Students from the 2019 Prescribed Fire Exchange work on prescribed burns in New Jersey’s Pinelands region. File photo by Michael Achey
The Public Broadcasting System has produced a 10-minute report on a small but growing trend of landowners conducting or helping to execute small prescribed fires on their property. Some of the community-led projects are just a few acres or, less than an acre. More organizations that specialize in land management are providing information to property owners that are interested in reducing hazardous fuels, using fire as a tool.
This is certainly not, and may never reach the level where it makes a large difference in the overall grand picture as far as acres treated. But as more members of the public see successful outcomes of prescribed fires, it could accelerate acceptance of allowing fire to visit on routine basis. It may also educate homeowners about the importance of hardening the defenses in their home ignition zone.
And, as firefighters know, once you pick up and use a drip torch to ignite a few hundred feet of fire, you don’t really want to put it down. I learned the value of letting National Park Superintendents, for example, operate the tool, and watched their smile grow as they walked with fire.
It is a very good report, below. Check it out. You’re welcome.
In his first interview since he started as the new Director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Joe Tyler told Fire Aviation on Wednesday that the state of California could have up to 10 additional firefighting helicopters in 2022 to assist firefighters on the ground.
Director Tyler said the current approved budget enables CAL FIRE to issue 120-day exclusive use contracts, based on fire potential, for up to three large air tankers, eight Type 1 helicopters, two Type 2 helicopters, and two lead planes. That budget authority lasts until the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2022 and the Director’s staff is working on implementing the option now. The Governor’s proposed budget for the following fiscal year beginning July 1, 2022 includes exclusive use contract funding over the next three years for 10 Type 1 helicopters, but that budget has not yet been passed by the legislature.
CAL FIRE also has access to a San Diego County Type one helicopter through a cooperative agreement.
These numbers are in addition to the 10 helicopters already operated by CAL FIRE.
Director Tyler told Fire Aviation that he was offered the Director position on March 3 and he started the next day. He is overseeing an appropriated budget of $3.7 billion and more than 9,600 civilian and uniformed staff who responded to more than half a million emergencies in 2021. His predecessor, Thom Porter, retired in December.
Director Tyler is a 31-year veteran of CAL FIRE and most recently served as the Deputy Director of Fire Protection, overseeing statewide fire protection operations and cooperative fire protection. He began his career with CAL FIRE in 1991 working in several counties and programs throughout California and has an extensive background in executive level operations and programs. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Director, Tyler served as the Assistant Deputy Director of Fire Protection with oversight of law enforcement/civil cost recovery, fire protection operations, aviation management, tactical air operations, and mobile equipment.
“It is my commitment to take care of our people,” Director Tyler said in the interview Wednesday. “The health and wellness of the people who work for us are of utmost importance. As I have said to our people, they are our greatest asset.”
Director Tyler said the incorporation of the seven former Coast Guard C-130 aircraft into the state’s air tanker fleet might be pushed back to 2024 due the pandemic/endemic and supply chain issues. This is in spite of the agency’s efforts in attempting to facilitate movement in the project. He said they had hoped to see some of the C-130s flying on fires this year. CAL FIRE is working with the Coast Guard, the Air Force, and the contractor who will install the retardant delivery system, Coulson Aviation.
“We have working groups that meet weekly between those groups to determine where we are at in status and we have executive steering committees that meet quarterly,” the Director said. “The last update that was just given to us in this last month, was that Coulson Aviation working with the United States Air Force and their engineers were going through the preliminary design review of the retardant delivery system and things were looking good to be able to continue to move forward.”
The federal agencies that employ firefighters to suppress wildfires have struggled to hire enough personnel in recent years, but especially in 2020 and 2021 in California. Today the San Francisco Chronicle (subscription) reported that after having 5,000 firefighters for multiple years in California the number working for the U.S. Forest Service dropped from 5,000 in 2019 to 3,956 in 2021, more than a 20 percent decline.
The five federal agencies that have significant wildland fire programs have a total of about 15,000 positions related to fire. In the last few years the number of vacancies has been growing due to difficulty in hiring and experienced firefighters leaving the organization for better pay and working conditions.
Legislation pending before Congress, the Tim Hart Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act (H.R. 5631), could make a difference. It would address many of the heartbreaking issues wildland firefighters and their partners face, including raising firefighter pay, creating a wildland firefighter job series, providing health care and mental health services to temporary and permanent wildland firefighters, housing stipends, and other improvements. (More details are in the Wildfire Today article from October 19, 2021.)
Tuesday morning at 11:13 Captain Daniel Bertucelli of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said the Hollister Fire 32 miles west of Santa Barbara, California was still 100 acres. About 175 personnel are assigned and aircraft are available if needed. Crews are reinforcing fire lines in areas inaccessible to dozers.
All evacuation warnings and orders have been lifted.
10:04 a.m. PDT March 13, 2022
Map showing the location of the Hollister Fire at 3:15 a.m. PDT March 13, 2022.
A wildfire 32 miles west of Santa Barbara, California has prompted evacuations in the Gaviota area. In an update Sunday morning at 7:37 Captain Daniel Bertucelli of the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said it had burned 100 acres and aircraft would be available to assist the firefighters. Dozers were used Saturday to construct fireline.
The blaze was reported at 11:35 a.m. on Saturday near Hollister Ranch Road and Del Norte Road, southwest of Solvang. It is near Gaviota State Park within a mile of the Pacific Ocean, west of Highway 101 and south of Highway 1.
