News and opinion about wildland fire
Sara’s research focuses on the fundamental physics of wildland fire.
After the Fuels and Fire Behavior conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico last week I had the opportunity to sit down with Sara McAllister who had just received an award for an Early Career in Fire Science. She talked about how it felt to be selected for the award, her study of fire on spacecraft for NASA, researching how fires burn in New Zealand, and setting stuff on fire for a living at the Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory.
The video can also be viewed on YouTube.
A small plane checking a fire that burned last year crashed in British Columbia Saturday May 4 killing three occupants. The pilot of the single engine Cessna 182 and two passengers died in the accident while one passenger survived and is being treated after being flown to a Vancouver hospital by a Joint Rescue Coordination Centre helicopter.
Precision Vectors was under contract to the British Columbia Wildfire Service to use airborne infrared equipment to check fires from 2018 for residual holdover heat that persisted through the winter. Two of the deceased have been identified, both affiliated with the company — Lorne Borgal the CEO and founder of Precision Vectors, and Amir Ilya Sedghi who provided data analysis.
The Transportation Safety Board confirmed that the aircraft went down about 57 miles north of Smithers, B.C.
Our sincere condolences go out to the families, friends, and coworkers.
The individuals were recognized for their sustained achievement in wildland fire science
The International Association of Wildland Fire announced at last week’s Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference that three fire researchers will be given Ember Awards for their contributions to wildland fire science. Below is information from the IAWF:
Annually, the IAWF receives nominations for many highly regarded, deserving, and accomplished individuals that have demonstrated sustained achievement clearly worthy of recognition. However, historically, only one recipient has been honored each year.
For 2019, once again many deserving individuals have been nominated. Because there are so many nominees that have extensive achievements for the betterment of wildland fire management are extensive, we are extremely proud to announce that for 2019, IAWF has elected to award the Ember Award to three individuals who have a marked record of achievement, have made significant long-standing contributions, are highly respected in wildland fire management, and are deserving of the Ember Award.
The Ember Awards were presented at the Fire Behavior and Fuels conferences in Australia and the United States.
Roger Ottmar
Research Forester, US Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region
Roger Ottmar has delivered actionable wildland fire science for over 35 years that has enormous benefits for the wildland fire system. He has led national programs that have resulted in 1) 19 volumes of the wildland fuels photo series (digital and hardcopy); 2) operational fuel consumption and emission production models; 3) the Fuel Characteristic Classification System (FCCS), and 4) assessing firefighter exposure to smoke. Ottmar is the original designer and project lead for the Fuel Characteristic Classification System and the CONSUME application currently in use by land managers across the country for building fuel beds and modeling fuel consumption and emissions from wildland fire.
Ottmar has authored and co-authored over 300 research publications and final reports and has served as principal investigator and Federal Cooperator on more than 100 grants, agreements, and co-ops between other Forest Service Research Stations, governmental agencies, private corporations, and Universities. He stands-out as one of the most prolific scientists to have worked with the Joint Fire Science Program (JFSP) since its inception in 1998. He regularly presents research at major scientific conferences. Ottmar has led over 35 classes on smoke management and leads several fuels workshops each year, including NWCG training. Ottmar led over 100 scientists and technicians during the Joint Fire Science Program funded Prescribed Fire and Combustion Dynamics Research Experiment (RxCADRE) that was completed in September 2014. Ottmar now leads the much larger national level Fire and Smoke Model Evaluation (FASMEE) Project.
Although these accomplishments are vast, Ottmar stands out even farther because of his professionalism and ability to build and lead coalitions within the wildland fire system. In the field of wildland fuels and modeling Ottmar’s name rings amongst the loudest.
Some specifics include:
Although he is a great and diligent scientist, of equal importance is his ability to interact and work with other people. Many can attest to the unsurpassed role he has played in communicating fuels-related information in various training courses and other settings. He makes incredibly complex biophysical fire science topics easily understandable, which contributes to his research being implemented on the ground for real-world positive outcomes. He is a consummate professional and always ready to commend versus criticize.
Dr, Ottmar received his award at the Fire Behavior and Fuels Conference in Albuquerque, NM.
Dr. Wendy Anderson
University of New South Wales Canberra (retired)
Throughout her career, Anderson has made highly significant contributions to wildland fire science, notably in the areas of fuel assessment and fire behavior. Her work with the analysis of experimental laboratory and field fires has aided in the development of models to support fire management decision making.
