Gary Boyles is out as fire chief of the Rodeo-Hercules Fire Protection District.
The embattled chief agreed to a settlement with the board in closed session late Thursday night following a months-long campaign by firefighters union Local 1230 to remove him; Battalion Chief Alan Biagi, formerly Boyles’ second-in-command, will be interim chief.
Boyles will retire as chief effective June 30 but continue as a district employee, albeit with no title and no function, through June 2011, when he will complete 10 years with the district and be vested with the Contra Costa County Employees Retirement System, said board counsel William Ross. Boyles will receive one year of his chief’s salary of $162,180, to be spread over the two years, and vacation pay, Ross said. Biagi’s salary is still being negotiated, Ross said.
Boyles could not be reached Friday.
Earlier in the meeting, the board censured member Bill Prather, accusing him of creating a hostile work environment in connection with his comment at a February board meeting that 5-foot-2 women are unqualified to be firefighters. The censure resolution, approved 4-0 by board members Wally Trujillo, Beth Bartke, John Mills and Chairman J.R. Stafford, also bars Prather from board meetings for four months; an earlier draft had provided for a six-month ban.
The censure resolution also instructed the district counsel to make a “Quo Warranto” application, a device under state law to remove a member of a governmental panel from office.
Ross said the board had received notice of possible litigation from Prather’s attorney on the censure matter; Prather recently has questioned the legality of his virtual exile from the board since February, a period that included several closed-session negotiations over Boyle’s fate, including Thursday’s.
“This is about losing a chief who’s experienced, who’s sharp on finances,” Prather said Friday. “Because people are afraid of the union, we’re going to compromise public safety.”
Prather said Boyles and his administrative and financial expertise would be vital at a time when the Local Agency Formation Commission is studying how to provide fire protection more efficiently in West County. Various collaborative arrangements among different fire agencies are under consideration.
Contra Costa Fire District firefighters, who also are represented by Local 1230, enjoy “3-at-50″ retirement benefits — 3 percent of a firefighter’s highest annual salary, multiplied by the number of years of service; Pinole, with “3-at-55,” and Rodeo-Hercules, with “2-at-50,” are the only firefighters represented by Local 1230 that do not get 3-at-50. Prather has said his district cannot afford 3-at-50 and that the issue is part of the reason the union wants him off the board.
Union President Vince Wells has said 3-at-50 has nothing whatsoever to do with the union’s beef with Prather and that the union has not even discussed 3-at-50 with the district.
Last year, Boyles angered the union over his advocacy of a fitness test known as the Pack Test as a prerequisite for out-of-area strike team assignments, which are lucrative sources of overtime pay for firefighters; Prather, too, advocates the Pack Test, in which a firefighter must carry a 45-pound pack three miles in 45 minutes or less.
Several union members, including Rodeo-Hercules engineer Nick Ronchetto, told the board emphatically Thursday that the Pack Test has nothing to do with the drive to censure or oust Prather.
Prather’s offending remark occurred after a discussion of the Pack Test between district and Local 1230 officials at the Feb. 18 board meeting. Although Prather apologized for his remark in a Feb. 20 letter to the board, union officials said he failed to apologize to the union; moreover, they contended that Prather had nullified his initial repudiation of his offensive comment and made it even more offensive and discriminatory when he told newspaper and television reporters outside a May 20 board meeting, “The word I should have used was ‘5-foot-2 person.’”
Reach Tom Lochner at 510-262-2760 or tlochner@bayareanewsgroup.com.
Study finds that climate’s influence on production, drying of fuels-not higher temperatures or longer fire seasons alone-critical determinant of Western wildfire burned area
PORTLAND, Ore. June 26, 2009. The recent increase in area burned by wildfires in the Western United States is a product not of higher temperatures or longer fire seasons alone, but a complex relationship between climate and fuels that varies among different ecosystems, according to a study conducted by U.S. Forest Service and university scientists. The study is the most detailed examination of wildfire in the United States to date and appears in the current issue of the journal Ecological Applications.
