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50 homes burn in wildfires southeast of Abilene, Texas

Bill GabbertMarch 19, 2022March 20, 2022WildfireEastland Complex, Texas11 Comments

Deputy Sheriff killed while evacuating residents on the Eastland Complex of fires

Updated at 9:31 a.m. CT March 20, 2022

Saturday night the Texas Forest Service released the sizes of the four wildfires in the Eastland Complex :

Kidd Fire 42,333 acres
Oak Mott Fire 4,031 acres
Wheat Field Fire 7,268 acres
Walling Fire 383 acres
TOTAL: 54,015 acres

The Dallas Morning News reported Saturday that 86 homes and a majority of the small town of Carbon, Texas, were destroyed.

The video below illustrates why the recent fires in Texas have been difficult to stop.

Yesterday, Texas A&M Forest Service responded to 10 wildfires that burned 52,708 acres across the state. Strong winds, critically dry grasses contributed to extreme fire behavior and rapid spread.

? Extreme fire behavior observed on the Eastland Complex in Eastland County, 3/17 pic.twitter.com/9ZBJu1ObPs

— Incident Information – Texas A&M Forest Service (@AllHazardsTFS) March 18, 2022

Updated 1:14 p.m. CT March 19, 2022

Map of Eastland Complex of fires in Texas at 8 p.m. March 18, 2022.

At least 50 homes have been destroyed by wildfires that broke out in the Eastland County area this week, Gov. Greg Abbott said during a news conference Friday at the Eastland Volunteer Fire Department.

Sergeant Barbara Fenley. Eastland County Sheriff's Office — Sergeant Barbara Fenley. Eastland County Sheriff’s Office photo.

The Governor presented a Texas flag to a relative of Sergeant Barbara Fenley of the Eastland County Sheriff’s Office who was killed while evacuating residents from the fires.

“While evacuating people and going door-to-door, Fenley was last heard that she was going to check on an elderly individual,” a statement from the Sheriff’s office read. “With the extreme deteriorating conditions and low visibility from smoke, Sgt. Fenley ran off the roadway and was engulfed in the fire. Sgt. Fenley gave her life in the service of others and loved her community.”

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Eastland Complex of fires in Texas, including the most recent, click here: https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/eastland-complex/

The Fort Worth Police Officers Association wrote on their Facebook page, “Sergeant Fenley had served with the Eastland County Sheriff’s Office for nine years and had previously served with the Gorman Police Department for 10 years, including six years as the police chief.”

Four fires 40 to 45 miles east-southeast of Abilene, Texas primarily in Eastland County have burned at least 45,000 acres; unofficial reports put it at more than 53,000. For administrative purposes the Texas Forest Service has grouped them into the Eastland Complex of fires.

Eastland Complex of fires, Texas. March, 2022. Texas Forest Service photo.

The acreages below were provided at 11 a.m. CT, March 19 by Angel Lopez Portillo, a spokesperson for the fires.

The Kidd Fire, approximately 34,000 acres, south of Eastland burned through Carbon March 17, heavily impacting structures. On Friday there was increased activity on the southern portion of the fire. Ground crews, dozers, motor graders, and aircraft worked on hotspots. Engine crews were focused on mop up operations around structures. Ground resources will continue building containment lines around the fire perimeter Saturday.

The Wheatfield Fire northeast of Cross Plains has burned an estimated 5,000 acres. There was increased activity Friday, but ground and aviation resources were able to work hotpots. There is currently no threat to the community of Rising Star. On Saturday resources will focus on constructing, widening, and improving containment lines.

The Oak Mott Fire has blackened 5,252 acres southwest of Rising Star in Comanche and Brown Counties. It is completely contained.

The Walling Fire northeast of Cross Plains was mapped at 383 acres and is contained.

A fire not in the Complex is the 586-acre Mariah Ridge Fire south of Cross Plains in Brown and Callahan Counties. It has not grown in the last 24 hours.

Other unconfirmed reports put the Kidd Fire at 41,000 acres, and the Wheat Field Fire at more than 6,000 acres.

