In the natural world one environmental event or disturbance can initiate or be part of a series of cascading events that intensify the impacts of natural hazards, possibly turning them into disasters.
An article at The Conversation explores how these effects can be enhanced by a warming climate. Below is an excerpt from an article written by Amir AghaKouchak (UC Irvine) and Farshid Vahedifard (Mississippi State University).
“Multiple hazardous events are considered cascading when they act as a series of toppling dominoes, such as flooding and landslides that occur after rain over wildfires. Cascading events may begin in small areas but can intensify and spread to influence larger areas.
[…]
“Also, the severity of these cascading weather events worsens in a warming world. Drought-stricken areas become more vulnerable to wildfires. And snow and ice are melting earlier, altering the timing of runoff. This has a direct relationship with the fact that the fire season across the globe has extended by 20 percent since the 1980s. Earlier snowmelt increases the chance of low flows in the dry season and can make forests and vegetation more vulnerable to fires.
“These links spread further as wildfires occur at elevations never imagined before. As fires destroy the forest canopy on high mountain ranges, the way snow accumulates is altered. Snow melts faster because soot deposited on the snow absorbs heat. Similarly, as drought dust is released, snow melts at a higher rate, as has been seen in the Upper Colorado River Basin.
[…]
“When landscapes are charred during wildfires, they become more vulnerable to landslides and flooding. In January, a debris flow event in Montecito, California killed 21 people and injured more than 160. Just one month before the landslide, the soil on the town’s steep slopes were destabilized in [the Thomas Fire]. After a storm brought torrential downpours, a 5-meter high wave of mud, tree branches and boulders swept down the slopes and into people’s homes.”
A helicopter pilot died in a crash October 23 while helping firefighters extinguish a wildfire in South Africa.
Nico Heyns, 65, was flying a Huey owned by Kishuga Aviation that was under contract to the firefighting agency Working On Fire.
The accident occurred the Vermaaklikheid area, about 40km from Riversdale, around 9:50 a.m.
Mr. Heyns was supposed to be off duty that day but interrupted his leave to help with the fire. The cause of the crash has not been determined.
We are utterly devastated by the untimely passing of our beloved pilot Nico Heyns. He will be sorely missed by us all. Our sincere and heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. @wo_firepic.twitter.com/u0PXWXAVSd
— Kishugu (@kishugu) October 24, 2018
Police spokesperson Captain Malcolm Pojie said, “Police had to arrange for the speedy removal of the body to save it from the fire that was engulfing the area.”
Mr. Heyns, a veteran pilot with more than 20 years experience, formerly owned Heyns Helicopter Service and was well known in the aviation community.
Our sincere condolences go out to his family, friends, and co-workers.
Working on Fire wishes to extend our heartfelt condolences to the family of Nico Heyns as well as colleagues and the firefighting fraternity. Our first and foremost priority at this stage is to provide the bereaved with support as needed and we will be meeting with the family. pic.twitter.com/cMenc0j9QZ
Bushfire south of Broome, Western Australia. Photo: Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
A bushfire that started October 11 in Western Australia 120km southeast of Broome burned 880,000 hectares, or 2,174,527 acres. Dry winds from variable directions and high temperatures made it very difficult to suppress. The remote location and a lack of water restricted the tactics to fighting fire with fire, constructing firelines with heavy equipment, and using aircraft.
When the wind direction changed last week, firefighters had to shut down the Great Northern Highway, National Route 1.
Satellite photo of bushfire in Western Australia, October 15, 2018. NASA.
When we coined the term “megafire” for wildfires that exceed 100,000 acres, it was in the back of our mind that if a fire reached 1 million acres it would be called a “gigafire”.
In spite of the enormous size of the blaze in Western Australia there were no fatalities or damage to major structures.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) urged residents at Thangoo Homestead, Barn Hill Station, and Eco Beach last Tuesday to evacuate or actively defend their property.
DFES West Kimberley area officer Ben Muller said there were approximately 100 personnel fighting the fire.
The city of Broome was given the all clear Thursday morning.
Below is an excerpt from an article at TheWest.com:
Thangoo Station manager Rex McCormack said about half of the pastoral station was burnt but people and livestock were unscathed and water tanks and other important assets were undamaged.
“It is one of the biggest fires I remember from the last 10 years, but we felt safe in staying and defending the property,” he said.
“I didn’t feel scared in staying, I would have been more worried about that damage that could have occurred if I wasn’t there and it was more about being a resource to DFES.
“We were out back burning the property until about 1am last Wednesday, then up again at 6am.
Bushfire south of Broome, Western Australia. Photo: Department of Fire and Emergency Services.
