General area of the July 25 arson fires in Southwest Oregon.
On Monday a Bureau of Land Management employee reported that a man was walking down a road igniting vegetation fires in a remote area about 25 miles northwest of Grants Pass, Oregon.
From the AP:
Ground crews, assisted by local residents, and three helicopters quickly got the two fires under control, Curry County Sheriff John Ward said.
Meanwhile, three local residents located the suspect walking on the road near the fires and detained him.
“It was reported that the suspect became very combative with the three residents and had to be tied to a tree to subdue him.,” Ward said in a statement. “An ambulance crew was asked to respond due to some injuries that the suspect apparently received from falling down.”
Smith was transported to Three Rivers Hospital in Grants Pass and once he was medically cleared, transported by US Forest Service law enforcement to the Curry County Jail and held on Reckless Burning and two counts of First-Degree Arson. There was also a Detention Warrant in effect out of Lane County for probation violation.
Trennon Ray Smith. Lane County Sheriff’s Office.
????????? ???: We’re responding to a report of a small smoke column north of Marial in Josephine county.
Multiple engines, a water tender, bulldozer and our District Type 3 helicopter with our Helitack crew and 4MM, our severity Type 2 helicopter are en route. pic.twitter.com/ft2VDLCQnz
GOES-17 photo of smoke from wildfires in Washington, Oregon, and California at 5:56 p.m. PDT Sept. 8, 2020. The photo was taken during a very strong wind event.
By U.S. Forest Service
When the 2020 Labor Day Fires torched more than 300,000 hectares over the span of two weeks in parts of western Oregon and Washington, they devastated communities and put the threat of west-side fires squarely into focus. A new study led by the USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station examines the context surrounding the fires and offers insight into the historical role of large, high-severity fires—and the future of wildfires—west of the Cascades.
“Without a doubt, the 2020 Labor Day Fires were a significant fire event on many levels, and one that was a wake-up call for the region,” said Matthew Reilly, research forester and lead author of the study, which is published in the journal Ecosphere. “The goal of our study was to help understand how this event compared to past west-side fires so that we can help inform adaptation strategies aimed at preventing or mitigating similar events in the future.”
Drawing from a literature review, extensive historical data, and new analysis, Reilly and his co-authors explored five questions surrounding the 2020 Labor Day Fires: how the 2020 fires compared with historical fires in the region, the role of weather and climate, the effects of forest management and pre-fire forest structure on burn severity, the impacts of these fires on west-side landscapes, and what can be done to adapt to similar fires in the future. Ultimately, they found that the 2020 fires were remarkably consistent with historical fires on the west side, both in terms of their timing and size and the cause of their rapid spread—dry conditions combined with strong east winds.
“Our findings suggest that these severe fires are normal for west-side landscapes when you look at historical fire regimes at longer time scales,” Reilly said. In fact, the researchers identified similarly large historical fires in the early 20th century under similar weather conditions—some even burning right around Labor Day—in some of the same locations that burned in 2020.
Because of the abundant and productive forests characteristic of the west side and the driving role of extreme winds, conventional fire management tools used in dry forests, like prescribed burning and fuels management, will likely be less effective in west-side forests than they are on the east side. This is particularly the case, their study found, when fire weather conditions are as extreme as those witnessed during the 2020 fires.
“Our study indicates we need very different approaches and adaptation strategies in west-side forests compared to those we use in dry forests,” Reilly said.
The study was conducted as part of the Pacific Northwest Research Station’s ongoing West-side Fire Research Initiative, which was launched in 2019 to develop science-based tools to help resource managers respond to wildfire risk in west-side forests. The study’s coauthors are from the Washington State Department of Natural Resources, University of Washington, Oregon State University, and USDA Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Region.
Highlights
The 2020 Labor Day Fires were much larger and more severe than others in the recent record, but they were remarkably consistent with many historical fires. Strong east winds and dry conditions are the common denominators in both large historical fires of the past and the 2020 fires.
Forest management and fuel treatments are unlikely to influence fire severity in the most extreme wind-driven fires, like the 2020 Labor Day Fires. Pre-fire forest structure, largely the result of previous forest management activities, had little effect on burn severity when east winds were strong during the 2020 fires.