“We found that what matters most in accounting for large wildfires in the Western United States is how climate influences the build up-or production-and drying of fuels,” said Jeremy Littell, a research scientist with the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group and lead investigator of the study. “Climate affects fuels in different ecosystems differently, meaning that future wildfire size and, likely, severity depends on interactions between climate and fuel availability and production.”
To explore climate-fire relationships, the scientists used fire data from 1916 to 2003 for 19 ecosystem types in 11 Western States to construct models of total wildfire area burned. They then compared these fire models with monthly state divisional climate data.
The study confirmed what scientists have long observed: that low precipitation and high temperatures dry out fuels and result in significant fire years, a pattern that dominates the northern and mountainous portions of the West. But it also provided new insight on the relationship between climate and fire, such as Western shrublands’ and grasslands’ requirement for high precipitation one year followed by dry conditions the next to produce fuels sufficient to result in large wildfires.
The study revealed that climate influences the likelihood of large fires by controlling the drying of existing fuels in forests and the production of fuels in more arid ecosystems. The influence of climate leading up to a fire season depends on whether the ecosystem is more forested or more like a woodland or shrubland.
“These data tell us that the effectiveness of fuel reductions in reducing area burned may vary in different parts of the country,” said David L. Peterson, a research biologist with the Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Research Station and one of the study’s authors. “With this information, managers can design treatments appropriate for specific climate-fire relationships and prioritize efforts where they can realize the most benefit.”
Findings from the study suggest that, as the climate continues to warm, more area can be expected to burn, at least in northern portions of the West, corroborating what researchers have projected in previous studies. In addition, cooler, wetter areas that are relatively fire-free today, such as the west side of the Cascade Range, may be more prone to fire by mid-century if climate projections hold and weather becomes more extreme.
Issue: Because of the changing fire environment, long duration fires may result in significant concerns to firefighter and public safety, and arebecoming more expensive.
Background:
The Agency is exploring systematic changes in fire management to mitigate firefighter exposure, ease resource demands, and reduce costs of large “problem fires”. Even though in recent years phenomenal efforts have been made to improve effectiveness and reduce costs, additional refinements to handling these “problem fires” should be made through alternative methods of fire planning and management.
The Agency has worked with predictive services to identify forests that exhibit characteristics which make them likely to have these large “problem fires” in 2009. The forests chosen will “pave the way” in developing a system for how large-complex fires should be managed, given the increasingly more complex fire environment of the 21st century. The National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) will work with the identified forests, pre-fire season, so they have time to practice scenarios, and engage cooperators and the public regarding these innovative approaches. During fire season, these techniques will be put into practice.
Fire suppression does not always provide for resource protection and safety. The exclusion of fire from forests and grasslands, among a variety of other societal decisions, has contributed to the increase of damaging fires. The goal of developing properly functioning, fire-adapted ecosystems in the face of climate change, interface issues and shrinking budgets is one of the paramount goals of fire activities (protection of life and property/resources being paramount). It is estimated that the increase in the number of acres with hazardous fuels conditions, far exceeds the acres being treated for fuels reduction. This buildup of hazardous fuels, combined with climate change and a growing wildland urban interface, has led to a change in the fire environment and increases in extreme fire behavior. The risk of very large fires occurring, and the associated threats to life and property, are increasing at a phenomenal rate. One-quarter of one percent (0.25%) of the fires each year are the costliest in terms of consuming fire management resources and a large portion of the Forest Service suppression budget.
Key Points:
The risk of very large fires occurring, and the associated threats to life and property, are increasing at a phenomenal rate.
The Agency is exploring systematic changes in fire management to mitigate firefighter exposure, ease resource demands, and reduce costs of large “problem fires”.
One-quarter of one percent (0.25%) of the fires each year are the costliest in terms of consuming fire management resources and a large portion of the Forest Service suppression budget.
The Agency has worked with predictive services to identify forests that exhibit characteristics which make them likely to have these large “problem fires” in 2009.
