Fire today ManagementVolume 70 • No. 2 • 2010
Across Agency Lines
United States Department of Agriculture Forest Service 2010 Photo Contest • Miscellaneous (fire effects, fire weather, Application granting the Forest Service fire-dependent communities or species, rights to use your image. For a copy of etc.) the release, see http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/ Deadline for submission is fmt/release.pdf. 6 p.m. eastern time, Rules Wednesday, December 1, 2010 • The contest is open to everyone. You Disclaimer may submit an unlimited number of • A panel of judges with significant pho- entries taken at any time, but you must tography and publishing experience will Fire Management Today (FMT) invites you submit each image with a separate determine the winners. Their decision to submit your best fire-related images release/application form. You may not is final. to be judged in our photo competition. enter images that were judged in previ- • Images depicting safety violations, as Entries must be received by close of ous FMT contests. determined by the panel of judges, will business at 6 p.m. eastern time on • You must have the authority to grant be disqualified. Wednesday, December 1, 2010. the Forest Service unlimited use of • Life or property cannot be jeopardized the image, and you must agree that to obtain images. Awards the image will become public domain. • The Forest Service does not encourage Winning images will appear in a future Moreover, the image must not have or support deviation from firefighting issue of FMT and may be publicly displayed been previously published in any pub- responsibilities to capture images. at the Forest Service’s national office in lication. • Images will be eliminated from the Washington, DC. • FMT accepts only digital images at the competition if they are obtained by ille- highest resolution using a setting with gal or unauthorized access to restricted Winners in each category will receive the at least 3.2 mega pixels. Digital image areas, show unsafe firefighting practices following awards: files should be TIFFs or highest quality (unless that is their expressed pur- • 1st place: One 20- by 24-inch framed JPGs. Note: FMT will eliminate date- pose), or are of low technical quality copy of your image. stamped images. Submitted images will (for example, have soft focus or camera • 2nd place: One 16- by 20-inch framed not be returned to the contestant. movement). copy of your image. • You must indicate only one category per • 3rd place: One 11- by 14-inch framed image. To ensure fair evaluation, FMT To help ensure that all files are kept copy of your image. reserves the right to change the compe- together, e-mail your completed release • Honorable mention: One 8- by 10- inch tition category for your image. form/contest application and digital image framed copy of your image. • You must provide a detailed caption for file at the same time. each image. For example: A Sikorsky Categories S-64 Skycrane delivers retardant on E-mail entries to: • Wildland fire the 1996 Clark Peak Fire, Coronado [email protected] • Aerial resources National Forest, AZ. • Wildland-urban interface fire • You must submit with each digi- Postmark Deadline is 6 p.m., Wednesday, • Prescribed fire tal image a completed and signed December 1, 2010 • Ground resources Release Statement and Photo Contest
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July 2010
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Fire Management Today 2 Fire Management today Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010
On the Cover: Contents Anchor Point: Together, Everyone Achieves More...... 4 Tom Harbour
A Fire Protection Triangle for the Wildland–Urban Interface...... 6 Tom Tidwell and Hutch Brown Bureau of Land Management Fire and Aviation: Unique Contributions From a Unique Agency...... 10 Ken Frederick State Forestry’s Role in Wildland Fire: Suppression, Community Protection, Cooperation, and More...... 14 On the Cover: Dan Smith Supporting Cultural Uniqueness: The Bureau of Indian Affairs America’s wildland firefighters are among the best in the world. Here, Branch of Wildland Fire Management ...... 19 the Columbia River Division Initial Robyn Broyles Attack Crew prepares for action, August 2009. Photo: Aaron Black- General Services Administration’s Role in Wildland Firefighting. . . . .24 Schmidt, Ardenvoir, WA John Barnicle and William Hicks U .S . Fish and Wildlife Service: Keeping Fire on Our Side...... 26 Karen Miranda Gleason The National Park Service: A History of Wildland Fire in Resource Management...... 31 The USDA Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Roberta D’Amico and Bill Halainen Management Staff has adopted a logo reflecting three central principles of wildland Wildland Fire Decision Support System Air Quality Tools...... 36 fire management: Sim Larkin, Tim Brown, Pete Lahm, and Tom Zimmerman • Innovation: We will respect and value Coarse Estimation of Local Fire Return Intervals for Fire thinking minds, voices, and thoughts of those that challenge the status quo while Management...... 41 focusing on the greater good. Matthew Tuten • Execution: We will do what we say we A Foundation for Initial Attack Simulation: The Fried and Fried Fire will do. Achieving program objectives, improving diversity, and accomplishing Containment Model...... 44 targets are essential to our credibility. Jeremy S. Fried and Burton D. Fried • Discipline: What we do, we will do well. Fiscal, managerial, and operational discipline are at the core of our ability to fulfill our mission.