Mr. Portillo said that in addition to firefighters on the ground, resources working on the fires include three single engine air tankers, two National Guard Blackhawk helicopters, a National Guard Chinook helicopter, another large Type 1 helicopter, and three large fixed wing air tankers.

The wind on the fires decreased Friday and on Saturday will be out of the southwest at 8 to 12 mph, and like on Friday will be moderate enough to allow aircraft to assist firefighters on the ground. The relative humidity will drop Saturday afternoon into the mid-teens under clear skies with a high of 77 degrees. A Fire Weather Watch has been issued for Western Texas on Sunday. The strong winds will be back in the fire area, 20 mph out of the south and southeast gusting to 28 mph with relative humidity in the mid-teens. Rain is in the forecast for Monday.

Texas Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watch — Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watch, March 19, 2022.

The number of USFS firefighters in California plunged 20% in two years

Bill GabbertMarch 18, 2022UncategorizedCalifornia, pay33 Comments

wildland firefighter with hose — Firefighter with hose. NWCG photo.

The federal agencies that employ firefighters to suppress wildfires have struggled to hire enough personnel in recent years, but especially in 2020 and 2021 in California. Today the San Francisco Chronicle (subscription) reported that after having 5,000 firefighters for multiple years in California the number working for the U.S. Forest Service dropped from 5,000 in 2019 to 3,956 in 2021, more than a 20 percent decline.

The five federal agencies that have significant wildland fire programs have a total of about 15,000 positions related to fire. In the last few years the number of vacancies has been growing due to difficulty in hiring and experienced firefighters leaving the organization for better pay and working conditions.

Legislation pending before Congress, the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act (H.R. 5631), could make a difference. It would address many of the heartbreaking issues wildland firefighters and their partners face, including raising firefighter pay, creating a wildland firefighter job series, providing health care and mental health services to temporary and permanent wildland firefighters, housing stipends, and other improvements. (More details are in the Wildfire Today article from October 19, 2021.)

Large wildfires in Eastland County Texas prompt evacuations

Bill GabbertMarch 18, 2022March 19, 2022WildfireEastland Complex, Texas5 Comments

Strong winds are causing the Eastland Complex of fires to spread rapidly

Dry, windy weather has created conditions in West Texas that has allowed multiple wildfires to spread across tens of thousands of acres. Several of the largest blazes are in Eastland County 45 miles east-southeast of Abilene. The passage of a cold front Thursday afternoon caused the fires to spread to the southeast as 15 to 25 mph winds recorded at a weather station near Eastland began gusting out of the northwest at 28 to 35 mph while the relative humidity dropped as low as 7 percent.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Eastland Complex of fires in Texas, including the most recent, click here: https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/eastland-complex/

For management purposes the Texas Forest Service has grouped four of the incidents into what they are calling the Eastland Complex which has burned approximately 45,000 acres.

Eastland Complex of fire, near Carbon, Texas — Eastland Complex of fires, near Carbon, Texas March 17, 2022. Texas Forest Service photo by M. Leathers.

The 36,000-acre Kidd Fire south of Eastland burned through Carbon March 17, heavily impacting structures. Evacuations and road closures are in effect in Carbon, Lake Leon, Gorman, and outlying rural areas.

The Wheatfield Fire northeast of Cross Plains has burned about 5,000 acres. Thursday it started moving in the direction of Rising Star after the passage of the cold front, but crews were able to stop its forward progression.

The Oak Mott Fire has blackened approximately 5,000 acres southwest of Rising Star.

The Walling Fire northeast of Cross Plains was mapped at 382 acres and is nearly officially contained.

A fire not in the Complex is the 586-acre Mariah Ridge Fire south of Cross Plains.

The weather forecast indicates conditions suitable for continued fire spread. On Friday the northwest winds will continue at 21 mph gusting in the 30s, but slowing to 8 mph by sundown and dropping to 2 to 5 mph Friday night. The Friday afternoon relative humidity will be in the low 20s with a high temperature of 63. On Saturday firefighters can expect a wind shift out of the southwest and south at 9 to 11 mph gusting around 20 with 75 degrees and 16 percent RH.