At 10 a.m. Sunday Captain Bertucelli said the evacuation order would go from an order to a warning at noon today.
Hollister Fire. Image by Santa Barbara FD, Daniel Bertucelli, March 12, 2022.
The winds have been very strong in the area. Saturday afternoon the Gaviota weather station recorded 8 to 30 mph winds gusting to 60 mph from various directions. Saturday night the direction became consistent out of the north, as did the speed, 30 to 36 mph gusting up to 60 mph. The relative humidity rose from 20 percent in the afternoon to 91 percent at 8 a.m. Sunday. Overnight cameras showed a marine layer moving into the fire area.
The spot weather forecast is for clear skies on Sunday, 69 degrees, RH of 35 to 40 percent, with ridgetop winds out of the northwest at 20 to 30 mph gusting to 40 mph.
Fire Behavior on Hollister Fire. This fire behavior is not typical of a fire in March. Please be fire aware and limit opportunities for fires to start. For more info on wildfire preparedness go to https://t.co/EhDNA9KZp7pic.twitter.com/zf2M1o8ntE
The federal government has balked at paying for the treatment needed by a firefighter who was severly injuried during the burn over
Dolan Fire deployment site. Engine & pickup. Image from the report
Congress has set aside $18 million to rebuild a US Forest Service fire station that was destroyed in the Dolan Fire in the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California in 2020.
The fire had been burning for weeks. The night before it reached Nacimiento station on Nacimiento-Fergusson Road 7 miles from the California coast highway on September 8, 2020, the fire ran for about three miles toward the station, burning 30,000 acres with spot fires three-quarters of a mile ahead. The fire personnel at the station during the burnover included two USFS engine crews, two dozers with operators, and the only Division supervisor working the night shift due to a shortage of personnel.
Below is an aerial photo of the Nacimiento guard station taken almost exactly two years before the burnover.
Nacimiento Station, satellite photo, September 7, 2018.
Fifteen firefighters deployed into only 13 fire shelters. Four were injured and three were hospitalized. One had very serious burns.
The Forest Service will use the funding to replace the fire station, barracks, engine garage, and pumphouse, as well as a water well, solar connections, and access roads.
These funds were provided as Supplemental Disaster Funding through the Extending Government Funding and Delivering Emergency Assistance Act of 2021. The disaster assistance funding is a share of the $1.36 billion of supplemental appropriations provided to the Forest Service.
The federal government balked at paying for treatment for injuries to one of the firefighters
According to The Tribune of San Luis Obispo, California, one of the firefighters severly injured in the burn over is still dealing with not only his on-the-job injuries, but attempting to get the government to pay for his treatment:
Casey Allen said Monday that healing from his second- and third-degree burns is continuing, with only a few small wounds left on his ankles, and his Achilles tendon on his right foot is almost completely healed.
However, the news about Allen’s injured left hand wasn’t as good: Doctors may have to amputate his ring and pinkie fingers.
He credited U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal and his district representative Wendy Motta with finally breaking a stubborn repayment logjam so Allen and his wife Tina, who he called “my rock,” could be repaid for money they had to pay out of pocket toward his recovery.
Mr. Allen’s fiancée at the time set up a GoFundMe account for him. She wrote, “He will need hospital services for the next year at a minimum.”
Mr. Allen is suffering one of the ultimate indignities — being severely injured in a life-changing on-the-job incident, and your employer, the U.S. government, is balking at stepping up and providing the payment for your desperately needed medical treatment. The Office of Workers Compensation needs to be funded adequately by Congress so it can rebuild its staff and respond PROMPTLY to situations like this.
Firefighters are making good progress on the Jim Fire in the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California. On Thursday several air tankers and helicopters were assisting firefighters. There has been no mention of the fire spreading any more Thursday.
There has been no reported change in the size, and is still 553 acres.
The cause of the fire is officially still under investigation, but the Desert Sun reported that U.S. Marines were working with explosives in the general area about the time the fire broke out.
From the Sun:
Marine engineers from Camp Pendleton were in the area using explosives to demolish old dams, authorities said, as part of a long-running project to restore creek habitat for steelhead trout.
“There was a crew working in the area yesterday, but the fire is still under investigation,” said Nathan Judy, spokesperson for the Cleveland National Forest. “Forest Service law enforcement will be headed into that area to do the investigation.”
The video below from the FIRIS aircraft shows an air tanker dropping, and using infrared, the amount of heat remaining on the fire.
OCFA’s FIRIS Intel 12 on the Jim Incident showing retardant dropping on the Mike/Zulu Divisions. pic.twitter.com/7KBDccKmZO
The Jim Fire that started near Holy Jim Canyon spread very little after the late afternoon on Wednesday. The Cleveland National Forest said Thursday morning it has burned 553 acres. Today crews will continue to build hand and dozer lines around the fire and utilize water-dropping helicopters to assist with any remaining hotspots. Air tankers will be on standby to respond if needed.
It began in Orange County in Southern California Wednesday morning and burned uphill and north across the North Main Divide Truck Trail and into Riverside County.
As you can see in the photo below the fire is fairly quiet Thursday morning, with some interior heat still present.
Jim Fire, looking east-southeast from Santiago Peak at 8:42 a.m. March 3, 2022.
The thermal video below shows heat on the fire at 10:32 p.m. on Wednesday.
OCFA’s FIRIS Intel 12 showing a more detailed view at the head of the Jim Incident at 22:32 hours. pic.twitter.com/IkEwWf4ZYs
