August 2009 - Page 19 of 19

747 Supertanker drops on Alaska fire

The 747 air tanker made two free drops on the Railbelt complex in Alaska on Friday. Evergreen, who built and operates the “Supertanker”, made the drops at no cost to Fairbanks Area Forestry in an effort to demonstrate the capabilities of the aircraft. They made two drops, dispensing a total of 20,000 gallons of retardant.

This was the first time the aircraft has dropped on a live fire in North America. Last week they made a similar demonstration drop on a fire in Spain, which was the first time they had dropped on an actual fire.

In spite of the 747 drops, the Railbelt complex grew by 67,000 acres on Friday, for a new total of 443,447 burned acres.

Smokejumpers, hand crews, and hot shot crews are protecting 226 cabins that are threatened along the Tanana, Teklanika, Toklat and Kantishna Rivers. On Friday smokejumpers delivered an all terrain vehicle by paracargo to a crew at Totek Lake.

Smoke from fires in Alaska on Friday caused two Northwest Airlines flights scheduled to land in Fairbanks to be diverted to Anchorage.

Wildfire Economics: new information & approach

Below is some information sent out today by Dr. Bob Zyback, PhD, Program Manager of the Oregon Websites & Watersheds Project, Inc.

Here is a link to a new article and analytical tool I coauthored with three other experts in forestry and wildfire science:

http://www.wildfirelessons.net/Additional.aspx?Page=240

Our basic finding is that the US experiences 10 to 50 times more costs and losses due to wildfire every year than the $1-2 billion in suppression costs commonly reported by USFS representatives and the media — that is, US taxpayers are losing $20-$100 billion (or more) a year in such wildfire related damages as escalating fire management costs, human deaths, public health problems, air pollution, soil degradation, wildlife habitat destruction, structural damage, water pollution, etc.

Our article provides several recent examples to support this claim and — more importantly — offers a developing methodology for better accounting of these damages in order to lessen their impacts via better preparedness, improved fire management, and efficient mitigation actions.

We believe this information is important and timely and may lead directly to the savings of many lives, homes, and public and private resources. Our intended audience is foresters and fire managers, public media, elected county officials, and interested public: US taxpayers. Our intended purpose is to reduce dangers and damages resulting from these predictable (and often preventable) events, via education, research, and field application.

Please consider this information and pass on to others whom you feel may be interested, or might otherwise benefit, from our findings and recommendations.

Sincerely,

Dr. Bob Zybach, PhD

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