So far I’ve made two trips to the Dixie area to report on the Rattlesnake fire efforts, and two trips down to the river looking over the Poe Cabin fire. From that, I think I can safely say that nobody from the area residents to the firefighters are all that happy with this weeks old situation, and that everyone involved is making an effort to resolve the problem. Certainly the rest of us in the county aren’t very happy with choking, coughing, and hacking on the incessant smoke clouds that blanket the prairie, no matter where the smoke comes from.
While it’s not a unique situation, the extensive grasslands on the river make fighting the Poe Cabin fire difficult but not impossible, and thus we see this fire at least is nearly contained. Unfortunately for us all, the terrain, fuels and our summer weather patterns make any direct suppression efforts (and thus quick extinguishment) very different on the Rattlesnake fire, as well as being extremely hazardous to the firefighters. Much the same situation exists to the south where the Loon-Zena fire, and the Raines fire are having the same problems. (All in all, with twenty going fires we’ve lost nearly half a million acres so far this summer.) Remember that these fires are generally burning in very steep terrain difficult if not impossible for motorized equipment to operate in. The fuels include deep grass, heavy brush, and dense Lodgepole Pine jumbles in which a high percentage of the trees have been killed by bugs. You might also keep in mind that handline crews would have to work upslope of an active fire, with unburned fuels between them and the fire, something that is never a very good idea! All in all, we have the necessary ingredients of a firefighter’s nightmare, with the potential of making the 1994 South Canyon fire (Storm King Mountain) tragedy seem like child’s play!
The primary firefighting efforts on the Rattlesnake fire are intended to protect the communities of Dixie, Comstock, and now Orogrande from the fire if, or should I say when, it comes boiling out of the canyons. In addition, helicopter bucket drops are being used to cool hotspots in an effort to keep the fire from moving out of those same canyons, a very good idea considering that we can’t with any degree of safety put people in there to actively work on the fire.
The question that quickly comes to my mind however, is how did we get into this sorry situation in the first place? Consider the problems that the fire crews are facing. The steep terrain features we can blame on the action of the Salmon River over quite a few thousand years I guess, and there isn’t much we can do about that. Nor can we do much about the weather conditions, as much as we’d like to. The fire fuels on the other hand are something we could, and should, have done something about long ago. It’s my understanding that those dense stands of Lodgepole Pine are partly the result of the disastrous 1910 fire, making these trees nearly 100 years old. Generally these dense stands should have been logged, thinned out years ago, but weren’t for various reasons. For that I blame the environmental activists, and the federal courts, which seem to know little more about forestry than I know about the finer nuances of law, despite all the weeping and wailing about our country’s mistreated forests.
Next, enter the infamous Mountain Pine Beetle. The beetle, Dendroctonus ponderosae Hopkins, is a member of an insect class known as bark beetles. Except when the adults migrate and attack new trees, the mountain pine beetle completes its life cycle under the bark. They attack and kill lodgepole, ponderosa, sugar, and western white pine by tunneling under the bark, where over a short time (sometimes as little as two weeks) the trees are overwhelmed as the phloem layer is damaged enough to cut off the flow of water and nutrients, leaving the tree to starve to death. Beetle outbreaks frequently develop in dense stands of pole-sized pines, where outbreaks often kill millions of trees. During epidemics, tree mortality can alter the entire ecosystem, where often the beetles have almost totally depleted pine forests. The profusion of beetle-killed trees can severely affect wildlife habitat as well, by changing the cover available and hindering wildlife movement. Even worse, the dead trees left standing are a source of fire fuels that well, as forests are prone to do, burn, unless they’re somehow removed. After all, a lightning strike in the top of a dead, pitchy, lodgepole is somewhat akin to striking a kitchen match in a pile of gasoline soaked tinder!
High-risk lodgepole pine stands have an average age of more than 80 years, an average diameter of more than 8 inches, and a climate suitable for beetle development. According to numerous studies, thinning those stands of lodgepole and ponderosa pines will generally prevent, or at least minimize, beetle-caused tree losses. However, once a large outbreak has developed, salvage logging of infested material to reduce future tree mortality generally will not be effective. It’s possible to prevent infestation with specialized sprays on high value trees, but they need to be applied before the tree is infected and the cost of such treatments is excludes any large-scale application. Once a mountain pine beetle outbreak begins, it can often only be stopped by thinning the trees ahead of the outbreak. More importantly, infestations can be prevented by thinning those dense stands before crown closure, an operation that not only increases the vigor of the remaining trees, but also prevents the spread of an outbreak if individual trees have already been attacked.
