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Firefighter suffers serious burns while fighting fire in Montana

Bill GabbertJuly 17, 2021Uncategorizedburnover, injury, Montana1 Comment

He was on an engine crew when the wind shifted

Dan Steffensen. Photo courtesy of Red Lodge Fire Rescue.

Red Lodge Fire Rescue has released information about a firefighter who suffered serious burns while battling the Harris Fire near Joliet, Montana 25 miles northeast of Red Lodge, MT on July 16. Dan Steffensen was on a two-person engine crew when strong winds suddenly shifted in his direction. He attempted to reach safety, but was overrun by the fast moving fire and injured. Due to the severity of his burns, Mr. Steffensen was admitted to the University of Utah Burn Center in Salt Lake City in serious condition. His family and firefighting colleagues are traveling to be with him.

The other person on the engine was Scott Wilson, who was not injured. He acted quickly to make the notifications and assist in getting emergency medical care for his partner.

From Red Lodge Fire Rescue:

Dan has been a firefighter with Red Lodge Fire since 2015. In 2017 Dan was selected as volunteer “Firefighter of the Year” and works on the fuel mitigation/Initial Attack crew where in the summers he works to reduce hazardous fuels around homes and responds to emerging wildland fires. He is a nationally qualified wildland firefighter and has fought fires in Montana, Oregon, California and other western states as an engine boss and water tender operator.

Those wanting to help support Mr. Steffensen and his family can donate via the GoFundMe page which has been set up for his benefit.

If you’re thinking the town of Red Lodge, Montana sounds familiar, the Robertson Draw Fire just south of the community burned over 27,000 acres in June.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tom.

Two all-women fire crews at Yosemite and Grand Teton national parks

Bill GabbertJuly 16, 2021December 3, 2021UncategorizedGrand Teton National Park, women, Yellowstone National Park10 Comments

Funded by a grant from REI Co-op and the National Park Foundation

All women crew — Still image from the video below.

A National Park Foundation grant helped launch a pilot program working with conservation corps in California and Montana to create two women’s fire corps crews in Yosemite and Grand Teton National Parks. Much of the funding is a result of a very large donation from the REI Co-op.

The first video was filmed near the beginning of the fire season and the second checks in on the crews later. To change the resolution of the video, click on the screen-like icon at lower-right.

Update December 3, 2021:
A new video is available about Yosemite’s first Women’s Fire Corps Crew.

So far the drought is far worse than last year

Bill GabbertJuly 16, 2021July 16, 2021Uncategorizedstatistics4 Comments

Drought monitor comparison, 2020 & 2021 — Drought monitor comparison, similar dates in 2020 & 2021.

As @NOAANCElclimate pointed out, the Drought Monitor shows that the severity of the drought is far worse than it was at about the same date in 2020. Most of the areas in the 11 western states are in Severe, Extreme, or Exceptional Drought.

So far this year the 49 states outside Alaska have burned almost 2.2 million acres, about the same that burned in all of 2019. The 10-year all-year average for those 49 states is 6.4 million acres. In 2020 9.9 million acres burned in the lower 49 states.

A year-to-date average would be helpful. The National Situation Report gives a number, but unfortunately it includes Alaska which is extremely variable. Fires there can be very large, burning for weeks or months usually with little to no suppression. In the last 10 years the acres burned in Alaska ranged from 181,169 in 2020 to 5,111,404 acres in 2015, with the higher number being 28 times the lower. In 2015 more acres burned there than in the other 49 states combined. Therefore, a year to date average that includes Alaska is virtually meaningless if you want to draw conclusions about the status of the wildfire season in the lower 49 states.

Alaska acres burned — Alaska Acres burned, 2011 – 2020. Raw data from NIFC, processed by Wildfire Today.

Forest Service chief directs agency administrators to let their people go (on fire assignments)

Bill GabbertJuly 14, 2021UncategorizedLet My People Go, Moses letter18 Comments

Wyrick Fire in Arizona by Jeff Zimmerman, 7 p.m. June 20, 2021.

It has become common practice in a busy wildfire season f0r high-ranking people in D.C. to write letters to the field directing that red-carded employees, meaning they are qualified to assist on a fire in a specific capacity, be made available to be dispatched to a fire. This has been affectionally called the “Moses Letter.”

In a 2021 version of the letter signed July 14 by Forest Service Chief Victoria Christiansen she said, “We are seeing severe fire behavior that resists control efforts.”

As is the custom in years like this, she directed mission support supervisors to make all “red-carded” personnel available for fire assignments.

The Chief also asked regional and local Certifying Officials to consider granting a one-year certification for employees who hold expired red cards in non-operations and command positions where appropriate. But the request would not override the required medical or physical fitness standards. She also emphasized the “importance of wearing masks in fire camps where vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals are coming into contact with one another.” There was no mention of mandatory mask wearing.