Firefighter and public safety is our first priority.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 3 by Tom Harbour Anchor Director, Fire and Aviation Management Point Forest Service, Washington, DC
Together, Everyone Achieves More here are few things more partnerships are very important to International Fire important in wildland fire man- the work we do day-to-day and are Assistance Tagement than partnerships. In highly valued. Many other partners our fire prevention work, in our are less visible, though, and we are Many nations request FAM assis- fuels management work, in our avi- proud to build on those relation- tance in all aspects of wildland fire ation work, in our fire suppression ships, described below, and to form management. In such situations, work, partnerships make things new relationships in order to best FAM represents not only the indi- happen! Some of our long-estab- serve the Nation. vidual agency, but the United States lished partnerships were developed of America. The Forest Service has in response to the rapid growth National Aeronautics mutual assistance agreements with of communities in or close to our Mexico, Canada, Australia, and New and Space Zealand and border agreements public lands. As a result, we have Administration established cooperative agreements with Mexico and Canada. FAM has with States and many local entities In 2003, when the Columbia continuing long-term cooperative and outlined how each will respond Shuttle exploded and broke apart programs with Mexico, Russia, and provide mutual aid and cost- over the State of Texas, incident Australia, Portugal, South Korea, effective fire protection for public management teams from the U.S. the Republic of China, and—most lands and their surrounding com- Department of Agriculture, Forest recently—with Greece. FAM sup- munities. Additional partnerships Service, responded to support the ports a continuing effort to assist include other Federal firefighting National Aeronautics and Space international programs with inci- agencies, State and local govern- Administration (NASA) and the dent command system (ICS) train- ments, and several nongovern- U.S. Environmental Protection ing across the globe—such as in mental partners—like the National Agency (EPA) to help with the India and ASEAN (a 10-country, Association of State Foresters, the recovery process. As a result, a last- Asian compact) nations. International Association of Fire ing partnership was formed. Now, Chiefs, The Nature Conservancy, NASA assists the Forest Service in In 2007, FAM coordinated the the National Volunteer Fire meeting National Transportation development of a collaborative fire Council, and local volunteer fire Safety Board (NTSB) mandates management effort with Greece fol- departments, just to name a few. by providing airworthiness opin- lowing that year’s wildfire season. We help them, and they help us. ions—whether aircraft are safe This program is ongoing. In 2008, to fly—for the contracted aircraft Greece sent five employees to work Many of our long-time and well- used during wildland fire opera- with the Little Tujunga Hotshot known partners have contrib- tions. NASA also assists the Forest crew from the Angeles National uted stories to this issue of Fire Service with exploration into use Forest and four others to attend Management Today. The National of unmanned aerial systems to gain S-378 Aerial Supervision training. Association of State Foresters information during wildland fire and agencies within the U.S. incidents. Through the agencies’ FAM continues to provide coop- Department of the Interior, for collaboration, the Fire and Aviation eration and support to the North example, share their view of fire Management (FAM) office benefits American Forest Commission’s Fire management roles in the past, from NASA’s expertise, while NASA Management Working Group, com- their current challenges, and their has the opportunity to collect data prised of Canada, Mexico, and the vision for the future of partnerships and test new technologies in a United States of America, and FAM in managing wildland fire. These unique environment.
Fire Management Today 4 hosted the group’s 2009 meeting in Service employees and partners for of the Interior provides staffing Sacramento, California. emergency response—such as the support for ESF4 and wildland Hurricane Katrina response. FAM’s fire resource support for mission In 2008, FAM provided ICS train- unique combination of people, assignments during all-hazard ing to a South Korean delegation skills, and resources add significant incident response. The U.S. Fire at the Wildland Fire Training and value to our national all-hazard Administration (USFA) provides Conference Center in Sacramento, response capability. subject-matter experts and exper- California, and traveled to China, tise regarding structural/urban/sub- where they conducted ICS train- The NRF pursues a comprehensive urban fire and fire-related activities. ing at the Nanjing Forest Police all-hazards approach to assist in The Forest Service, in conjunction College. managing domestic incidents. The with USFA, developed a standard- NRF coordinates Federal, State, ized training program for ESF4 U .S . Department of local, and tribal government and personnel. Defense private sector involvement dur- ing incidents. FAM works at the When an active fire season results U S. . Fire Administration headquarters level with the U.S. The USFA is an entity within DHS, in reduced resources available for Department of Homeland Security, fighting wildland fires and national FEMA, whose mission is to foster Federal Emergency Management disaster preparedness and response coordination centers are unable Agency (DHS, FEMA) on issues to meet the resource demands tactics by providing national lead- related to the NRF and disaster pre- ership to local fire and emergency of multiple concurrent fires, the paredness and response. Forest Service turns to the U.S. services agencies. Historically, USFA’s focus was on structural Department of Defense (DOD) for The Forest Service is the pri- help. Over the years, our partner- firefighting, but over the years, the mary agency and coordinator for group has grown to include all- ship with DOD has strengthened: Emergency Support Function the Forest Service provides wild- hazard incident response. USFA has 4–Firefighting (ESF4*) under the partnered with the Forest Service, land fire training to DOD person- NRF. The function of ESF4 is to nel, and DOD provides us with is a member of the National enable the detection and suppres- Wildland Fire Coordination much-needed groundforces and sion of wildland, rural, and urban aviation assets when resource Group and National Multi-Agency fires resulting from or occurring Coordinating Group, and represents demands exceed our own capabili- coincidentally with an incident of ties. local government concerns (includ- national significance. ESF4 coor- ing those of volunteer and career dinates and manages firefighting U .S . Department of fire departments) regarding wild- activities—including the detection land fire management. USFA pro- Homeland Security and suppression of fires on Federal vides expertise to local firefighting lands—and provides personnel, Federal Emergency Management agencies regarding staffing stan- equipment, and supplies in support Agency dards, equipment standards, and of State, tribal, and local agencies The all-hazard role of the Forest training qualifications required for involved in rural and urban fire- Service under the National effective firefighting. This partner- fighting operations. Response Framework (NRF) is ship fosters better coordinated complementary to the agency’s response at the local level and To successfully accomplish this overall land management mis- assists the Forest Service in its function, the Forest Service has sion. In recent years, the number response to wildland fire incidents. close working relationships with and complexity of all-hazard inci- These partnerships make sense: cooperating departments and dents has increased, resulting in Together, everyone achieves agencies. The U.S. Department unprecedented demands on Forest more.
*For more information on the Forest Service ESF4 role, see “Response Partnerships During Disasters: Emergency Support Function 4” by Gordon Sachs in Fire Management Today 69(3).