The forests chosen will “pave the way” in developing a system for how large-complex fires should be managed given the increasingly more complex fire environment of the 21st century.
The National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) will work with the identified forests, pre-fire season, so they have time to practice scenarios, and engage cooperators and the public regarding these innovative approaches. During fire season, these techniques will be put into practice.
We have learned over the years that fire suppression does not always provide for resource protection and safety.
Contact: Marc Rounsaville, Deputy Director of Fire and Aviation Management: 202-906-0741
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The state’s wildland fire season, which stretches from spring to late fall, is taking a toll among homeowners who have never experienced a fire loss, as well as fire protection agencies.
Since the first of the year, Cal Fire officials have been flooded with calls from panicky mountain and foothills residents seeking fire inspections so they can keep their homeowner’s insurance.
Allen Bengtson said he recently became No. 389 on the Amador-El Dorado Unit’s inspection list after receiving a letter from Allstate.
An inspector under contract to Allstate visited when no one was home and reported concerns about spacing of trees on the rural property between Lotus and Rescue. Bengtson was told he would have to pass an inspection by the local fire agency to renew his coverage.
“The good part is, we’re going out and meeting with really motivated landowners,” said Chris Anthony, a Cal Fire battalion chief in charge of fire prevention.
But deadlines for insurance-related inspections interfere with Cal Fire’s efforts to target high fire-hazard areas and inspect several properties at one time, Anthony said.
Cal Fire’s local resources also are likely to be stretched during the summer months as firefighters are sent to wildland fires throughout the state.
Legislation that became effective Jan. 1 – SB 1595 – stipulates that insurers can require more than 100 feet of defensible space, but only if an official with the local fire jurisdiction deems it necessary.
But most of the nonrenewal letters don’t involve requests for additional defensible space, said Ernylee Chamlee, chief of wildland fire prevention engineering with the state fire marshal’s office.
Anthony said about 98 percent of the inspection requests the Amador-El Dorado Unit has received are from Allstate customers.
The company, which insures about 800,000 homes statewide, stopped writing new homeowner policies in California in 2007, said Pete DeMarco, senior corporate relations officer with Allstate’s regional office in Rancho Cordova.
“It was a business decision to make sure we maintain an acceptable level of risk … and to make sure we have the resources to meet the needs of existing customers,” he said.
The contract inspectors are well-trained and certified to perform independent inspections, DeMarco said.
Property owners, however, complain that the insurance inspectors’ findings often don’t coincide with those of the local fire agency.
Donald Watt, a Cal Fire engineer who inspected Bengtson’s property, found no problem with the spacing of trees.
“The front looks good. It’s a nice green area, and the trees are limbed up,” Watt said as he checked for the required 100 feet of defensible space around the house.
He directed Bengtson to remove vines growing over lattice work enclosing a propane tank, cut weeds that sprouted following recent rains, and then call for a reinspection.
Not a problem, Bengtson said: “I’ll do a little weed eating and clear out that propane area.”
Jim O’Camb, division chief for fire prevention with the El Dorado Hills Fire Department, said he received a letter of nonrenewal from Allstate for his own home on five acres in Rescue. The letter cited as hazards a trampoline and a small tree branch hanging over the roof.
O’Camb termed the concern about the trampoline “ludicrous.” He removed the tree branch, and decided to take out a manzanita bush as well. His home subsequently passed inspection by Cal Fire.
“It’s good that they’re going out and doing it,” O’Camb said the of the insurance inspections. “But the insurance companies are not doing it correctly, and they’re not doing it for the right reason.”
Allstate’s DeMarco said the inspections are not an effort to shed homeowner policies in California, but rather an attempt to work with property owners to eliminate hazards, particularly in wildland areas above the 1,500-foot elevation.
Eric Ferguson, an Allstate agent in Placerville, said the spate of inspections and nonrenewal notices has been tough on agents and customers alike.
He said the situation has improved somewhat since the company began giving customers more advance notice.
