Updated at 5:01 p.m. ET (United States) Feb. 27, 2021
South Africa Fire, Feb. 26, 2021. Satellite photo. The red dots represent heat. NASA.
Over the last week the fire in the Western Cape of South Africa has grown to about 13,600 hectares (33,606 acres) as it now spreads into steep terrain that is difficult for firefighters to work in safely.
The fire is just southeast of Stellenbosch, 3.5 km southwest of Franschhoek, and 20 to 24 km east of Cape Town.
There is no additional information about the two firefighters that were injured except that their injuries were described as serious and at last report they are still in the hospital.
Map of a wildfire in South Africa Fire, Feb. 28, 2021. The large red area represents heat at the fire detected by NASA satellites.
From The South African:
[Fire officials] warned that soaring temperatures reaching into the high 30s, accompanied by strong winds expected [Sunday] afternoon, mean that firefighters have their work cut out for them today.
Cape Winelands District Municipality’s Fire Services spokesperson Jo Ann Otto said on Saturday evening that the fire in the valley below Jongkershoek is proving challenging to combat.
“The teams reported repeated flare-ups that were difficult to bring under control due to the hot weather. The firefighters, ground crews, and vehicles will focus their attention on managing this fire during the relative cool of the night. Active firefighting activities and management of flare-ups a will continue throughout the night,” she said.
South Africa Fire, February 26, 2021. Image by Wictory za.
Originally published at 4:55 p.m. ET (United States) Feb. 27, 2021
Fire in South Africa, in the Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch Municipality photo.
Two firefighters that were injured while working on a wildfire in South Africa have been transported to a hospital.
Over the last five days the fire has burned more than 8,000 hectares (19,000 acres) in the Jonkershoek Valley, 10km southeast of Stellenbosch.
Fire in South Africa, in the Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch. TOKARAestae photo.
“Further planning today includes the deployment of aerial resources to water bomb the higher peaks and hot spots,” said Jo-Anne Otto from the Cape Winelands District Municipality on February 27. “The dense smoke and high winds make flying very dangerous, which means that water bombing can only be implemented when there is good visibility and little wind.”
Stellenbosch Mayor Gesie van Deventer said,’’ Aerial support is deployed when visibility and winds allow for this.”
Four helicopters and two single engine air tankers have been dropping water or retardant when conditions permit.
Fire in South Africa, in the Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch. Stellenbosch Municipality photo.Fire in South Africa, in the Jonkershoek Valley in Stellenbosch.A day crew was relieved by two overnight crews. Photo credit- VWS Wildfire.
A hotshot Superintendent who needs a kidney transplant is hoping someone will step forward who can spare one in order to save his life.
Bill Kuche, Superintendent of the Flagstaff Interagency Hotshots is suffering from a kidney disease that started when as a child he contracted an illness that permanently damaged the organ.
His wife has started a GoFundMe page to raise funds for his treatment and to search for a live donor. Here is the text from the site:
BILL (WILLIAM) KUCHE NEEDS A KIDNEY
My name is Lyndsey Kuche, my husband Bill Kuche is the Superintendent of the T1 Flagstaff Interagency Hotshots in Arizona. We celebrated our 20th Wedding Anniversary today! We have 4 children together, Grace is 20, Carson is 19, Dharma is 11, and our adopted son Marcel who we welcomed to our family back in 2015 is also 20. Bill has dedicated his life the past 30 years to wildland firefighting, mentoring others, and has created unlimited opportunities for thousands of firefighters and citizens. Bill has always led a positive life of health, fitness, and unconditional devotion to his family, friends and colleagues.
Bill has Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD), he is in stage 5 of this disease and is desperately in need of a kidney transplant. I’ll offer you some background information of how CKD came into Bill’s life. When Bill was a child, he contracted “Strep Throat” (streptococcal virus). The virus attacked his kidneys and created a condition called “glomerulonephritis”, creating “holes” in both his kidneys. Bill has always demonstrated the ability to persevere throughout his life despite what happened to him when he was a kid.
Now, I am reaching out for help!