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 5 A Fire Protection Triangle for the Wildland–Urban Interface Note: this article is based on a speech by the Chief at the 8th Annual Conference on the Wildland–Urban Interface, sponsored by the International Association of Fire Chiefs, in Reno, NV, on March 29, 2010
Tom Tidwell and Hutch Brown
ildland fire is all about trian- gles—the familiar fire trian- When a wildfire starts in or burns into an area Wgle of fuel, heat, and oxygen; the triangle that drives fire severity where fuels were previously reduced, whether by (fuels, weather, and topography); fire or by mechanical means, the Forest Service and the triangle of Federal, State, consistently found reduced fire severity, less and local resources that provide fire damage, and lower suppression costs. protection in the wildland–urban interface (WUI). Ecological Restoration than 13,000 acres (5,260 ha) from Now there is a new triangle 2005 to 2009. In 2009, when the La One way to protect the WUI is to for fire protection in the WUI. Brea Fire burned into the treated restore surrounding landscapes Congress, through the Federal areas, suppression forces were able to a healthy, resilient condition. Land Assistance and Management to contain that portion of the fire Healthy, resilient forest ecosystems Enhancement Act of 2009, has perimeter. Hundreds of nearby are less likely to see uncharacter- homes would otherwise have been called on the U.S. Departments istically severe wildfires that turn threatened and many likely would of Agriculture and the Interior to into human and ecological disas- have burned. develop a joint cohesive wildfire ters. The USDA Forest Service is management strategy. In response, restoring healthy ecosystems and The Forest Service and other the Federal agencies are preparing protecting the WUI partly through Federal land managers have taken a strategy that focuses on: the use of fire. As Stephen Pyne such lessons to heart. From fiscal (2001) has noted, “Fire protection year 2001 (when the National Fire 1. Restoring ecosystems on a land- might be better grounded in fire’s Plan was launched) to fiscal year scape scale, calculated use than in fire’s unwit- 2008, Federal land managers jointly 2. Building fire-adapted human ting suppression.” treated 29.1 million acres (11.8 communities, and million ha), about 3.6 million acres Forest Service specialists are 3. Responding appropriately to (1.6 million ha) per year on average testing that hypothesis. When a (Healthy Forests and Rangelands wildfire. wildfire starts in or burns into 2009). More than half of the area an area where fuels were previ- treated was in the WUI. Each side of the triangle contributes ously reduced, whether by fire or to fire protection in the WUI. To by mechanical means, the Forest But more is needed. Schmidt and succeed, each pillar in the strategy Service systematically assesses the others (2002) found that 127 mil- depends on the other two pillars. results. In 2009, about a hundred lion acres (51 million ha) of Federal such assessments consistently land were at moderate to severe found reduced fire severity, less risk from uncharacteristically damage, and lower suppression severe fires. At a treatment rate of costs. 3.6 million acres (1.6 million ha) per year, it would take 35 years to Tom Tidwell is the Chief of the Forest Ser- For example, the Los Padres treat the entire Federal area at risk, vice and Hutch Brown is a policy analyst National Forest in California con- not to mention the much greater for the Forest Service in Washington, DC. ducted prescribed burns on more
Fire Management Today 6 area—270 million acres (109 mil- At a treatment rate of No single entity can succeed alone. lion ha)—at risk in non-Federal Federal, State, and local authorities ownership. Meanwhile, millions of 3.6 million acres (1.6 have found effective ways of work- additional acres are likely to need million ha) per year, it ing together in the past. The Big treatment. Is the Nation even hold- would take 35 years to Burn of 1910 set the stage for the ing its own? Weeks Act of 1911 and the coopera- treat the entire Federal tive fire management partnerships Restoration requires an all-lands area at risk. that followed. The jurisdictional approach, working across borders triangle of local, State, and Federal partners needs to become even and boundaries to get the job done is a start. Under the new strategy, stronger. The first step is to clearly and marshalling resources across Federal land managers will: jurisdictions. The National Forest define roles in order to build on each other’s strengths. System contains only 20 percent • analyze the ecological compo- of the Nation’s forests. Fifty-seven nents of landscapes that shape The Forest Service’s role is clear. percent are in private landowner- wildland fire conditions; The agency trains and equips fire- ship, and another 23 percent are • examine the impacts of wildfires, fighters to keep wildfires away in State, tribal, county, municipal, insects and diseases, invasive from homes and communities—or species, and vegetation manage- at least to reduce fire severity to ment programs on the fire envi- acceptable levels. However, Forest ronment, especially in the WUI; Service firefighters are not trained and and equipped for structure protec- • identify strategies and priorities tion outside Federal lands. The for fuels treatments and com- agency will do anything to save pare alternative programs for lives, but Forest Service fire man- fuels management and restora- agers will not put pilots and fire- tion. fighters at risk—lives at risk—to protect someone’s poorly prepared Based on the results, the Forest private property in the WUI. Jim Bailey, fuels assistant fire management Structure protection in the WUI officer for the Naches Ranger District, Service will work with partners monitors the behavior of the Kaboom across borders and boundaries to get is the role and responsibility of prescribed burn. Wenatchee–Okanogan more done on the ground—to build individual property owners and National Forest, WA, August 2009. Photo: State and local agencies. It is up to Aaron Black-Schmidt, Ardenvoir, WA. the fire-adapted natural communi- ties needed to protect the WUI. State and local agencies—not the Forest Service—to actually protect and other Federal ownerships. Forest ecosystems typically form Fire-adapted mosaics—mosaics of plant and Communities animal communities and mosaics Ecological restoration is key, but it of landownerships. This is true not alone will not be enough. To protect only in the East, but also in the the WUI, the Nation also needs to West, where the critical issues are build fire-adapted human commu- the same: forest health, invasive nities. About 70,000 communities species, fire and fuels, water quan- in the WUI are now at risk from tity and quality, and wildlife habitat wildfire, and only about 6,000—less connectivity. Such issues neither than 10 percent—have community begin nor end at national forest wildfire protection plans. Since 2000, The Forest Service works to keep wildfires boundaries. away from homes and communities, nearly 28,000 homes, businesses, but individual property owners have the and outbuildings have burned in primary responsibility for protecting their The Forest Service has therefore wildfires. To make people, homes, homes. The Forest Service works with State and local agencies to help build fire- adopted the all-lands approach to and communities safe from fire, conservation through cross-bound- adapted human communities. Photo: Ryan more work is needed, not only in the Ludlow, Boulder County Land Use forestry ary partnerships. The Federal cohe- woods, but also where people live. education and outreach coordinator, sive wildfire management strategy Boulder, CO.