News and opinion about wildland fire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on Prescribed fire at Everglades National Park Everglades National Park conducted a prescribed fire yesterday, February 21, 2016.
National Park Service photos by Gary Carnall.
I wonder how many people who today cut down trees with a chain saw could do what these women did?
Outdated budget rules require the U.S. Forest Service to fight fires by diverting funds from other parts of its budget — including fire prevention programs.
Above: Wolverine Fire in Washington, August 16, 2015. Photo by Kari Greer.
For several years the Obama administration and a few lawmakers have been been trying to convince Congress to change how wildfires are funded so that fire prevention, fuels management, and non-fire related programs in the federal agencies are not cannibalized to pay for emergency operations and the suppression of fires. There have been a number of these attempts but many have been hobbled by combining the proposals with unrelated provisions related to, for example, weakening or eliminating some environmental regulations related to timber harvesting.
The Los Angeles Times has published an op ed on the topic written by Senator Diane Feinstein and CAL FIRE Director Ken Pimlott. Below is an excerpt:
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“…In the face of climate change and drought, longer and more severe fire seasons are to be expected. But last year the United States also suffered more catastrophic fires. These fires are natural disasters, as destructive as many hurricanes, tornadoes or floods. But that’s not how the federal government treats them, or pays for them.
[…]
If it had been massive storms that caused [the] extraordinary devastation [seen in the fires in 2015], and their costs outstripped the budget for disaster response, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other agencies could access additional federal funding to pay for cleanup and recovery. In contrast, wildfire response remains subject to strict spending limits, regardless of a fire’s severity. Worse, outdated budget rules require the U.S. Forest Service to fight these fires by diverting funds from other parts of its budget — including fire prevention programs that remove dead trees and brush from forests.
This shortsighted practice means that as the Forest Service spends more on combating huge fires, it has less to spend on preventing them.
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The agency must be allowed to pay for fighting extraordinary wildfires similarly to how FEMA and other agencies pay for disaster responses. The response to Hurricane Sandy did not come at the expense of routine maintenance on levees to prevent future floods. Likewise, the Forest Service’s firefighting costs should not come at the expense of routine brush clearance and maintenance that help prevent future wildfires.
Democrats and Republicans in both houses of Congress agree that this problem needs fixing. Last year’s Senate version of the appropriations bill to fund the Forest Service provided a simple solution: It would have allowed the agency to access a separate stream of federal funds, unconstrained by government-wide spending limits, to combat wildfires during an above-average fire season.
This concept has broad, bipartisan support. It has been included in other proposals from members of Congress who represent Western states and is supported by the Obama administration.
Despite that consensus, the fix was not included in the spending bill passed last December because some lawmakers requested additional reforms related the Forest Service’s long-term budget outlook, while others requested contentious changes to how the agency manages national forests and conducts environmental reviews.
Robbing fire prevention accounts to fight fires makes no sense and needs to end as soon as possible. A straightforward, narrow fix to the federal wildfire budgeting process is uncontroversial and needed urgently. Congress should pass the budget fix on its own now and buy time to find consensus on broad reforms…”
Firefighters from New Zealand and the Australian mainland assist with bushfires in Tasmania.
Above: Strike Team Alpha from the New South Wales Rural Fire Service assembles after a hard day of work on fires in Tasmania. NSW RFS photo.
Rain a few days ago and milder weather since then has slowed the bushfires in Tasmania, however several more weeks of mopup is needed. Firefighters are strengthening containment lines around fires in the northwest part of the state, including the Mawbanna and Wuthering Heights Road fire.
Rain has hampered aerial operations, but ground crews are extinguishing hot spots.
On February 17 there were over 350 personnel from Tasmania Fire Service, Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service, and Forestry Tasmania assigned to the fires. They are being supported by over 300 interstate and international personnel, as well as administrative staff from other Tasmanian Government departments.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized4 Comments on Colorado to evaluate devices for tracking firefighters Wildfire Today has unabashedly advocated the the use of devices that would make wildfire supervisors aware in near-real-time the location of their firefighting resources. Our thinking is, if that and the location of the fire were known on the Yarnell Hill and Esperanza Fires the lives of 24 firefighters might have been saved. (See tag for “Holy Grail of Wildland Firefighting Safety”).
