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Using an air curtain to burn bug tree debris

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Air CurtainI have heard of air curtains, but had not seen one being used until today. After Hurricane Andrew devastated a large section of south Florida in 1992, an air curtain was used to dispose of a huge pile of debris, which for a while was the highest point in the state.

An air curtain is not terribly sophisticated. It simply pumps air into the area where material is burning. The extra air flow and oxygen greatly shortens the time it takes to burn the fuel.

Air CurtainWednesday I visited a site near Custer, South Dakota where Bayfield, Colorado based NRG Consulting Services is conducting contract work on private land. They are thinning and reducing the fuel around structures as well as cutting and burning beetle-infested trees.

Some of the thinned trees and  bug trees they are cutting are green, partially green, or at least have a moisture content high enough to make it impossible to burn in a conventional slash pile right away. But if they wait for the wood to dry out enough to burn, the beetles will hatch and disperse to other trees.

Air CurtainThe air curtain makes it possible to burn the high-moisture content wood immediately.

The portable unit they were using Wednesday has a movable ceramic-lined firebox mounted to a dual-axle trailer. The box is raised and lowered by a hydraulic lift system. Once on site, the fire box, which has no bottom or floor, is lowered to the ground. So the burning occurs on the ground, surrounded by the box. If you notice the line of holes in the wall of the box in the photo below, that’s where the air comes out at a fairly high velocity. A small diesel engine powers the blower and the hydraulics that raises and lowers the fire box.

Air Curtain

While I was at the site the system was producing virtually no smoke. The photo below shows what was left after a full day of use. At the end of the day they let it sit overnight, then the next morning they may raise the fire box and move it to a different location.

Air Curtain

While a fire in an air curtain is less likely than a burn pile to escape, there is some fire hazard associated with the system. At one point I happened to look down at the sleeve of my cotton shirt and saw a small burning ember about the size of a gnat. I brushed it off and saw that it left a small burn mark on my shirt. Then I noticed that the cotton shirt of the crew boss had at least a dozen holes just like the new one in my shirt. The gentleman closest to the machine, the person feeding it, was shrewdly wearing a Nomex shirt. I looked around and didn’t see any spot fires in the area. I was told that a burning permit is required to operate an air curtain in the Black Hills of South Dakota.

Air Curtain, burned shirt

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Map of multiple tornado paths in Moore, Oklahoma

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(Originally published at 4:09 p.m. CT, May 21, 2013; see update below, May 22)

No doubt you have heard about the massive and very tragic tornado that devastated large sections of Moore, Oklahoma Monday. Our sincere condolences go out to those that are affected by the loss of life and property.

ESRI has put together the map below which not only shows the path of Monday’s tornado, but you can configure it to also show the paths of the two tornadoes that went through the town in 1999 and 2003 — click on “Layers”, then check the boxes. You may need to zoom out to see all three of them. (All three tornado paths may not display perfectly with Internet Explorer or a mobile device.)

Response of land management agencies and wildland firefighters

We are not aware of any large numbers of widland firefighters or Federal/State interagency incident management teams being assigned. If that changes, we’ll update this area in the article.

UPDATE at 8:58 a.m. CT, May 22, 2013:

There is still no word of large numbers of wildland firefighters or land management agency personnel being assigned to the incident. But here is what FEMA is mobilizing, as of 5:11 p.m. May 21:

  • Preliminary damage assessment teams, comprised of representatives from the state, FEMA and the Small Business Administration, are on the ground and will begin assessments today, and more counties and additional forms of assistance may be designated after the assessments are fully completed.
  • Three national Urban Search and Rescue Teams (Texas Task Force 1, Nebraska Task Force 1 and Tennessee Task Force 1) and an Incident Support Team have been deployed to support the immediate response efforts.
  • One national and two regional Incident Management Assistance Teams are deployed to the state emergency operations center in Oklahoma City to coordinate with state and local officials in support of recovery operations.
  • Two Mobile Emergency Response Support Teams are in Oklahoma to provide self-sustaining telecommunications, logistics, and operations support elements, to assist in the immediate response needs and additional teams are being deployed.
  • Three Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams are scheduled to arrive later today into communities to perform the Assess, Inform, and Report (AIR) Missions, a tool to help federal, state, local, tribal and territorial partners gather detailed information on the affected areas during the critical first hours, days and weeks after a disaster strikes. DSATs will address immediate and emerging needs of disaster survivors including: on-site registration, applicant status checks, on-the-spot needs assessments, and access to partners offering survivor services.
  • FEMA activated the National Response Coordination Center in Washington, D.C., a multi-agency coordination center that provides overall coordination of the federal response to natural disasters and emergencies, to support state requests for assistance, and FEMA’s Region VI Response Coordination Centers (RRCC) located in Denton, Texas remains activated.

UPDATE at 4:43 p.m. CT, May 21, 2013: 

The National Park Service has two two Search and Rescue Liaison Officers assigned. One liaison is working with FEMA at the ESF#9 cell in DC, the other is deployed with the FEMA IST in Moore, OK. NPS has one FEMA Mission Assignment for SAR coordination and planning. The primary focus is on urban and wide-area search and rescue. All forces are still working in a “rescue” posture.

