Wildfire Today

President and South Dakota Governor say Mount Rushmore July 4th fireworks will be restored

Bill GabbertDecember 18, 2019December 18, 2019Uncategorizedfireworks, Mount Rushmore, South Dakota13 Comments

They were discontinued 10 years ago because of the danger of wildfires in the Ponderosa pine forest and poisoning of the water table from percholrate in the fireworks

fireworks Mount Rushmore Trump Noem — Part of the discussion December 16 at the White House was President Trump and SD Governor Kristi Noem stating that fireworks were going to be shot over Mount Rushmore July 4, 2020.

During a December 16 meeting in the White House with several Governors and administration officials, South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem and Mr. Trump both said fireworks were going to be displayed at Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota during the 4th of July holiday in 2020.

The fireworks were discontinued after 2009 due to wildfires that were ignited by the explosions over the Ponderosa Pine forest, and, very serious contamination of the water caused by the chemicals in the fireworks.

Below is a portion of the transcript of the meeting provided by the White House in which Mr. Trump said Governor Noem asked him for a “favor”.

THE PRESIDENT: It’s a great place [South Dakota]. And you also are going to have a very exciting Fourth of July.

GOVERNOR NOEM: We are. We’re going to have fireworks.

THE PRESIDENT: Right.

GOVERNOR NOEM: And I’m hoping you will —

THE PRESIDENT: For many years — for many years, the fireworks —

GOVERNOR NOEM: — you will come — at Mount Rushmore.

THE PRESIDENT: Well, we’re going to think about it. Mount Rushmore. They ended the fireworks. How many years ago? A long time.

GOVERNOR NOEM: Gosh, it was at least 10 years ago. So —

THE PRESIDENT: Nobody knows why, but you just couldn’t have it. And now you’re going to have fireworks. And the Governor called, and she said, “You got to do me a favor.” Right?

GOVERNOR NOEM: And you did.

THE PRESIDENT: And we worked it out. And we got it done. And you’re going to have fireworks.

In May, 2019 both the Governor and the President issued statements or tweets saying the fireworks were being restored.

President Trump, May 8, 2019:

I am pleased to inform you that THE BIG FIREWORKS, after many years of not having any, are coming back to beautiful Mount Rushmore in South Dakota. Great work @GovKristiNoem and @SecBernhardt! #MAGA

Governor Kristi Noem also distributed a press release, writing in part, “[T]he State of South Dakota and the U.S. Department of the Interior have agreed to bring fireworks back to Mount Rushmore National Memorial beginning with the 2020 Independence Day celebration.”

The Memorial is administered by the National Park Service which is part of the Department of the Interior. The DOI signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the State of South Dakota, “to work to reinstate fireworks at Mount Rushmore for Fourth of July celebrations.”

Following the May announcements by the politicians, the NPS said it was not etched in stone that the fireworks would occur.

“The agreement”, said Maureen McGee-Ballinger, chief of interpretation and education at Mount Rushmore, “is the first step in a long process. The National Park Service will be working with the state, land management agencies, various specialists in a variety of fields, and will be exercising our authority under state and federal law to explore safe and available options in regards to the proposal. So, it’s a proposal. This is just the beginning of the process to look at that.”

Today we checked with the NPS again and a spokesperson in Washington said, “The National Park Service has not made a formal decision; that will happen through the [National Environmental Policy Act] and permitting processes. The NPS expects to release a NEPA document for public review in February, 2020.”

So, officially, no decision about Mount Rushmore fireworks has been made, in spite of the statements by the President and the Governor to the contrary. The word in D.C. is that the fireworks are a priority, so how would you place a bet? They will or will not happen?

During the first five years of the fireworks, Mount Rushmore was one of the seven Parks within the Northern Great Plains Fire Management organization for which I was the Fire Management Officer.

Mount Rushmore looking down from the top — Mount Rushmore administrative site, looking down from the top of the sculpture. Photo by Bill Gabbert June, 2001.

The park is not just the stone carving; it is surrounded by thousands of acres of timber and the Black Hills National Forest.

Part of my job was to plan for suppression of the fires that started when burning embers from the fireworks hit the ground. We mobilized dozens of firefighters during the busy part of the fire season and had them positioned just outside the falling-debris zone. We had to restrict out of area fire assignments to be sure enough firefighters remained available for the show. After the aerial explosions ended, we would move in, search at night in the steep rocky terrain, and extinguish the fires.

In one of the first displays over a dozen fires started. They were all put out when they were small, but it was proven then to be an insane concept to shoot off literally tons of fireworks over a ponderosa pine forest in July.

Mount Rushmore fireworks debris — Some of the debris and trash at the launch site of the fireworks at Mount Rushmore.

The shows left on the sculpture and in the forest unexploded shells, wadding, ash, pieces of the devices, paper, and poisonous chemicals; stuff that can never be completely picked up in the steep, rocky, rugged terrain.