In 2014 the governor of Colorado signed legislation creating the Center of Excellence for Advanced Technology Aerial Firefighting (CoE), whose mission statement says they will:
…research, test, and evaluate existing and new technologies that support sustainable, effective, and efficient aerial firefighting techniques.
Apparently the organization interprets that mission very broadly since they have started a study to evaluate the effectiveness and practicality of small GPS-enabled devices that can communicate with firefighters on the ground and keep track of their location via satellites.
In 2012 the U.S. Forest Service bought 6,000 devices like this. We have not heard much about how that acquisition turned out.
Below is information about the new Colorado project provided by the (CoE).
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“In the interest of improving communications for, and safety of, wildland firefighters, the Center of Excellence (CoE) is evaluating the use of satellite-based messenger devices by Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) firefighters and cooperators. These devices can enable firefighters to send messages and they also track the location of personnel without using cellular or conventional radio networks. To date, the primary users of these devices have been the civilian outdoor community; however, military and civil government agencies have begun experimenting with integrating these devices into their operations. Early results show that satellite messengers can be effective at supplementing existing radio and cellular communication networks.
Device Overview
Two types of devices are being evaluated by the CoE. The first is the lower-cost SPOT Gen3, which can send one-way messages over the Globalstar satellite network. Since SPOT Gen3’s have sending capability only, it is not possible to obtain delivery confirmations for successful messages. To increase the probability that messages are successfully delivered, the SPOT sends multiple copies of the same message.
The SPOT Gen3 device can send the following types of messages:
The second device that the CoE is evaluating is the DeLorme inReach. Two models of the inReach are being evaluated—the basic model and a premium model that includes GPS mapping and navigation. The inReach can send two-way messages over the Iridium satellite network, which provides delivery confirmations for successful messages. In addition, text messages can be sent to firefighters in the field.
The DeLorme InReach device can send the following types of messages:
The SPOT Gen3 device retails for $149.99, the DeLorme inReach base model (inReach SE) for $299.99, and the premium model (inReach Explorer) for $379.99. Satellite service subscriptions comprise a substantial portion of the cost of operating these devices, with cost primarily governed by how frequently tracking points can be sent by the device. Service for the SPOT device must be bought on an annual basis, while service for the DeLorme devices can be purchased on either an annual or a month-to-month basis. If the DeLorme devices are used for 8 months or less each year, the month-to-month plan will be the most cost-effective option.
Summary of Device and Service Costs:
| SPOT (annual) | DeLorme Contract (annual) | DeLorme Month-to-Month (plus $24.95 annual fee) | |
| Device Cost | $149.99 | $299.99/$379.99 | $299.99/$379.99 |
| Base Option |
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| Mid-Range Option |
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| Premium Option |
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The following chart represents the cost of buying and operating a device for two years, assuming that the DeLorme devices are on the month-to-month plan and are used for 6 months each year:
An enterprise plan is also available for the DeLorme devices. This plan charges for each byte of data used by the device rather than by the various texting and tracking features. As a result, a direct comparison to the consumer plans is difficult, but superior value may be found if usage is carefully monitored. Real-world testing of this plan is being conducted by the CoE to gain insight into its value.
Both the SPOT and DeLorme devices may be used by DFPC wildland fire personnel during fire assignments and remote project work. Using either device, personnel in need of emergency medical assistance or personnel lost in the wildland will be able to summon search and rescue assistance. Additionally, personnel will have the ability to send messages with other content to supervisors or incident commanders, though this functionality is limited with the SPOT device. Finally, the location of personnel can be tracked in near real-time using either the companion websites for the devices or using the Colorado Wildfire Information Management System (CO-WIMS).”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on New Mexico legislature approves joining interstate fire compact New Mexico becomes a member if the Governor signs bill.
If the governor of New Mexico signs SB 138, a bill approved February 17 by the legislature on a vote of 62 to 1, the state will become the seventh member of the Great Plains Interstate Fire Compact, making it easier to share firefighting resources with Colorado, Wyoming, Saskatchewan, Nebraska, and the Dakotas.
A fire official knowledgeable about the Compact said two other states have expressed an interest in becoming members, Utah and Kansas.
There are at least six other fire compacts: Great Lakes, Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic, Big River, Northwest, and Southeastern.
