Colorado highway named after former wildland firefighter killed in Iraq

On October 7 a five-mile section of Colorado State Highway 56 between I-25 and US 287 was named the “Staff Sergeant Justin Bauer Memorial Highway”.  Sergeant Bauer was killed January 10, 2009 by an improvised explosive device near Baghdad, Iraq. He was a former firefighter with the Berthoud Fire Protection District northwest of Denver (map) and was certified as a wildland firefighter.

His wife, Kari Campbell, is shown in this video.

More information and photos.

New tool for predicting Santa Ana winds in California

Offshore flow severity index
Offshore flow severity index issued October 7, 2010. Click to enlarge.

A new tool is available that predicts the severity of Santa Ana winds in southern California six days in advance. Called the Offshore Flow Severity Index, it combines the relative humidity with the 1:00 p.m. wind speed predicted at the Saugus weather station to rate the events each day on a scale from one to four, with four being the highest. A category four event requires winds in excess of 30 mph with a relative humidity of less than 9%.

The term “offshore” is used because Santa Ana winds usually blow from a high pressure area over the Great Basin to a low pressure area off the southern California coast. These north, northeast, or east winds blow from the land to the ocean, or “offshore”, warming and drying as they move from high elevations to coastal elevations. Many of the larger and most devastating wildfires in southern California have occurred during offshore or Santa Ana wind events.

This forecasting tool will enable wildfire managers to modify their staffing or move fire resources into areas as needed to deal with the potential for large fires.

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UPDATE: October 26, 2011. Access to the site now requires a password, which seems very odd.

Mount Rushmore spokesman says beetle mitigation may prevent “catastrophic firestorm”

An article at NPR.org quotes a National Park Service employee who is running the pine beetle mitigation program at Mount Rushmore National Memorial:

“It’s a matter of controlling the exponential growth of this pine beetle,” says Bruce Weisman, the National Park ranger leading the fight against the insects. “We’ve seen this explosion and it’s coming over the ridgeline directly at us right now.”

Crews are cutting down trees below the four faces and feeding them into huge wood chippers. Weisman says to save this forest from destruction, the smaller overgrown pine trees on 500 acres of the park must come down. He says this is about more than beetles. Bug-killed trees are prone to burn, and one lightning strike could start a major wildfire.

Our fuel loads would be so tremendous that [a] catastrophic firestorm would sweep right over the top of the memorial and it would be a catastrophic loss of all facilities,” he says.

Mount Rushmore looking down from the top
Mount Rushmore administrative site, looking down from just below the sculpture, June 27, 2001. Photo by Bill Gabbert

There may be some legitimate reasons for thinning the trees in the Memorial, such as to help the remaining trees stay healthy so they can repel a beetle attack or to preserve a landscape that is pleasing to the human eye, but to prevent a “catastrophic” fire is not one of them. Science, research, and wildland fire behavior knowledge have shown that a forest that has been killed by beetles is not necessarily going to burn with more extreme fire behavior than a green forest. As soon as a pine tree dies, the very flammable volatile oils which cause a green tree to burn so well begin to break down. Less volatile oils means a fire will not burn as intensely. And, soon after the tree dies, the dead needles fall off and begin to decompose on the ground, providing fewer aerial fuels, making a crown fire less likely.

Mount Rushmore proposed spending $5.7 million to mitigate the beetles in the 1,200-acre Memorial; that was reduced to $2.7 million — about $2,196 an acre.

Another way to prevent the “catastrophic loss of all facilities” in a wildfire would be to implement Firewise principles, so that when the inevitable fire burns through the property the structures are more likely to survive. It is not IF, but WHEN.

Followup on charges against Lake State Railway for starting a fire

Lake States Railway
A Lake State Railway engine at the Alpena Yard, March 3, 2007. Photo: LSRC

In February, 2010 we covered the criminal charges that were filed against the Lake State Railway for allegedly starting a 2008 fire that burned 1,300 acres of forest, several homes, and other buildings in Grayling, Michigan. The Attorney General claims that the fire was caused by a train engine that was not equipped with spark arrestors. The estimates for damages include $464,000 in timber loss, $370,000 in personal property, and $100,000 in fire suppression costs.

It still has not gone to trial. In fact a hearing that would decide whether the preliminary evidence provides probable cause for the case to proceed to Circuit Court scheduled for September 28 was adjourned until November 16, 2010. However we have been told that Lake State Railway will likely plead no contest and will be ordered to pay restitution.

The same engine is suspected of starting 11 other fires in Alpena, Michigan on April 5, 2010.

Civil suit filed

On September 17, 2010 the Grayling Game Club filed a civil suit against the railroad. During the fire in 2008 500 acres of the club’s property burned, in addition to several cabins. Michigan law allows for the club to recover triple the value of the property destroyed, which is estimated to be over $1 million. The club is represented by Southfield, Michigan attorney Paul F. Doherty.

Update on Yellowstone’s Antelope fire, Sept. 5

Antelope fire yellowstone national park
Antelope fire as seen from the Mt. Washburn web cam at 4:32 p.m., October 4. NPS photo.

The Antelope fire in the northwest section of Yellowstone National Park has not been very active for the last couple of days, but we liked the photo above, so you’re getting an update. This is from the National Park Service at about 12:30 on Tuesday:

Current Size: Approximately 5,510 acres – 20 percent contained. It is the largest of the 11 fires that have occurred in Yellowstone this year.

Monday’s Activities: Limited fire activity was seen yesterday due to higher humidity and a trace of moisture. South winds kicked up slight activity on the southeast portion of the fire. The increase in acreage is a reflection of the fire activity from October 2nd, and more accurate mapping that occurred on October 3rd.

Tuesday’s Strategies: One engine and seven additional firefighters are assigned to the Antelope Fire today. They will be monitoring the fire activity. One helicopter is available in Mammoth, if needed.

All park entrances and road remain open. The fire can be seen from the Mt. Washburn web cam.

Another fire in the park, the Arthur 2 fire first reported on August 18, had been quiet until a few days ago when dry and warm weather caused it to flare up again. It is burning within the perimeter of the 2001 Arthur fire and has spread over 200 acres so far. Here is a photo of moose visiting the fire’s helispot.

Arthur 2 fire helispot moose
NPS photo from InciWeb

Bambi returns to help prevent wildfires

bambi wildfires

Bambi, who first appeared in public service announcements promoting wildfire prevention in 1944, is featured in new PSA’s, including the image above and the 30-second video below.

We are pleased that Sam Elliot’s voice is still used at the end of the video, saying “Only you can prevent wildfires”. Mr. Elliot has been the voice of Smokey since 2008.

More information:

Smokey Bear’s website

Smokey’s Facebook page

Smokey’s YouTube channel