Information from FEMA

Below is information from FEMA about their response as of 5:30 a.m. ET Tuesday:

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“In response, the Oklahoma EOC fully activated to Level I and the President declared Major Disaster Declaration FEMA-4117-DR for the State of Oklahoma.

FEMA Region VI RRCC is activated to Level II, with a regional IMAT and LNOs deployed to Oklahoma’s SEOC. Additionally, the Regional Administrator remains in contact with State officialsTwo (2) Individual Assistance (IA), Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA)Teams arrived at 1:15 a.m. EDT, May 21, 2013. Denton MERS is deploying one (1) mobile emergency operations vehicle (MEOV) and one (1) initial response vehicle (IRV).

FEMA’s NRCC is activated to Level II (w/ESFs, 1-3, 6-9, 15 and all LNOs). National IMAT-White is activated and deploying to Oklahoma. FEMA Logistics ADVON and Main Body ISB personnel and ISB equipment cache will deploy to Will Roger Airport (Haggar Facility), Oklahoma City, OK. Urban Search and Rescue Task Task Forces TX-TF1, NE-TF1 & TN-TF1 are activated/deploying to Will Roger Airport (Haggar Facility), Oklahoma City, OK.”

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Fallout from the Devils Tower escaped prescribed fire

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Two newspapers, at least, are running a story following up on the May 7 prescribed fire in Devils Tower National Monument that escaped during mopup operations the following day and burned 56 acres outside the project boundary. All except one or two of those “bonus acres” were inside the Monument. The small amount that crossed over the boundary unfortunately burned land leased by Wyoming state Senator Ogden Driskill, but did not damage any structures.

The Billings Gazette and the Rapid City Journal published the same article written by Kevin Woster of the Rapid City Journal. Senator Driskill’s wife, Rosanne Driskill was quoted as saying:

Fire is a legitimate management tool. Farmers and ranchers use it themselves,” Rosanne Driskill said. “But you don’t do it in your front yard or on the face of a national monument.

However, the Monument’s Chief Ranger, Drew Gilmour, thankfully disagreed, saying that is exactly where you want to do it in order to control invasive plants and reduce fallen timber and other snags that can fuel future wildfires.

Meadow prescribed fire, Devils Tower NM

File photo of the Meadow prescribed fire, Devils Tower National Monument, May, 2000. NPS photo.

Devils Tower has conducted many prescribed fires without any escapes until this year. But a few of the locals have previously been vocal in their opposition. Around 1996 or 1997, one of the projects burned a little hotter than anticipated and took out a pretty good sized patch of Ponderosa Pine on the east side below the tower —  the most visible aspect that can easily be seen from the main highway and as visitors drive into the entrance road. One local citizen was quoted as saying, “The Monument is ruined for generations!”. Since then many of the trees killed in that fire have fallen, and much of the downed wood was probably consumed in the May 7 prescribed fire.

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California utility agrees to pay $37 million for 2007 fire

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Southern California Edison (SCE) has agreed to pay $37 million for starting the Canyon Fire in October, 2007 near Malibu, California, which burned 4,565 acres and 22 structures, including the Malibu Presbyterian Church. Investigators determined three utility poles that fell were overloaded with electrical equipment and wires, in violation of state regulations. Under the agreement, SCE would pay a $20 million fine to the state and spend $17 million on improving the safety of their utility pole network.

The agreement still has to be approved by the state utilities commission.

The poles were co-owned and also held equipment for four cell phone companies, AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and NextG, all of which have already reached agreements about the fire, and expect to pay a total of $26.5 in fines.

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A fire for every experience

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I belonged to no one — who belonged to everyone, who had nothing — who wanted everything with a fire for every experience and an obsession for freedom that terrified me to the point that I couldn’t even talk about — and pushed me to a nomadic point of madness that both dazzled and dizzied me.

That is a line from the music video Ride by Lana Del Rey. It is the first time I have seen the word fire used like that. She may be saying that everything she experiences should be epic, intense, and burned into her memory. What do you think she means?

In the video she is, to me anyway, mostly incoherent. But the images are artistic and entertaining. I don’t know why a woman like that would want to hang out with a bunch of old biker dudes. She repeatedly says “let’s ride”. I kept hoping she’d jump onto her own bike and haul ass, but she rides bitch with some guys.

The video is below, and after that, the transcript of what she supposedly is saying.

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“I was in the winter of my life — and the men I met along the road were my only summer. At night I fell asleep with visions of myself dancing and laughing and crying with them. Three years down the line of being on an endless world tour and my memories of them were the only things that sustained me, and my only real happy times. I was a singer, not a very popular one, who once had dreams of becoming a beautiful poet — but upon an unfortunate series of events, saw those dreams dashed and divided like a million stars in the night sky that I wished on over and over again — sparkling and broken. But I didn’t really mind because I knew that it takes getting everything you ever wanted and then losing it to know what true freedom is.

When the people I used to know found out what I had been doing, how I had been living — they asked me why. But there’s no use in talking to people who have a home, they have no idea what it’s like to seek safety in other people, for home to be wherever you lie your head.
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