Multiple highway closures are in effect due to extreme fire behavior. See DriveTexas.org for the latest in closure information.

Western drought expected to continue through June

Bill GabbertMarch 17, 2022Uncategorizeddrought, weather

Affecting parts of 23 states

Drought tendency, March 17 - June 30, 2022 — The drought is expected to continue in the brown areas. (NOAA. Updated March 17, 2022)

In an analysis updated March 17 by NOAA, the drought in the western half of the United States is expected continue at least through June 30, 2022, affecting parts of 23 states.

And in most of those areas the temperatures will be higher than average and there will be less than average precipitation.

Three-month precipitation and temperature outlook, updated March 17, 2022. NOAA.

Wildland firefighters meet with Secretary of Labor

Bill GabbertMarch 17, 2022March 18, 2022UncategorizedNFFE, OWCP1 Comment

They later had meetings at the White House

UPDATED 6:06 p.m. ET March 17, 2022

In addition to meeting on Wednesday with the Secretary of Labor and other Administration officials, today, Thursday, the group of wildland firefighters and National Federation of Federal Employees personnel who traveled to Washington, DC met with two officials at the White House.

They talked with Erika Dinkel-Smith, a former BLM firefighter who worked in Nevada, California, and Oregon while she was going to college. She now works as the White House Director of Labor Engagement. The group also met with Cedric Richmond, who gave up his congressional seat to be a Senior Advisor to the President and the Director of The White House Office of Public Engagement.

“We didn’t have long with Director Richmond, but we did discuss topics many wildland firefighters face, such as low pay, homelessness, and high rates of suicide. We also discussed Tim’s Act”, said smokejumper Ben Elkind. “Cedric had some animated responses when he learned about these issues we face and I’m confident we have many allies in the White House that will push for real reforms within the USFS and DOI. Neither of these people had to meet with us and they were truly interested in our experiences. Really great people who are friendly and approachable, if you can get through security.”

As a former @BLMFire wildland firefighter, I was honored to meet with @NFFE Wildland firefighters alongside @Richmond46 at the @WhiteHouse today. We are incredibly grateful for the dangerous work you do on the fireline. Stay safe out there. pic.twitter.com/UWHfeYtk0r

— Erika Dinkel-Smith (@EDinkelSmith46) March 17, 2022

Left to right in the photo above: Justin Mahaffey (USFS Engine Captain), Ethan West – (NFFE), Bob Beckley (NFFE), Max Alonzo – (NFFE), Cedric Richmond (Senior Advisor to the President and the Director of The White House Office of Public Engagement), Randy Erwin (NFFE – President), Ben Elkind (USFS – Smokejumper), Erika Dinkel-Smith (White House Director of Labor Engagement), Hannah Coolidge (USFS Hotshot).

Originally published at 1:27 p.m. ET March 17, 2022

NFFE meets with Secretary of Labor, March 16, 2022. L to R: Max Alonzo (NFFE), Bob Beckley (NFFE), Hannah Coolidge (USFS Hotshot), Marty Walsh (Sec. Of Labor), Dane Ostler (USFS – Prevention), Ben Elkind (USFS – Smokejumper), Randy Erwin (NFFE – President), and Jeff Friday (NFFE).

Yesterday a group of wildland firefighters and officials from the National Federation of Federal Employees met with the Secretary of Labor and other administration officials in Washington, DC. The NFFE is a union that represents some of the employees in the federal agencies that have land management responsibilities.

Ben Elkind, a smokejumper, told Wildfire Today that they talked with officials and legislative staff members mostly about passing a bill named after Tim Hart, a smokejumper who was killed on a fire in New Mexico last year. The Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act (H.R. 5631), would address many of the heartbreaking issues wildland firefighters and their partners face, including raising firefighter pay, creating a wildland firefighter job series, providing health care and mental health services to temporary and permanent wildland firefighters, as well as housing stipends and other improvements. (More details are in the Wildfire Today article from October 19, 2021.)

The Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs (OWCP) is within the Department of Labor, and has been heavily criticised for slow-walking or failing to appropriately process the claims of firefighters injured on the job. It has not been uncommon for firefighters for the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management to resort to asking the public to give them money at GoFundMe because their employer refused to honor the requirement to pay their doctor, hospital, and physical rehabilitation expenses.

