In 2010 a prescribed fire on the Helena National Forest escaped and burned approximately 450 acres of private property.
Davis 5 Fire, Aug. 26, 2010. Photo: markholyoak
On August 26 and 27, 2010 the Davis 5 prescribed fire on the Helena National Forest in Montana escaped control 28 miles northwest of Helena. It happened on a windy day during Fire Weather Watch conditions when the temperature in Helena set a record for the highest ever recorded on that date .
The project that was expected to treat 100 acres eventually burned about 1,600 acres of U.S. Forest Service land and approximately 450 acres of private property.
Today the Helena Independent Record and the Missoulian published an article written by Tim Kuglin that retells the story of the Davis 5 Fire. Mr. Kuglin concentrated on the effects on the private landowners and their battles, largely unsuccessful, to obtain reparations from the federal government.
The post-fire report commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service, as is the custom with federal land management reports about fires that have bad outcomes, did not outline many significant issues or bad decisions that led to the escape.
Firemen line the Stemple Pass Road August 26, 2010, on the Davis Fire. Dylan Brown photo.
Most of Kent Taylor’s 146 acres burned in the fire. After being rebuffed by the USFS he went to court to seek payment for damages. Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell decided on March 22, 2015 that the U.S. is immune from the suit, writing in his decision:
The Court concludes that Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that the Forest Service was negligent either in conducting the Davis 5 Unit prescribed burn or in fighting the escaped fire once it occurred or that the Forest Service violated any mandatory policy or prescription. In addition, and more significantly, strict liability does not apply and the discretionary function exception applies to bar Plaintiff’s tort claims.
The court decision, the official USFS report, and the recent newspaper article did not seriously consider two issues that we mentioned in 2010:
1. The first was the failure to take notice of the spot weather forecast that was issued at 10:43 a.m. Wednesday on the day of the burn, just before the firefighters ignited the test burn. That forecast predicted stronger winds than in the forecast that was issued the previous day which was for “winds upslope 3 to 6 mph, ridge top winds southwest 5 to 10 mph with gusts to 15 mph”. Here is what Wednesday morning’s forecast predicted for the day of ignition (the all-caps are from the weather forecast):
WIND (20 FT)……..SOUTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH WITH AFTERNOON GUSTS 20 TO 25 MPH.
RIDGE TOP WIND……WEST AT 15 TO 20 MPH.
The report says:
The prescribed fire personnel stated they did not note any differences between the two forecasts.
That forecast also stated that on the following day, Thursday, the winds in the afternoon would be 30 to 35 mph. The maximum wind speed allowed in the prescription for the project was 15 mph, which, from my experience, is quite high for a prescribed fire.
2. The second issue is the fact that they knew on Tuesday, the day before the burn began on Wednesday, that near record heat and a Fire Weather Watch with gusty southwest winds was forecast for Thursday. This Watch was upgraded to a Red Flag Warning on Wednesday afternoon after ignition had begun. Even in a best case scenario, if there had been no spot fires or other control problems on Wednesday, the 30 to 35 mph winds predicted for the day after ignition should have alerted experienced fire management personnel that the winds across the 100-acre prescribed fire could have caused embers to be blown across the lines, resulting in the fire escaping. Control would have been difficult in 30 to 35 mph winds.
The map of the Davis fire, an escaped prescribed fire in Montana, shows heat detected by satellites during the early morning on Aug. 27, 2010. Click to see a larger version of the map.
The U.S. Forest Service dodged a bullet recently when the agency received a very favorable ruling from a Federal court judge over a 2010 escaped prescribed fire in Montana. Senior U.S. District Judge Charles Lovell decided on March 22, 2015 that the U.S. is immune from the suit writing in his decision:
The Court concludes that Plaintiff has failed to demonstrate that the Forest Service was negligent either in conducting the Davis 5 Unit prescribed burn or in fighting the escaped fire once it occurred or that the Forest Service violated any mandatory policy or prescription. In addition, and more significantly, strict liability does not apply and the discretionary function exception applies to bar Plaintiff’s tort claims.
