News and opinion about wildland fire
The National Interagency Coordination Center has released a massive compilation of wildfire occurrence and mobilization statistics for 2010. The 70 pages of data is broken up into 5 .pdf documents that can be found HERE. Much of it is very interesting and points out the fact that the 2010 fire season was much less active than normal. (We provided some data on this subject on December 10.)
Below we include some excerpts from the report:
The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission conducted a 45-acre prescribed fire yesterday near Morganton, which was especially appropriate since the state has declared this week to be Prescribed Fire Week. With adequate recent moisture and snow in the forecast, conditions are thought to be ideal for treating the area with fire.
The above photo is another in the series of winners that we are highlighting from the 2010 National Park Service Fire and Aviation Photo Contest. This photo was taken by Mike Johnson of the National Park Service’s Midwest Regional Office and took second place in the Wildland and Prescribed Fire category. It was shot in Wind Cave National Park. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Wildfire training for military veterans 
The Southwest Conservation Corps is administering a job training program for veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Called the Veterans Green Corps, the 12 to 14 week course helps them to gain experience in natural resource and wildland fire careers. Here is an excerpt from an article at www.good.is:
Military experience sometimes translates poorly onto civilian resumes. Sarah Castinada, a former Army medic, used to jump out of planes into drop zones with the 82nd Airborne. Specialist Tony Lagouranis served as an Army interrogator in Iraq. Lew Sovocool, an officer with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, possesses technical skills attractive to employers, but will likely never replicate the level of responsibility he had as a program manager of a $200 million Afghan Army infrastructure program.
Many vets are still dealing with the psychological effects of war—19 percent of all troops returning from Iraq and 11.3 percent coming home from Afghanistan suffer mental health problems—and some VGC corpsmembers claim the time spent outdoors among fellow veterans has helped alleviate anxiety and post traumatic stress. For most though, VGC simply speaks to the sense of valor, unity, and service that first attracted them to the military.
Amy Foss, Southwest Conservation Corps’ Director of Operations, recounts the words she hears repeatedly from these vets, “I’m not broken. I don’t need help. I need job skills.”
The work isn’t easy. For some, cutting firebreaks and sawyering ladder fuels (combustible vegetation like dead trees) is the hardest test of their endurance since basic training. VGC corpsmembers attend chainsaw training, fire behavior, and wildland firefighting courses through local forest partners to earn their “Red Cards.” With this qualification and experience, they can build toward adrenaline-rich positions on hotshot and smokejumper crews suppressing wildfires from land and air. Coupling their certifications from VGC with a veterans’ preference for employment at federal agencies, a future in wildland fire mitigation holds real promise.
Below is a video that features an interview with Sarah Castinada, a former Army medic.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors selected a new chief of the Los Angeles County Fire Department yesterday, voting to promote 27-year veteran Chief Deputy Daryl Osby to the position. Osby was in charge of the department’s Business Operations which contains the following bureaus: Prevention (which also includes the Department’s Forestry Division), Administrative, Special Services, Employee Relations, and Professional Performance.
Here is an excerpt from the LA Times:
…He was selected from a group of department insiders and inherits an agency long considered among the leaders in firefighting tactics and strategy. In addition to traditional structure and water-rescue units, the department has a large Air and Wildland Division that includes camp crews, bulldozer units and water-dropping helicopters. It has an annual budget of $923-million.
The department’s current chief, P. Michael Freeman, 65, is one of the county’s most respected officials and has held the post for more than two decades. County supervisors have been reluctant to let Freeman go and successfully lobbied Sacramento to pass a law in 2005 allowing him to keep the job past the mandatory retirement age of 60.
In 2009, Freeman announced his retirement, but the supervisors talked him into staying for more than a year longer.
Freeman will step down next month after salary negotiations with Osby are complete.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on NPS fire photo contest, 1st place in Wildland and Prescribed Fire 
The above photo is another in the series of winners that we are highlighting of the 2010 National Park Service Fire and Aviation Photo Contest. This photo was taken by Mike Lewelling of Rocky Mountain National Park and took first place in the Wildland and Prescribed Fire category. It was shot in Crater Lake National Park. Click on the photo to see a larger version.