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 7 structures in the WUI. Individual Lightning caused Response to Wildfire homeowner responsibility is key. Nevertheless, even the best efforts Americans have a long and proud fires are often the to restore landscapes and build tradition of individual freedom and most appropriate fire-adapted communities will not private property rights, but with means—often the only be enough. Suppression will be those rights and freedoms comes means, given limited needed, and fire protection in the WUI will always be predicated on responsibility. The main responsi- resources—to achieve bility for fire protection in the WUI a response to wildfire. The ques- lies with individual homeowners restoration goals on a tion is: What is the appropriate and communities. landscape scale. response? The question has two parts: Still, the Forest Service does have making their properties firesafe. a role to play. Tens of thousands With funding from the U.S. 1. What should the Nation’s gen- of Forest Service employees live Department of the Interior, the in communities all over the coun- eral strategy be in responding to Forest Service administers a grant wildfires? try, many in the WUI. They have a with the National Fire Protection vested personal interest in build- 2. What tactics should be used to Association to provide support implement our strategy? ing fire-adapted communities. The and educational materials for the Forest Service’s strategy is to work Firewise program. The program has The Big Burn of 1910 gave the through cross-jurisdictional part- been growing by leaps and bounds. nerships before a fire starts rather Forest Service a rallying cry that From 2008 to 2009, the number of resonated with Americans across than relying solely on suppression designated Firewise communities— efforts after it starts. the Nation: Put ’em out, put ’em all communities able to survive out, and put ’em all out fast! Fire wildfire without intervention— exclusion, in the form of the 10 a.m. The partners have an array of tools grew from 400 to almost 600. at their disposal. A good example policy and various other policies, is the national Firewise program, was for decades the national strate- Building fire-adapted human com- gic response to wildfire. which encourages individual home- munities is the second pillar of the owners to take responsibility for Federal cohesive wildfire manage- It took decades to see how futile ment strategy, encompassing a and misguided that policy was. series of tools, partnerships, and Fire can be postponed, but in most processes needed to help commu- landscapes it cannot be excluded. nities reduce the risk of wildfire. Today, we are seeing the results: Federal agencies will: overgrown forests, in a drought, are fueling megafires. From 2000 • analyze the components of effec- to 2008, at least nine States had tive community wildfire mitiga- record-breaking fires; if not for the tion; Big Burn of 1910, the list would • assess the roles and responsibili- also include Idaho and Montana.1 ties of Federal, State, and local governments; Accordingly, Federal wildland fire • examine land use and zoning; management policy has changed. • study the use of community The Forest Service still suppresses wildfire protection plans; human caused wildfires; but when The Forest Service aggressively fights • evaluate the effectiveness of fire lightning is the cause, if condi- fire in the wildland–urban interface. Fire prevention; and tions are right, fire managers take managers use experience and professional • explore the potential for engi- judgment to allocate the appropriate the opportunity to allow fire to play ground and air resources. Photo: Aaron neered solutions, such as fire- its natural role. Lightning caused Black-Schmidt, Ardenvoir, WA. resistant structures fires are often the most appropriate
1Alaska (Taylor Complex, 2004—1.3 million acres [526,100 ha]); Arizona (Rodeo-Chediski, 2002—468,600 acres [189,600 ha]); California (Cedar, 2003—279,200 acres [113,000 ha]); Colorado (Hayman, 2002—137,800 acres [55,700 ha]); Idaho (Murphy Complex, 2007—652,000 acres [263,900 ha]); Georgia (Big Turnaround Complex, 2007—388,000 acres [157,000 ha]); Montana (Valley Complex, 2000—292,000 acres [118,200 ha]); New Mexico (Ponil Complex, 2002—92,500 acres [37,400 ha]); Oregon (Biscuit, 2002— 499,600 acres [202,200 ha]); Texas (East Amarillo Complex, 2006—907,200 acres [367,100 ha]); and Utah (Milford Flat, 2007—363,100 acres [146,900 ha]) (NIFC 2009).
Fire Management Today 8 The Forest Service will aggressively fight fire in Relationships Are Key the WUI, using every resource at its disposal. But To summarize, the new cohesive fire managers will put lives and resources at wildfire management strategy rests not on three pillars: needless risk 1. Restoring fire-adapted natural communities; means—often the only means, given WUI is predicated on partnerships, 2. Building fire-adapted human limited resources—to achieve resto- and the Forest Service is strongly communities; and ration goals on a landscape scale. committed to supporting its State 3. Responding appropriately to and local partners. In 2009, the wildfire. In summer 2009, the Federal land agency provided: These three elements form a tri- managers went a step further. • more than $35 million in grants angle for fire protection in the Federal fire managers now have the to State forestry agencies for WUI. Each is necessary for success; flexibility to manage a lightning- preparedness, suppression, equip- and all three sides of the triangle caused wildfire to achieve multiple ment, and other support, includ- rest, in turn, on the jurisdictional objectives. They also have the flex- ing training for more than 42,000 triangle of cooperation and col- ibility to change their objectives in personnel; laboration among local, State, and response to the way a fire spreads • more than $10 million in grants Federal authorities. With this rela- across the landscape. Nevertheless, to volunteer fire departments for tionship in mind, citizens in and they remain as aggressive as ever in equipment and other support, around Federal lands will be better putting out wildfires that threaten including training for more than able to live with fire than simply be lives, homes, and critical natural 24,000 personnel; and subjected to it. resources. • through the Federal Excess Personal Property program, more Acknowledgment than 800 pieces of equipment, But the most carefully crafted The authors thank Jennifer Jones, including more than 400 trucks a public affairs specialist for the strategic response to wildfire isn’t and trailers equipped with tanks, worth anything if not executed National Interagency Fire Center, generators, and pumps. Boise, ID, for writing the first draft well. Forest Service fire managers of the speech on which this article have the expertise and experience A huge barrier to cooperative fire is based. to make sound decisions—to use protection in the WUI is the inabil- the right resources in the right ity of Federal, State, and local fire places at the right times. organizations to communicate References with each other by radio. To solve Healthy Forests and Rangelands. 2009. the problem, the Forest Service Healthy forests report: FY 2008 accom- The Forest Service will aggres- plishments. Washington, DC: U.S. sively fight fire in the WUI, using is launching the Central Oregon Department of the Interior and U.S. every resource at its disposal. But Interagency Radio Integration Pilot Department of Agriculture, Forest Project. The goal is to have a single Service. Available at:
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 9 Bureau of Land Management Fire and Aviation: Unique Contributions From a Unique Agency Ken Frederick
s the manager of the 258 mil- lion acre (104 million ha) “Given our fuels and topography, we rely a lot ANational System of Public on engines, helicopters, and bulldozers to Lands (NSPL)—the largest single block of public lands under Federal fight fire in the BLM” management—the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) plays a critical Besides being stocked with highly Wildland engines are the backbone role in managing wildland fire. The flammable fuels, BLM lands also of the BLM’s fire program. The agency manages fire on more than tend to be isolated, and this fact BLM manages the acquisition and 370 million acres (150 million ha) exerts a significant influence on development of engines centrally across the United States, including how the agency responds to and out of the Equipment Development military and native lands in north- manages fires. Unit headquartered at the National ern Alaska for which the BLM has Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in suppression responsibility. It is a “Our land base is often rural,” said Boise, ID. huge job for a relatively small agen- Mike Benefield, fire management cy. To do the job, the BLM relies officer for the BLM’s Moab District “We centralize engine fleet man- on a particular set of skills and in southeastern Utah. “The BLM agement for a couple of significant capabilities and a culture steeped in manages land that has always been reasons,” said Carl Dorsey, who self-reliance and hard work. remote and isolated—socially and recently retired as supervisor of geographically. This isolation has the Equipment Development Unit. Rapid and Safe Initial historically attracted self-reliant “First, we gain a lot of efficiency Attack and adaptive people. You can’t just and value by purchasing compo- run back to the office for some- nents in large quantities. Second, Because of the volatility of typical thing when the office is 80 miles a standardized engine fleet reduces fuels on BLM lands, rapid and safe [129 km] away.” crew training costs and allows our initial attack on new fires is often engine crews to be interchangeable. the best management response The combination of volatile fuels, They can go pretty much anywhere available. The typical kinds of fuel flat topography, and vast land- in the country, hop on a BLM found on BLM lands explain a lot scapes creates ideal conditions for engine, and fight fire.” about BLM firefighting. Although what some have termed the BLM’s the NSPL does include timber “mechanized infantry” approach to stands (especially in southwestern firefighting. Oregon), the vegetation on BLM lands tends toward grass- and “Given our fuels and topography, brush-dominated rangelands, arid we rely a lot on engines, helicop- forests of piñon pine and juniper, ters, and bulldozers to fight fire in and millions of square miles of the BLM,” added Benefield. “We black spruce and brush in Alaska. rely less on hand crews compared to other Federal, State, and tribal firefighting organizations.” BLM fires tend to have high rates of spread, which makes the use of Typical BLM fuels—brush and grasses— Ken Frederick is a public affairs specialist mechanized technology and tactics create volatile fires. Photo: Kari Greer, with BLM External Affairs at the National NIFC, August 2007, near Ketchum, ID. Interagency Fire Center in Boise, ID. preferable.
Fire Management Today 10 Approximately 150 BLM smokejumpers provide initial attack on new fires and on-scene coordination and leadership for emerging large fires primarily in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, and Utah.
in the mid-1980s, and SEATs have gained an important role in fire aviation. “SEATs have grown up,” said Brad Gibbs, the operations offi- BLM engines doing what they do best—fighting a fast-moving fire in western range cer for the BLM’s National Aviation country. Photo: Courtesy of BLM, Arizona Strip District. Office. “Over the last 10 years, SEATs have become faster and The kinds of engines in the BLM carry a huge payload of water— have developed a higher payload fleet are designed to fight fire spe- 2,250 gallons (8,500 L)—which is capacity, and this development has cifically in BLM fuels and topogra- nice to have when the fire is miles helped fill the gap in the national phy. For example, the largest BLM from the nearest refill source. interagency airtanker fleet.” engine, the Model 668 Wildland Ultra “Tatra,” has advanced features The BLM, however, is not just Advances in SEATs have come at that make it a formidable firefight- about engines. The agency fields 11 the right time. With the dramatic ing machine. The Wildland Ultra’s interagency hotshot crews, located reduction in the federally con- six-wheel-drive, high ground clear- in Alaska, California, Colorado, tracted fleet of heavy airtankers in ance, and in-motion/in-cab tire Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, Oregon, the early 2000s, SEATs have picked inflation enables it to get to fires and Utah. The BLM has wide lati- up a good portion of the fire avia- unreachable by traditional wild- tude to pre-position its interagency tion workload. The BLM typically land engines. The Ultras also have hotshot crews in response to contracts between 40 and 50 SEATs a front-mounted monitor nozzle, changes in conditions and priori- each year for aerial firefighting which is operated from inside the ties. Like other hotshot crews, the work, and it has contracted up to cab with a joystick. And the Ultras BLM hotshot crews meet all nation- 90 SEATs during busy fire seasons. al standards for training, experi- The BLM has changed more than ence, and capability. just the kinds of SEAT aircraft it uses over the past decade. What Specialists in Fire used to be a regional resource has now grown into an important Aviation national resource. Ground attack is not the only tool the BLM uses as an appropriate “SEATs are now known for their response to wildfire on the NSPL. ability to move proximal to fires,” The agency also has a significant added Kevin Hamilton, chief of the role in aerial firefighting. BLM’s National Aviation Office. BLM single engine airtankers are a welcome “They are highly mobile, and they sight on wildfires. Photo: Kari Greer, NIFC, The BLM pioneered development don’t need a fixed retardant base August 2007, near Ketchum, ID. of single engine airtankers (SEATs) for support.”
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 11 The BLM is also capable of deliver- The BLM builds on the effectiveness of traditional ing several hundred firefighters aerially to meet its initial attack prevention and education programs by adding an mission. Helitack crews travel to element it calls mitigation. fires by helicopter and specialize in rapid size-up, initial attack, and support of wildfires. Nearly 200 BLM helitack personnel are strate- gically positioned at 20 bases across 9 Western States.