Mountain pine beetles are a natural part of the ecosystem, and will never be completely eradicated. To keep the beetles at their normal numbers however, the causes of an outbreak must be removed. First and foremost, overstocked stands of timber need to be addressed by foresters, as overstocking causes trees to become highly competitive for the limited water, light, and nutrients available, and this quite naturally stunts their growth along with weakening their defenses against beetle attack. The beetles also carry spores of bluestain fungus which colonizes the sapwood and defeats the natural defenses of the tree. When lodgepole is young, it is able to resist infection by the fungus, with resistance increasing to about age 60, and then rapidly declines. The decline in resistance to bluestain fungus occurs when lodgepole pine is considered mature, and just when beetle outbreaks typically develop. Logging these dense lodgepole stands is one proven answer, which would make everyone happy if the logging of such small timber can be made economically viable. If standard logging isn’t an economical operation, then perhaps we could give the excess trees to somebody who could use them, forestry economics be dammed, just get them out of there! I know a lot of pole cutters that would be quite happy to remove as many of these excess trees as they can get if they don’t have to pay an arm and a leg for them! If, for one reason or another, thinning isn’t acceptable or possible, then the stands should most likely be burned out, with the general recommendation being a “patchwork” burn of six to ten acres per plot.
If nothing else, that sure would reduce the vast amounts of secondhand “government smoke” we’re being exposed to for much of each summer!
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Sunday, August 19, 2007
RFID
Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is an automatic identification system of storing and remotely retrieving computer data, using devices called “RFID tags” or “transponders”. An RFID tag is an object that can be stuck on or in a product, animal, or person for the purpose of identification using radiowaves. Some tags can be read from several hundred meters away and well beyond line of sight. Most RFID tags contain at least two parts. One is an integrated circuit for storing and processing information, processing the radio signal, and perhaps other specialized functions. The second is an antenna for receiving and transmitting the signal. A technology called chipless RFID allows for discrete identification of tags without an integrated circuit, thereby allowing tags to be quite literally printed directly onto an object.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a pervasive computing technology, often touted as the replacement for now traditional barcodes. Wireless identification capabilities promise to revolutionize industrial, commercial, and medical operations. The heart of the utility is that RFID makes gathering information about physical objects easy. Information about RFID tagged objects can be transmitted through physical barriers, and from quite some distance. These tags could turn our interactions with the national computing infrastructure into something subconscious leading investors, inventors, and manufacturers to adopt RFID technology for a wide array of applications. RFID tags could help combat the counterfeiting of goods like designer sneakers, pharmaceutical drugs, and money. RFID-based automatic checkout systems might tally up and pay our bills at supermarkets, gas stations, and highway toll stations. We reaffirm our position as “top of the food chain” by RFID tagging cows, pigs, birds, and pets, thus enabling ingrained quality control and infectious animal disease tracking. RFID technology also manages our supply chains, mediates our access to buildings, tracks our kids, and defends against grave robbers. If the family dog and cat have RFID pet identification chips implanted in them; and given the trends towards RFID use, their owner will be next in line.
RFID tags come in three varieties: passive, active, or semi-passive (also known as battery-assisted). Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas semi-passive and active tags require a power source, usually a small battery. Passive RFID tags use the minute electrical current induced in the antenna by the incoming radio frequency signal to provide enough power for the integrated circuit in the tag to power up and transmit a response. That response is not limited to an ID number, but can contain a programmable memory for storing data. Passive tags have a practical read distances ranging from about 10 cm (4 in.) up to a few meters,depending on the radio frequency and antenna size. Unlike passive tags, active RFID tags have their own internal battery which is used to power the integrated circuits and broadcast the signal to the reader. Active tags are typically much more reliable than passive tags due to the ability for active tags to conduct a "session" with a reader. Active tags, due to their battery power, also transmit at higher power levels than passive tags, allowing them to be more effective in "RF challenged" environments like water (including humans/cattle, which are mostly water), metal (shipping containers, vehicles), or at longer distances. Many active tags today have practical ranges of hundreds of meters, and a battery life of up to 10 years. Semi-passive tags are similar to active tags as they have their own power source, but the battery is used just to power the microchip and not broadcast a signal. The RF energy is reflected back to the reader like a passive tag.
Basically, there are also three different kinds of RFID tags based on their attachment with the object to be identified, attachable, implantable and insertion tags. In addition to these conventional RFID tags, Eastman Kodak Company has filed patent applications for monitoring the ingestion of medicine, with a digestible tag. Implantable RFID chips designed for animal tagging are now being used in humans as well. An early experiment with RFID implants was conducted by British professor Kevin Warwick, who implanted a chip in his arm in 1998. Night clubs in Spain and in The Netherlands now commonly use an implantable chip to identify their VIP customers, who in turn use it to pay for drinks. In 2004, the Mexican Attorney General's office implanted 18 of its staff members with the Verichip to control access to a secure data room. (This number has been mis-reported as 160 or 180 staff members.)