If anyone out there is willing to become a “Live Donor” for my husband Bill Kuche, please visit mayoclinic.org/livingdonor to get started.
The average wait time for a deceased organ donor’s kidney is approximately 5 years. Unfortunately, the wait time is not on our side. This fuels my need to reach out to you all asking your help for Bill. Please share this through your networks and help us spread the word in our wildland community to inspire others to become a potential living kidney donor for Bill.
My main priority is to find him a new kidney, as soon as possible. We have some friends who have learned of his need, reached out to me for information and have attempted to become a “Live Donor” for him. But, having gone through the process and screening myself, I know that sometimes the ability to be a live donor can very suddenly not be a possibility. Therefore, abruptly eliminating a person’s altruistic kidney donation to him. This is another reason why I am reaching out to you to help me spread the word.
Thank you for your attention and time to read my letter to you all,
It defines critical, core fire science capabilities for understanding fire-related and fire-responsive earth system processes, and informing management decision making
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is rolling out a new Wildland Fire Science Strategic Plan that guides the activities of their 100 scientists whose research focuses on fire-related topics.
The plan has four integrated priorities, each with associated goals and specific strategies for accomplishing the goals:
Priority 1: Produce state-of-the-art, actionable fire science;
Priority 2: Engage stakeholders in science production and science delivery;
Priority 3: Effectively communicate USGS fire science capacity, products, and information to a broad audience; and
Priority 4: Enhance USGS organizational structure and advance support for fire science.
Here is how the USGS describes the plan:
To help address growing wildfire-related challenges in America, the U.S. Geological Survey is rolling out a new Wildland Fire Science Strategy that lays out the critical needs for wildfire research over the next five years. Released today, this strategy can be used to better understand the balance between fire’s benefits and its detrimental impacts.
Wildfires in the United States can be devastating, with 2017, 2018 and 2020 being particularly damaging and deadly years. The new fire strategy will guide future USGS research and help the agency provide timely and relevant information for land managers to tackle fire risks before they occur, during wildfire response and after the flames go out. It also addresses emerging priorities such as climate change and supporting underserved rural communities and tribes.
Fire monitoring during wildfires helps researchers understand the complex relationships among fuels, fire behavior and fire effects. Fire behavior instruments are deployed during wildfires and prescribed fires to provide data on the types of fire environments that damage archaeological resources. In the photo, equipment is seen being tended to by U.S. Forest Service employees Dan Jimenez and Cyle Wold. The instruments, developed and owned by the USFS Missoula Fire Science Lab, quantify fire behavior on the landscape.(Credit: Rachel Loehman, USGS)
“Now is the time to act, and USGS science is leading the way,” said David Applegate, USGS Associate Director exercising the delegated authority of the USGS Director. “This new fire science strategy provides the roadmap for developing the research, data and technologies that are critically needed to help the country better face future wildfire challenges.”
The USGS employs more than 100 scientists whose research focuses on fire-related topics, including using high-resolution remote sensing to characterize vegetative fuel loads; applying the latest satellite technology to detect fires and map wildfire perimeters; evaluating best practices to reduce wildfire risks; and assessing post-wildfire flooding and debris-flow hazards. This work also includes creating and sharing best practices to support recovery across landscapes. Together, USGS expertise and monitoring capabilities are greatly improving the safety of first responders and the public-at-large.
The new strategy also emphasizes the importance of bridging fire and post-fire science to develop the most effective response, recovery and pre- and post-fire mitigation strategies to reduce risk. It highlights the use of computer simulations to help predict burn severity, which can then pinpoint areas that would likely be vulnerable to hazards during and after fires. Recognizing that post-fire hazards span many branches of science, the strategy integrates different research branches to improve planning for and response to fire-related disasters.
“Cutting-edge research and multidisciplinary teamwork are key to better understanding and addressing wildfire challenges in the 21st century,” said Anne Kinsinger, Associate Director for USGS Ecosystems. “Scientists from different fields – fire ecology, hydrology, geology, remote sensing and botany – are pooling their expertise to evaluate wildfires, linking initial fire behavior to post-fire hazards and applying that information to ecosystem recovery.”