Fuel treatments around homes and infrastructure may still be beneficial under low and moderate fire-weather conditions.
Adaptation strategies for similar fires in the future in west-side communities might, instead, focus on ignition prevention, fire suppression, and community preparedness.
More information:
Matthew J. Reilly et al, Cascadia Burning: The historic, but not historically unprecedented, 2020 wildfires in the Pacific Northwest, USA, Ecosphere (2022). DOI: 10.1002/ecs2.4070
Wildfire Today, articles posted in September, 2020 tagged Oregon, or Washington.
Linnea Gebauer, prize winner in CSPAN documentary competition.
C-SPAN announced that earlier this month that Linnea Gebauer, a 12th grade student at Klamath Union High School in Klamath Falls, Oregon, is a second prize winner in C-SPAN’s national 2022 StudentCam competition. Ms. Gebauer will receive $1,500 for the documentary, “Fire Season,” about the National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy. The competition, now in its 18th year, invited all middle and high school students to enter by producing a short documentary. C-SPAN, in cooperation with its cable television partners, asked students to explore a federal policy or program and address the theme: “How does the federal government impact your life?”
In response, more than 3,000 students across the country participated in the contest. C-SPAN received over 1,400 entries from 41 states, Washington, D.C., Morocco and South Korea.
In February we reported that Ms. Gebauer had entered the competition and included her video in the article. We wrote, “It is obvious that Linnea put a great deal of time and effort into research, planning, interviewing subject matter experts, and editing the dozens of clips into the finished product. Excellent job, Linnea!”
Here again is her video:
Several government officials recorded congratulatory videos for Ms. Gebauer, including National Park Service Division Chief for Fire and Aviation Management Bill Kaage and Oregon Governor Kate Brown.
Linnea Gebauer. Still image from her documentary about wildland fire.
High school student, Linnea Gebauer submitted a video for the national C-SPAN StudentCam competition. The prompt from C-SPAN was, “How does the federal government impact your life?” She chose to talk about wildland fire.
Having created and edited videos, to me it is obvious that Linnea put a great deal of time and effort into research, planning, interviewing subject matter experts, and editing the dozens of clips into the finished product. Excellent job, Linnea!
StudentCam is C-SPAN’s annual national video documentary competition that encourages students to think critically about issues that affect our communities and our nation.
This year the competition was open to students in grades 6-12. The submission deadline was Thursday, January 20, 2022. With cash prizes totaling $100,000 each year, C-SPAN awards prizes to the top 150 student documentaries and teachers that are identified as advisors.
A contract firefighter was killed by a falling tree in Oregon, August 23, 2021
3-D Map, fatality, Gales Fire Aug. 23, 2021.
A report completed by the Lane County Sheriff’s office concluded that Frumencio Ruiz Carapia was killed by a falling tree while working on the Gale Fire on the Willamette National Forest in Oregon, August 23, 2021. The incident occurred about 34 air miles east-southeast of Eugene.
Mr. Carapia, 56 years old, was employed by GE Forestry, a company based in Central Point, which is near Medford, Oregon. Originally from Mexico, he had worked for more than 25 years with GE. Mr. Carapia is survived by his four adult children, a grandson, and was looking forward to the birth of a granddaughter.
Vicinity map, Gales Fire Fatality, Aug. 23, 2021.
The crew was putting in a cold line on the edge of the fire. The Sheriff determined that a green tree snapped and slid down the slope striking Mr. Carapia. He suffered numerous very serious injuries and was deceased before he could be extricated from under the four-foot diameter tree.
Map, Gales Fire Fatality, Aug. 23, 2021.The burned area is shown in brown. The white line is the fire edge.
Below are excepts from the Sheriff’s report, written in the first person by the responding officer:
“I made contact with the on scene command and was provided a name for the involved individual who was identified as Frumencio Ruiz Carapia. I was further advised the death was witnessed by the crew boss who was identified as Armando Tovar. I made contact with Tovar who stated his crew was putting in a “cold line” which was explained to be a fire line along the edge of the fire. Tovar stated the crew was in a steep creek drainage when he heard and observed a large tree snap above the crew. Tovar started calling on the radio for the crew to get out of the area. Tovar stated he observed the tree which he called a “green tree” snap and fall down the creek drainage and slide towards Ruiz Carapia, striking him. When asked if there was any chainsaw use going on in the area he stated there was none and they were only digging a fire line. The deceased was located under the tree and a call for help was placed on the radio.”
