On Monday National Public Radio’s flagship station in Southern California, KCRW, interviewed Brianna Sacks, a Buzzfeed News reporter who has been covering the hiring and retention problems faced by the U.S. Forest Service and other federal agencies that have wildland fire responsibilities.
“The burnout is really real for these firefighters who are making no money. They make their living doing thousands of hours of overtime and they still can’t afford to make ends meet,” Sacks tells KCRW. “They’ve been leaving en masse, hemorrhaging firefighters to go to CalFire, PG&E, or private sector jobs. And they’ve also been part of the great resignation with the pandemic.”
You can listen to the entire 8-minute interview by clicking below.
36 air miles west-southwest of Socorro, New Mexico
Updated at 7 p.m. MDT May 2, 2022
Map Bear Trap Fire May 1, 2022.
At noon on Sunday May 1 the Bear Trap Fire started in Bear Trap Canyon in the Cibola National Forest 36 air miles west-southwest of Socorro, New Mexico. At about 4 p.m. the Southwest Coordination Center tweeted that nine air tankers were working the fire — three Very Large Air Tankers (DC-10s) and six Large Air Tankers — plus four Air Tactical aircraft, a Type 3 Incident Management Team, one hand crew, and eight fire engines. That was an aggressive initial attack.
@VentanaRanch who was using an app to monitor the aircraft at the fire, Tweeted at 4:28 p.m., “Non-stop tankers from [Albuquerque] and Silver City.”
On Monday officials said the blaze had burned 1,209 acres. The fire behavior was described as moderate with isolated torching as it spread through pine, pinyon-juniper, and grass.
At 3 p.m. on Sunday the Magdalena weather station not too far from the fire recorded 10 mph winds out of the southwest gusting to 26, with 5 percent relative humidity. The weather forecast for the fire area on Tuesday calls for 25 mph winds out of the southwest gusting to 36 mph with 11 percent relative humidity. Similar conditions are predicted for Wednesday.
An air tanker drops on the Bear Trap Fire, San Mateo Mountains, New Mexico, May 1, 2022; . FS Photo by S. Matt Counts, Cibola NF, and Air Attack.
By Sunday night, based on a rough map of the perimeter, the head of the fire appears to have burned into the footprint of the North Fire which burned 42,000 acres in May of 2016. That fire was not fully suppressed, but the strategy of the Bear Trap fire is full suppression.
With about half a dozen other fires in Arizona and New Mexico, some of them very large, the Type 3 Incident Management Team which will assume command at 6 a.m. Tuesday may run into difficulty competing for firefighting resources.The teams on the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire and the Cerro Pelado Fire have listed as critically needed resources a total of 8 hand crews and 20 engines.
Bear Trap Fire, New Mexico, May 2, 2022; San Mateo Mountains. FS Photo by- S. Matt Counts, Cibola NF and Air Attack.
Angeles National Forest Firefighter Academy. USFS photo.
The Angeles National Forest in Southern California recently conducted a four-week Firefighter Academy. The 100 trainees were hired under a fairly recently granted authority of direct hiring for GS-5 Senior Firefighters. This hiring process was approved in order to help mitigate recent challenges in recruiting firefighters. Most of the Academy participants previously had multiple years of experience in wildland fire working for the US Forest Service or other agencies in California or across the country.
Another method for placing personnel into Senior Firefighter positions that has been used for years is the Wildland Firefighter Apprenticeship Program, a 3,000 hour on-the-job learning program, which includes a two month-long residential firefighting academy at the Wildland Fire Training Center in McClellan, California.
The direct hire process and the Academy help make it more feasible to achieve the agency’s goal of increasing the number of firefighters in permanent positions to 80 percent, with only 20 percent in seasonal positions. Many of the seasonals who were limited to working only 1,039 hours a year, not counting overtime, will now be in “permanent seasonal” 18 and 8 jobs, with guaranteed employment and full benefits for 18 of the 24 pay periods each year.
A person with knowledge of the program who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the Forest Service told Wildfire Today that the goals of the Academy were to level the playing field, to cover the curriculum the trainees would have had if they had gone through the Apprenticeship program, and to ensure that they all had at least an intermediate level of training along with exposure to multiple aspects of the fire management program.
There were many logistical issues that had to be accomplished before the four-weeks of training began. Those were handled by a Battalion Chief with Engine Captains and Hotshot Captains from throughout the Angeles National Forest. One of the most time-consuming projects was to provide uniforms for each of the 100 trainees upon their arrival. That required collecting clothing size data from everyone, then ordering, receiving, and finally sorting and issuing the garments at the beginning of the training.
The courses completed in the Academy included:
L280 – Followership to Leadership
S131 – Firefighter Type 1
S219 – Firing Operations
S260 – Interagency Incident Business Management
S270 – Basic Air Operations
S290 – Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior
Applied Skills Wildland Firemanship
Incident Size-ups
Sand Table and Simtable Fire simulations
Helicopter Target Descriptions
Avenza Setup and Use
A219 Prerequisites
A100 – Basic Aviation
A110 – Aviation Transportation of Hazardous Materials
A117 – Fixed Wing Hand Signals
A200 – Mishap Review
Physical Training Test (1.5mi run, Pushups, Situps, & Pullups)
CRM – Crew Resource Management (7 Skills)
Work Capacity Test Arduous Level
Angeles National Forest Firefighter Academy. USFS photo.