In 2016 the USGS discovered that the ground and surface water at Mount Rushmore is contaminated with percholrate, a component of rocket fuels and explosives. They determined that the chemical came from the fireworks over that 12-year period.

Data from the USGS report showed that a maximum perchlorate concentration of 54 micrograms per liter was measured in a stream sample, which is about 270 times higher than that in samples collected from sites outside the memorial. The Centers for Disease Control says high levels of perchlorates can affect the thyroid gland, which in turn can alter the function of many organs in the body. The fetus and young children can be especially susceptible.

WTREX provides prescribed fire training for women

Bill GabbertDecember 18, 2019Prescribed FireCalifornia, Florida, prescribed fire, training, women1 Comment

Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges are supported by TNC, USFS, and DOI

Women-in-Fire Prescribed Fire Training Exchanges (WTREX) holds 12-day training sessions to help women advance their formal qualifications in wildland fire management. The goal is to enhance their understanding of fire ecology, fire effects, communications, outreach, prescribed fire policy, and planning. At least three sessions have occurred, in Florida and California.

When the U.S. fire management system was conceived in the early 1900s, women’s roles in the workforce were much different than they are now. Even today, women constitute a relatively small proportion of the workforce, filling roughly 10 percent of wildland fire positions and only 7 in 100 leadership roles. In recent years, there has been an increased effort to recruit women into fire, yet social and cultural challenges remain. New recruits often find the dominant fire management system to be dismissive of female perspectives and strengths, even as its increasing complexity requires fresh approaches and insights.

More information about all types of Prescribed Fire Training Exchange events can be found at The Nature Conservancy and at the Prescribed Fire Training Exchange (TREX) Facebook page.

WTREX is supported by Promoting Ecosystem Resilience and Fire Adapted Communities Together, a cooperative agreement between The Nature Conservancy, USDA Forest Service, and agencies of the Department of the Interior.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Paula. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

The battle over California’s eucalyptus trees

Bill GabbertDecember 17, 2019December 19, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia, eucalyptus

The invasive plant increases the fire hazard in urban and rural areas

Eucalyptus fire wildfire — One in a series of The Guardian graphics about the hazards of eucalyptus trees in a fire prone environment.

Many areas around the world have imported eucalyptus trees in order to harvest the wood, leaves, and oil in order to make paper and medicine. But wildfires burn rapidly under the trees and through the crowns, fed by the stringy bark, oil, and the leaves and forest litter on the ground that do not decompose.

In California they have also been imported and planted for esthetic purposes. But this invasive species brought many problems with it.

The Guardian has a unique illustrated story about this controversial plant. Check it out here.

Articles on Wildfire Today tagged “eucalyptus“.

DHS studies emerging technology for wildfire response

Bill GabbertDecember 16, 2019UncategorizedHoly Grail, research, study, technology1 Comment

The project team evaluated over 60 systems

In December of 2017, the Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator requested the Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology research new and emerging technology that could be applied to wildland fire incident response, given the loss of life that occurred in California during the fall of 2017 in Santa Rosa and Ventura.

The project team identified three overarching conclusions that represent consistent themes captured throughout the course of the table top exercises and expert engagements.

Time Criticality of WUI Fire Incidents: WUI fire incidents require immediate protective and response actions to save lives. The conflagration created when a wildland fire enters populated areas is unpredictable and can rapidly devastate these areas, threatening lives. Interventions and solutions that improve decision making and response in the initial minutes of a WUI fire are vital.
Available Technology Solutions Exist: There exist available technologies (both government and commercial), which—if implemented—could immediately help emergency responders reduce the number of lives lost during WUI fire incidents. In particular, these technologies could immediately support ignition detection, fire tracking, public information and warning, evacuation, and responder safety. Improving capabilities in other elements of the WUI response (i.e. preparedness and critical infrastructure) may require investing in adaptable or developable solutions that are not immediately available.
Public Education and Preparedness Measures are Vital: Public education and preparedness are essential to reducing the number of lives lost to WUI fire incidents. There is no solution more effective than preventing an ignition in the first place and ensuring the at-risk communities are prepared at the grassroots level to face wildland fire dangers.

The principal conclusions of this project are distilled into a set of seven key findings. They describe lines of effort addressing priority capability gaps that, if implemented, could substantially improve immediate life-saving efforts during WUI fire incidents. The key findings listed below are considered equally important to this objective and are not listed in any priority order.