The BLM helitack program has some distinctive attributes. For example, the BLM developed a soft- ware application called Automated Helicopter Performance Planning. This system enables pilots, A BLM helitack crewmember marshals a A BLM smokejumper approaches a helicopter managers, and crew helicopter into a mountain helispot. Photo: timbered jump spot. Photo: Nicole Hallisey, supervisors to calculate allowable Courtesy of California BLM State Office, NIFC, April 2008, near Idaho City, ID. helicopter payloads accurately and September 2008. quickly, given the critical mission resource, positioned for wildland would make operations over a fire variables involved with each mis- firefighting in Alaska and the safer while reducing costs. “This sion. This tool is especially use- Western United States. approach has worked really well,” ful for in-flight mission changes, which usually require recalibra- said Hamilton. “It is starting to tions for flight duration, elevation, In the late 1990s, BLM aviation catch on with other agencies and fuel consumption, weather condi- managers implemented an aerial States,” he added. tions, and payload. supervision method pioneered by Canadian fire aviation managers. Prevention and Smokejumpers are another compo- In past years, two support aircraft Mitigation nent of the BLM’s aerially delivered served coordination roles over a firefighter force. Nominally divided Suppression isn’t the BLM’s only between two smokejumper bases in distinctive response to wildland fire. Boise, ID, and Fairbanks, AK, about The BLM trains The BLM also focuses on fire pre- 150 BLM smokejumpers provide incident commanders vention, mitigation, and education. initial attack on new fires and on- scene coordination and leadership in rapid and critical Traditional fire prevention is a for emerging large fires primarily decisionmaking because proven success. Programs like in Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, BLM fires tend to be public education, outreach to and Utah. BLM smokejumpers schools, signage, and public service spend little time at their primary hot and fast moving. announcements clearly help pre- base during the busy parts of the fire seasons; they work out of mul- vent accidental fire starts. The BLM tiple satellite bases in the Great fire: a lead plane to coordinate builds on the effectiveness of tra- Basin and Alaska, depending on fire retardant drops and an air tactical ditional prevention and education activity. group supervisor (ATGS) in another programs by adding an element it plane to provide overall aircraft calls “mitigation.” Fire mitigation The Ram-Air parachute system used coordination over a fire. recognizes that we simply cannot by BLM smokejumpers is unique to prevent every fire—that in some the agency. It enables BLM smoke- Several years ago, National Aviation parts of the United States it’s not jumpers to perform effectively in Office specialists decided to fill two a question of if wildfire is coming, the high-elevation, high-wind con- roles by including the ATGS in but when. ditions that typify BLM terrain. the lead plane. Officials reasoned The BLM’s aerially delivered that both roles could still be filled “Mitigation activities are designed firefighters comprise a highly using this approach, but consoli- to reduce or eliminate risks to mobile, highly skilled, and flexible dating two roles into one aircraft persons or property,” said Terina
Fire Management Today 12 This intentionality in leadership development works. Although smokejumpers comprise only 7 percent of BLM firefighters, the two BLM smokejumper bases pro- vide about 20 percent of all type 3 incident commanders in the BLM.1 Numerous BLM smokejumpers have progressed in their careers to assume greater roles of leadership and responsibility—not because they are smokejumpers, but because they are capable and com- petent leaders in wildland fire.
The BLM helitack program has also taken a strategic approach to lead- ership development. Recognizing that the BLM and other agencies BLM fire mitigation and education specialists in Elk City, ID, teach school children about are going to need skilled leaders defensible space. Photo: BLM, June 2007. in fire aviation in the future, in 2009 the BLM created the Aviation Mullen, a fire mitigation and educa- The BLM trains incident command- Leadership Development Initiative. tion specialist at the BLM’s Butte ers in rapid and critical decision- This program has two primary Field Office in western Montana. making because BLM fires tend to focuses: 1) to help defray tuition “We work with communities be hot and fast-moving. The agency costs and other expenses related through the Community Wildfire trains fireline leaders to develop the to obtaining formal training for Protection Plan process to do [fuel thinking skills required for effective emerging leaders in fire aviation reduction] projects that achieve the supervision and incident command. and 2) to provide critical experience biggest bang for the buck for both These skills include the ability to by steering these employees toward parties.” Mitigation works through simultaneously consider the mean- formative aviation projects and planning, fuels treatment, prepara- ing and importance of multiple activities at all levels of the bureau. tion, and project design. Fire miti- influencing factors, including The BLM fills a unique and impor- gation is one way the philosophy of weather, fuels, topography, resourc- tant niche in wildland fire manage- coexisting with wildland fire finds its es, values at risk, and obstacles to ment’s multi-agency effort. The footing. progress. These skills also include BLM looks forward to continuing to understanding human factors, like hone and adapt its skills, its work- BLM Leadership communication and motivation. force, and its mission. Development in Fire and Aviation One fertile training ground for leadership development is in the Leadership in fire and aviation is BLM smokejumper program. Due important to the BLM. “The BLM is to the nature of smokejumping, committed to developing leaders,” it forms an exceptional “school” said Jim Douglas, the BLM’s assis- for leadership development. tant director for Fire and Aviation. Smokejumpers often work under “Developing good leadership doesn’t conditions that both teach and happen by chance. It’s something we demand clear thinking, decisive- work at continuously.” ness, and a finely tuned knowledge BLM smokejumper Deb Yoder smiles after of fire behavior. completing a practice jump. Photo: Nicole Hallisey, NIFC, April 2008, near Idaho City, ID. 1 According to data in the Resource Ordering and Status System, April 2009.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 13 R TION OF S CIA TA O T S E S F O A L R E A
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FO 20 Fire: Suppression, Community UNDED 19 Protection, Cooperation, and More Dan Smith
uccessful prevention, mitiga- tion, and restoration response State foresters provide leadership in building Sto wildland fire requires community capacity to manage forest resources, coordination at all levels, among all stakeholders, and across all promoting accountability and efficiency, addressing landscapes. State forestry agency threats to forests, and promoting the role of leaders are unique in their ability forests in the environmental and economic health to build partnerships among dif- of our Nation. ferent stakeholders, including land management agencies, landowners, local governments, nonprofit orga- State. In general, all have a statu- within areas of State jurisdiction. nizations, tribal groups, conserva- tory responsibility to provide ser- The 63,307 fires reported by States tion organizations, and businesses. vices in protecting State and private burned 3 million acres (1.3 mil- State foresters provide leadership lands from wildfire. lion ha), or 51 percent of the total in building community capacity to area burned last year. The 10-year manage forest resources, promot- State forestry agencies are required averages reported to NICC for the ing accountability and efficiency, to protect private forest lands and number of fires and area burned addressing threats to forests, and may provide resource management (77 percent of the total number of promoting the role of forests in assistance to private landowners. fires reported by all agencies and 39 the environmental and economic The agencies, however, do not own percent of area burned) also reflect health of our Nation. or have direct resource manage- a very significant workload for the ment control over private forest States. Mandates, Missions, lands. This is in contrast to Federal natural resource agencies in mis- Local and State taxes and protec- and Jurisdictions sion and public customer service tion assessments often fund wild- State general statutes across the expectations. Although landown- land fire protection, yet State sup- United States mandate that State ership patterns and individual pression actions must be commen- forestry agencies manage, develop, objectives vary across landscapes surate with the natural resource and protect forest resources on within a State, it is rare for a land- values at risk. Many private forest State and private lands, which owner to use natural ignition for landowners—individuals and busi- make up two-thirds of the Nation’s resource benefits on private land; nesses—manage their forest lands forests. Forestry agencies address as a result—with rare exceptions— for economic return and long-term these mandates by managing exist- State agencies support and provide investment, and these landown- ing natural resources, creating and fire suppression programs for rapid ers are deeply concerned about developing new and better forests, and aggressive initial response to adequate wildland fire protection and protecting these valuable wildfire with the intent of limiting for their property. In many States, resources. The statutory mission fire spread. the forest products industry is of State agencies with forestry and economically important, providing wildfire protection responsibilities In 2009, 80 percent of the wildfires thousands of jobs and major contri- varies significantly from State to reported by all agencies to the butions to States’ economies. National Interagency Coordination Dan Smith is the fire director of the Center (NICC) via daily situation Many State forestry agencies carry National Association of State Foresters. He reports and incident status sum- out an aggressive initial attack is stationed at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, ID. maries (ICS-209 reports) occurred response for wildfire suppression.
