State of Oregon’s wildfire insurance premium may increase after the 2014 fire season

Beaver Fire
The Beaver Fire, August 12, 2014, in northern California. Photo by Bill Gabbert.

The state of Oregon has an insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London that helps to cover the cost of suppressing wildfires during busy fire seasons. The premium for that policy has been about $2 million. But before the state receives any payout from Lloyd’s they have to spend $20 million to cover the deductible, after which the insurance company will cover the additional costs up to $25 million.

Two consecutive bad fire seasons has state officials thinking that they may have to pay more for that policy next year.

Below is an excerpt from an article in the Bend Bulletin:

…Like car insurance, where premiums go up when drivers have accidents, one thing is clear: If the state can land another policy through insurance giant Lloyd’s of London to help with rising wildfire costs, it’s going to have to cut a bigger check.

“We’re fully expecting that based on the experience of the last two years that we’ll probably be paying more for insurance if we can get a policy in the coming year,” Rod Nichols, spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry, said Wednesday.

The prospect of missing out on wildfire relief has rural lawmakers talking about thinning and clearing fuels from forests and addressing the effects of climate change.

“One of these years we’re going to light up Southern Oregon and have a fire season you won’t believe,” Sen. Alan Bates, D-Medford, said.

Oregon has had a wildfire insurance policy for nearly four decades…

Summarizing the wildfire season in the Northwest

Pacific Northwest Fire Siege 2014 from Andy Lyon on Vimeo.

This video that summarizes the 2014 wildfire season in Washington and Oregon is shockingly professionally filmed and produced, considering it was apparently commisioned by government agencies. It was created by Andy Lyon, a Colorado resident whose bio states that in addition to film making he “also works as a Public Information Officer on big wildfires”. It is broadcast-quality, and I would be surprised if TV stations or networks don’t pick it up.

News organizations record millions of minutes of footage every year of fires, usually concentrating on big flames and air drops. But generally they barely scratch the surface of what is actually happening, and rarely, like this piece, look behind the scenes or at the big picture through dozens of interviews with fire professionals.

There is not a lot of on the ground footage shadowing firefighters — the film steps back a little and looks at the entirety of the fire season. However, there are some excellent examples of great still and video photography.

This video reminds me of an excellent film that the National Park Service produced in 2012 about their prescribed fire program in Everglades National Park, titled “River of Fire” by producer/director/editor Jennifer Brown. Managers should commission quality film making like this more often — it can result in more public understanding and support for what they do.

Be sure and notice the air drop at 12:00. It appears that an MD-87 air tanker, previously unseen, climbs out of a canyon at a steep angle while making a visually impressive drop.

Evidence of the end of the fire season?

Smokey Bear snow
Smokey Bear, in front of Bend (Oregon) Fire and Rescue Station 301. Photo by Steve Stenkamp.

When Smokey Bear is knee deep in snow and his hat has taken on a new shape, it could be a sign that the end of the wildland fire season is near. Or, is this a false alarm?

Thanks and a tip of the Smokey Bear hat go out to Steve Stenkamp.

Slash burns rekindle in Oregon

Hug Point Fire Oregon
From the Oregon Department of Forestry: “Mop-up continues on the Hug Point Fire (erstwhile Hug Point Complex). Rain is expected to close out these rekindled slash burns by the end of the week. (Photo by Dan Goody, ODF)”

Multiple logging slash burns rekindled Tuesday in Oregon east of Highway 101 between Cannon Beach and Arch Cape on lands owned by the Stimson Lumber Company. Tuesday night east winds in excess of 40 mph with gusts over 70 mph fanned the fire, consuming slash piles in four post-harvest units.

Personnel from the lumber company and the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) were on scene and were joined Wednesday by more firefighters from the Tillamook and Forest Grove ODF district offices. By evening there were about 70 personnel, including five hand crews, working on the 100 acres of fire that became the Hug Point Complex.

Rain began falling Thursday morning which is aiding control and mop up, but by the weekend the weather is expected to change to cold, dry, windy conditions.