(UPDATED November 2, 2018)
Images below are from the Sentinel 2 10/23. First image is the original fire. Second image is from a secondary fire to the NE, both presently under control.
Bushfire in Australia burns over 2 million acres, becoming a “gigafire” https://t.co/4DSVh1YP8T … via @WildfireTodaypic.twitter.com/Q1GYW2MmAm
Wildland firefighters will recognize that name as the title of a book published in 1993 by Norman Maclean that told the story of the 13 firefighters, 12 of whom were smokejumpers, that died in Montana in 1949 on the Mann Gulch Fire. Not only is the book a classic of the American West and an excellent read (it won the National Book Critics Circle Award) it tells the story of a well known landmark in the history of wildland firefighting — a very meaningful and emotional event for some wildland firefighters.
It was the last book written by Norman Maclean, and was not quite finished when he passed away. His son, John N. Maclean, a former journalist, assisted in the final editing process. Since then, John has written five books about wildland fire including Fire on the Mountain and his latest, River of Fire.
Norman also wrote A River Runs Through It, which in 1992 was adapted for the big screen, directed and narrated by Robert Redford and starring Brad Pitt.
Since the Camden Film Festival, the name of the Young Men and Fire film changed to Wildland.
I reached out by email to John N. Maclean and asked for his thoughts about the name of the film. His response:
“I thought the use of Young Men and Fire as a movie title was a very bad idea. I did wonder how serious the filmmakers were, considering they had not contacted the University of Chicago Press, publisher of the book, or the family before deciding to use a famous title. (Alex has apologized for this.) I put a notice up on my Facebook page when I first learned what was afoot, and a rash of very negative comments flooded in. Alex and I then got in direct touch and he offered to change the title if I asked him to. I’d like to add that our exchanges were civil and respectful despite the considerable distress on both sides. At that point I bowed out and took down the Facebook posting. If they wanted to use the title and take the consequences on their heads, so be it. The decision to change the name was entirely the responsibility of the movie producers. I’m glad they did it, but I made no such demand.”
I asked Alex Jablonski, one of the co-directors and co-producers, about the name change. Below are my questions (in bold) and his responses, by email:
–Originally it was titled Young Men and Fire. The book of the same name and the deaths of the 13 firefighters in 1949 are part of a very meaningful and emotional subject among wildland firefighters. I assume when you selected that title you were familiar with the book by Norman Maclean. Why did you choose that title?
“I actually wrote about this when we were using that title so I’m going to put some of what I wrote here:
Obviously Maclean’s book is big for just about everyone in fire, and it’s an investigation into the deaths of [13 firefighters] in the
Mann Gulch fire in 1949. But, it is multi-layered and the book is many other things – an examination of the souls of young men, an attempt at understanding our own mortality, a story about covering the same ground over and over, searching for new answers to old questions, and an effort to understand fire in terms both scientific and theological.
“This is exactly what we felt we were doing in making this film. It was looking at this question of, what is this connection between young men trying to prove themselves and fire? How is it that the same draw that brought those smokejumpers to Mann Gulch seventy-years ago is just as powerful as the draw that finds our characters in training in Grants Pass, Oregon? How is it that young men come to this line of work and what changes within them when they confront something as elemental as fire?
“These are the same questions that Maclean was wrestling with, and while we’re asking them using a different medium and in a different time, they are still the same questions. And moreover, our entire approach to this film — the very way we set out to examine both the interior and exterior lives of our characters — is directly descended from the way Maclean wrote and how he saw the world.”
–Why did you change the title to Wildland?
“In short – we listened to people in the fire community. There were really two prongs of reaction to the original title. The first was from John Maclean (Norman’s son). He knew that we meant it to honor his father but we had not reached out to him before the film was announced – and that was a mistake on our part… People hold that book near and dear and people did not feel that it was honoring the book but taking something from it.
“The second reason was that a lot of women in the fire community felt that the title was exclusionary because of the number of women in wildland fire, and to have ‘men’ in the title, completely erased them. Our film is very much about men and masculinity and a certain type of camaraderie, but it didn’t sit well with me that the title had this impact on the women in the community. I can only imagine the kind of things that women in fire have had to deal with and I hated the idea that our title would be one more thing, one more moment where the felt they didn’t belong or weren’t part of this world. So given all that the decision was pretty clear. I think that the title Wildland is still evocative and still speaks to the uncultivated parts of us ourselves and the world.”
The television version of Wildland will be shown on the PBS television series Independent Lens October 29 at 10 p.m. ET. Check your local listings — not all stations will carry it at that time; I saw it scheduled for 3 a.m. October 30 in one city. The full-length feature film version will appear in a limited number of theaters beginning January 16, 2019. That website has instructions on how you can bring it to your city. Mr. Jablonski said all screenings will help raise money for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, helping families of firefighters.