The Plaintiff in the case was Kent Taylor, the landowner of a 146-acre parcel of which 142 acres burned, including some lodgepole pine.
Firefighters ignited the Davis 5 prescribed fire at 1 p.m on Wednesday, August 26, 2010 on the Helena National Forest 11 miles southeast of Lincoln and 28 miles northwest of Helena in Montana. By 2:00 p.m. strong winds became a problem and the fire moved into the tree canopy. All ignition ceased, but soon there was a spot fire which burned 20 acres in heavy mixed conifers. When all personnel left the fire at 10:00 p.m. to avoid the hazard of falling trees, the spot fire had been partially lined.
The next day, Thursday, additional personnel were on scene. They were completing the fireline and gridding for other spot fires when an undetected one took off at 1:00 p.m. which quickly transitioned to a crown fire. The prescribed fire was declared an escape at 1:15 p.m. and a Type 2 Incident Management Team was requested at 2:27 p.m. By nightfall the fire was estimated at over 1,600 acres on federal land and 450 acres on private lands involving multiple landowners. Approximately 22 structures were evacuated on Thursday afternoon and evening.
Both the court decision and the official USFS report on the escaped prescribed fire failed to consider the significance of the differences between a spot weather forecast issued the day before the prescribed fire and the spot weather forecast that was issued at 10:43 a.m. Wednesday, August 25 on the day of the burn, about 2 hours before the firefighters ignited the final test burn. In fact, the Judge’s decision does not mention the 10:43 a.m. forecast that predicted stronger winds than in the forecast that was issued the previous day which was for “winds upslope 3 to 6 mph, ridge top winds southwest 5 to 10 mph with gusts to 15 mph”. Here is what Wednesday morning’s forecast predicted for the day of ignition (the all-caps are from the weather forecast, a bad habit the NWS needs to break):
WIND (20 FT)……..SOUTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH WITH AFTERNOON GUSTS 20 TO 25 MPH.
RIDGE TOP WIND……WEST AT 15 TO 20 MPH.
The report says:
The prescribed fire personnel stated they did not note any differences between the two forecasts.
That forecast also stated that on the following day, Thursday, the winds in the afternoon would be 30 to 35 mph. The maximum wind speed allowed in the prescription for the project was 15 mph.
Again, the judge’s written opinion does not mention the last spot weather forecast, which was issued the morning of the ignition.
Even though ignition on the prescribed fire did not begin until 1 p.m. the USFS Burn Boss planned to have the 100-acre project essentially mopped up by the end of the day, anticipating for the following day the winds predicted in the now obsolete forecast: “winds upslope 3 to 6 mph, ridge top winds southwest 5 to 10 mph with gusts to 15 mph”.
In light of this very favorable court ruling, Jamie Kralman, a USFS Regional Fuels Specialist for the California region, distributed the good news, saying in part:
…I could really see the mindfulness of the agency personnel involved demonstrating High Reliability Organization (HRO) principles in their planning and implementation. All key personnel met or exceeded minimum qualifications, planning and implementation was by appropriate certified personnel, appropriate line officer involvement and approvals occurred, and The Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide was followed in development of the Burn Plan. The Court opinion also demonstrates support for use of The Interagency Prescribed Fire Planning and Implementation Procedures Guide.
This legal outcome is clearly consistent with what we have been teaching in Prescribed Fire courses, Burn Boss Refresher training, and in other venues in this region regarding lack of personal liability in our prescribed fire operations and that “…strict liability does not apply and the discretionary function exception applies…” because the action involved ‘an element of choice’ and the action was taken ‘based on consideration of public policy’.
Firefighters line the Stemple Pass Road Thursday, Aug. 26, watching the Davis Fire. Dylan Brown photo.
The Helena National Forest has released their report on the Davis prescribed fire that escaped on August 26, 2010 and burned over 2,000 acres of private and U.S. Forest Service land 11 miles southeast of Lincoln and 28 miles northwest of Helena in Montana.