The tree that fell during the Gales Fire, killing Frumencio Ruiz Carapia, Aug. 23, 2021. Lane County Sheriff’s office photo.
“I went with a crew down to where the deceased was located. The area is a steep creek drainage with old growth trees. I observed approximately 3 snags above the location where the deceased was located. The snags were burning near the base and as well as several feet up the trees. I was advised by fire personnel the trees were immediate hazards to the safety of the crew however because of the terrain and where we needed to go they were unable to cut them down. I was advised we needed to hastily work the scene and remove the deceased to get out of danger. I took a few photos of the scene and the deceased.”
“I maintained an observation of the deceased as he was removed from under the tree. I observed the tree to be approximately 75 feet long and about 4 feet in diameter. The tree appeared to have broken off from its base and fell down the creek drainage along the north side of the creek drainage before coming to rest in the creek bottom.”
Frumencio Ruiz Carapia
The report did not include photos of the base of the tree.
The Gales Fire, managed as part of the Middle Fork Complex, ultimately burned more than 29,000 acres.
Gales Fire, Middle Fork Complex of fires, OR, Aug. 16, 2021, InciWeb.
Taylor Creek-Klondike Fires, Rogue Siskiyou NF, Oregon, August 11, 2018 by Kari Greer.
Celeste Prescott, Instructor and Project Manager for the Fire and Emergency Management program at Clackamas Community College near Portland, Oregon, sent us information about a new Emergency Management Professional program at the college. Registration for the first term closes December 15, 2021.
Clackamas Community College (CCC) is launching a new Emergency Management Professional (EMP), Associates of Applied Science (AAS), degree program. The first term starts January 3, 2022 and is being offered entirely online!
CCC is aiming to help make this degree attainable for anyone interested in helping build a culture of preparedness and ready communities for catastrophic disasters. The program allows for students to take the full course load each term, or one class at a time. In addition, students can apply for up to 22 credits towards the degree for previously completed and approved wildland fire or FEMA courses.
This degree program is being taught by highly qualified instructors who continue to be engaged in different facets of incident management, and it’s being offered at the low cost of $111 per credit hour. The program is designed to provide meaningful learning opportunities for current emergency management professionals as well as foundational skills for those just getting started.
CCC originally began teaching Emergency Management courses in 1996 and began offering Wildland Fire and Incident Command System (ICS) courses in 2006. Over the years the instructors have honed their skills in the classroom, while continuing to work in and grow their experience and knowledge in their respective fields of expertise.
The first term course offerings and details are listed below. Please follow the link at the end for additional information.
Registration for the first term closes on Dec 15, 2021.
EMP Winter Term Offerings | January 3 – March 19, 2022
EMP-201 Introduction to Homeland Security and Emergency Management 4 credits
This course introduces Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) as a profession. The course begins with the historical context of HSEM and provides a foundation for the many disciplines within the field including threats and hazards analysis, hazard mitigation, emergency preparedness, response, and recovery. The course also provides an overview of current issues, policies, best practices, and lessons learned.
Tuesdays from 6:00 – 9:20PM (PST) Virtually on Zoom.
EMP-202 Threat and Hazard Assessment for Emergency Management Professionals 3 credits
This course demonstrates the importance of risk reduction programs and the history of Threats and Hazard Identification and Risk Assessment (THIRA). Emergency management professionals must assess weaknesses and establish programs to reduce risks during preparedness for the whole community. This course will give students a basic understanding of risk management and risk prevention in emergency management. Thursdays from 6:00 – 9:20PM (PST) Virtually on Zoom.
EMP-204 Foundations of Emergency Planning 4 credits
In order for a community to be truly prepared to respond to any type of natural and/or man-made disaster, it must develop effective emergency planning. This course will introduce the multiple aspects of disaster planning. It explores the patterns of human disaster behavior, social psychology, and communication as well as the basics of generic planning actions, planning concepts, implementation, and action. Wednesdays from 6:00 – 9:20PM (PST) Virtually on Zoom.
