News and opinion about wildland fire
Miami-Dade County in south Florida continues to experience large wildfires pushed by strong winds and high temperatures. Firefighters have been battling a fire in Kendall since Sunday when it was slowed down at 100 acres, but weather conditions on Monday afternoon caused it to grow to 1,850 acres which required the closure of several roads in the area.
On Monday, 27 children in a Lincoln Marti daycare center were evacuated because of the smoke.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on Wildfire burns 300 acres in Miami-Dade County It’s going to be a long evening for the Miami-Dade Fire Dept. #wildfire pic.twitter.com/QvZJbKxFBZ
— Marcel Cordero (@cordero_marcel) April 20, 2015
A wildfire in south Florida burned about 300 acres Sunday in Miami-Dade County near Southwest 162nd Avenue and Southwest 42nd Street. By Monday morning the spead of the fire that had sent plumes of dark smoke late Sunday into Kendall, Sweetwater, Doral and other nearby areas had been stopped.
In January Fire Aviation wrote about the aviation program in Miami-Dade County.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized5 Comments on Wildfire briefing, March 11, 2015 Lava from Hawaii volcano continues to spread
Lava from the Kīlauea volcano above Pahoa in Hawaii continues to spread, occasionally igniting the vegetation. The latest breakout is about 0.7 miles upslope of Highway 130, officials from the Hawaii County Civil Defense said after a helicopter flight Tuesday morning. Over the last four days the lava has advanced about 240 yards.
Three additional deceased hotshots to qualify for benefits
Decisions by the City of Prescott, the courts, and the Prescott Public Safety Retirement Board have resulted in the families of three additional members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots being approved to receive public safety survivor benefits. In 2013, 19 members of the crew were killed on the Yarnell Hill Fire south of Prescott, Arizona. Initially only six of the men were classified as full-time, permanent employees and deemed eligible for full benefits. More information is at AZcentral.
Group opposes FEMA’s plan to reduce hazardous fuel near Oakland, California
The Hills Conservation Network has sued several organizations in an attempt to halt a project that would reduce the hazardous fuels over 2,059 acres in the East Bay area. Below is an excerpt from Courthouse News Service:
“(C)lear-cutting and chipping of eucalyptus will not achieve the most effective reduction of fire risks in the project areas and instead increases fire risks by disposing of wood chips in layers up to two-feet deep over extensive areas of the project sites,” the complaint states.
But FEMA’s environmental impact statement, which justifies depositing up to 24 inches of mulch from eucalyptus trees, “fails to acknowledge research that highlights the high potential for spontaneous combustion in deeper accumulations of mulch, the difficulty of fire suppression in such fuels, the severe long-term damage to soils by the intense heating in mulch and wood chip fires, and the documented spotting danger posed by mulch and other forms of masticated fuels,” the group says.
“The net effect is essentially trading one fire hazard for another.”
Eucalyptus trees actually help reduce fire hazard by breaking up strong winds and reducing hazard from flying embers, and the complete removal of the eucalyptus forest would constitute a “catastrophic site disturbance” that would open up the ecosystem to invasive species, according to the lawsuit.
Last year we wrote this about eucalyptus trees:
Wildland firefighters in Australia and in some areas of California are very familiar with eucalyptus trees. They are native and very common in Australia and are planted as ornamentals in the United States. The leaves produce a volatile highly combustible oil, and the ground beneath the trees is covered with large amounts of litter which is high in phenolics, preventing its breakdown by fungi. Wildfires burn rapidly under them and through the tree crowns. It has been estimated that other than the 3,000+ homes that burned in the 1991 Oakland Hills Fire in California, about 70 percent of the energy released was through the combustion of eucalyptus.
Florida wildland firefighters concerned about their pay
Below is an excerpt from NBC 2:
Firefighters with the Florida Forest Service are fired up over small wages. They’re making a plea to state leaders to correct what they describe as being “grossly underpaid.”