She has published a substantial number of research articles, book chapters and technical reports that have significantly contributed to the advances of wildland fire science across a broad range of fuel types (forest, grass, shrubland) and topic areas including fire propagation, fuel consumption, fuel moisture dynamics and fire danger.
Since completing her PhD at the University of New South Wales in 1987 Anderson has played a pivotal role in the development of an effective international fire behavior research community. Her mentoring role in supporting aspiring scientists through the complex physical attributes of wildland fire research while maintaining a patient considerate approach is second to none. Both in Europe, Australia and New Zealand a generation of current leaders in fire science can be identified as being her direct students and/or having closely worked with her in their early careers. Her Short-courses on fire behavior delivered in the early 90’s to late 2000’s in Coimbra, Portugal provided early career fire behavior researchers with a clear view of a cluttered, and sometimes chaotic field with multiple and sometimes competing research approaches.
In addition to Anderson’s unparalleled academic work, she also devoted substantial energy to support and advise fire and land management agencies in Australia and New Zealand. Anderson established a bridge between complex scientific results and the needs of end users, providing advice on the most appropriate science to support fire management organization’s processes and decision making.
Anderson has retired from the School of Physical Environment and Mathematical Sciences, Australian Defence Force Academy, University of New South Wales, Canberra but she has continued to actively contribute to advancing wildland fire science through publication of scientific papers, mentoring early career scientists, and advising and training fire and land managers.
It can be easily stated that without Anderson’s contribution to fire science the current capability to predict fire propagation in Australia and elsewhere in the world would be greatly diminished, with inherent negative repercussions to the safety of fire fighters and the public alike.
Dr. Anderson’s award was presented at the Sydney, Australia conference.
Dr. Mark Finney
Research Scientist, U.S. Forest Service. Missoula Fire Sciences Laboratory. Missoula, MT.
Dr. Mark Finney has made highly significant contributions to wildland fire science through research in fire behavior. This research has involved fire behavior fundamentals and how key they are to understanding the opportunities for improving fire behavior modeling, especially for crown fires. He has led efforts to develop quantitative risk assessment that is essential to evaluating cost-effective operations in fire management.
He is best known as the father of FARSITE, the world’s most successful wildfire behavior model, which is now an essential component of Forestry Agencies, Firefighting Command Centers and Fire Ecology Departments across the world.
FARSITE has been used since 1995 to model spatial fire behavior throughout the world. The model allows both suppression and prescribed fire managers to estimate more accurately where fires might burn, their potential intensity, spotting potential, use of different fire management tactics, and how to better deploy human resources. Before its development all fire simulations were one-dimensional, had no spatial component, and could not take landscape considerations into account. Also before FARSITE, fire behavior analysis work was done by a long and tedious manual process, often too slow to inform Command Centers. Finney’s work has paved the way for the development of similar computer models, and multiple fire behavior models in the US, Canada and Australia.
Not only are Finney’s fire modeling contributions a standalone tool for foresters, ecologists and firefighters across the world, but FARSITE is now available as part of the U.S. Wildland Fire Decision Support System (WFDSS) that is used in planning on every large and long duration federal wildland fire.
But his contributions do not stop there, Finney has supported wildland fire science in other areas, including, but not limited to:
His current research focuses on the study of fire spread in deep and discontinuous fuel beds, which will improve understanding of the fire behaviors that are not understood and able to be predicted today, such as crown fire. He is also investigating fire simulation for the purposes of risk assessment, to support the development of two major fire management systems, WFDSS and the Fire Planning Analysis (FPA). The Fire Spread Probability model (FSPro) is used in WFDSS to estimate the probability of impact of an ongoing large fire. A similar model, FSIM, is used to estimate burn probability and variability in fire behavior across large landscapes.
There is no doubt that through his scientific contributions, Finney has greatly improved our understanding of fire behavior and advanced wildland fire science worldwide.
Dr. Finney is out of the country and his award will be presented at a later date.
A Type 2 Incident Management Team is being assigned to the Oregon Lakes Fire which has burned more than 6,600 acres southwest of Delta Junction, Alaska
From the BLM Alaska Fire Service
Due to the unseasonable dry fuels and forecasted windy and warmer weather, an incident management team is mobilizing to strategically plan efforts on the Oregon Lakes Fire burning about 11 miles south of Delta Junction. A Type 2 Incident Management Team (IMT) from Alaska will start assembling on Monday (May 6) and take over the management of Fire #077 on Tuesday to develop a strategy that, if the chance emerges, applies suppression tactics on this early-season fire.