The use of RFID technology has engendered considerable controversy and even product boycotts by consumer privacy advocates who refer to RFID tags as "spychips". The four main concerns regarding RFID are: The purchaser of an item will not necessarily be aware of the presence of the tag or be able to remove it. The tag can be read at a distance without the knowledge of the individual. If a tagged item is paid for by credit card or in conjunction with a “product loyalty” card, then it would be possible to indirectly deduce the identity of the purchaser by reading the unique ID of that item (contained in the RFID tag). The EPC global system of tags create globally unique serial numbers for all products. Most concerns revolve around the fact that RFID tags affixed to products remain functional even after the products have been purchased and taken home and thus can be used for surveillance and other purposes unrelated to their supply chain inventory functions.
Critics from the Christian community believe that RFID tagging could represent the mark of the beast” (666) mentioned in the Book of Revelation (Revelations 13:16). Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, authors of Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID, wrote a new book on the subject from a Christian perspective. John Conner, leader of an organization called "The Resistance of Christ" also believes there is such a connection.
Even worse, RFID can be successfully “hacked” by pranksters, bored kids, or criminals with a specific target in mind. Years after the successful introduction of RFID-based pet tagging, one veterinarian's pet identification system started displaying odd behavior. First, the RFID reader seemed to be reporting incorrect pet data. A couple hours later, the system seemed to be erasing data from pets' RFID tags. Then the display on the pet identification computer froze and displayed the message: “All your pet are belong to us.” Tag input data can be used by hackers to access normally secure computer systems. This is old news in the computer industry, but it has not prevented RFID system designers from implicitly trusting the integrity of data provided by RFID tags.
From my experiences with computer “glitches” over the years, and no more than I trust the reliability of anything computerized, you can picture my eyebrows raised over that one.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a pervasive computing technology, often touted as the replacement for now traditional barcodes. Wireless identification capabilities promise to revolutionize industrial, commercial, and medical operations. The heart of the utility is that RFID makes gathering information about physical objects easy. Information about RFID tagged objects can be transmitted through physical barriers, and from quite some distance. These tags could turn our interactions with the national computing infrastructure into something subconscious leading investors, inventors, and manufacturers to adopt RFID technology for a wide array of applications. RFID tags could help combat the counterfeiting of goods like designer sneakers, pharmaceutical drugs, and money. RFID-based automatic checkout systems might tally up and pay our bills at supermarkets, gas stations, and highway toll stations. We reaffirm our position as “top of the food chain” by RFID tagging cows, pigs, birds, and pets, thus enabling ingrained quality control and infectious animal disease tracking. RFID technology also manages our supply chains, mediates our access to buildings, tracks our kids, and defends against grave robbers. If the family dog and cat have RFID pet identification chips implanted in them; and given the trends towards RFID use, their owner will be next in line.
RFID tags come in three varieties: passive, active, or semi-passive (also known as battery-assisted). Passive tags require no internal power source, whereas semi-passive and active tags require a power source, usually a small battery. Passive RFID tags use the minute electrical current induced in the antenna by the incoming radio frequency signal to provide enough power for the integrated circuit in the tag to power up and transmit a response. That response is not limited to an ID number, but can contain a programmable memory for storing data. Passive tags have a practical read distances ranging from about 10 cm (4 in.) up to a few meters,depending on the radio frequency and antenna size. Unlike passive tags, active RFID tags have their own internal battery which is used to power the integrated circuits and broadcast the signal to the reader. Active tags are typically much more reliable than passive tags due to the ability for active tags to conduct a "session" with a reader. Active tags, due to their battery power, also transmit at higher power levels than passive tags, allowing them to be more effective in "RF challenged" environments like water (including humans/cattle, which are mostly water), metal (shipping containers, vehicles), or at longer distances. Many active tags today have practical ranges of hundreds of meters, and a battery life of up to 10 years. Semi-passive tags are similar to active tags as they have their own power source, but the battery is used just to power the microchip and not broadcast a signal. The RF energy is reflected back to the reader like a passive tag.
Basically, there are also three different kinds of RFID tags based on their attachment with the object to be identified, attachable, implantable and insertion tags. In addition to these conventional RFID tags, Eastman Kodak Company has filed patent applications for monitoring the ingestion of medicine, with a digestible tag. Implantable RFID chips designed for animal tagging are now being used in humans as well. An early experiment with RFID implants was conducted by British professor Kevin Warwick, who implanted a chip in his arm in 1998. Night clubs in Spain and in The Netherlands now commonly use an implantable chip to identify their VIP customers, who in turn use it to pay for drinks. In 2004, the Mexican Attorney General's office implanted 18 of its staff members with the Verichip to control access to a secure data room. (This number has been mis-reported as 160 or 180 staff members.)
