Cigar-smoking firefighter

Bill w-cigar

The footage of the cigar-smoking Fire Boss in the 1969 US Forest Service film “Man Against Fire” reminded of a couple of photos from 1972. Pictures of, uh, some guy who only smokes them occasionally these days.

I miss the aluminum hard hats.

Bill w-cigar

I’m not sure who took the photos, but it may have been Tom Sadowski.

Wildfire potential, February through May, 2013

The Predictive Services section at the National Interagency Fire Center has issued their Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for February through May, 2013. If the predictions are accurate wildfire activity in February and March should be normal or below normal, except for portions of Colorado, Kansas, Hawaii, and Florida.

February wildfire potential

March wildfire potential

April-May wildfire potential

More details from the NIFC report:

February

  • Precipitation deficits and long term extreme drought contribute to above normal significant wildland fire potential in the central Plains.
  • Periodic precipitation across the Mississippi and Ohio Valleys, central Gulf States and the mid-Atlantic will keep below normal significant wildland fire potential in much of the east.
  • Long term drought in Hawaii will keep above normal significant wildland fire potential on the Big Island.

March

  • The seasonal increase in fire across Florida will be amplified to above normal significant wildland fire potential by ongoing very dry conditions.
  • Late winter storm track will continue across the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys, keeping significant wildland fire potential below normal.
  • Drought continues in Hawaii.

April and May

  • Spring pre-greenup potential and long term drought keep parts of the Southeast, Oklahoma and Arkansas in above normal significant wildland fire potential.
  • Good winter precipitation and lingering spring precipitation keep the southern Appalachians and parts of mid-Atlantic below normal significant wildland fire potential.

The future of wildfire management? The Minority Report?

Minority Report
A scene from the movie Minority Report, starring Tom Cruise

Researchers at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, which is affiliated with the Department of Homeland Security, must have seen the movie Minority Report too many times. The video below which been around for a couple of years teases how the lab is developing future work environments for the emergency management community called Precision Information Environments (or PIEs). PIEs will hopefully provide tailored access to information and decision support capabilities in a system that supports the multiple user roles, contexts, and phases of emergency management, planning, and response.


Do you think the windshield of a fire vehicle will ever be able to instantly transform into a huge computer monitor?

Thanks go out to Jim

NPS releases report on Lassen National Park’s Reading Fire

Reading Fire
Reading Fire. Photo by Lassen National Park.

The National Park Service has released a report about last summer’s Reading Fire in Lassen Volcanic National Park in California which, after being monitored for two weeks and burning 95 acres, grew to 28,079 acres, escaping the park boundaries. The fire started from a lightning strike on July 23, 2012 and was contained on August 22. For the first two weeks it was managed under a “Wildland Fire for Resource Benefit” strategy.

Reading Fire, final perimeter
Final perimeter (in red) of the Reading Fire. The green line is the boundary of Lassen Volcanic National Park.

The expectation was that they could stop the fire when it reached the Lassen National Park Highway, about a mile north of the point of origin. On August 6 when the fire was 140 acres the Type 4 Incident Commander transitioned to a Type 3 IC. Later in the day the fire ran for about a mile and a half, blowing right across the 2-lane highway. Then a Type 2 Incident Managment Team was ordered, which eventually transitioned to a Type 1 IMTeam on August 13. When the fire was contained it had burned 11,071 acres of US Forest Service land outside the park boundaries and 75 acres privately owned, for a total of 28,079 acres. By August 23 the National Park Service had spent $15,875,495 observing, managing, and later suppressing the fire.

As we have stated before, managing a fire with your hands tied by utilizing little to no aggressive suppression action, is extremely difficult, requiring an extraordinary amount of skill, knowledge, expertise, experience, and luck. Especially if the fire starts in mid-July, leaving 6 to 12 weeks of weather ahead that is conducive to rapid fire spread. Few people can do this. It is impossible to predict accurately how weather will affect a fire more than 10 days ahead.

Here are some some excerpts from the 53-page report:
Continue reading “NPS releases report on Lassen National Park’s Reading Fire”

Powerline training for wildland firefighters

The Salt River Project, an Arizona utility company, collaborated with the Coconino National Forest to produce the training video below that discusses dangers and safety practices for wildland firefighters working near powerlines. The Missoula Technology Development Center reviewed the video and found it suitable for training wildland firefighters.

The video explains:

  • The roles and responsibilities of the utility company.
  • How water, foam, retardant, or smoke can conduct electricity to the ground or across powerlines.
  • Aircraft safety near powerlines.
  • The difference between “step potential” and “touch potential” and how to respond accordingly.
  • How to safely exit and move away from a vehicle energized by a downed powerline.

U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management employees can access the video on the internal Forest Service network at http://fsweb.mtdc.wo.fs.fed.us/programs/fire/video/safety.htm

Mastication Treatments in Southwestern Forests

The Southwest Fire Science Consortium has produced a video that explains the advantages and disadvantages of masticating wildland vegetation, or fuels.

The video is very well planned and produced, cramming a great deal of information into an 11-minute presentation. The videography is first-rate, the speakers do an excellent job, and the sound, thanks to the use of a remote microphone, is high quality. My only suggestion for improving a very technical video like this is to ask the people that are representing their agency and presented as experts to wear their uniforms, and especially to ditch the coveralls and Hawaiian shirts. It could enhance the credibility and professionalism. Having worked for both the U.S. Forest Service and the National Park Service, it is surprising how different the two agencies are about this. The USFS has virtually no policies that are enforced about how and when to wear their uniform in the field, while the NPS, at least in some parks, goes to the other extreme, even requiring ties for many of their employees as part of the winter uniform.