Wildfire at Stones River National Battlefield

Stones River National Battlefield wildfire
Stones River National Battlefield wildfire, November 20, 2013. NPS photo by Ranger Gib.

I admit that I had to look it up to find out where it was, but Stones River National Battlefield near Murfreesboro, Tennessee had a wildfire in the park on Wednesday. Apparently they suppressed it with the help of the local fire department without too much drama. The park has an active prescribed fire program, but this one was not planned.

Ashley McDonald, public information officer for Murfreesboro Fire and Rescue Department, said the fire burned about nine acres.

Stones River National Battlefield wildfire
Stones River National Battlefield wildfire, November 20, 2013. NPS photo.

NPS maps and a few USFS maps available on your hand held device

Today the U.S. Forest Service published this on Twitter:

Being fond of maps, I had to check it out. The link takes you to a USFS website where they advise you to download an app for your smart phone or tablet. For Apple users go to iTunes and search for “Avenza PDF Maps”. At the Google Play Store for Android folks it is named “PDF Maps“. The app is free.

While there are many ways to obtain digital maps, one advantage of this system is that you don’t have to have a connection to the internet to use it. If you’re out of cell phone coverage and your device has a GPS receiver, it can pinpoint your location on the georeferenced map, but you have to download the maps first.

Since the USFS was promoting their maps on this app we checked to see what is available. They are sorted by region number. If you don’t know the number of the region you’re interested in, you will have great difficulty finding the map you need. Only three USFS regions have any maps listed. Their Northern Region, Region 1, has five, and they are all Motor Vehicle Use maps (MVU). The MVU maps are not pleasing to the eye and are not fun to use. The Rocky Mountain Region, R-2, does not list any maps under USFS/ R2, but if you search for “Black Hills” for example, a number of MVU maps show up for the Black Hills National Forest. The USFS Intermountain Region, R-4, has nine maps, all MVU maps for the Boise National Forest. The MVU maps are priced exactly what they are worth, $0.00. The California Region, R-5, has 33 maps listed. They all appear to be their standard visitor map and are probably very useful. They are priced at $4.99 each.

When you are looking for a map, not all of them are located where you would expect and there may be many more USFS maps scattered around the app in nooks and crannies. Searching for a map name might work better than drilling down by Category/Vendor/Subcategory, such as Parks, Forest, & Grasslands/US Forest Service R1/All Subcategories.

The USFS and Avenza need to fix this.

PDF Maps, Yosemite National Park.
Screenshot of PDF Maps on a Nexus 7, Yosemite National Park.

The National Park Service on the other hand has 127 maps available and they are all free. They are not extremely detailed. The Yosemite map (see screen shot above) appears to be a duplicate of the map you are given when you enter the park. It has roads, trails, communities, creeks, bodies of water, and facilities, but not much else. If you’re hiking in the park and get lost, you could pull out your smart phone and figure out where you are, even if you don’t have cell coverage.

There are thousands of other maps available as well. For example, USGS topographical maps at 1:24,000 scale are free, while there is a fee for the 1:100,000 versions. I saw some BLM 1:100,000 maps that were priced at $2.99.

The app can also measure distance and acreage, but it’s rather cumbersome. I was hoping that it could track your location every few seconds as you walked around an area, say, a fire, and it would calculate the size. But instead of tracking your location automatically, you have to move the cross hair to your indicated location at multiple intervals, click, and keep doing that until you’ve circumnavigated the fire.

There are no instructions that come with the app, and I could not figure out how to do the acreage calculation. The user interface, on this Android Version 1.0.2, is not super intuitive.  After a fair amount of searching I found some help on Avenza’s website. (Click on iOS or Android.)

What app do you use to compute acreage?

Here is the way the app is described at Google Play:
Continue reading “NPS maps and a few USFS maps available on your hand held device”

Looking back at California’s Blue Ribbon Report following the fires of 2003

California fires October, 2003
Southern California fires, October 2003. Moving northwest to southeast along the coast, the first cluster of red dots is a combination of the Piru, Verdale, and the Simi Incident Fires; The next cluster-to the east of Los Angeles-is the Grand Prix (west) and Old (east) Fires; To their south is the Roblar 2 Fire; Next is the Paradise Fire; Then the massive Cedar Fire, whose thick smoke is completely overshadowing the coastal city of San Diego; Finally, at the California-Mexico border is the Otay Fire. (A fire in Baja California is also visible.) NASA photo.

It has been a decade since numerous large fires burned hundreds of thousands of acres in southern California in late October, 2003.