The use of RFID technology has engendered considerable controversy and even product boycotts by consumer privacy advocates who refer to RFID tags as "spychips". The four main concerns regarding RFID are: The purchaser of an item will not necessarily be aware of the presence of the tag or be able to remove it. The tag can be read at a distance without the knowledge of the individual. If a tagged item is paid for by credit card or in conjunction with a “product loyalty” card, then it would be possible to indirectly deduce the identity of the purchaser by reading the unique ID of that item (contained in the RFID tag). The EPC global system of tags create globally unique serial numbers for all products. Most concerns revolve around the fact that RFID tags affixed to products remain functional even after the products have been purchased and taken home and thus can be used for surveillance and other purposes unrelated to their supply chain inventory functions.
Critics from the Christian community believe that RFID tagging could represent the mark of the beast” (666) mentioned in the Book of Revelation (Revelations 13:16). Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre, authors of Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID, wrote a new book on the subject from a Christian perspective. John Conner, leader of an organization called "The Resistance of Christ" also believes there is such a connection.
Even worse, RFID can be successfully “hacked” by pranksters, bored kids, or criminals with a specific target in mind. Years after the successful introduction of RFID-based pet tagging, one veterinarian's pet identification system started displaying odd behavior. First, the RFID reader seemed to be reporting incorrect pet data. A couple hours later, the system seemed to be erasing data from pets' RFID tags. Then the display on the pet identification computer froze and displayed the message: “All your pet are belong to us.” Tag input data can be used by hackers to access normally secure computer systems. This is old news in the computer industry, but it has not prevented RFID system designers from implicitly trusting the integrity of data provided by RFID tags.
From my experiences with computer “glitches” over the years, and no more than I trust the reliability of anything computerized, you can picture my eyebrows raised over that one.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Rattlesnake Fire
Last week I wrote about the Poe Cabin fire in the Slate Creek Ranger District, and ways and means of protecting your home from wildfire. Now it’s the turn of the Rattlesnake fire in the Red River Ranger District. Thanks to Laura Smith of the NPNF information office, and Erin Fryer, the incident command staff information officer, I had the opportunity to tour the Dixie area and have a look at the efforts being made to protect our “small hamlet out in the woods” from the Rattlesnake fire, if it heads into town.
While driving up the South Fork of the Clearwater, I stopped for a moment near Hanging Rock, and looked at the river. While it’s not exactly a dry streambed yet, there certainly isn’t a lot of water out there. From all appearances we’re definitely deep in a drought situation, which isn’t doing our forests any good at all. I also noticed all the dead timber standing on the hillsides, killed by the infamous Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. An infestation that’s the result of a three-way team effort between mountain pine beetles, environmental lobbyists, and the federal courts, the latter of which won't allow the thinning of these high hazard fuels to take place. It’s too bad that we can’t do something besides “let it burn” to control that particular fire hazard.
At the Red River Ranger Station I linked up with Pete Buist of the fire staff, who would be my escorting officer for the day. As a civilian I wouldn’t be allowed to go near the active parts of the fire of course, but we could go past the road closure and take a look at Dixie. (It’s been about eight years or so since I’ve been in the area.) The changes in Dixie are a real surprise, as I noticed that several “new” and quite nice looking homes have been added to the townsite. The real surprise however is in the fire mitigation efforts being conducted by the fire crews. You might remember the “Bazillion” lodgepole pines that used to grow all over the town. I understand that most of them were killed by the Pine Beetles, and those dead trees “ain’t there no more”. The fire crews have removed them, and they are soon to be turned into slow burning mulch by the industrial strength chipper that’s been ordered, rather than left standing as giant torches awaiting only a match.
The town itself is barely recognizable, being hidden underneath what looks like miles of aluminum foil! The fire crews have wrapped much of the town in an aluminized fiberglass “Fire Wrap” material that’s intended to reflect the heat of a fire away from those flammable wooden buildings. At the same time, numerous Engine crews and a pair of twenty man hand line fire crews are working all over the area, further reducing the fire hazards as best they can. Any materials that might conduct the fire to the buildings is being moved to safer locations, while grass and weeds are being cut back from the walls a safe distance. Fire wrap is being applied to surfaces particularly exposed, and is also being used to cover the windows. This latter because the radiant heat of a fire can penetrate windows and ignite the contents of the room beyond. That of course sets the whole building on fire. Historical buildings such as the old Dixie School are completely wrapped, and I was particularly impressed to see that the old wooden memorial plaque at the Dixie cemetery was similarly protected. I did have to laugh when I noticed that the standard Forest Service “little house out back” was also wrapped. So many dead trees are gone, everything’s wrapped in aluminum, and yellow shirts are seen almost everywhere, in an attempt to turn Dixie into an island of safety in the midst of a potential sea of flame.