Molly DeFrank, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Insurance, said insurance companies may decline to renew policies, provided they give proper notice and are consistent in their practices.
She said the department is looking into Allstate’s notices.
“We are aware that there are some issues,” DeFrank said.
With little forest credentials, is Wilkes the right man to oversee the Forest Service?
By David Frey, 5-21-09 NewWest.Net
Homer Wilkes receives the Mississippi Resource Conservation and Development Council’s 2007 Partnership Award. NRCS photo.
President Barack Obama’s pick to oversee the Forest Service was a shocker. He didn’t look to a career Forest Service employee. He didn’t choose a forester or an environmental activist, either. He didn’t even pick a Westerner.
His choice of Homer Wilkes, a longtime but little-known Natural Resources Conservation Service official in Mississippi, surprised any who expected an environmental crusader charged with undoing the legacy of his predecessor, Mark Rey, a former timber lobbyist lambasted by environmentalists.
“I think it reflects the rather low priority that the Obama White House places on public lands, except in so far as they are accessible for energy production – green energy or otherwise,” says Andy Stahl, executive director of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. “It also, I think, reflects the view that the administration has that agencies like the Forest Service, their primary function is as job creators and conduits for public money to be passed to private landowners.”
Wilkes, who, if confirmed, will be the first black to hold the office of Agriculture undersecretary for natural resources and the environment, is an unlikely pick to oversee a national forest system fraught with issues, including a massive beetle infestation, costly and devastating wildfires, plus controversies over gas drilling, logging and roadless protections. His forestry credentials are thin.
But as undersecretary, he would also oversee his own NRCS, an agency of 11,000 employees focuses on aiding farmers, which has long lived in the Forest Service’s shadows, even though it’s more in line with the Agriculture Department’s primary focus.
“I think they made a good choice,” says Brian Moore, director of budget and appropriations for Audubon, and a former NRCS staffer in the Clinton administration. “I think it shows conservationists and land managers that they’re serious about conservation issues. This fits right in there: to have someone who’s tied to conservation and not tied to a mining company or oil company or timber company in charge of mining, oil and timber. I think it’s a better representation of what taxpayers really want and much less a reputation of something big business has bought.”
Wilkes, the state conservationist in Mississippi, is a 28-year NRCS veteran. He previously served as budget officer for the service in Amherst, Mass., the assistant financial manager and fiscal specialist in Washington and chief of administrative staff for the NRCS South Technical Center in Fort Worth, Texas.
A resident of Madison, Miss., he holds a bachelor’s degree, master’s of business administration and a Ph.D. in urban conservation planning and higher education from Jackson State University.
“For nearly thirty years, Homer has worked for the Natural Resources Conservation Service where he has been dedicated to conserving and improving the environment in multiple states,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, in announcing the pick. “It would be a privilege to have a public servant like Homer join the USDA leadership team to help carry out President Obama’s vision of protecting our natural assets.”
Critics say that despite the agency’s name, the NRCS has little to do with conservation.
“Certainly that organization was more about conserving farm profits than conserving the environment,” says Becky Gillette, a Sierra Club activist in Arkansas and former co-chair of the Mississippi chapter. “I’m not impressed with the work they did in Mississippi.”
In his career there, Wilkes left little impression.
“He’s gone from one administration to another and sort of been under the radar screen,” says Larry Jarrett, a Mississippi activist who sits on a number of environmental organization boards and has been outspoken on forest issues. Even Mississippians aren’t sure what to expect from him in Washington, he says.
“I wouldn’t look for any major changes in policy regarding the Forest Service or NRCS unless it came from the administration,” Jarrett says. “I think his background is in the office administration end and not in the field.”
Environmentalists had hoped to see the post filled by Chris Wood, Trout Unlimited’s chief operating officer, who was a senior Forest Service policy advisor under President Bill Clinton. Wood, though, is a registered lobbyist, and the Obama administration has imposed limits on appointing lobbyists.
