News and opinion about wildland fire
The Fish and Wildlife Service has been conducting prescribed fires at Lacreek National Wildlife Refuge southeast of Martin, South Dakota (map) over the last couple of days.
These photos were taken today by the F&WS as they added another 630 acres to the total area treated with fire.
Residents in the Northern and Central Plains have been experiencing vegetation fire smoke today. Much of it has come from agricultural or prescribed burning in Missouri and the Flint Hills of Kansas. The map above, an experimental product from NOAA’s Earth Central Research Laboratory, shows the estimate of where the smoke would be at 8 p.m. MDT on April 13.
The map below shows the locations of fires, wild or prescribed, and AirNow’s estimate of a smoke plume.
For the 10,000th tweet sent out by Smokey Bear he attached the original Smokey Bear poster.
The U.S. Forest Service has selected Robert Baird as the next Fire Director for the agency’s Pacific Southwest Region, Region 5, which is comprised of California and Hawaii. Mr. Baird’s experience in the USFS began in November, 2011 shortly after he left the U.S. Marine Corp after serving there for 25 years. At that time he was appointed to the position of Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. Forest Service.
In 2014 Mr. Baird was chosen to be the Forest Supervisor of the Los Padres National Forest in southern California.
“I’m very pleased to welcome Bob Baird as our Regional Director for Fire and Aviation Management,” said Randy Moore, regional forester. “Bob has demonstrated expertise in managing large, complex organizations and he has developed innovative strategies to build partnerships and coalitions. Bob’s leadership background and experience are a perfect fit for this key position. We look forward to a challenging, but successful fire season with Bob at the helm.”
“I couldn’t be more proud of this opportunity,” said Mr. Baird. “I’ve had the great pleasure of serving both at the forest level and at the Washington office level, and this regional position will tie those experiences together.
Mr. Baird is expected to report May 15.
(Originally published at 5:20 p.m. EDT April 10, 2017.)
Since the West Mims Fire started from a lightning strike on April 6 it has burned about 3,800 acres, growing substantially on Sunday and Monday.
The fire is 16 miles west of St. George, Georgia at the southern end of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and on private land just north of Florida Highway 2 on both sides of the Georgia/Florida state line.
Most fires in the Refuge, which is a Wilderness Area, are allowed to burn with little interference from humans, but with it on private land outside the Refuge firefighters are taking action to stop the spread.
Personnel with the Georgia Forestry Commission and Florida Forest Service are working the fire along with federal firefighters from the Refuge.
Below is an excerpt from an April 9 press release, but with the rapid growth of the fire on the 9th and 10th, it appears that fire managers have stepped up their suppression activity since the reported April 8 meeting:
…A meeting was held the morning of April 8 to discuss strategy. Representatives were present from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Georgia Forestry Commission, U.S. Forest Service, Florida Forest Service, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and Baker County Emergency Management. Monitoring of the West Mims Fire will continue over the next 48 hours. Personnel with the Florida Forest Service at John M. Bethea State Forest will refresh fire lines on the southeast corner off Perimeter Road.
There will be a follow-up meeting on Friday, April 14 of the primary responders to re-evaluate the status of the wildfire and to discuss future strategy of attack.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Park rangers honored for clearing evacuation route during Gatlinburg fire Two employees of Great Smoky Mountains National Park are receiving recognition for the pivotal role they played in helping to clear a highway of downed trees that were preventing thousands of people from evacuating from Gatlinburg, Tennessee as the Chimney Tops 2 Fire burned into the city on November 28, 2016.
The truck that Ryan Williamson and Andrew Herrington were in that day was carrying two chain saws because Mr. Williamson had been taking a tree felling class that morning. One of them was his personal saw and the other belonged to the National Park Service.
After assisting to evacuate one of the administrative sites in the park, they were on a stretch of U.S. 321/441 between Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg called the Spur. Below is an excerpt from an article in the Knoxville News Sentinel:
When the two rangers arrived [on the Spur] after dark that evening, a line of what they estimated held more than 1,000 vehicles was gridlocked for more than a mile and a half coming out of Gatlinburg. Treetop-high flames came nearly up to the road shoulders, the wind was howling, and the smoke was blinding.
“It looked like the end of the world,” Herrington said.
With traffic stopped and their truck at the end of the line, Herrington jumped from the passenger seat and trotted, carrying a chainsaw more than a mile to the front where a large pine had fallen and was blocking the road.
The two of them worked for hours in the very strong winds with the fire nearby, each going through three tanks of chain saw gas, to keep the highway clear as trees continued to fall into the highway.
They were recently honored by the Tennessee Chapter of the Wildlife Society with a newly established Tennessee Conservation Hero awards.
The fire killed 14 people and destroyed 2,013 homes and 53 commercial structures. It eventually burned over 17,000 acres in and outside the park.