The Dixie store itself wears a silver skirt, and the windows are covered with fire wrap. Any part of a building where a flying ember might land and start a new fire is covered with fire wrap, including decks, porches and almost anything else that’s burnable. At one residence we noticed that firefighters had moved the winter woodpile away from the wall of the house, and had neatly stacked the offending firewood a few yards away. Most of the town looks like it’s covered with spaghetti (fire hose in reality), that connects numerous portable fire pumps to a massive sprinkler system designed to wet everything down if the fire approaches.
There are five engine crews from the Stanislaus-Trinity National Forest working in Dixie, cutting weeds back from the walls, removing flammables, and installing aluminum wrap over windows and flat surfaces. One of their firefighters, who calls the high desert area of Hemet California home, said he really liked this area, although it was definitely somewhat different from where he lives. Another Stanislaus firefighter is a young lady named Melissa (I missed her last name) who is working her first season as a firefighter. She says she enjoys firefighting, and plans to stay with it. I hope she does, firefighting is a tough job, and we need all the dedicated young people we can get. Melissa seems to be an energetic “go getter”, but I don’t think I’d want her on my Engine crew. I doubt I could work hard enough to even begin to keep up with her!
Firefighters aren’t just a bunch of folks doing a tough job either; they’ve got pretty big hearts as well. While I haven’t been able to get the whole story yet, it seems that one of the Dixie residents was having a hard time getting around town on an old motorbike. Noticing the problem, a member of the Corvallis Montana VFD Engine crew took up a collection from among the firefighters working in and around Dixie, and purchased the resident a four wheel ATV. At last report he’s pleased as punch, and now getting around quite well. The “instigator” was unavailable for an interview, being on R&R someplace.
There was to be a town meeting at 3PM where the Forest Service officials would explain what was going on, what had been accomplished, what was yet to be accomplished, and to run through the plans for any potential evacuation if the fire suddenly blew up. A number of residents gathered at the store prior to the meeting, discussing the current situation, and exchanging gossip, as I imagine has been occurring at the same location for the last hundred years. There was quite a bit of talk about the fire, and the Forest Service efforts, with the overall consensus of opinion being that the firefighters were hard at work doing everything they could, and were a great bunch of people as well. In talking to numerous firefighters I heard much the same story from the other side of the fence, in that the residents of Dixie were a great bunch of people who understood the problems and were more than willing to help in every way they could.
At the meeting, Jess Secrest, the incoming Incident Commander, and his staff explained the fire situation, forecasts, and planning, along with answering questions from the public. Jess has been in the fire business for 32 years, and is experienced in doing just about every fire job in the book at one time or another. He seems quite knowledgeable, and has a lot of confidence in abilities of his team. From talking with these people, I for one would say that Dixie is in pretty darn good hands.
I took quite a few pictures while in Dixie, and anyone interested can see them at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/nezperce/gvc/photogallery/1708rattlesnakefogarty/index.htm
While driving up the South Fork of the Clearwater, I stopped for a moment near Hanging Rock, and looked at the river. While it’s not exactly a dry streambed yet, there certainly isn’t a lot of water out there. From all appearances we’re definitely deep in a drought situation, which isn’t doing our forests any good at all. I also noticed all the dead timber standing on the hillsides, killed by the infamous Mountain Pine Beetle infestation. An infestation that’s the result of a three-way team effort between mountain pine beetles, environmental lobbyists, and the federal courts, the latter of which won't allow the thinning of these high hazard fuels to take place. It’s too bad that we can’t do something besides “let it burn” to control that particular fire hazard.
At the Red River Ranger Station I linked up with Pete Buist of the fire staff, who would be my escorting officer for the day. As a civilian I wouldn’t be allowed to go near the active parts of the fire of course, but we could go past the road closure and take a look at Dixie. (It’s been about eight years or so since I’ve been in the area.) The changes in Dixie are a real surprise, as I noticed that several “new” and quite nice looking homes have been added to the townsite. The real surprise however is in the fire mitigation efforts being conducted by the fire crews. You might remember the “Bazillion” lodgepole pines that used to grow all over the town. I understand that most of them were killed by the Pine Beetles, and those dead trees “ain’t there no more”. The fire crews have removed them, and they are soon to be turned into slow burning mulch by the industrial strength chipper that’s been ordered, rather than left standing as giant torches awaiting only a match.
The town itself is barely recognizable, being hidden underneath what looks like miles of aluminum foil! The fire crews have wrapped much of the town in an aluminized fiberglass “Fire Wrap” material that’s intended to reflect the heat of a fire away from those flammable wooden buildings. At the same time, numerous Engine crews and a pair of twenty man hand line fire crews are working all over the area, further reducing the fire hazards as best they can. Any materials that might conduct the fire to the buildings is being moved to safer locations, while grass and weeds are being cut back from the walls a safe distance. Fire wrap is being applied to surfaces particularly exposed, and is also being used to cover the windows. This latter because the radiant heat of a fire can penetrate windows and ignite the contents of the room beyond. That of course sets the whole building on fire. Historical buildings such as the old Dixie School are completely wrapped, and I was particularly impressed to see that the old wooden memorial plaque at the Dixie cemetery was similarly protected. I did have to laugh when I noticed that the standard Forest Service “little house out back” was also wrapped. So many dead trees are gone, everything’s wrapped in aluminum, and yellow shirts are seen almost everywhere, in an attempt to turn Dixie into an island of safety in the midst of a potential sea of flame.