Fire Management Today 14 For example, the North Carolina departments at local, State, region- Congress passed the Healthy Division of Forest Resources strives al, and national levels. Forests Restoration Act (HFRA), to contain the average size fire which identified community wild- to less than 3.5 acres (1.4 ha), Communities At fire protection plans (CWPPs) as while Montana’s Forestry Division Risk and Community the means to reduce wildfire risk goal is to contain 95 percent of Wildfire Protection to communities and municipal direct protection fires to 10 acres watersheds through a collaborative (4 ha) or less. Most wildfires in Programs process of planning, prioritizing, State jurisdictions—estimated at One of the greatest challenges that and implementing hazardous fuels 90 percent—threaten structures, faces State agencies with wildland reduction projects. increasing the need for aggressive fire protection responsibilities initial attack and coordination of is the ongoing threat within the The HFRA gives State foresters an attacking forces. The Texas Forest wildland-urban interface (WUI), important role in the process for Service recently determined that where entire communities and developing CWPPs. It identifies the 80 percent of the wildland fires in their associated infrastructure are State agency responsible for forest Texas started within 2 miles (3.2 at risk from the destructive force management (along with local gov- ernments and fire departments) as km) of communities. of wildfire. To address this ever- one of the three entities responsible increasing problem on a national for agreeing on the contents of scale, the National Association of Local fire departments play a piv- the locally developed CWPPs. The State Foresters (NASF) produced otal role across the United States in HFRA further requires that Federal providing initial attack and struc- and maintains the document Field agencies give priority to projects ture protection on wildland fires. Guidance for Identifying and that provide protection to com- In most areas, the local fire depart- Prioritizing Communities at Risk munities at risk. It is important to ment is first on the scene regard- as specified in A Collaborative note that CWPPs are also in place less of jurisdiction responsibilities. Approach for Reducing Wildfire and currently under development State foresters are very appreciative Risks to Communities and the in communities not associated with of the contributions of these fire Environment: 10-Year Strategy the HFRA or near Federal lands. services and work cooperatively and Implementation Plans (2002 These CWPPs, addressing private with local fire departments to train and 2006). This document provides and State lands, are positive exam- personnel and build capacity at general guidance and a process ples of how the process of collabor- the local level. Various State- for assessing and communicating atively protecting communities has administered programs for rural wildfire risks to communities. It expanded across the United States. fire departments (including grants, was accepted by and distributed administration of Federal excess to agency field organizations with A local wildfire protection plan can property programs, and specialized the endorsement of the NASF, take on a variety of forms, based wildland fire training for structure the Chief of the Forest Service, on the needs of those involved in fire departments that meet National and the Assistant Secretary of its development. The complexity of Wildfire Coordinating Group stan- the Department of the Interior in a CWPP should reflect the needs dards) provide support for rural fire December 2003. Subsequently, of the individual community and should be as simple and straightfor- ward as possible. Minimum require- ments for CWPPs, as described in About NASF the HFRA, include:
The National Association of State Foresters (NASF) is a nonprofit orga- 1. Collaboration: A CWPP must nization that represents the directors of forestry agencies from the be collaboratively developed 50 States, 8 U.S. territories, and the District of Columbia. Through by local and State government public-private partnerships, NASF seeks to discuss, develop, sponsor, representatives in consultation and promote programs and activities that will advance the practice of with Federal agencies and other sustainable forestry, the conservation and protection of forest lands and interested parties. 2. Prioritized fuel reduction: A associated resources, and the establishment and protection of forests in CWPP must identify and pri- the urban environment. oritize areas for hazardous fuel
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 15 treatments and recommend the In 2009, 80 percent of • Compare relative risk to com- types and methods of treatment munities from wildfire within on Federal and non-Federal land the wildfires reported each State according to the risk that will protect one or more by all agencies to the assessment process—but not at-risk communities and their National Interagency between or among States. essential infrastructure. Coordination Center via 3. Treatment of structural ignit- daily situation reports NASF prepares an annual report on ability: A CWPP must recom- the progress made in identifying mend measures that homeown- and incident status communities at risk and the num- ers and communities can take summaries occurred ber of CWPPs completed. to reduce the ignitability of within areas of State structures throughout the area The FY 2009 report identified addressed by the plan. jurisdiction. 69,930 communities at risk, and, of those, only 5,567 were covered by a In partnership with the National CWPP. The 17 Western States have Association of Counties, Western Plan, provides a framework for Governors Association, Society a comprehensive and consistent produced 3,920 CWPPs. Survey of American Foresters, and CWPP monitoring and evaluation results also indicate a significant Communities Committee, NASF process. This handbook was devel- increase in the number of com- produced Preparing A Community oped collaboratively to address munities at risk that have been Wildfire Protection Plan: A performance measures for reduc- identified by State foresters as Handbook for Wildland Urban ing hazardous fuels and promot- being at “reduced risk.” The num- Interface Communities, which has ing community assistance in the ber of communities that are now at been utilized as the national guide 10-Year Strategy Implementation reduced risk has increased dramati- for developing CWPPs. An elec- Plan. Sponsors include NASF, cally to 10,293. A community is at tronic version of this handbook is Western Governors Association, reduced risk from wildfire if it has located at