Photos of air tankers on Oregon fires

Tanker 27, a P-3
Tanker 27, a P-3, on the Middle Fork Fire, Oregon, 2009. Todd McKinley.

Todd McKinley sent us these photos from fires in Oregon. Thanks Todd!

Tanker 01, a BAe-146
Tanker 01, a BAe-146, on the Sunflower Fire, Oregon, 2014 Todd McKinley.

The photo above of the BAe-146 clearly shows the second group of drop doors or nozzles that were added in front of the others to improve the release of the last 600 gallons or so of retardant, especially when dropping downhill.

Tanker 882
Tanker 882 on the South Fork Complex in Oregon, 2014. Todd McKinley.
Tanker 892
Tanker 892 on the South Fork Complex in Oregon, 2014. Todd McKinley.

Five men ordered to pay restitution for starting fire with exploding target

Five men who started what became a 38-acre fire near Alfalfa, Oregon in August, 2012 were ordered earlier this year to pay $17,569 to defray a portion of the costs of suppressing the Mayfield Fire. The BLM estimates they spent $88,000 to put out the blaze.

The men pleaded no contest to reckless burning, a Class A misdemeanor. They were identified as Redmond residents Peter Lee, then 31, and Clarence Christy, 32, and Bend residents Albert Sears, 27; William Loving, 25; and Jordon Odell, 25, said Deschutes County sheriff’s Sgt. Vance Lawrence.

They admitted to shooting at Tannerite, an exploding target that is known to have been the cause of numerous wildfires since the dangerous material began to be widely used two years ago. Many areas have banned exploding targets, citing wildfires, injuries, and a death caused by the use of the devices.

Below is an excerpt from an article at KTVZ. The site also has a video report published August 21, 2012 while firefighters were suppressing the fire.

…The BLM said the men admitted to purchasing 50 pounds of Tannerite and had used all but five pounds at the time of the incident.

They had shot about a dozen containers of Tannerite and were placing their targets in a western juniper tree, which ultimately exploded when the Tannerite was detonated.

The BLM said the target shooters also did not follow the recommendations of the Tannerite Company, which recommends using no more than a half-pound of the mixed composition at one time.

The Oregon State Police Explosives unit had to respond to the incident to detonate the mixed but unused portion of Tannerite, which cannot be safely transported once the two chemicals are combined…

Wildfire Today has published numerous articles about the dangers of exploding targets.

 

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Shaun.

1.5 million gallons of retardant loaded into air tankers at Medford, Oregon this year

Air tankers at Medford.
Air tankers at Medford, Oregon, September 1, 2014. Photo by Kristin Biechler.

The amount of retardant pumped at the Medford Air Tanker Bases this year was more than four times the 10-year average for the airport.

Below is a report provided by the Jackson County Airport Authority:

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“Here is an update with some interesting statistics from the Medford Air Tanker Base for our recently-ended (and VERY busy) fire season:

The Medford Air Tanker Base mission is to support wildland fire suppression in the Pacific Northwest. We provide support mainly to Southern Oregon and Northern California.

Season Activity
2014 was very big fire season for our suppression area. The Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport was fortunate to have two Airtanker Bases. We managed both the Medford Air Tanker Base (MATB) and the portable Medford Very Large Airtanker Base (VLAT). Medford ATB pumped out 1,068,226 gallons of retardant on 440 Air Tanker loads this season. This is more than 4 times our ten year average. At the Medford VLAT we pumped 506,893 gallons with 104 Air Tanker loads. Together the two Air Tanker Bases pumped 1,575,119 gallons of retardant.

Our highest one day total for the MATB was on 8/29. We loaded 6 Large Air Tankers 28 times with 79,422 gallons of retardant. The highest one day total for the VLAT base was 84,894 gallons on 9/7/14. We loaded two VLAT’s 8 times.