Implement and scale the use of state-of-the-art remote sensing assets to provide state and local stakeholders real-time, accurate, low-cost ignition detection and tracking information— especially fire perimeter using a mix of in situ, aerial, and space-based systems.
Improve the ability of available and adaptable public alert and warning technologies to deliver more targeted and effective message across the whole community, particularly to individuals with disabilities and others with Access and Functional Needs (AFN).
Improve use of key public and private social media and internet resources and capabilities to appropriately share data and adapt existing applications to enable more efficient and effective evacuation—e.g., expand and accelerate public-private partnerships through Integrated Public Alert and Warnings System (IPAWS) to include WUI incident-related evacuations, warning, and alerting.
Support broader use of existing fire modeling and forecasting tools for pre-incident planning; while also advancing efforts to create high-confidence, timely WUI fire-specific models that can be used to inform response tactics during extreme conditions.
Increase infrastructure resilience, especially critical infrastructure lifelines and support functions for wildland fire response—e.g., improve the resilience, interoperability, and reliability of communications, power utilities, digital links, and data center infrastructure.
Integrate private, open, and crowdsourced data, resources, and capabilities to improve public safety situational awareness of WUI fire ignition detection and tracking.
Support wide-scale adoption of interoperable, low-cost blue-force tracking technologies that feed near real-time situational awareness across key stakeholders, missions, and operations.

The project team evaluated over 60 existing systems, products, or solutions. Here is an example of how 10 were ranked for how well they addressed requirements.

technology address wildfire management safety — Top ten solutions based on how many requirements that solution addresses.

In addition, the team evaluated the solutions for feasibility, affordability, usability, impact, and technology alignment.

The entire 131-page report can be downloaded. 2.8 MB

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to LM. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

NWCG changes standards for crews and dozers

Bill GabbertDecember 16, 2019December 18, 2019Uncategorizeddozer, hotshots, qualifications1 Comment

Rose Fire Lake Elsinore CA — A dozer constructs fireline on the Rose Fire near Lake Elsinore, California, July 31, 2017 Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.

Over the last five years the National Wildfire Coordinating Group has made revisions to the standards for hand crews and dozers

The NWCG establishes standards for the capabilities of firefighting aircraft, crews, and equipment. For example, a Type 1 Engine must carry 1,200 feet of 2.5″ hose and have a pump capability of 1,000 gallons per minute, while a Type 6 Engine needs to have 300 feet of 1.5″ hose and a 50 GPM pump.

There were a handful of changes made to the standards that were published in 2014.

CREWS
The number of personnel on a Type 1 Crew was increased from 18 to 20, to 18 to 22. There were a couple of new position qualification requirements for leadership on crews. The new standard:

Permanent supervision:
Superintendent: TFLD, ICT4, FIRB
Asst. Supt.: STCR or TFLD and CRWB and ICT4
3 Squad Leaders: CRWB and ICT5
2 Senior Firefighters: FFT1

In 2014 Type 1 Crews only had to have three “agency-qualified” sawyers. Now there must be four certified Intermediate Fallers (FAL2) and 50 percent of the crew needs to be qualified as Basic Faller (FAL3).

The number of programmable radios on a Type 1 Crew was increased from five to eight.

DOZERS
There were major changes for dozers. The horsepower was increased for all types, a fourth type was added, and minimum base weights were established.

New requirements dozers — New requirements for dozers, December, 2019. NWCG.

UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS
This category was added to account for the sudden increase during the last two years in the number of UAS, or drones, now being used on many types of incidents. More information is at Fire Aviation.

AIR TANKERS
An additional type of air tanker has been added since 2014 — the Very Large Air Tanker which is required to have a capacity of at least 8,000 gallons.

I did not notice any significant changes in the requirements for helicopters, engines, water tenders, or Type 2 crews.

The NWCG Standards for Wildland Fire Resource Typing can be accessed here.

Research indicates that wildfire smoke may distribute microbial life

Bill GabbertDecember 12, 2019December 12, 2019Uncategorizedresearch, smoke, weather1 Comment

That may be what causes allergic reactions in some people who are sensitive to smoke

smoke wildfires Utah and Colorado — Satellite photo at 5:37 p.m. MDT Sept. 13, 2018 showing smoke from wildfires in Utah and Colorado.

We have known for a long time that smoke from wildfires can be harmful to humans, but in recent years that knowledge base has increased significantly. And it may have reached a new level with research conducted by fire ecologist Leda Kobziar. After learning that some snow machines use bacteria as condensation nuclei, she started to wonder if bacteria was a component of smoke. Using petri dishes and drones she collected air and smoke samples at a prescribed fire.

Below is an excerpt from an article at KQED.org:

…Then they compared what was collected to the contents of ambient (non-smoky) air. They sampled for abundance and diversity by culturing colonies and analyzing DNA.

Turns out a surprising amount and diversity of bacterial cells and fungal spores gets lofted into wildfire smoke during a fire. The more severe the burn, the more cells it transports. This is a newly emerging area of research, but Kobziar thinks these microbes have the potential to affect human health.

“There are numerous allergens that we’ve found in the smoke. And so it may be that some people who are sensitive to smoke have that sensitivity, not only because of the particulate matter and the smoke, but also because there are some biological organisms in it.” … Possibly, she says, wildfire smoke has been a driving factor in the global distribution of microbial life.

“We think that the role that wildland fire is playing in transporting organisms through smoke has probably had some influence on the evolution of species as well and development of communities,” Kobziar said.

Let’s be careful out there.

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