“We met with Marty Walsh yesterday, the Secretary of Labor,” Mr. Elkind wrote in an email. “He’s the former mayor of Boston and very pro-labor. We shared some stories about our pay and work/life balance and he was astounded. He promised to bring this up with the President and try to work on legislation, but also acknowledged that the bureaucracy is very real and difficult to maneuver. Marty was very down to earth, and I believe he has our backs moving forward. Hopefully we can get something done this year, but it will be a lot of work.”

OWCP commits to better processing of injury claims of firefighters

Bill GabbertMarch 17, 2022March 17, 2022UncategorizedOWCP, presumptive disease3 Comments

The Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs responded to a letter from six Senators

Deer Park Fire, patient on litter — An injured firefighter is moved using a “conveyor belt” technique on the Deer Park Fire in central Idaho, August 6, 2010. Screen grab from USFS video.

In responding to a letter from six U.S. Senators, the Director of the Office of Worker’s Compensation Programs (OWCP) has promised better processing of claims from firefighters injured on the job.

The incompetence of the OWCP in quickly and fairly paying the medical bills for wildland firefighters has become a quagmire that should infuriate citizens of the United States. Men and women serving their country who suffered serious, life-changing injuries, in some cases were hounded by bill collectors, forced to attempt to pay huge fees for their treatment, and had to declare bankruptcy resulting in their credit rating dropping into the toilet. It has not been uncommon for firefighters for the U.S. Forest Service or Bureau of Land Management to resort to asking the public to give them money at GoFundMe, because their employer refused to honor their requirement to pay their doctor, hospital, and physical rehabilitation expenses.

The first sentence of the Senators’ February 14, 2022 letter to OWCP Director Christopher Godfrey said: “We urge you to expedite the establishment of a special claims unit to handle firefighter compensation claims so that it can be in place before the start of the 2022 fire season.”

The Special Claims Unit processes death benefits for members of the Armed Forces who die in connection with a “contingency operation.” The OWCP told Buzzfeed News in December, 2021 that they were in the process of developing new procedures and modifying existing policies to include the use of the Special Claims Unit. But apparently by February 14 it may have appeared to the Senators not to have been done, which prompted the letter.

A response from the OWCP was dated March 9, coincidentally the day after Wildfire Today wrote about the effects of the agency dragging its feet in paying the medical bills for Casey Allen, a US Forest Service firefighter seriously burned while serving on the Dolan Fire, September 8, 2020. He finally got some financial relief after U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal and his district representative Wendy Motta were able to break a stubborn repayment logjam so Allen and his wife Tina could be reimbursed for money they had to pay toward his recovery.

In the March 9 letter from Director Godfrey, he wrote that as of December 15, 2021 they had adjusted procedures so that the Special Claims Unit now adjudicates all new incoming firefighter claims, and that it “should improve customer service and consistency in navigating through the medical requirements of their claims.”

In addition, Director Godfrey wrote, they are developing policy regarding the evidentiary requirements needed to link a firefighter’s exposure to toxic substances which can lead to “cancers, heart disease, and lung disease that firefighters are at risk for. Our policy will also recognize the difference between structural and wildland firefighters and their unique exposure risks.” They plan to train the Special Claims Unit to understand the new policies.

“Completion of these new procedures is expected by Spring of 2022,” said Director Godfrey. (We checked the official dates for Spring, and this year it is March 20 through June 21.)

This new structure could be a step toward recognizing presumptive diseases, a policy that is in effect in many agencies that employ firefighters. A bill that has been introduced in both the House and the Senate provides that heart disease, lung disease, and specified cancers of federal employees employed in fire protection activities for at least 5 years are presumed to be proximately caused by such employment if the employee is diagnosed with the disease within 10 years of employment; and the disability or death of the employee due to such disease is presumed to result from personal injury sustained in the performance of duty.

Below are photos of the March 9 letter from the Director.

Continue reading “OWCP commits to better processing of injury claims of firefighters”