The Dixie store itself wears a silver skirt, and the windows are covered with fire wrap. Any part of a building where a flying ember might land and start a new fire is covered with fire wrap, including decks, porches and almost anything else that’s burnable. At one residence we noticed that firefighters had moved the winter woodpile away from the wall of the house, and had neatly stacked the offending firewood a few yards away. Most of the town looks like it’s covered with spaghetti (fire hose in reality), that connects numerous portable fire pumps to a massive sprinkler system designed to wet everything down if the fire approaches.
There are five engine crews from the Stanislaus-Trinity National Forest working in Dixie, cutting weeds back from the walls, removing flammables, and installing aluminum wrap over windows and flat surfaces. One of their firefighters, who calls the high desert area of Hemet California home, said he really liked this area, although it was definitely somewhat different from where he lives. Another Stanislaus firefighter is a young lady named Melissa (I missed her last name) who is working her first season as a firefighter. She says she enjoys firefighting, and plans to stay with it. I hope she does, firefighting is a tough job, and we need all the dedicated young people we can get. Melissa seems to be an energetic “go getter”, but I don’t think I’d want her on my Engine crew. I doubt I could work hard enough to even begin to keep up with her!
Firefighters aren’t just a bunch of folks doing a tough job either; they’ve got pretty big hearts as well. While I haven’t been able to get the whole story yet, it seems that one of the Dixie residents was having a hard time getting around town on an old motorbike. Noticing the problem, a member of the Corvallis Montana VFD Engine crew took up a collection from among the firefighters working in and around Dixie, and purchased the resident a four wheel ATV. At last report he’s pleased as punch, and now getting around quite well. The “instigator” was unavailable for an interview, being on R&R someplace.
There was to be a town meeting at 3PM where the Forest Service officials would explain what was going on, what had been accomplished, what was yet to be accomplished, and to run through the plans for any potential evacuation if the fire suddenly blew up. A number of residents gathered at the store prior to the meeting, discussing the current situation, and exchanging gossip, as I imagine has been occurring at the same location for the last hundred years. There was quite a bit of talk about the fire, and the Forest Service efforts, with the overall consensus of opinion being that the firefighters were hard at work doing everything they could, and were a great bunch of people as well. In talking to numerous firefighters I heard much the same story from the other side of the fence, in that the residents of Dixie were a great bunch of people who understood the problems and were more than willing to help in every way they could.
At the meeting, Jess Secrest, the incoming Incident Commander, and his staff explained the fire situation, forecasts, and planning, along with answering questions from the public. Jess has been in the fire business for 32 years, and is experienced in doing just about every fire job in the book at one time or another. He seems quite knowledgeable, and has a lot of confidence in abilities of his team. From talking with these people, I for one would say that Dixie is in pretty darn good hands.
I took quite a few pictures while in Dixie, and anyone interested can see them at: http://www.fs.fed.us/r1/nezperce/gvc/photogallery/1708rattlesnakefogarty/index.htm
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Poe Cabin Fire
Our fire season started early this year, and so far I’ve seen no indication that it’s going to be anything but a long, hot, smoky, and probably miserable, summer. At the time of this writing we have twenty major fire incidents working in the Northern Rockies region of North Idaho, Montana, part of Wyoming, and North Dakota. We’re not alone either, considering that the entire great basin area (part of Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and south Idaho) seems to be burning, with twenty major fire incidents working, along with the Oregon and Washington region having six major incidents working, and several more recently contained. As I understand the statistics, so far this year we’ve had over 56,000 fires large and small across the nation, at a loss of more than 4.5 million acres of federal, state, and private lands. The nationwide extended weather outlook doesn’t promise any relief either.
Several days ago I toured the northern area of the Poe Cabin fire (mostly the Twin Rivers Ranch area) with Brian Scott of the incident command staff. Brian hails from South Dakota where (when he’s not out on major fires) he works as a natural resources technician for the state’s Department of Agriculture. He briefly described the problems facing the IMT and the firefighters, which included rugged terrain, fast burning fuels, hot and dry weather of course, and a shortage of fire fighting resources. I’ve fought a few fires in nasty terrain before, but the area these crews are working in would have to be very near the top of my list of nastiness! It looks like these guys are doing a whale of a job, with particular kudos to both the Whitebird and Salmon River Rural Fire Departments, who held the line alone for quite some time.