Some of the larger ones included Piru, Grand Prix, Old, Paradise, Padua, Simi, Roblar 2, Verdale, Mountain, and Otay. And the Cedar Fire east of San Diego is still ranked as the largest fire in the recorded history of California. The first night it killed 14 people. The fire burned 273,246 acres, and destroyed 2,232 homes in eastern San Diego County. While trying to defend a house near Santa Ysabel, fire Captain Steven Rucker, 38, from the Novato Fire Department was overrun by the fire and killed.

After that fire season the Blue Ribbon Fire Commission’s subsequent 232-page report made more than 40 recommendations. The Sacramento Bee summarized the status of some that were more notable:

  • Allocating “sufficient funds” to state and local fire agencies to address California’s fire prevention and suppression needs. Status: Budget cuts reduced funding. A new fire-prevention fee generated an estimated $85 million in the 2012-13 fiscal year.
  • Replacing and diversifying Cal Fire’s “aging helicopter fleet.” Status: Cal Fire is finishing up design specifications for a helicopter with night-flighting and other firefighting capabilities.
  • Creating a “multi-layered” public education campaign for people living in fire-prone areas. Status: There is no stand-alone state campaign. A mix of local and nonprofit groups is publicizing the risk.
  • Adopting new building codes for vents, roofing and other features for homes. Status: Codes were passed by Legislature in 2004 and required of new construction in 2008.
  • Expanding vegetation clearance around homes. Status: In 2004, the Legislature increased defensible space from 30 feet to 100 feet.
  • Acquire 150 additional fire engines to address California’s fire suppression needs. Status: The state purchased 19 fire engines in 2008. Twenty-five more engines will be delivered in 2014.

More information:

  • Blue Ribbon Commission’s Report on the 2003 fire season, released in 2004 (warning: large 20 MB .pdf file)
  • September, 2004 update on recommendations
  • November, 2005 update on recommendations
  • January, 2008, Blue Ribbon Fire Task Force Update (including 2007 Southern CA Firestorm)

 

Thanks go out to Ken

Prescribed fire photos

Prescribed fire, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
Prescribed fire, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore near Ogden Dunes in northwest Indiana, NPS photo.
Prescribed fire, Kaibab NF
Prescribed fire, Kaibab National Forest, Arizona, “Wrd Mccracken CP”, November 13, 2013 Inciweb photo
Tunnel Hill Prescribed fire
Tunnel Hill Prescribed fire, Arapaho-Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado, November 14, 2013. USFS photo.

Evacuation and planning during Yarnell Hill Fire criticized

There are reports that residents said they were not notified about evacuation before the Yarnell Hill Fire burned into their town and fled only after they saw the nearby wind-driven fire approaching their house.

Yarnell Hill Fire burns into Yarnell, Arizona
Yarnell Hill Fire burns into Yarnell, Arizona, June 30, 2013. Photo by Joy Collura.

An article written by reporters for the Arizona Republic which also appeared in the USA Today provides details about the evacuation of Yarnell and Glen Ilah, Arizona when the Yarnell Hill Fire burned into the town destroying 127 homes. The article reports that some residents said they were not notified and fled only after they saw the nearby wind-driven fire approaching their house.

The fire burned into the towns on Sunday, June 30, the third day of the fire, the same day that 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were entrapped and killed. The plans the fire organization had in their heads called for short time frames to notify residents and for them to get out of the community. Below is an excerpt from the article:

On that Sunday, residents watched the fire and smoke plumes grow. The wind was blowing the fire toward Peeples Valley, about 3 miles to the north.

That morning, automated emergency alerts went out by phone, text and e-mail to Yarnell residents: Be prepared to evacuate. You will have an hour to get out if evacuation is ordered. You will get another notice beforehand.

State fire officials had established three geographic landmarks that would act as evacuation “trigger points” when the fire reached them. The first, fire officials thought, was far enough away to give residents an hour to get out, according to an investigative report on the fire. A second trigger was set to evacuate firefighters. The third was set for the edge of Yarnell. If flames got there, everyone would have to get out immediately.

[…]

According to the investigative report, a fire official who wasn’t named said the evacuation trigger points were off by more than 50%, meaning the fire reached key points much faster than expected. “The fire outperformed their expectations, even with many knowledgeable people there,” the report said.

The article appears to say that no written Incident Action Plan (IAP) was prepared until Monday, the fourth day of the fire, the day after the 19 fatalities and the loss of 127 homes:

No fire-action plan was written until Monday, the day after the evacuations.