Researchers across the USGS are working with the interagency fire community to expand the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning and other rapid-computing capabilities. For example, the USGS uses artificial intelligence with satellite imagery to detect fire boundaries and develop burn severity maps, and to identify distribution and abundance of fire-adapted invasive species like cheatgrass in the Great Basin.
“This strategy will help the local, state, tribal and federal collaboration to address the wildfire issue that our nation is experiencing,” said Jeff Rupert, Director of the Department of the Interior’s Office of Wildland Fire. “The science needs identified in the strategy will support firefighters that respond to wildfires and prevention efforts to protect communities, resources and people.”
Pre- and post-fire measurements of fire effects help ecologists, fire scientists and managers determine how the severity of wildfires affects plants, animal habitat and ecosystem services. (Credit: Rachel Loehman, USGS)
For example, the USGS is partnering with the Los Alamos National Laboratory and Tall Timbers Research Station to model fire behavior, fire weather patterns, 3D fuel loads and smoke conditions to evaluate how fuel treatments can reduce fire risk across a changing landscape. The USGS is also strengthening its partnerships with the Fire Science Exchange Network to foster increased access and use of its fire information, data and tools while learning about needs of practitioners in the field.
The USGS Wildland Fire Science Strategy aligns with national initiatives as defined in the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. Developed by a broad swath of stakeholders at all levels, the Cohesive Strategy calls for science and management that promote resilient landscapes and fire-adapted communities for safe and effective wildfire responses.
For more details about the new USGS Wildland Fire Science 2021-2026 Strategic Plan, read the full report.
For more information about USGS fire science, visit www.usgs.gov/fire.
The caption in the second image was edited to correctly indicate that the personnel in the photo are USFS employees and the equipment seen was developed and owned by the USFS Missoula Fire Science Lab.
Sponsored by two Senators and four Representatives
154th Company, Civilian Conservation Corps, Eagle Lake Camp NP-1-Me. Bar harbor Maine, February, 1940.
Two Oregon Senators are going to reintroduce a bill that would put people to work in the woods, helping to restore public lands and provide jobs. The 21st Century Conservation Corps Act brought forward by Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley, would provide funds to support a natural resource management and conservation workforce and bolster wildfire prevention and preparedness.
Of course an earlier Conservation Corps with some similar goals was the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) 80 years ago. (More about the CCC later in this article.)
According to Senator Wyden:
Rural communities are facing two big challenges: struggling economies and continued wildfire threats. By investing in a 21st century workforce, this bill will put people to work to tackle the climate emergency, restore our public lands and reduce wildfire risks. The bottom line, creating new jobs and supporting our public lands go hand in hand.
Provisions
Some of the provisions in the legislation would actually accomplish some meaningful things out on the ground that could make a difference:
Establishes a $9 billion fund for qualified land and conservation corps to increase job training and hiring specifically for jobs in the woods, helping to restore public lands and provide jobs in a time of need.
Provides an additional $3.5 billion for the U.S. Forest Service and $2 billion for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to support science-based projects aimed at improving forest health and reducing the risk of catastrophic wildfire.
Establishes a $2 billion fund to provide economic relief for outfitters and guides holding U.S. Forest Service and U.S. Department of the Interior special use permits.
Provides $2 billion for the National Fire Capacity program, which helps the Forest Service implement FireWise, to prevent, mitigate, and respond to wildfire around homes and businesses on private land.
Provides $6 billion for U.S. Forest Service, $6 billion for the National Park Service, and $2 billion for the Bureau of Land Management maintenance accounts to create jobs, reduce the maintenance backlog, and expand access to recreation.
Provides $3.5 billion for reforestation projects on a combination of federal, state, local, tribal and NGO lands, with over one hundred million trees to be planted in urban areas across America by 2030.
Increases access to public lands through expanding and investing in programs like Every Kid Outdoors and the Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership.
