$50 million in claims over escaped prescribed fire reportedly denied

Pautre Fire origin
USFS photo from the report on the escaped prescribed fire, the Pautre Fire, in North Dakota and South Dakota.

The Associated Press is reporting that the Department of Agriculture, in a letter signed by Department Secretary Tom Vilsack, is denying $50 million in claims filed by sixteen ranchers and landowners over a prescribed fire that escaped and burned 10,679 acres in North Dakota and South Dakota.

The “Pasture 3B” prescribed fire was planned to be 210 acres on the Dakota Prairie National Grasslands, but strong winds on April 3, 2013 caused by the predicted passage of a cold front pushed the fire across a mowed fire line into tall grass and ultimately burned 10,679 acres, (3,519 acres federal and 7,160 acres private). The wildfire, named Pautre Fire, was stopped at 11 p.m. that night.

In explaining the denial, Secretary Vilsack said the Forest Service relied on forecasts from the National Weather Service in Rapid City, South Dakota, that ultimately proved inaccurate.

In February, 2014 the US Forest Service released a report about the fire, called a “Facilitated Learning Analysis. The issues listed by the document included:

  • Improved weather forecasts are needed.
  • Consider additional research on methods to predict effects of drought on fire behavior in grass fuel models.
  • The nearest remote automated weather station (RAWS) is more than 90 miles away.
  • The project was conducted at the critical edge of the prescription.
  • Consider gaming out worst case scenario “what ifs” during the planning process, and discuss with participants during the on-site briefing.
  • There were problems with radio communications [note from Bill: I don’t remember EVER seeing a report like this that did not cite radio communications as being an issue].

Fire threatens campus of University of Mary

University of Mary wildfire

On April 14 a wildfire burned up to the campus of the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota. The entire campus and 20 nearby homes were evacuated. The staff cleared out the school buildings and dorms, and school buses were on hand to transport students without vehicles to the Lewis Goodhouse Wellness Center, at the United Tribes Technical College. The University remained closed overnight. There were no reports of damage to any structures on the campus.

Burning coal falling from truck may have started multiple fires in North Dakota

If this story is true, it is completely new to me as an ignition source for a wildland fire. Why would burning coal be on a truck?

Below is an excerpt from an article at TwinCities.com:

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Grass fires along a roughly 60-mile stretch of Interstate 29 Wednesday could have been caused by burning pieces of coal falling from a truck’s conveyor and onto the road, according to Walsh County Sheriff Ron Jurgens.

The truck was traveling south from Walhalla, N.D., toward Grand Forks, he said.

“Every time the wind would gust, it would blow some … onto the roadway,” said Jurgens Thursday.

Jurgens said a vehicle dragging its chains “had nothing to do” with fires along I-29, as had been reported earlier.

Fires popped up all along the route the truck took, Jurgens said, from Walhalla, along North Dakota Highway 5, south down I-29, to Grand Forks.

Smoke from North Dakota wildfire causes pileup on interstate highway

Posted on Categories UncategorizedTags

From the AP:

BISMARCK, North Dakota — Authorities have blamed smoke from wildfires for a multiple-vehicle pileup on Interstate 29 in northeastern North Dakota that sent eight people to the hospital.

Injuries in the crash Wednesday ranged from minor to critical, the North Dakota Highway Patrol told KFGO radio. Hospital officials told WDAZ-TV early Thursday that seven people were admitted and one has been released.

Seven vehicles were involved in the crash, and two semitrailers collided nearby. It happened close to Manvel while hundreds of firefighters were working to contain multiple grass fires along a 60-mile stretch of the highway, KFGO reported.

“The reduced visibility is what caused the crashes to begin with, and people not slowing down to the conditions of the road,” Highway Patrol Trooper Ryan Mugan told WDAZ.

State transportation officials shut down the interstate from Grand Forks to the Canadian border for a time due to the smoke. The highway reopened Wednesday evening.

Casselton train derailment

Casselton train derailment
A still image from a video of the Casselton train derailment, showing a very impressive mushroom cloud of flame.

So, you pull up to the scene of a railroad accident in your Type 6 wildland fire engine with 150 gallons of water……

You probably heard about the train derailment on Monday of oil-carrying railroad cars one mile outside Casselton, North Dakota. The video below, shot by by Darrin Radermacher, shows one of the half dozen explosions heard by residents of the town.

Two trains were involved in the accident. BNSF spokeswoman Amy McBeth said the train carrying grain derailed first, then knocked several cars of the oil train off adjoining tracks. BNSF said both trains had more than 100 cars.

The railroad crew was able to detach and remove from the scene about 80 cars of the oil train. Firefighters, unable to get near the fire, were allowing it to burn itself out. By nightfall on Monday the flames had diminished and the temperature had dropped to 15 below with a windchill of 32 below.

Let’s root for the Wildfire

Let’s root for the Wildfire! No, not THAT kind of wildfire. There is a school in North Dakota whose sports teams are named “Wildfire”.

Wildfire football team
Wildfire football team at Mott/Regent School in North Dakota. This appears to be the Junior High team. Mott/Regent School photo.

The Mott/Regent School in Mott, North Dakota (map) is the proud home of the Wildfire football team — with a distinguished record, according to their website. In their nine-man football division, they were state champions in 2007, made it to the state semi-finals 2010, and to the state Quarter-Finals in 2006 and 2011.

Other sports teams at the school are also called Wildfire, including basketball and track. The last line of their school song is:

…and rage on to Victory!

Their website proudly says:

Home of the Wildfire

I asked how they came up the the name. When the schools in the two towns, Mott and Regent, consolidated, they held a contest for a new name, and Wildfire was the winner.

So lets root for the Wildfire this year.

It’s good to have a schedule for Wildfire, don’t you think?:

Wildfire schedule, 2013

We were able to find a couple of other football teams named Wildfire. Did you know there is a Women’s Spring Football League? I didn’t either. One of the teams in the league is the West Virginia Wildfire. From their website:

The WV Wildfire is a women’s tackle football team based in Charleston, WV. We are proud members of the Women’s Spring Football League in the 8man Division. We began our inagural season in April 2011, through hard work these ladies brought home the National Championship in 2012 after winning thier division and conference titles, along with Bob Koontz as WSFL 8s Division Coach of the Year, and Courtney Cole, WSFL 8s Division MVP.

And, the Birmingham Wildfire was a minor league professional football team that competed in the Southern Conference of the LaBelle Community Football League in 2009.

Thanks go out to Jim