Serving under Wilkes would be Jay Jensen, who has already taken the position of deputy undersecretary for natural resources and environment. Jensen has the traditional credentials Wilkes lacks. Since May 2005, he served as executive director of the Council of Western State Foresters/Western Forestry Leadership Coalition, based in Lakewood, Colo. He served earlier as the government affairs director for the collation, a federal-state government partnership.
Vilsack praised his “combination of on-the-ground and government experience.”
“I’ll be looking to Jay’s leadership as we address the health of our forests,” he said. “This is a top priority for USDA because it relates to several critical challenges—the intensity of forest fires, climate change, biomass and renewable energy, clean water and revitalizing forest-dependent communities.”
Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, says he’s optimistic about the two. In Mississippi, Wilkes is seen as a “good consensus builder,” Partin says, and forest issues there are not so different from those in the West. Jensen brings more solid forestry experience and heavy involvement in the West.
“I think it’s a workable team,” he says. “I think they’re individuals with a good strong background.”
The two inherit the controversies that swirled around Rey, blasted by environmentalists for what they saw as policies that favored the timber and energy industries. He was a target for lawsuits and was even threatened with jail time by a federal judge who complained he was too slow in complying with a court order demanding an environmental study.
Many of Obama’s top picks have had solid green credentials, including a slate of higher-ups in Interior, Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency. Wilkes’ environmental record is less clear.
Stahl says he doesn’t expect to see much change from Rey’s days. “Mark Rey didn’t have to lead the Forest Service,” he says. “He could simply be led by it. I think the same thing will happen now.”
District Administrator John Flynn introduced Jerry McGraw to a receptive community on Wednesday, May 20. McGraw will take office almost immediately. Flynn said McGraw is currently serving as a fire captain with the Taylor Volunteer Fire Department and Holbrook before that. He added that since McGraw comes from a volunteer department background with Taylor, he is well-equipped to take on the challenge of putting together a volunteer department in White Mountain Lake. McGraw said he comes from a fire-fighting background beginning at the age of 5 because his family was involved in volunteer fire fighting. “As far as my career goes, I’ve worked my way up from firefighter to engineer, captain and now with this, the chief’s appointment,” he said. “I hope to provide a top quality volunteer fire service to White Mountain Lake,” McGraw added. He began his career in 1993 in Holbrook and is certified as an EMT, Fire I and II certified, wildland and haz-mat as well as extraction certified. “Pretty much everything along those lines,” he said. McGraw starts his new position on Memorial Day, but so far said he has not had much time to tour the station to determine what is or is not needed. He assured the people attending the meeting at the Juniper Ridge Grand Lodge that his department will be both qualified and professional, albeit volunteer. Flynn said the target date to initiate service to the community is still June 1, starting with “some” part-time volunteer firefighters (already trained and qualified) on duty during the day and in time for fire season. He said McGraw will oversee those volunteers while also training new part-time volunteer firefighters. In the week leading up to June 1, Flynn said McGraw (and Flynn) will be looking at the district’s equipment (now in the Show Low Road yard) and bringing some of it back to the station. Initially the district will probably have one type-two and type-one engines, a type-six brush unit, a rescue unit and two tenders as well as a “couple general purpose vehicles” at its disposal until he works out what will be kept and what will be auctioned off to pay district debt. As for the financial situation with the district, Flynn said recent meetings with county officials have produced promising results that perhaps within two years the district’s debt could be settled. “I met with county officials and some creditors last Thursday and presented a two-year financial plan to them … That same plan was presented, the detailed part, was presented to the citizens advisory committee this evening. That plan was accepted on Thursday, our funds have been released, so we will start settling all of our debts … The largest creditors will be paid out over a two-year period, and most of the creditors will be. All of those issues will be resolved this fiscal year, so before July 1 we will have a