Legislation with the same title was first introduced in the 2017-2018 Congress by Senator John McCain with strong bipartisan support, and a second time in the 2019-2020 Congress by Senator Ron Wyden. Neither was brought to a vote in the full Senate. It is possible that with the new administration and a new Congress the bill will have a slightly better chance of passage. So far, all six of the co-sponsors are of the same party, Democratic.
National Prescribed Fire Act of 2020
A few of the provisions in the bill are similar to our recommendations made in the analysis of the National Prescribed Fire Act of 2020, Senate Bill 4625, which was introduced September 17, 2020 by Senator Ron Wyden and died in the last Congress. It would have helped address the workforce capacity issue by appropriating $300 million for both the Forest Service and the Department of the Interior to plan, prepare, and conduct controlled burns on federal, state, and private lands.
At the time I made some suggestions that could be considered for funding along with an enhanced prescribed fire program:
Provide grants to homeowners that are in areas with high risk from wildland fires. Pay a portion of the costs of improvements or retrofits to structures and the nearby vegetation to make the property more fire resistant. This could include the cost of removing some of the trees in order to have the crowns at least 18 feet apart if they are within 30 feet of the structures — many homeowners can’t afford the cost of complete tree removal.
Cities and counties could establish systems and procedures for property owners to easily dispose of the vegetation and debris they remove.
Hire crews that can physically help property owners reduce the fuels near their homes when it would be difficult for them to do it themselves.
Provide grants to cities and counties to improve evacuation capability and planning, to create community safety zones for sheltering as a fire approaches, and to build or improve emergency water supplies to be used by firefighters.
The 21st Century Conservation Corps has some of the same goals as the Civilian Conservation Corps which between 1933 and 1942 employed young men across the United States who had trouble finding employment during the Great Depression. Through the course of its nine years in operation, three million participated in the CCC, which provided them with shelter, clothing, and food, together with a monthly wage that is equivalent to about $600 today. Enrollment peaked at the end of 1935, when there were 500,000 men in 2,600 camps with operations in every state.
The program closed in 1942 with World War II raging. The military reluctantly helped run the program but when the draft began in 1940, the policy was to make CCC alumni corporals and sergeants. Through the CCC, the regular army could assess the leadership performance of both regular and reserve officers.
Many of the projects the CCC accomplished still exist today. Their work included:
Structural improvements: bridges, fire lookout towers, service buildings;
Transportation: truck trails, minor roads, foot trails and airfields;
Erosion control: check dams, terracing, and vegetable covering;
Most are resilient to fire, however the scope of the blazes may leave some ecosystems susceptible to landscape-scale failure
Bushfire in Victoria, December, 2020
More than 19 million acres in Australia burned in the bushfires of the 2019-2020 season, with seven individual fires exceeding 1 million acres. Researchers who have studied the impacts on the vegetation have determined that the entire ranges of 116 plant species burned along with 90 percent of the ranges of 173 species.
Most of the affected species are are resilient to fire. However, the massive scope of the megafires may leave some ecosystems, particularly the rainforests, susceptible to regeneration failure and landscape-scale decline.
Below are excerpts from a study by Robert C. Godfree, Nunzio Knerr, and Francisco Encinas-Viso, et al., published in Nature Communications February 15, 2021.
Our data indicate that 816 vascular plant species in mainland south-eastern Australia were highly impacted by the Black Summer fires, of which 325 and 173 were >75% and >90% burnt, respectively. All known populations of an estimated 116 species (14% of the total) burnt, which is more than double the number of plant species endemic to the British Isles.
The fires clearly impacted a broad range of species that contribute to both floristic diversity and habitat heterogeneity of forests and woodlands on local to bioregional scales. These characteristics underpin crucial ecosystem services that include biomass production and carbon sequestration, surface-atmosphere interactions and the provision of foods and habitat for animal assemblages, and transformational changes in these processes are likely to be of great importance in the wake of the fires.
Extremely and very range-restricted species experienced fire over an average of 90–95% of their ranges compared with 57–60% for the most widespread species.
