Above: Roads through areas prone to wildfire act as fuel breaks, disrupting the fuel continuity, potentially reducing the rate of fire spread. The areas on either side of the road have also been mowed to reduce vegetation height. Photo courtesy of BLM.
The U.S. Geological Survey is gearing up for a project across the Great Basin studying how effective fuel breaks are, simultaneously evaluating their ecological costs and benefits.
Fuel breaks like sandy roads or other barriers are intended to reduce fire size and frequency by slowing or altogether halting fire’s spread to the other side of the break. Still, questions remain about whether fuel breaks protect sagebrush and sage-grouse, the USGS said in a comments discussing the new research.
“We want to determine the extent to which fuel breaks can help protect existing habitat from wildland fires, paying particular attention to how such breaks affect sagebrush habitat, sage-grouse, and other sagebrush-dependent species,” the USGS said in a statement.
— MSForestryCommission (@MSForestryComm) May 18, 2017
The Mississippi Forestry Commission this summer will have to axe 75 positions as part of a reorganization and effort to comply with state-mandated budget cuts, officials announced last week.
The Commission said in a news release it had to address a $2.67 million shortfall for the upcoming fiscal year — a figure that represents a 16 percent decrease from the current fiscal year. To meet the mark, the state’s seven districts will be consolidated into four new regions. Approximately 75 positions — two-thirds of them reportedly firefighting jobs — will be eliminated when the reorganization model takes effect July 1.
“Preserving the Mississippi Forestry Commission’s statutorily mandated responsibility to protect forestland, lives and homes from wildfire is our top priority. After much deliberation, the difficult decision was made to consolidate and reorganize districts, leaving as many wildland firefighting ‘boots on the ground’ in place as possible — within the constraints of our current budget restrictions,” Charlie Morgan, State Forester for the Mississippi Forestry Commission said in a news release announcing the changes.
“The decision to reorganize our districts was not made lightly. We are deeply saddened to lose these faithful employees and appreciate their years of service to the state of Mississippi.”
Some employees will be allowed to apply for new positions in the new regions, though additional details were not immediately available on how many would be eligible.
Mississippi’s fall wildfire season has grown in intensity over the past two years. The Mississippi Forestry Commission responded to and suppressed 1,228 wildfires that burned 13,983 acres in fiscal year 2016 fall wildfire season, officials said. More than 31,000 acres burned statewide in fiscal year 2016, and the governor issued burn ban proclamations in each of the past two years due to dangerous drought conditions.
That’s troubling context, especially given this additional reporting last week about the new round of cuts from The Clarion-Ledger newspaper:
Last year, the commission laid off 25 workers, including all its arson investigators and equipment mechanics, and eliminated six vacant positions because of state budget cuts. With $1.2 million in cuts to personnel last year, the commission is up to nearly $4 million in staff cuts in two years.
“This one will be testing our limits,” said Charlie Morgan, state forester with the Mississippi Forestry Commission. “There was no fat. We took care of that last year if there was fat then.”
A new documentary published online last week chronicles the terror and heartbreak ranchers faced in areas of Texas, Oklahoma, Colorado and Kansas when wind-swept fires tore through their communities in March.
Titled “Fire in the Heartland,” the 16-minute film includes interviews with fire personnel and ranchers about the firestorm that ripped through the prairie lands. The video is the latest enterprise work to come out of the disaster — this New York Times piece also detailed some of the tragedy.
The wildfires tore through cattle country, feasting on grasses made dry by long-term drought and exacerbated by recent warm weather. Once the fires were started, strong winds whipped the flames, helping them spread more rapidly. According to Reuters, a wildfire in Texas during the beginning of March moved at speeds up to 70mph as it raced across the Texas Panhandle. By the third week of March, the fires had killed at least seven people—not to mention thousands of livestock—and burned more than 2 million acres.
Above: A helicopter carries a bucket of water on a drop at the fire in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. Photo via InciWeb, posted May 14, 2017.
Seven helicopters, two air tankers, 135 wildland fire engines, 62 bulldozers, five hand crews, and 1,025 personnel were assigned to the blaze Sunday.
“The fire remained relatively inactive,” officials said in an update.
While “inactive” is the name of the game for the West Mims Fire — and for spring fire situations across much of the U.S. inundated with spring storms and abundant moisture — it’s anything but quiet in the Sunshine State.
Twenty-eight fires in excess of 100 acres burned over the weekend within Florida Fire Service jurisdiction, charring 36,000 acres, according to state figures.
Such blazes blackened 109,415 acres of land so far this year.
Fire danger indices were “high” or “very high” in more than a dozen Florida counties this weekend. Citrus growers “are irrigating daily to keep moisture on the trees,” the USDA reported, and “ditches and canals are very dry in all [citrus] areas.” Plus, livestock producers are having to have hay shipped in as a result of the dry conditions.
And even though some rain was in the forecast for some Florida residents, state officials said they’re not out of danger by any stretch of the imagination.
“We are buckled up for a very long and very hot wildfire season,” said Adam Putnam, the commissioner of agriculture in Florida, according to Bloomberg News.
U.S. Drought Monitor report May 18, 2017.
Meanwhile, others around the country are enjoying a relatively unusual drought-free reality as June nears.
Feet — yes, feet — of snow fell in Colorado and across the Rocky Mountains late last week as a potent spring storm plowed through the region. And places accustomed to persistent drought, like California, continue to bask in aftermath of an especially soggy winter.
18 to 36 inches of snow has fallen in the foothills with this spring storm. An additional 6" to 12" is expected by morning. #cowxpic.twitter.com/R9hAGJCE6s
“An active weather pattern continued to result in widespread showers, with some of the heaviest rain falling across the Plains, Midwest, and mid-South,” the U.S. Drought Monitor reported last week.
“Another area of significant precipitation stretched across the middle and northern Atlantic States, while showers also dotted the Northwest. In contrast, mostly dry weather prevailed from California to the lower Rio Grande Valley, as well as large sections of the lower Southeast.”
National drought snapshot, via U.S. Drought Monitor May 18, 2017, report.
Though hot temperatures are forecast for parts of California early this week, a cold front is expected to move through the Pacific Northwest, bringing cooler conditions and more moisture, according to the National Weather Service.
Floridians in the meantime will have to keep waiting for the rainy seasons to finally begin, later this month and into June.
“It’s kind of like an ugly cycle. Hot breeds dry and dry breeds hot,” meteorologist Grant Gilmore told the Tampa Bay Times last week. “…It doesn’t look like the cycle breaks in a big way any time soon.”
No structures have been damaged, and no injuries were reported.
Rising overnight humidity levels allowed firefighters to make meaningful progress toward complete containment, Cal Fire reported. The fire was primarily burning in grass with some sparse brush and was 30 percent contained by Sunday morning.
— CAL FIRE SAN DIEGO (@CALFIRESANDIEGO) May 20, 2017
A wildfire east of San Diego quickly charred 500 acres and forced evacuations Saturday as hot temperatures and low humidity settled into the region, ending a string of cool and soggy weather.
First reported shortly before noon, the Gate Fire had a “dangerous rate of spread” in a remote area near the community of Jamul, Cal Fire reported via Twitter.
Five airtankers and three helicopters were making drops on fire at one point, said Cal Fire Capt. Isaac Sanchez, according to the San Diego Union Tribune newspaper. Fire crews from several agencies were helping on the ground.