lot of that creditor issue resolved,” Flynn said. Flynn then referred to the district’s need to develop a budget, saying he has based an initial budget on a tax rate of $2.95 for the district, but that the rate might change as he continues working out creditor issues. Therefore, he plans to return to the committee on June 3 with a tentative budget to be followed by its publication in a local newspaper, a public hearing on it, and not until then would the budget be set for the year. “My target date for that is going to be Aug. 1 because that is the date I have to have all that information back to the county so the county Board of Supervisors can actually levy the actual property tax for that year, so that’s the target date we’re shooting for there,” he said. Flynn then opened the floor for questions from the public, to which resident Paul Campbell asked if the $2.95 tax rate will be permanent or if it might be reduced as creditor issues are resolved. Flynn said once the county determines the tax rate for 2009-2010, the amount is “set,” but as accounts are settled and additional revenues from things like auctioning off surplus equipment comes in, it is almost certain the tax rate will decrease. “So right now as it stands, the two-year financial plan shows a $2.95 tax rate in 2009-2010, and it drops to $2.64 in 2010-2011, and the tax rate right now for the district is $2.62, so we’re up two cents. Overall we could be about two cents more on the tax rate in 2010 and 2011,” Flynn said. He added that he has built in some contingency amounts into the 2009-2010 budget which if unused will cash-carry forward to the next year’s budget, and because of that, the $2.64 “is flexible” and could be less than he predicts. Another resident asked if the district will have the same services as before, to which Flynn said that while there will be some differences due to the fact that the new fire department will be volunteer, it will still provide quality, professional fire services to the area. He said the people the district “hires” will be first-responder or EMT qualified, but ambulance services will continue being provided by Arrowhead Medical out of Show Low. One resident asked how many captains the new department would have, adding that he remembers there being six under former Fire Chief Joe Blake. Flynn said that would ultimately be the prerogative of McGraw, but the district’s budget only includes money for a “fire chief, a group of volunteers, and then for two part-time people a day.” McGraw said he will start out with two people besides himself in eight-hour daytime shifts, but establishing captain positions “is something way, way down the road.” He said he needs to get people in, trained and establish what, if any, additional training is needed, like EMT qualifications, before he will even look at captain or paid positions. Another resident asked what will be the disposition of the truck donated by Ike Isaacson. Flynn said the truck is currently “broken” in the Show Low Road yard, but it will be returned as soon as possible. Lastly, Flynn asked if it would be alright with the community to switch the regular meeting time from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Preceded by laughter and a few guffaws, Flynn’s request was met with approval and the meeting was ended. Flynn said that as of Monday, applicants to the volunteer fire department could stop by the station to pick up an application or contact Citizen Advisory Committee member Ed Cadenhead, owner of Cadenhead Drilling, at (928) 537-7958.
SMOKE GETS IN YER EYES: What do you say to someone insane enough to march directly into towering walls of flame without a second thought, even as their fire hoses melt? I’d start with “thank you,” and repeat it roughly 4,500 times, one for each of the firefighters who risked life and limb to pull Santa Barbara’s heat-crackled fat out of the third frontcountry inferno to strike the South Coast in 10 months. Without such heedless heroism, we’d have lost so much more than we actually did. For good reason, people are standing in line to kiss the firefighters’ boots. As the smoke clears, the soot flakes crumble, and that noxious black powder blows away, other responses will emerge. It’s a matter of time before gratitude and relief give way to rage and finger-pointing. Some are already demanding why the firefighters didn’t just squash the Jesusita Fire immediately.
There will be plenty of opportunity for second-guessing, some of it actually useful. What about all those cranky old men who defied evacuation orders to stay and protect their homes? At first blush, it appears many made a significant difference, putting out a multitude of spot fires and helping out-of-town firefighters connect with swimming pools and other vital neighborhood resources. The ultimate record, however, may be more mixed.