Terwilliger Fire in western Oregon, August 24, 2018. Inciweb photo.
The Mail Tribune posted a video about how in recent years the occurrence of wildfire smoke seems to be more frequent in Oregon.
Some of the short term effects of smoke are well known, such as how it can affect people with pre-existing respiratory conditions, but not much research has been completed on the long term effects on residents or firefighters.
In the video, Doctor of Nursing Practice Matt Hogge introduced a condition called smoke induced depression.
“You see a lot of people coming in with mild mental health concerns”, he said, “that might not have those in their day to day life, but the anxiety of not being able to go outside and do the things that they are normally able to do really affects some people’s moods.”
A television version of the film about firefighters will be on PBS October 29, with the full-length feature opening in theaters January 16, 2019.
Over the course of a fire season Alex Jablonski embedded with a Grayback Forestry Type 2 Initial Attack hand crew of firefighters out of Merlin, Oregon, getting to know them and gaining their trust. He accompanied them on wildfires carrying two video cameras, lenses, extra batteries, and a fire shelter in his fireline pack along with two gallons of water and a Yeti Rambler bottle filled with half a gallon of coffee. Most of the time while they were on a fire he worked beside them using a hand tool, but about 10 to 15 percent of the time he traded the tool for one of the video cameras, shooting footage while they were working and interviewing them on breaks.
“Sometimes we missed some good shots or some good moments but it was important to us to make sure that we were contributing and were very much a part of the crew”, Mr. Jablonski said. “As you can see in the film a lot of the story takes place off the line and at home, or in training, because we wanted to tell the personal stories of these guys on the crew.”
Mr. Jablonski and two other videographers, Kahlil Hudson and Grayson Schaffer, went through the basic firefighter training, passed the Work Capacity Test (Pack Test), and received Red Cards, qualifying them to work on the fireline with the crew. The three of them rotated in and out; only one person from the film company was with the crew at any one time.
“We also knew the pack test would be the easiest part of the summer”, Mr. Jablonski said, “and kept in good shape before starting the film — training hikes, lifting, etc.”
Alex Jablonski
The filmmakers used their summer with the crew and the hours of video they shot to make a film — “Wildland”. The television version will be shown on the PBS television series Independent Lens October 29. Check your local listings — not all stations will carry it at that time; I saw it scheduled for 3 a.m. October 30 in one city. The full-length feature film version will appear in a limited number of theaters beginning January 16, 2019. That website has instructions on how you can bring it to your city. Mr. Jablonski said all screenings will help raise money for the Wildland Firefighter Foundation, helping families of firefighters.
Filmed over one fire season, “Wildland” is a sweeping yet deeply personal account of a single wildland firefighting crew as they struggle with fear, loyalty, dreams, and demons. What emerges is a rich story of working-class men — their exterior world, their interior lives and the fire that lies between. (From the film’s website)
The filmmakers obtained permission from the Oregon Department of Forestry to embed with the Grayback Forestry crew and shot only on ODF fires. They did not shoot on any U.S. Forest Service fires.
Below is an excerpt from an interview with Mr. Jablonski from a PBS article:
How did you integrate and get initiated with these other firefighters? Did you have a special bond with any of them?
“It began by just spending a lot of time at the base. We’d be there early in the morning in the winter when the guys were just going out to do what’s called ‘project work’ which is essentially thinning forests. It’s hard work on steep slopes and not exciting. We’d tag along and just hang out, then maybe shoot a bit or ask questions during a break.”
“It’s this slow process of building rapport, showing that you’re there for the right reasons and that you’re committed to spending time there.”
“Then as we got to know people we’d find guys who we thought could be pretty interesting. Tim Brewer, the crew boss in the film, was someone who stuck out right away. He’s sharp-tongued and funny and has a ton of experience. He’s also not particularly friendly at first.”
“When we’d zeroed in on his crew to follow them, I went up to him and said, ‘Hey Tim, I’m Alex — we’re doing this film and we’d be interested in talking to you about maybe following your crew,’ and he just looked at me and said, ‘You know I’m a dick, right?’ and then walked away. That was it.”
“And then he avoided me for a week. But once we were able to keep talking to him and explain what we were after he became a little more open. And after spending a lot of time out there with him we became friends and I’ve opened up to him about things I’ve gone through in the same way that he opens up [about] in the film.”
Below is the official trailer for “Wildfire”:
The film is directed and produced by Alex Jablonski and Kahlil Hudson.
