Wildfire briefing, September 5, 2013

Investigators determine cause of Rim Fire

Investigators from the U.S. Forest Service and the Tuolumne County District Attorney’s Office have determined that the 237,000-acre Rim Fire in central California began when a hunter allowed an illegal fire to escape. Contrary to speculation earlier by Todd McNeal, fire chief in Twain Harte, there is no indication the hunter was involved with illegal marijuana cultivation and no marijuana cultivation sites were located near the origin of the fire.

Animation of the spread of the Rim Fire

An animation of the spread of the Rim Fire will entertain you for a few minutes. It is fascinating to watch as the fire spreads, burnouts are completed, and sections of the fire become smaller as data collected during GPS helicopter flights around the fire are later corrected by infrared mapping.

Dozer operator injured in rollover

The Idaho Statesman reported that a dozer operator was seriously injured Monday during a rollover while he was constructing a helispot on the Raft Fire, part of the Weiser Complex. Timothy Harrison, 55, was hospitalized in critical condition. The U.S. Forest Service is conducting an investigation into the accident.

Arizona Governor to appeal federal aid for Yarnell Hill Fire

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer reportedly plans to appeal the decision by FEMA which declined to provide federal aid for the Yarnell Hill Fire. FEMA’s rationale was that few of the homeowners who lost their residences in the fire did not have insurance. On June 30, 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were killed on the fire.

 

Thanks go out to JW

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Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

6 thoughts on “Wildfire briefing, September 5, 2013”

  1. I think it is a generalization of the fuels not specific to STF or the Groveland fire district. They have been doing fuels work and much of it did slow the progress of the fire and reduce intensities. Unfortunately those treatments did not line up with timing of suppression actions or have the right resources in the right place to take advantage of the treatments.

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    1. Who is responsible?
      I believe that ultimately the responsibility comes back to us the citizens. We support funding or we don’t support funding. We take the trouble to find out to how our forests are managed, or we don’t bother. And if we do bother, we make our point heard … or we stay comfortably silent. And those of us who have our own timber – perhaps we don’t manage it responsibly through lack of knowledge, lack of money, lack of time or lack of realization that we are stewards and that it matters.

      In the same way we’ve allowed our water to be contaminated through industrial and farm runoff; we’ve allowed our clean air to become polluted; we find it more convenient to drive our car than take the bus. We’ve accepted that economic interests are more important than environmental ones. One could go on and on.

      I think the buck ultimately stops with us as individuals – in our own behavior, in our vote, in our voice or silence.

      Who is responsible? The “who”? That’s us.

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  2. The start of the Rim fire is one thing but the forest management is another.
    Who is responsible for allowing a forest to degrade to the point that it
    becomes un-controllable?

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