The firefighters ignited a test burn at 10:45 a.m on Wednesday, August 26. By 2:00 p.m. strong winds became a problem and the fire moved into the tree canopy. All ignition ceased, but soon there was a spot fire which burned 20 acres in heavy mixed conifers. When all personnel left the fire at 10:00 p.m. to avoid the hazard of falling trees, the spot fire had been partially lined.
The next day, Thursday, additional personnel were on scene. They were completing the fireline and gridding for other spot fires when an undetected one took off at 1:00 p.m. which quickly transitioned to a crown fire. The prescribed fire was declared an escape at 1:15 p.m. and a Type 2 Incident Management Team was requested at 2:27 p.m. By nightfall the fire was estimated at over 1,600 acres on federal land and 450 acres on private lands involving multiple landowners. Approximately 22 structures were evacuated on Thursday afternoon and evening.
The five-person review team consisted of three US Forest Service employees, one from the Bureau of Land Management, and one from the state of Montana.
The Helena Independent Record today quotes Kevin Riordan, the Helena National Forest Supervisor, about the findings from the report.
“I don’t want to push anything off or say it was no big deal on any of those things, but each of the factors identified in and of themselves were not a huge piece where we can say, ‘Jeez, here’s something clearly that we did wrong, done incorrectly or that we’re going to make big changes on,'” Riordan said on Monday. “I think there are some small pieces of something that adds up to be a bigger thing. Those are what we are trying to dial into and focus in on so we can make some changes.”
I will go beyond Mr. Riordan’s assessment, and go out on a limb and say there are at least two “huge pieces” that were clearly “done wrong”.
1. The first issue was the failure to take notice of the spot weather forecast that was issued at 10:43 a.m. Wednesday on the day of the burn, just before the firefighters ignited the test burn. That forecast predicted stronger winds than in the forecast that was issued the previous day which was for “winds upslope 3 to 6 mph, ridge top winds southwest 5 to 10 mph with gusts to 15 mph”. Here is what Wednesday morning’s forecast predicted for the day of ignition (the all-caps are from the weather forecast, a bad habit the NWS needs to break):
WIND (20 FT)……..SOUTHWEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH WITH AFTERNOON GUSTS 20 TO 25 MPH.
RIDGE TOP WIND……WEST AT 15 TO 20 MPH.
The report says:
The prescribed fire personnel stated they did not note any differences between the two forecasts.
That forecast also stated that on the following day, Thursday, the winds in the afternoon would be 30 to 35 mph. The maximum wind speed allowed in the prescription for the project was 15 mph, which, from my experience, is quite high for a prescribed fire.
2. The second issue is the fact that they knew on Tuesday, the day before the burn began on Wednesday, that near record heat and a Fire Weather Watch with gusty southwest winds was forecast for Thursday. This Watch was upgraded to a Red Flag Warning on Wednesday afternoon after ignition had begun. Even in a best case scenario, if there had been no spot fires or other control problems on Wednesday, the 30 to 35 mph winds predicted for the day after ignition should have alerted experienced fire management personnel that the winds across the 100-acre prescribed fire could have caused embers to be blown across the lines, resulting in the fire escaping. Control would have been difficult in 30 to 35 mph winds.
We wrote about the escaped fire as it was burning in August. This Wildfire Today search page lists some of the Wildfire Today articles about the fire.
More information is coming to light about the events that led up to the ignition and later escape of the planned 100-acre Davis prescribed fire on the Helena National Forest that so far has burned 2,181 acres and required the evacuation of about two dozen homes. About 1,000 acres of private land has also burned.
Montana State University’s Fire Services Training School distributes an electronic newsletter five days a week, covering news items about all aspects of fire, including wildfire. It is also available on their web site a number of days after the emailed version is broadcast. The newsletter, widely distributed and praised, is called The Latest and is free to Montana residents; non-residents are charged a fee. It’s probably safe to assume that there are hundreds of people, if not thousands, on their daily distribution list.