Together the two Air tanker Bases had 5 days over 90,000 gallons and 2 days over 100,000 gallons and a one day total of 143,000 gallons. On 9/6 and 9/7 the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport had its busiest two days ever with the regular commercial operations, 3 Scoopers, 5 Air Attack Planes, 2 Lead Planes and with us pumping 209,000 gals of retardant on 7 SEATs, 7 LAT’s, and 2 VLAT’s.

Medford ATB hosted a total of 31 different Air Tankers. These air tankers made 562 landings at the Rogue Valley International-Medford Airport.”

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Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Tim.

Prescribed fire in central Oregon

 

prescribed fire Oregon

Central Oregon Fire Info (@CentralORFire) sent out this photo Thursday, saying:

Prescribed fire southeast of Bend went well today. 460 acres completed. Ignitions continue tomorrow for 140 more.

Click on the photo to see a larger version.

A bonus photo:

Fire training, Chattahoochee NF, 1941 Photo Clint Davis
Forest Ranger shows Keona Squad how to rake a fire line on the Chattahoochee National Forest, August, 1941. Photo by Clint Davis. (via @ForestService)

Drones may be used over wildfires in Oregon and Washington next year

ScanEagle drone
Boeing’s ScanEagle. Boeing photo.

From KPLU:

State forestry departments in Washington and Oregon had hoped to try out drones this summer to provide reconnaissance at wildfire scenes. But neither firefighting agency managed to pull it off. Now both plan to try again next year.

State foresters in southern Oregon acquired a remote-controlled helicopter at the beginning of fire season, but discovered they couldn’t legally fly it without pilot’s licenses. The training and paperwork are now in progress.

Meanwhile, a leader in the Northwest’s unmanned aircraft industry has launched a separate project to develop a nighttime wildfire reconnaissance capability. Eric Simpkins of Bend, Oregon, said he’s lined up four drone providers willing to donate flight time to demonstrate the new technology for wildfires.

“Fires do change during the night. Winds come up, move the fires a lot,” Simpkins said at an industry conference in Warm Springs, Oregon. “It is very hard for fire managers to know what is going on during hours of darkness and it inhibits their ability to get a quick start the next morning.”

This past July, Washington’s Department of Natural Resources got emergency approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to deploy a drone at a wildfire north of Wenatchee. Boeing subsidiary Insitu provided one of its ScanEagle unmanned aircraft to use for free. But the experiment was scrubbed at the last minute.

A state spokesman says they want to try again next summer on a tamer wildfire.

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Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Robert.

Wednesday morning one-liners

Engine rollover, Warm Springs, Oregon
Engine rollover, Warm Springs, Oregon, July 18, 2014.

*The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has published a report on a BIA engine that rolled over near Warm Springs, Oregon, July 18, 2014. Two people were injured, one seriously. The LLC says more than 50 fire vehicles have rolled over in the last 10 years.

*A man spotted running from the 50-acre Foothill Fire in Ventura, California was arrested on suspicion of setting the blaze.

*Fire officials in Washington state suspect an arsonist is responsible for igniting 23 fires in less than two weeks. Most of them have been vegetation fires.

*A firefighting vehicle in Australia has been outfitted with drop-down steel wheels so that it can follow a steam-powered train, putting out wildfires started by the steam engine.

*In other news from Australia, a Senator gave a speech, titled, Thank you For Smoking, praising nicotine fiends for their $8 billion a year contribution to the economy. He said he did the math: Last year smokers cost the health care system $320 million and another $150 million in bushfire control.

*Researchers have found that “recent (2001–2010) beetle outbreak severity was unrelated to most field measures of subsequent fire severity, which was instead driven primarily by extreme burning conditions (weather) and topography.” Unfortunately, to read the article, researched and published by government employees, it will cost you $10 for two days of access. If the researchers, Brian J. Harvey, Daniel C. Donato, and Monica G. Turner, are going to hide the results of their taxpayer-funded research behind a pay wall, what’s the point in hiring researchers? Support Open Access.

*Firefighters are on lessened alert in the Black Hills after the area received two to five inches of rain over the last few days.

*California has burned through its wildfire-fighting budget — $209 million — just as it faces what is historically the worst of the fire season.