We met up with Mike Dannenberg of the BLM (in Montana), who’s in charge of the Structural Protection Unit on the northern perimeter of the fire. Mike also noted the particular problems of wildland firefighting in this area, and stressed the value of having a defensible space around each home. During our tour he showed us a prime example of a highly defensible home, that he thought should be a “Poster Child” for the Fire Safe program. For anyone who’s not aware of it, “Fire Safe” is an effort to teach homeowners living in or near wild lands how to protect their homes from the ravages of wildfire. The home he showed us has a number of safety features built-in to the landscaping, in that brush and tall grass were not allowed near the place, and a fire free decorative gravel strip had been placed all around the house and yard. Mentioning the terrain features, Mike pointed out that the house was very near the head of a brushy ravine that would funnel a fire right to the house. However, in this case the house is set back slightly from the ravine, and any intervening brush had been removed. I didn’t notice any shade trees near the house, but Mike also said that while our local conifers are comparatively easy to ignite, hardwood trees are apparently much more difficult to set afire. If you have a choice, hardwoods are a safer bet. He commented that if he were in Reno, and were a betting man, he’s bet that this particular home would survive a burnover. In visiting another home close by, Mike pointed out several problem areas, in that tall grass, brush, and trees were in very close proximity to the house, providing a fuel chain directly to the house. Pity, it’s a nice looking home.
First and foremost, we all recognize that fire is a natural part of our environment. Today, as the population continues to move away from the suburbs and into a more rural setting, homes are being built and maintained without regard to wildfire hazards. With our present warmer summers and drought conditions, and with more people using our wildlands for recreational purposes, there is also a greater chance of fire starts. Today’s wildfires often burn very intensely and can be quite difficult to control. Fire in the “Urban Interface” is a growing problem nationwide. (“Urban Interface” being defined as the place where towns meet the woods.) A lot of people assume that when a wildfire starts, it will be quickly controlled and extinguished. This is accurate most of the time, for most wildfires. But occasionally wildfires burn so intensely that there is little firefighters can do, particularly so if the home isn’t defensible. In most areas, a safety zone should be cleared away from your home for a distance of not less than 30 feet. As the slope of your home site increases, additional clearance as far out as 100 feet or more may be necessary. Flammable vegetation too close to your home will make it almost impossible for firefighters to save much of anything in the event of a fire. When people are living in high hazard fire environments, the human built environment becomes an important factor in the loss of life and property. Untreated wood shake and shingle roofs, narrow and one-way roads, limited access, lack of fire-wise landscaping, inadequate water supplies, are all examples of the increased risk to people living with the threat of wildfire.
Quoting from a Fire Safe pamphlet; “Clear away flammable vegetation and combustible growth a minimum of 30 feet away from homes. If a wooden deck is part of the back of the home, this 30-foot distance starts from the edge of the deck outward. Brush and weeds must be cut to the ground, raked up, and removed from the property. Single specimens of trees and shrubbery used as ground cover, provided that they don’t form a means of rapidly transmitting fire from the native growth to any structure, can be kept in this 30-foot space. Trim trees horizontally to at least 10 feet away from the home and decks. If a homeowner wishes to keep a tree within this 10-foot distance they must trim any nearby trees a minimum of 10 feet away from this tree within this first 30-foot space. Large trees must be limbed up to a minimum of six feet above the ground and smaller trees limbed up proportionately. Homes that have any type of slope must have an additional defensible space created. This distance must be an additional minimum of 70-foot space in addition to the first 30 feet for a total of 100 feet. In this additional 70-foot space, the vegetation should be cut so that it is not more than 18” above the ground. The cut vegetation can be left in place as long as it is mulched down. Trees within this 70-foot space should also be limbed up a minimum of 6 feet above the ground for large trees and proportionately for smaller trees. Flammable vegetation and combustible growth should be cut and removed from below the canopies of the trees in this 70-foot space.”
To this I’ll add that we all have an assortment of flammable materials around the place. Gasoline for the lawnmower, paints and thinners, propane tanks, whatever. These materials present not only more fuel for a fire, they can also be quite hazardous to the firefighter that’s trying to save your home. Store them safely, well away from the house. Due to a disastrous fire incident I was involved with years ago, propane tanks in a fire situation are one of my major concerns. If you use propane, make sure than there are no fuels anywhere near the tank. Keep the brush as far away as you can, keep the grass under the tank cut, and don’t hide the tank behind a wall of firewood!
It’s your home, “Learn not to burn.”
Several days ago I toured the northern area of the Poe Cabin fire (mostly the Twin Rivers Ranch area) with Brian Scott of the incident command staff. Brian hails from South Dakota where (when he’s not out on major fires) he works as a natural resources technician for the state’s Department of Agriculture. He briefly described the problems facing the IMT and the firefighters, which included rugged terrain, fast burning fuels, hot and dry weather of course, and a shortage of fire fighting resources. I’ve fought a few fires in nasty terrain before, but the area these crews are working in would have to be very near the top of my list of nastiness! It looks like these guys are doing a whale of a job, with particular kudos to both the Whitebird and Salmon River Rural Fire Departments, who held the line alone for quite some time.