[…]
Experience – now one the areas of concern being pointed out by a local union representing some of the firefighters with the Florida Forest Service.
“We do see a fairly high rate of turnover because of that,” said Chris Schmiege, Lee County Forest Area Supervisor.
“That”- being low salaries- in a job wage survey conducted by the union- it states Wildland firefighters receive a starting wage of a little more than twenty-four thousand a year for full-time work.
An amount comparable to a cafeteria worker or plumbers assistant which is considerably less than the average for firefighters at the county and local level, amounts ranging from thirty-nine to sixty thousand a year.
Forest Service officials are now calling on help from state leaders.
“We can definitely use the help, but at the same time we’re doing what we’re doing,” said Schmiege.
Which according to Schmiege also includes going out West to work for other federal fire agencies to stay afloat financially. Right now officials say it’s really almost a labor of love.
On February 14 Everglades National Park wished everyone a happy Valentine’s Day.
Fire near Lake Disston, Florida
Kenny Arnaldi took this photo Wednesday of a wildfire a mile south of Lake Disston, Florida.
Bushfire burns into Waroona in Western Australia
A large bushfire has burned into the city of Waroona in Western Australia about 100 kilometers south of Perth. (Map)
Below is an excerpt from an article at abc.net.au updated at about 4 p.m. MST, January 30, 2015:
An out-of-control bushfire is threatening lives and homes at Waroona in Western Australia, with up to three properties believed to be damaged so far. The blaze has entered the town, which is about 100 kilometres south of Perth, and the Department of Fire and Emergency Services (DFES) has warned it is moving fast in a north-westerly direction. Embers are likely to be blown around homes, starting spot fires.
DFES duty assistant commissioner Chris Arnol said residents should take their location into consideration when planning how to respond.
“It depends on where they are. We’ve asked some residents to shelter in place which is the best option for them and others to evacuate to [an evacuation centre in the nearby town of Harvey],” he said. “People should have their fire plans ready and know what to do. We’ve got about 150 firefighters. We had 21 appliances on the fire and we’ve sent a further 24 from the metropolitan area.”
Oklahoma grass fires
Firefighters responding to a fire southwest of Tulsa observed a person setting one of eight grass fires that were burning in the area. More information is in the video below.
Update on the Kīlauea volcano lava flow
The image above released by US Geological Survey Hawaiian Volcano Observatory on January 29 shows the lava flow front from the Kīlauea volcano a mere 550 yards away from Highway 130 at its closest point. The distal tips are stalled, however “breakouts persist upslope,” writes USGS, “and these areas of activity can be spotted in this photograph by small smoke plumes where the lava is burning vegetation on the flow margins.”
Mississippi wildfire threatens natural gas facilities
A wildfire in Simpson County Mississippi (map) burned over an underground natural gas pipeline and came close to an above ground gas substation.
Below are excerpts from an article at WSMV:
“If it blows up down here, won’t nobody be left in Simpson County,” said resident Gurston McDonald.
McDonald lives just down the road from where a fire ripped through several acres of grass and forest, stopping just a few feet shy of a natural gas substation.
“All these gas lines coming through is a great concern,” added McDonald.
Simpson County EOC Director Glen Jennings said at least three fires broke out Thursday afternoon. However, the one off the highway posed the biggest danger to neighboring residents. Containing it also remained a challenge, because forestry officials can’t dig a fire line when there’s a gas line underneath.
“We don’t push on these gas lines. We just let it go, try to control it by water or some other means,” said Ben Vanderford with the Mississippi Forestry Commission. “We never know how deep those lines are, when we’re out there plowing these fire lines. These lines may be five or six feet under the ground, they might be five or six inches under the ground.”
And as night fell, flames spread again toward the substation, this time from a patch of trees about 200 feet away, with no fire line to stop it.
Everglades National Park Fire Management personnel conducted the HID West prescribed fire on January 23. The objectives were to consume dead and decaying vegetation, to release nutrients that promote new growth, and improve habitat.