Chief Christiansen also announced a significant change, increasing the required 2 days of rest after returning from a 14-day assignment to three days. In addition, “a two-day rest period for those working 14 continuous and extended days in support of local fire management.

[pdf-embedder url=”https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-Wildland-Fire-Priority-Letter.pdf” title=”2021 Wildland Fire Priority Letter”]

Here are the dates of some other Moses Letters that we happened to mention on Wildfire today. There are no doubt many others.

2020, May 5. BLM Director William Perry Pendley, the employee serving as the effective head of the agency since one was never nominated during that Administration, wrote what we called a preemptive Moses Letter.
2015, August 18: Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell distributed the anticipated letter.
2008, July 11, from the Forest Service.

In the Bible, Exodus 5:1, the Lord told Moses to tell the Pharaoh to “Let my people go” from bondage in Egypt. This phrase is the title of the one of the most well known African American spirituals of all time.

The video below was filmed at the Christmas concert at the town hall in Puteaux, France December 11, 2016. It begins at 2:44. The traditional words are:

When Israel was in Egypt’s land
Let my people go
Oppress’d so hard they could not stand
Let my people go

Refrain:
Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt’s land
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go

Forest Service’s California Region had not filled 725 of 4,620 planned fire positions in early July

Bill GabbertJuly 14, 2021August 19, 2021UncategorizedCalifornia, pay13 Comments

Many of the vacancies are for senior firefighters on engine crews

Dolan Fire, Los Padres National Forest firefighters — Dolan Fire, Los Padres NF in Southern California, September, 2020. Photo by Kari Greer.

An article by Pew Charitable Trusts’ Stateline section combined their data with information from the Associated Press to present a bleak picture of hiring and retention among wildland firefighters in the Forest Service’s California Region.

Below are excerpts from the article published July 14, 2021:

The Forest Service’s California region had filled 3,820 of 4,620 planned permanent and temporary positions as of early July, agency spokesperson Regina Corbin wrote in an email to Stateline.

Thirty-one of California’s 44 hotshot crews are fully staffed, Corbin said.

Almost two-thirds of vacancies at the end of spring hiring were for senior firefighters on engine crews, the data reviewed by Stateline shows.

The agency sought to fill 781 vacant permanent positions in California during spring hiring this year, according to the data. But it ended the hiring period with 725 vacancies. That’s a net gain of just 56 employees.

In June 2015 the region’s leaders expected 96% of engines to be fully staffed, for instance. In June 2020, the share was 59%.

In a different article published the same day at Reuters, still another disturbing fact came to light about wildland firefighter vacancies:

20% of the federal government’s full time firefighting positions are currently vacant, according to Kelly Martin, president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.

This large number of vacancies, including hundreds of senior positions, can severely degrade the effectiveness of the Federal government’s ability to suppress wildland fires, which is a Homeland Security issue.

The two aerial firefighters killed in July 10 aircraft crash in Arizona have been identified

Bill GabbertJuly 11, 2021July 11, 2021UncategorizedArizona, crash, lodd3 Comments

5:20 p.m. MDT July 11, 2021

File photo, example of a King Air C-90. This is not the aircraft that crashed.

The Bureau of Land Management has released the names of the two men killed July 10 in the crash of an air attack aircraft in Arizona.

The incident occurred at about noon during initial attack efforts on the Cedar Basin Fire, which is 14 miles east of Wikieup in northwestern Arizona.

Pilot Matthew Miller, 48, and Air Tactical Group Supervisor Jeff Piechura, 62, were on board a Beechcraft King Air C-90 aircraft conducting visual reconnaissance and aviation command and control over the fire. Mr. Miller was a fire pilot with Falcon Executive Aviation, Inc. contracted by the U.S. Forest Service. Mr. Piechura was an employee with the Coronado National Forest. Their remains have been recovered from the accident site.

Often eyewitness accounts are wrong.

But, the Arizona Republic interviewed a woman who saw the aircraft from her home coming down at a “steep angle” and then “slam into the ground.” An hour later she and her husband drove to an area near the crash. They said Bureau of Land Management employees told them they they witnessed a wing fall off the plane in the air before it crashed.

We are aware of four other wildland fire related aircraft crashes in North America this year in a 46-day period, for a total of 7 fatalities:

A helicopter went into Lake Shastina July 7 while working on the Lava Fire in Northern California. The pilot swam away.
The pilot of a helicopter that crashed while fighting a fire in Alberta, Canada was killed when the Bell 212 went down June 28.
A helicopter crashed and burned while working on the Deep Creek Canyon Fire in Montana June 15. Everyone walked away.
Four were killed in the May 25 crash of a helicopter at Leesburg, Florida.

In 2020 during a 49-day period that began July 7 there were six crashes of firefighting aircraft — three helicopters and three air tankers. In addition, three members of the crew of a C-130 from the U.S. died when their air tanker crashed January 23, 2020 while fighting a bushfire in New South Wales, Australia.

The article was edited to show that there were no reported serious injuries in the June 15 helicopter crash.

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