At least one such holdout living off Las Canoas Road reportedly threatened to pull a gun on firefighters. No less than four Sheriff’s squad cars were dispatched to the scene before a strike crew of Ventura County firefighters could do their jobs and save his neighbors’ homes. A battalion chief from Los Angeles City Fire was injured (most likely smoke inhalation) while saving a couple of stragglers off Holly Road, who waited until there was no more water pressure in the hoses before driving away. The chief — convinced they’d be incinerated by the fastest-moving fire he’d ever fought — left the shelter he’d sought in a nearby house, blocked the road, dragged the couple out of the car, gave them oxygen, and slammed them inside the house where he’d been staying. What’s the punch line? As long as people insist on building multimillion-dollar homes where wildfires breed, why not train these lunatics in the rudiments of fire protection as well as fire prevention? That’s what they do in Australia. Santa Barbara itself has a long tradition of volunteer fire departments. I know some firefighters bristle at the lack of professionalism exhibited by some amateur outfits. The answer, I’m guessing, lies in more and better training.
In the coulda-woulda-shoulda department, I expect we’ll be discussing what difference it would have made if Santa Maria Airport could have been made available to the air tankers within the first 24 hours. Because the U.S. Forest Service hadn’t renewed its Santa Maria contract — since fire season doesn’t officially start until May 15 — the initial three CalFire air tankers had to fly more than twice the distance to Porterville to get refueled and loaded up with fire retardant. The added distance also required those tankers to refuel once every two trips as opposed once every five. Had Santa Maria been open, it’s likely that those three planes could have made two to three times the number of drops. Rep. Lois Capps worked the phones, and helped get the emergency orders needed to open the Santa Maria Airport, which since then has set new national records on quantity of fire retardant pumped in one given day — 158,000 gallons last Friday. Could the Little Baby Jesus Fire have been bottled up the first day with more drops? Who knows.
In hindsight, Santa Maria would have allowed more and quicker drops, and that undeniably helps. But those in the biz also insist that air tankers don’t put out fires. Instead, air tankers give fire crews the cover they need to put them out. Given the steepness and inaccessibility of the terrain where the fire started — and the conspicuous lack of escape routes — no commanders in their right mind would have allowed firefighters on the ground that first day. Besides, they note, Jesusita spread fewer than 100 acres in that time.
Regardless, the Forest Service contract department needs to figure out that fire season is a 365-day-a-year reality out here, and renew its contracts accordingly. I also was distressed to learn that more than half the Forest Service’s fleet of 40 air tankers was grounded last month after a plane crash near Chico left three firefighters dead. Given that no less than 2,000 wildfires tore up the state last summer, 40 planes doesn’t seem nearly enough, let alone 19. Given these numbers, I’m grateful we managed to snag three. (The bulk of the aerial equipment, including the humongous DC-10, was provided by CalFire.) But after inhaling the smoke of four major infernos since July 4, 2007, I’d much rather feel prepared than grateful.
It may be time to resurrect discussions about controlled burning, to reduce the buildup of combustible fuels in both the back- and frontcountry. Prehistoric records suggest that wildfires used to scour the backcountry once every 13 years or so, clearing out the underbrush without destroying the canopy of trees. The county’s Fish and Game Commission was hoping to get this issue in front of the county supes sometime after the Zaca Fire smoked 250,000 acres of backcountry two summers ago and before the Gap Fire incinerated 10,000 acres of Goleta’s frontcountry last July. But for reasons unclear, that discussion never materialized. It may be controlled burnings are too risky, given wind conditions, fuel loads, and population concentration. If so, maybe we need to get our hands on the enormous Masticator Machines now leased by the Forest Service, which can chew up old 20-feet high chaparral and spit out wood chips 300 feet away. I heard the Masticator just cut some new fire lines by Mt. Pinos 500 feet wide.
Like I said, I’d rather be prepared than grateful. We clearly need to wean ourselves from the heroism of strangers, especially if we insist on building where we obviously shouldn’t. But in the meantime, I’ll be looking for some firefighters’ boots to kiss. I’ll be the guy saying “thank you” 4,500 times in a row.