Map of the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 10:25 p.m. May 2. The white line was the perimeter about 24 hours before. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:28 a.m. MDT May 3, 2022.
In spite of satellite photos showing massive amounts of smoke being generated by the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire, information released by the incident management team indicated that firefighters were able to make progress in several key areas of the fire on Monday. Large firing operations were conducted to widen fire lines and remove fuels ahead of a wind shift that could threaten communities.
The fire grew Monday to 145,854 acres, an increase of about 25,000 acres.
Satellite photo showing smoke created by wildfires in New Mexico, 5:46 p.m. MDT May 2, 2022. NOAA.
In addition to other aircraft, three DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers worked the fire Monday, dropping a total of nearly 28,000 gallons of retardant.
Structure protection crews have been removing fuels around buildings and securing lines around populated areas.
A Red Flag Warning is in effect Tuesday for nearly the entire state of New Mexico. The weather forecast is for 25 mph winds gusting out of the southwest at 37 mph with relative humidity of 12 percent. There is a slight chance of showers in the afternoon. On Wednesday the wind speeds will decrease to 20 mph from the west with the minimum humidity remaining at 12 percent.
Below are maps of the north and south sides of the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire.
Map of the north side of the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 10:25 p.m. May 2. The white line was the perimeter about 24 hours before. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:28 a.m. MDT May 3, 2022.Map of the south side of the Calf Canyon / Hermits Peak Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 10:25 p.m. May 2. The white line was the perimeter about 24 hours before. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:28 a.m. MDT May 3, 2022.
Resources assigned Monday evening included 20 hand crews, 14 helicopters, and 89 fire engines for a total of 1,085 personnel.
The forecast for wildland fire potential issued May 1 by the National Interagency Fire Center predicts that in July and August the wildland fire potential will be above normal in the Great Plains, Rocky Mountains, and the Northwest. Until then, in May and June it will be above average in the Southwest, Northern California, Central Oregon, and the Central and Southern Plains. Hawaii will be above normal for the entire May through August period, and Alaska will be in the normal range except in May when the central part of the state will be below normal. Most of the eastern half of the country is expected to be in the normal range through August.
The fire potential text and maps from NIFC shown here represents the cumulative forecasts of the ten Geographic Area Predictive Services Units and the National Predictive Services Unit. Additional graphics are included from other sources.
Below:
Excerpts from the NIFC narrative report for the next four months;
Additional NIFC monthly graphical outlooks;
NOAA’s three-month temperature and precipitation forecasts;
Drought Monitor;
Keetch-Byram Drought Index;
Soil moisture.
“Most of the West, Plains, and Texas remain in drought, with areas of drought also along the Gulf Coast and South Florida. Temperatures were above normal across the Southwest into Texas with below normal temperatures across much of the northern US. Below normal precipitation continued in the Southwest into the central and southern Plains. Snowpack continued to rapidly melt in the Southwest, with the below normal snowpack in the Northwest and Rockies melting off at a slow rate.
“Climate outlooks indicate below normal precipitation is likely across much of the Plains west through the central Rockies to the Northwest, with above normal temperatures likely across much of the contiguous US (CONUS) through spring into summer. Critically windy and dry periods are likely to continue through June for the Southwest and central and southern High Plains with an active severe weather pattern to the east over the eastern Plains and Ohio Valley. The North American Monsoon is likely to arrive on time and be robust this summer, but potential early moisture surges during June could result in periods of lightning across the Southwest, Colorado, and the southern Great Basin.
“Above normal significant fire potential is forecast across the western Florida peninsula in May. The southern High Plains will retain above normal significant fire potential through August, with much of the Plains forecast to have above normal potential by July and spread into the western Mid-Mississippi Valley in August after green-up and subsequent curing occurs due to anticipated warmer and drier than normal conditions.
“Most of the Southwest is forecast to have above normal significant fire potential in May and June, with potential increasing across southern and western Colorado and southern portions of the Great Basin before returning to normal in July. Above normal potential will likely expand from central Oregon to southwest Oregon and central Washington by July and much of the Northwest in August. Above normal significant fire potential is also forecast to increase across northern California from May into July, with rising potential likely along portions of the Sierra Front. Alaska is forecast to have below normal potential across the Interior in May, returning to normal in June. Leeward locations of Hawaii are forecast to have above normal potential during June and July.”
Three-month precipitation and temperature outlook, May through July, 2022. Created April 21, 2022.
S-2T air tanker drops on the Cactus Fire, April 30, 2022. @BrookesLori.
Yesterday firefighters stopped the spread of a wildfire in Southern California in the San Bernardino National Forest after it burned about 35 acres in Cactus Flats east of Big Bear Lake. Soon after it started it was putting up a smoke plume with occasional puffs of dense black smoke. The incident commander ordered a total of six fixed wing air tankers which assisted firefighters as they installed a hose lay around the perimeter.
Cactus Fire, April 30, 2022. @jojacalienteCactus Fire, April 30, 2022. San Bernardino NF photo.Map showing the location of aircraft over the Cactus Fire at 3:17 p.m. PDT April 30, 2022. ADS-B Exchange.
The video below was shot by the FIRIS aircraft at 2:22 p.m. PDT April 30, 2022.