The remote fire was reported at about 1 p.m. on April 30 and so far has been burning in an area that is off-limits to firefighters and low-flying fire suppression aircraft due to the likelihood of unexploded ordnance on the ground. It is burning mostly in tall, dry grass and downed trees from the 2013 Mississippi Fire on the west of the braided Delta River.
The IMT will work with the BLM AFS Military Fire Management Zone, the U.S. Army Alaska Garrison and the Alaska Division of Forestry (DOF) to determine the best course of action, especially with the forecasted increase in temperatures and wind. It is in a limited protection area and is not immediately threatening any structures, military targets or valuable resources. However, because it is burning in the Delta River drainage with known challenging weather patterns that could cause the fire to persist throughout the summer, the team is being activated to plan for an opportunity to launch suppression tactics once the fire moves out of the military impact areas. There will be an increase of people in the area as the IMT sets up a command post and stages firefighting resources in Delta Junction.
BLM Alaska Fire Service personnel flew over the fire midday Sunday and did not see any significant activity, probably due to the between .1 and .25 inches of precipitation that fell in the area over the past two days. The fire has grown to an estimated 6,670 acres over the past few days, mostly to the northwest. Only five percent of the perimeter was actively burning Sunday afternoon and mostly smoldering along the northeast corner.
Due to the predicted weather, the fire is expected to continue to grow to the north and possibly threaten State of Alaska timber values along the Delta River and Delta Creek. According to the National Weather Service, a weak south flow will develop over the Alaska Range this afternoon and continue into Monday, causing a slight warming and drying trend. Much stronger southerly chinook winds will develop over the Alaska Range on Tuesday, bringing a sharp increase in temperatures and winds to the fire area. Conditions are forecasted to reach near red flag criteria on Tuesday, which for Deltana and Tanana Flats areas means relative humidity levels of 25 percent or below and winds of 25 mph or higher. The windy, warm, and dry conditions along the Alaska Range will last into the middle of the week. Smoke is very likely to increase with the warmer weather and increased winds.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Anon. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
At the International Association of Wildland Fire’s Fuels conference currently underway in Albuquerque, Research Ecologist Matt Jolly’s presentation on “Mapping extreme fire weather and its impact on firefighter safety” was very interesting. In his allotted 20 minutes he began by talking about the rollout that is nearly complete of the third revision of the National Fire Danger Rating System.
Mr. Jolly described the development and evaluation of an extreme fire weather metric called the Severe Fire Weather Potential Index. The Index is strongly correlated to wildland fire occurrence and intensity detected by the MODIS satellite and is a strong predictor of wildland firefighter entrapments and fatalities from 1979 to 2017.
Mr. Jolly said some firefighters have told him that the WildfireSafe app which has been in the prototype stage for the last three years is a useful tool for accurately predicting the fire danger at the local level.
These images were snapped with a cell phone during Mr. Jolly’s presentation.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on CHP report: Redding Hotshots’ truck was hit head-on A Lexus drifted over the yellow line into oncoming traffic
The California Highway Patrol reports that the Redding Hotshots’ crew carrier (or “buggy”) was hit head-on in the accident that sent all 10 occupants of the truck to hospitals on April 30.
The accident was reported by the crew via radio. Members of the 20-person crew trained in first aid began treatment of their injured colleagues immediately.
The other vehicle, a 1996 Lexus, was driven by Linda L. Corr, 66. The report indicates that the Lexus drifted across the yellow line into oncoming traffic and collided with the crew carrier. Ms. Coor was transported by helicopter complaining of pain in her chest.
One of the firefighters was transported by CHP helicopter to Shasta Regional Medial Center. Another was taken by ground ambulance and the other eight were transported by U.S. Forest Service vehicles to local hospitals.
As of May 1 two firefighters were still in the hospital.
The crew had been engaged in chain saw training and were returning to their Redding, California base when the accident occurred on SR-299 west of Burney at 5:10 p.m. As is typical of a Type 1 crew, they were traveling in three vehicles — two crew carriers and a superintendent’s truck.
The Forest Service has released very little information about the incident.