Written plans, which include decision points for evacuations, are standard procedure early in a fire, said Will Spyrison, a 35-year wildfire veteran who has evaluated fire-commander candidates.

If that is true, that no written IAP was prepared until day four of the fire, that helps to explain some of the chaos, supervision problems, and poor decisions that were evident during the first three days.

We were not able to find any reference to a written IAP in the official investigation report on the fire. On page 15 it mentions that in a briefing on day three some of the attendees “review the area using Google Maps on an iPad”. It also said, “Incoming resources receive a communications plan”. If there was no written IAP, it is very odd that important fact was left out of the report. If there WAS one, that very important document would have been mentioned at least once in the 116-page report.

A written IAP does not have to be 40 pages of flowery language, but by the second day of any uncontained fire there should be a few pages passed out to the fire leaders that at least list the Command and General Staff, the Operations Section chain of command, what resources are available, their assignments, communications, evacuation plan if applicable, structure protection plan if applicable, and a map. To not have any of that in writing by day three is bush league and nonprofessional, and can lead to disorganization and safety issues. Firefighters deserve better.

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UPDATE at 2:29 p.m. MST, November 18, 2013:

We confirmed that there were no Incident Action Plans written for any operational periods until the fourth day of the fire, July 1, 2013. Below is a list of IAPs and maps that the investigation team listed on a web site that has these and other documents related to the fire.

Yarnell Hill Fire, list of IAPs and maps

The experiences of a female wildland firefighter in the 1970s

In April we published an excerpt from a book by Linda M. Strader, Summers of Fire: A Memoir, which is about her experience as a wildland firefighter. Today we have an article written by her about what it was like to be one of the few female wildland firefighters during her seven seasons that began in 1976.

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At the naïve age of twenty, I accepted my first firefighting position on the Nogales District of the Coronado National Forest in 1976. Although I knew what the position entailed, I didn’t know for sure what it would be like. However, I wanted this job, and figured the biggest challenge would be the hard physical work.

When I arrived at Florida Ranger Station (pronounced Flor-ee-da) as the only woman on a ten-person suppression crew, my supervisor scrutinized my petite frame and long blond hair. After shaking my hand, he checked my palm for calluses. Then he reached to squeeze my upper arm. While he did this, I smiled, thinking, he doesn’t think I’m strong enough! Immediately I knew I had to prove him wrong.

Linda Strader and Smokey
Smokey and Linda Strader, at the end of her first fire season in 1976.

Soon it became quite apparent I would have to prove to all the men on my crew that I could handle the work, but only by working twice as hard to be accepted. However, it turned out even that wasn’t enough. By mid-summer, many of men on the crew made it perfectly clear they didn’t want me there. They harassed me, made sarcastic and snide remarks, told me I was a burden. At first devastated by the painful comments, I considered giving up. Instead, I persevered. I truly wanted this job.

Over the next two summers, I continued to work hard, standing up to the criticism from, and forming relationships with, the men on my crew. We shared the adventures of a lifetime; from a 50,000 acre wildfire in Northern California, to protecting the city of Flagstaff from burning to the ground. We had fun, too. We built trails and fence, laughed a lot, had water fights, shared secrets, fell in love. The supervisor who doubted me became my best ally.

After three fire seasons, I felt confident I’d proven myself. Then I found out that changing attitudes is not that easy, when I was denied a position on the Catalina Hotshots because I was female. Furious, I filed an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint, only to have it dismissed owing to lack of proof. This injustice only fueled my determination.
Mid-way into my fourth summer with the Forest Service, my supervisor delivered devastating news—the district labeled me a troublemaker for filing that EEO complaint, and I found myself blacklisted. Instead of giving up, I switched to the Bureau of Land Management for the next two summers. First I accept a position in Alaska, where I battled mosquitoes more than fires, and faced life-endangering events – not from fire – but from antics perpetuated by my lunatic boss. Next I took a job in Colorado, gaining confidence as I collected tree harvesting data in the Durango area.

Missing the excitement of firefighting, I returned to the Forest Service in 1982, finally becoming a Hotshot on the crew that denied me the position four years earlier. Unfortunately, an injury ended my career.

What is still amazing to me, is that over thirty years later, not a whole lot has changed. Women still struggle to be accepted in traditional men’s jobs, including the military. While dangerous work isn’t for everyone, I think it’s a personal choice. Everyone should have the chance to pursue whatever it is they love to do.

Follow the progress of my book: Summers of Fire: A memoir at http://summersoffirebook.blogspot.com