Today’s edition of The Latest included copies of emails written by Amber Kamps, the District Ranger for the Lincoln Ranger District where the escape occurred, as well as one by a local fire chief. Portions of those emails are in the time line below.
Here is the sequence of events related to the Davis prescribed fire, beginning the day before ignition.
Tuesday, August 24 —
The National Weather Service issues a Fire Weather Watch for Thursday, effective from noon to midnight.
District Ranger Amber Kamps meets with her staff. They discuss the objectives for the prescribed fire and whether the weather would be appropriate.
An employee of the Forest Service calls a local fire chief to inform him about the Davis prescribed fire planned for the next day. The fire chief then sent an email to his colleagues to let them know about the prescribed fire:
..[the prescribed fire will start tomorrow] with black lining tomorrow and the burn starting thereafter. The burn should take about 3 days.
I told [the Forest Service employee] about the Fire Weather Watch issued for Thursday at noon to midnight for all our local zones. He said they were still evaluating the parameters and would only start the operation once everything was in place. Just thought you would all like to know where the smoke was coming from.
Wednesday, August 25 —
The USFS ignites the 100-acre prescribed fire. There was at least one spot fire, and it burned an additional 20 acres outside the project boundary.
In the afternoon or evening the National Weather Service upgrades the Fire Weather Watch to a Red Flag Warning effective for the afternoon of the next day, Thursday.
Thursday, August 26 —
District Ranger Amber Kamps sends an email about the project, thanking those who helped, and going into some detail about the prescribed fire. We don’t have a time stamp for the email, but it obviously was sent before the fire escaped around noon or 1 p.m. Here are some excerpts:
Subject: Davis Prescribed Fire
Thank you to all the fire folks on both Forests for lending a hand in helping us apply prescribed fire yesterday. It was a good day – we met objectives both for the resource and in safety.
I thought I’d address a few questions that did come up yesterday internally and externally.
Acres: achieved about 100 – 120 acres of fire within the 530 acre unit, 200 acres of the parks/grass were burned this past spring = approximately 300 acres of total treatment
Today’s goal: holding and applying lots of water to cool it down, we have hose lay around the majority of the burn and have plenty of resources such as a 20 person crew, engines, tenders, and a helicopter
Yesterday a large column of smoke was created and very visible from Helena. The smoke was very black as well, which we suspect is due to the mountain pine beetle killed lodgepole combined with the subalpine fir. We also had a spot fire that eventually tied into the unit. The spot or “slopover” also achieved objectives and nicely has tied together two open parks.
Yesterday a Red Flag Warning was issued in the afternoon. Many questions arose as to why we’d be burning under these conditions. However, people need to know we had done careful planning with the National Weather Service and spot weather forecasts. Conditions on the burn were 70 degree temperatures, humidities over 20%, and winds less than 10 mph – right in prescription. We know today is critical for holding given the passage of a cold front predicted for this afternoon. As you know, it is not “normal” to be burning in August and we wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for this strange summer opening up a burning window earlier than it usually does.
Even though we know yesterday was a success in achieving objectives, we also learned a lot and were challenged given the conditions as a result of the mountain pine beetle caused mortality. We have more of these types of burns planned and more upcoming with expectations established under the Southwestern Crown. We will keep learning, adapting, and applying as we move forward.
As people are reading her email, multiple spot fire are occurring or being discovered — more than the firefighters can handle. At 1 p.m. it is declared an escaped prescribed fire. From Helenair.com:
Greg Archie, who works for the state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, is the incident commander for what’s now being called the Davis fire. He was helping the Forest Service with the prescribed burn Wednesday, and said that when they returned on Thursday morning, he brought “65 people to deal with that 20 acres.” They also had nine engines, three water tenders and a helicopter as they started the day.
“We were making pretty good headway collecting all the spots, controlling the 20-acre slop-over, when a spot came up that we hadn’t had any people on and were not aware of,” Archie said. “Once it got going and started to branch out in the subalpine fir, it’s pretty alarming in the way it can spread.”
