in 1916, Dewey Bridge had not been used for cars for years. But it was a well-known foot bridge and part of the 140-mile Kokopelli Trail bike route from Moab to Loma, Colo.

It recently got a new paint job by the same community members who helped get the bridge on the National Register of Historic Places, Nyland said.

All that remained Monday were charred scraps of wood and steel cables dragging in the current. A boat traveling down the Colorado had to be turned away because the debris made the river impassable.

"It created quite a public-safety hazard," Jackson said.

County and federal authorities were investigating the fire for possible charges. The family is from Grand Junction, Colo. No names were released.

Loss of the bridge caused a stir in the area, about 250 miles southeast of Salt Lake City.

"There aren't many bridges out in this part of the country like that," Jackson said.