Despite the immediate potential impacts on south-eastern Australian vegetation revealed in this study, the ability of many plant communities and species to recover and regenerate after megafires of this scale remain poorly understood. As we have shown, the size of species ranges and the geographic position of the fires both played an important role in determining the diversity and composition of the fire-affected flora. The demographic impact of the fires on specific taxa will also depend on their ability to survive and recover from fire
Our data show that the majority of species affected by the fires are primarily found in sclerophyll forests and woodlands or shrublands and heathlands. Fire is a natural part of these ecosystems and many species are highly fire-adapted with traits such as a soil-stored seed bank, serotinous cones or fruits, smoke- and/or heat-induced seed germination, fire-cued flowering, thick protective basal bark, epicormic buds or underground lignotubers that either provide protection from fire and/or ensure subsequent recovery. Evidence from 270 species in our study confirms this pattern: 251 (93%) across 93 genera are reportedly fire persisters that can resprout or regenerate via propagules after fire, or both.
For widespread endemic species with ranges of 500 km or more the demographic consequences of the 2019-2020 fires are likely unprecedented over at least the past two centuries. While the majority are also likely to be fire-persisters, they are now at risk of novel range-wide threats during the recovery phase such as dieback and inhibited post-fire recovery caused by myrtle rust (Austropuccinia psidii), herbivory of regrowth by invasive animals, and drought. Rainforest taxa capable of surviving fire but unable to compete with subsequent incursion of weeds or sclerophyllous species may be under similar pressure. Obligate seeding woody species such as the ash eucalypts (e.g., Eucalyptus fraxinoides) are likely to be under threat if fires return prior to completion of their typically long sexual maturation periods.
Collectively, there are grounds for cautious optimism that most plant species identified here will recover from all but the most intense fire. Despite this resilience, however, recent evidence from forested ecosystems globally suggest that catastrophic fire events are increasingly catalysing dramatic changes in species composition across large areas. In the most extreme cases tipping points are being reached, resulting in transitions from forest to non-forested vegetation.
Impairment of post-fire regeneration has been specifically linked to thresholds in vapour pressure deficit, soil moisture and maximum surface temperature, as well as fire intensity and seed availability. This is particularly concerning because much of the vegetation affected by the Black Summer fires was already suffering from extreme drought, record high temperatures and patchy canopy dieback prior to the onset of the 2019-2020 fire season. Even in the absence of fire these factors can drive rapid shifts in the dynamics and distribution of forest ecosystems. In regions where the Black Summer fires burnt areas that had only recently recovered from previous fires, increasing fire frequency will be an additional stressor.
From: Godfree, R.C., Knerr, N., Encinas-Viso, F. et al. “Implications of the 2019–2020 megafires for the biogeography and conservation of Australian vegetation.” Nat Commun 12, 1023 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-21266-5
Two firefighters were severely burned October 26, 2020 on the Southern California wildfire
Dylan Van Iwaarden was released from hospital after being burned on the Silverado Fire. Screengrab from CBS Los Angeles video.
One of the two firefighters that were burned on the Silverado Fire in Orange County, California was released from the hospital Wednesday after spending 114 days in the Burn Center at Orange County Global Medical Center. Dylan Van Iwaarden was severely burned October 26 while working on an Orange County Fire Authority hand crew suppressing the blaze.
Since then he has battled for his life, had 17 surgeries, was in a medically induced coma, intubated, and endured endless procedures. Dylan is now headed to his next phase of recovery at the rehabilitation unit of UC Irvine Medical Center.
Another firefighter on the crew, Phi Le, was also burned during the incident. Both firefighters suffered severe second and third degree burns. The Orange County Register reports that Le spent time in a burn center but has been discharged and is continuing his rehabilitation from home as of Wednesday.
The report on the incident said the crew was firing out when a spot fire ignited below the crew. They escaped downhill to a dozer line but five crew members were impacted by radiant and convective heat, reporting singed hair, eyebrows, and eyelashes while stumbling out of the way of the spot fire’s path. Three others, the report said, “were impacted significantly”.