The prescribed burn turned into a wildfire by 1 p.m. in the upper portion of Gould Creek, growing from 20 to 100 acres in an hour. Archie said they couldn’t safely put people on it, so they called for an air tanker and retardant, as well as other resources. By 8 p.m. the Davis fire was estimated to cover 2,800 acres [later mapped at about 2,100 acres].
Confusion about the weather forecasts
During the formal investigation of the events surrounding the escape of the Davis prescribed fire, there will be a lot of scrutiny of the weather, the weather forecasts, and the requests for spot weather forecasts which are written specifically for the area of the fire. From our analysis of the spot weather forecasts available on the National Weather Service web sites, it appears that while two spots were requested on both Tuesday and Wednesday, August 24 and 25, it appears that the forecasts they received on Tuesday did not specifically, or at least clearly, provide detailed forecast information for Wednesday, the day the prescribed fire began.
But, the forecast the fire managers requested at 10:16 a.m on Wednesday did have a detailed forecast for Wednesday, Wednesday night, and Thursday.
Weather forecasts requested on Tuesday:
The District Ranger said they obtained a spot weather forecast from the National Weather Service on Tuesday. While the list of spot forecasts for Tuesday August 24 does not show any for the Davis fire, apparently two were issued, and show up on the lists for August 25 and August 26. It appears that the NWS lists them on the days when ignition was planned, rather than the date the forecasts were requested or issued…unless you want to be a conspiracy theorist and think they were written after the fact and back-dated.
The two spot forecasts requested on August 24 were issued 35 minutes apart, according to the data at the top of each of the forecasts. The predicted weather for the two is significantly different, possibly because the first request included weather observations, while the second did not. Knowing what the actual conditions are at the site can make it possible to provide a more accurate forecast. Unfortunately, the names of the NWS meteorologists who developed the forecasts are not identified on either of them.
The first forecast was requested at 1:59 p.m. and was “based on an ignition time of 10:00 MDT on August 26”, Thursday. It said a fire weather watch was in effect for Thursday afternoon, for very warm temperatures and gusty southwest winds along with the passage of a cold front. But while it had a detailed forecast for Thursday August 26, there was no forecast for Wednesday, the day the USFS ignited the prescribed fire.
The forecast requested at 2:34 also mentioned the fire weather watch for Thursday. The forecast was “based on an ignition time of 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, August 25”. It had a “discussion” that mentioned “light terrain driven winds on steeper slopes”, and it had detailed forecasts for “today” and “tonight”, but does not clearly have a forecast for Wednesday. Since the forecast was written on Tuesday, August 24, a person would assume that a forecast for “today” and “tonight” referred to Tuesday.
Weather forecasts requested on Wednesday:
The Forest Service said they obtained a spot weather forecast on Wednesday. The NWS site lists two spot weather forecasts that were requested on Wednesday, one at 10:16 a.m and another at 7:51 p.m. The list of spot forecasts on the NWS site for Aug. 25 lists three, but one of them was supposedly requested August 24 and was the forecast for August 24, but it proposed an ignition date of August 25.
The 10:16 a.m. forecast predicted a minimum relative humidity of 18-23% on Wednesday with wind gusts at 20 to 25 mph by the afternoon. For Thursday, the forecast included wind gusts to 40 mph by late afternoon with an RH of 10-15% .
The red flag warning was first mentioned in the 7:51 p.m. spot weather forecast, which also said the winds late in the afternoon on Thursday would gust up to 30 mph, and the minimum humidity would be 9-14%.
Weather forecast requested on Thursday:
One spot weather forecast was requested on Thursday, at 5:56 p.m. after the fire was declared a wildfire at 1:00 p.m. The forecast said the red flag warning would be in effect until midnight, for very low humidity, winds gusting up to 45 mph in exposed locations, and possible isolated thunderstorms with variable and erratic winds near the fire area.
The U. S. Forest Service has lifted the evacuation orders for some areas. More information is at InciWeb. They are now saying the fire has burned 2,050 2,800 acres as of approximately 6 p.m. today and it is 20% 5% contained. Jess Secrest’s Type 2 Incident Management Team will assume command of the fire at 9 p.m. tonight.