We met up with Mike Dannenberg of the BLM (in Montana), who’s in charge of the Structural Protection Unit on the northern perimeter of the fire. Mike also noted the particular problems of wildland firefighting in this area, and stressed the value of having a defensible space around each home. During our tour he showed us a prime example of a highly defensible home, that he thought should be a “Poster Child” for the Fire Safe program. For anyone who’s not aware of it, “Fire Safe” is an effort to teach homeowners living in or near wild lands how to protect their homes from the ravages of wildfire. The home he showed us has a number of safety features built-in to the landscaping, in that brush and tall grass were not allowed near the place, and a fire free decorative gravel strip had been placed all around the house and yard. Mentioning the terrain features, Mike pointed out that the house was very near the head of a brushy ravine that would funnel a fire right to the house. However, in this case the house is set back slightly from the ravine, and any intervening brush had been removed. I didn’t notice any shade trees near the house, but Mike also said that while our local conifers are comparatively easy to ignite, hardwood trees are apparently much more difficult to set afire. If you have a choice, hardwoods are a safer bet. He commented that if he were in Reno, and were a betting man, he’s bet that this particular home would survive a burnover. In visiting another home close by, Mike pointed out several problem areas, in that tall grass, brush, and trees were in very close proximity to the house, providing a fuel chain directly to the house. Pity, it’s a nice looking home.
First and foremost, we all recognize that fire is a natural part of our environment. Today, as the population continues to move away from the suburbs and into a more rural setting, homes are being built and maintained without regard to wildfire hazards. With our present warmer summers and drought conditions, and with more people using our wildlands for recreational purposes, there is also a greater chance of fire starts. Today’s wildfires often burn very intensely and can be quite difficult to control. Fire in the “Urban Interface” is a growing problem nationwide. (“Urban Interface” being defined as the place where towns meet the woods.) A lot of people assume that when a wildfire starts, it will be quickly controlled and extinguished. This is accurate most of the time, for most wildfires. But occasionally wildfires burn so intensely that there is little firefighters can do, particularly so if the home isn’t defensible. In most areas, a safety zone should be cleared away from your home for a distance of not less than 30 feet. As the slope of your home site increases, additional clearance as far out as 100 feet or more may be necessary. Flammable vegetation too close to your home will make it almost impossible for firefighters to save much of anything in the event of a fire. When people are living in high hazard fire environments, the human built environment becomes an important factor in the loss of life and property. Untreated wood shake and shingle roofs, narrow and one-way roads, limited access, lack of fire-wise landscaping, inadequate water supplies, are all examples of the increased risk to people living with the threat of wildfire.
Quoting from a Fire Safe pamphlet; “Clear away flammable vegetation and combustible growth a minimum of 30 feet away from homes. If a wooden deck is part of the back of the home, this 30-foot distance starts from the edge of the deck outward. Brush and weeds must be cut to the ground, raked up, and removed from the property. Single specimens of trees and shrubbery used as ground cover, provided that they don’t form a means of rapidly transmitting fire from the native growth to any structure, can be kept in this 30-foot space. Trim trees horizontally to at least 10 feet away from the home and decks. If a homeowner wishes to keep a tree within this 10-foot distance they must trim any nearby trees a minimum of 10 feet away from this tree within this first 30-foot space. Large trees must be limbed up to a minimum of six feet above the ground and smaller trees limbed up proportionately. Homes that have any type of slope must have an additional defensible space created. This distance must be an additional minimum of 70-foot space in addition to the first 30 feet for a total of 100 feet. In this additional 70-foot space, the vegetation should be cut so that it is not more than 18” above the ground. The cut vegetation can be left in place as long as it is mulched down. Trees within this 70-foot space should also be limbed up a minimum of 6 feet above the ground for large trees and proportionately for smaller trees. Flammable vegetation and combustible growth should be cut and removed from below the canopies of the trees in this 70-foot space.”
To this I’ll add that we all have an assortment of flammable materials around the place. Gasoline for the lawnmower, paints and thinners, propane tanks, whatever. These materials present not only more fuel for a fire, they can also be quite hazardous to the firefighter that’s trying to save your home. Store them safely, well away from the house. Due to a disastrous fire incident I was involved with years ago, propane tanks in a fire situation are one of my major concerns. If you use propane, make sure than there are no fuels anywhere near the tank. Keep the brush as far away as you can, keep the grass under the tank cut, and don’t hide the tank behind a wall of firewood!
It’s your home, “Learn not to burn.”
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