Washington, D.C. – The United States Fire Administration (USFA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in cooperation with the Fire Protection Research Foundation, the Polytechnic Institute of New York University, the Fire Department of New York City, and the Chicago Fire Department have completed work on evaluating several firefighting tactics under wind driven conditions. The two technical reports from this project, Fire Fighting Tactics Under Wind Driven Conditions: Laboratory Experiments and Fire Fighting Tactics Under Wind Driven Fire Conditions: 7-Story Building Experiments, as well as an accompanying instructional DVD set, document and discuss firefighting tactics demonstrated to reduce the thermal hazard created by a wind driven fire.
“The dynamics created for firefighters faced with an uncontrolled fire in a building are challenging and complex. Firefighters have long been aware that the presence of an external wind has the potential to increase the energy release of any given fire and increase the spread of fire gases through a structure,” said Glenn A. Gaines, Acting Assistant Administrator for the USFA. “The important information gained from the project’s experiments will help the fire service better understand and manage hazards associated with wind driven fires.”
Eight laboratory experiments conducted as part of this project demonstrated the extreme thermal conditions that can be generated by a “simple room and contents” fire and how these conditions can be extended along a flow path within a structure when a wind condition and an open vent are present. In addition, use of two potential tactics, a wind-control device (WCD) from the floor above the fire and external water application from the floor below the fire, were shown to reduce these wind driven thermal hazard conditions.
Results from an additional series of 14 experiments conducted in a 7-story apartment building confirmed that conditions created by wind rapidly caused the building’s environment to deteriorate by forcing fire gases through the apartment of origin and into the public corridor and stairwell. Several tactics, including positive pressure ventilation fans, WCDs, and external water application with floor below nozzles, were again shown to have a significant impact on reducing the hazardous condition created by a wind driven fire. In addition, use of multiple tactics in conjunction with each other was also shown to be very effective at improving conditions for firefighter operations and occupant egress.
The research data provide the science to advocate for improved standard operating guidelines for the fire service to enhance firefighter safety, fireground operations, and use of equipment. To review the two technical reports and learn how to get a copy of the instructional DVD set, please visit the following USFA Web page: http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/fireservice/research/dsn/dsn_wind_conditions.shtm
Boise, ID, March 13, 2009 – Robyn Broyles has been named the first Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Fire Communication and Education Specialist. This position is located within the BIA Branch of Wildland Fire Management at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, ID. Broyles will serve as the communications and fire education lead for the Branch’s wildand fire management program.
Working with tribes and national and regional program contacts, Broyles’ primary goal is to create and coordinate a communication and fire education program for the BIA Branch of Wildland Fire Management. She will work with Indian Country’s wildland fire programs to develop a communication network nationwide for suppression, prevention, wildland-urban interface, education, and mitigation efforts. Deputy Fire Director Bodie Shaw said, “The BIA now has the needed voice for Indian Country to help showcase the quality fire management work being done nationwide. Broyles adds tremendously to our Bureau to help get the message out about all the important work being accomplished within tribal agencies and throughout the BIA. We look forward to engaging and challenging our Indian wildland fire programs in highlighting our successes.”
Broyles is a descendant of the Citizen Potowattomi Nation and the fourth generation in her family to enter natural resource management. She started her career as a wildland firefighter working for the Forest Service in Pinedale, Wyoming. In 2002, she transitioned into the dispatch profession and worked at the National Interagency Coordination Center in Boise, Idaho for six seasons while finishing her degree in Natural Resource Management and Fire Ecology from the University of Idaho. After graduation, she pursued her interest in initial attack dispatching in Enumclaw, Washington, and Moab, Utah.
Broyles will serve as the information point-of contact for the Branch as a member of the NIFC External Affairs group. She can be reached at Robyn_Broyles@nifc.blm.gov or by phone at 208-387-5473.
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WHITE MOUNTAIN LAKE
Boise, ID, March 13, 2009 – Robyn Broyles has been named the first Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) Fire Communication and Education Specialist. This position is located within the BIA Branch of Wildland Fire Management at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, ID. Broyles will serve as the communications and fire education lead for the Branch’s wildand fire management program. 