The weather forecast for the fire area brings some good news, including a 50-60% chance of rain Saturday night and Sunday morning. On Saturday the temperature will be 55 to 70, depending on the elevation, and winds should be light and variable, becoming 5-10 out of the northeast on the ridge tops in the afternoon.
Ellen Bacca, the meteorologist for the Helena NBC station, posted some photos related to the fire. I believe they were taken from Helena.
The weather forecast is more favorable for firefighters on the Davis fire today than the weather conditions were on Wednesday and Thursday. The temperatures will be much cooler, maxing out at 53-58 at the fire, however it will still be breezy with west winds of 15-25 gusting up to 35 in the morning . The RAWS weather station at Lincoln, 11 miles northwest of the fire, received 0.04″ of rain at 2 a.m. today, Friday.
The map of the Davis fire shows heat detected by satellites during the early morning on Aug. 27. Click to see a larger version of the map.
The updated map of the Davis fire, an escaped prescribed fire between Lincoln and Helena, Montana, shows that the fire has spread to the east near the eastern boundary of the Helena National Forest.
A 3-D map showing heat detected on the Davis fire by satellites early on Aug. 27. We are looking West. Stemple Pass Road is on the right side of the map and the USFS boundary is the yellow line. The Red areas indicate the most recent heat. Click to see a larger version of the map.
The latest official update from the U.S. Forest Service late Thursday night said the fire had burned 2,000 acres and that “Lewis & Clark County Sheriff Leo Dutton has ordered evacuations of homes located at the top of Stemple Pass over to Highway 279 (Lincoln Road)”. There are some media reports that the fire has burned 2,800 acres.
Helenair.com has an article describing a public meeting on Thursday at which the USFS District Ranger for the area, Amber Kamps, talked about what they were thinking when they decided to conduct the prescribed fire on Wednesday. On Thursday the high temperature of 97 set a new record in Helena. Here is an excerpt from the article:
The map shows heat detected by satellites at 3:35 p.m. today from the Davis fire — in red southeast of Lincoln. Click to see a larger map.
UPDATE at 10:00 p.m. August 26:
KXLH is reporting that the fire has now burned about 2,800 acres and is threatening almost two dozen homes. Also:
On Thursday evening, fire officials held a town hall meeting to explain the situation. Forest Service Ranger Amber Kamps told the residents that when Forest Service officials began the prescribed burn on Wednesday, the weather was good. She said, “I can not tell you how sorry I am that we have to meet under these conditions. That you are having to go through this. I can’t make it up to you. I can just tell you I am sorry and we will do the best we can from this point forward,” Kamps says.
Yesterday the Helena National Forest in Montana initiated a prescribed fire in the Virginia Creek area 11 miles southeast of Lincoln and 28 miles northwest of Helena. The fire weather forecast for today for western Montana included red flag warnings in three areas with the possibility of dry thunderstorms. Today the high temperature of 97 in Helena set a record that was two degrees higher than the highest ever recorded for this date. That, combined with strong winds and low humidities today contributed to “active burning and some spotting outside the planned fire area”, according to a news release from the U.S. Forest Service.
At 1 p.m. today the Davis fire was officially declared escaped and was designated a wildland fire. Helenair.com reported that the fire was spotting a half mile to a mile ahead. The Associated Press reported that the fire was pushed by 30 to 35 mph winds.
As of 5 p.m. today it had burned about 1,000 acres, structures were threatened, and the Sheriff had ordered evacuations of homes located at the top of Stemple Pass Pass over to Highway 279 (Lincoln Road).
Yesterday at the RAWS station in Lincoln the maximum temperature was 86 degrees, the minimum relative humidity was 13%, and the winds gusted up to 15 mph. Today at the same weather station the high was 91, the RH was 14%, and the maximum wind gust was 25 with an average wind speed of 5-10 in the afternoon.
The USFS said the prescribed fire was within prescription when they ignited it on Wednesday.