Fire Management Today 16 sion equipment, or formation of and monitor them over time. The It is important to note that Firewise a new volunteer fire department identification of wildfire risks pro- programs have been delivered to or expansion of an existing one. vides the South with the capacity to hundreds of communities across While progress has been steady, prepare and respond to wildfires as the Nation, and that many of those the numbers released in the 2008 they occur and to plan for mitiga- communities are now recognized NASF report reflect the magnitude tion afterward. as Firewise Communities/USA of the work that remains to be or are working toward that goal. done to reduce risk to communi- The primary output layer of the In New Jersey, 12 communities ties and build response capacity in Southern Wildfire Risk Assessment have been recognized as Firewise those communities. and the West-Wide Wildfire Risk Communities, while another 16 Assessment (under development) is communities are working on the “Level of Concern Index.” This achieving that recognition. There is Wildfire Risk index provides an overall measure also value in educating communi- Assessments of wildfire risk by analyzing the ties that may never meet the crite- Each of the three NASF regions likelihood of an area burning and the expected effects if a fire were ria for such recognition if at least (South, West, and Northeast– some of the homeowners imple- Midwest) have produced or are to occur. The higher the Level of Concern values, the higher the con- ment the program standards for in the process of completing creation of defensible space. region-wide geographic informa- cern for suffering loss from a wild- tion system-based wildfire risk land fire. The risk assessments have assessments that can be utilized at proven to be valuable tools, and Complex Incident the local, State, and regional lev- ongoing improvements in method- Management Course els. Numerous States—including ology are expected, which will likely Since 2000, State foresters have Colorado, California, Florida, and increase the number of communi- built considerable incident manage- Texas—have also completed wildfire ties identified as being at risk. ment team (IMT) capacity with the risk assessments at the State level. development and presentation of The risk models used in the South Firewise the Complex Incident Management and West integrate historic weather, In addition to the preparation of Course (CIMC). States initiated the fire ignition data, surface and cano- CIMC to build capacity for State py fuels, fire behavior analysis, fire CWPPs, State forestry agencies are heavily engaged in the develop- IMTs to manage complex wildland effects, and suppression effective- fires and all-hazard incidents. ness. The models describe the prob- ment and delivery of the Firewise Communities/USA program across ability of fires using methods that the Nation to mitigate risk to com- Type 2 IMT qualification has been a are quantifiable, repeatable, and munities. Firewise has proven to be prerequisite for CIMC. In May 2008, comparable across time and space. a great interagency effort to reach NWCG recognized CIMC certifica- homeowners, community leaders, tion as equivalent to advanced inci- The Southern Wildfire Risk planners, developers, and others in dent management (S-520) training Assessment (SWRA), sponsored efforts to protect people, property, completion. While CIMC focuses by the Southern Group of State and natural resources from the risk on building State IMT capacity for Foresters, was the first regional of wildland fire. Recent accomplish- managing complex wildland fires wildfire risk assessment completed ments reported by the Firewise pro- and all-hazard incidents, the recog- and has been utilized to identify gram include: nition of the course as equivalent more than 57,000 communities at to S-520 can help build capacity for risk in the South. The results of • More than 500 communities in geographic area and national IMTs the SWRA help States coordinate 38 States actively participate in as well. with local communities and the the program. • In 2009, 87 new Firewise com- Federal Government in address- The demand for CIMC continues to munities joined the program. ing ways to mitigate these risks. In grow within State forestry organi- addition, the assessment offers the • More than 500,000 people live in areas participating in Firewise zations and other incident respond- States a valuable tool for evaluat- ers. To date, 55 IMTs have received ing fuel mitigation scenarios prior Communities/USA recognition. • Forty-five States participate, the training. There are currently to funding specific projects and 35 State IMTs that meet or exceed with formal State Firewise liai- can be used as a tool to model the Type 2 IMT standards, and so can effectiveness of these scenarios sons assigned to the program.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 17 be made available for national Suppression Capabilities mobilization. States coordinate with their geographic coordination While States invest considerable resources into mitigation and wildfire center and NICC when their teams prevention, most also maintain or support strong wildfire suppression are available for national mobiliza- organizations. State wildfire suppression capabilities vary from State tion. It is not unusual for several of to State commensurate with protection mandates and areas to be pro- the State teams to be mobilized in tected. support of the western fire season and for all hazard response—espe- Types of State resources vary by geographic location in the United cially for hurricanes. States. The use of mechanized equipment—especially bulldozers and tractor plow units—is extensive in the Midwest, Northeast, and Mobilizing Resources Southern areas. It is not unusual for State forestry agencies to own, There are three mechanisms cur- operate, and staff 50 to 100 of these suppression units; some Southern rently available to States for shar- States with high fire occurrence staff 200 to 300 units. States also staff ing wildland fire resources with various engines and provide hand crews, aviation assets, overhead, and other States and interagency part- other wildland fire resources to firefighting efforts. ners. First, the National Wildland Fire Resources Mobilization System provides a mechanism to mobilize provided fire crews to Quebec. • wildfires that cross jurisdictional resources from other States and Multistate training is also a large boundaries, Federal partners using the resource component of a number of the • sharing of suppression costs, order and status system (ROSS). State-to-State compacts. • revisions in the implementation The Master Cooperative Wildfire of fire management policy, and and Stafford Act Agreement pro- The third mechanism for • the different missions of various vides the authority and guidance mobilizing State wildland fire agencies. for mobilizing interagency resourc- resources is the Emergency es for out-of-state assignments and Assistance Compact (EMAC), which Wildland fire is a complex land covers mutual aid response and promotes assistance and sharing management and societal issue that annual operating plans at the local of resources between individual goes beyond suppression alone. and State levels. States to address any emergency. The Governor of a State activates A group of wildland fire agency The second mechanism is region- EMAC through a declaration of leaders have been working on based. There are eight regional emergency. This level of assistance developing a framework of prin- interstate forest fire compacts is typically the last option exercised: ciples, strategic direction, and across the United States involving when dealing with wildland fire, selected roles and responsibilities 42 State participants. The compacts State forestry agencies ordinarily for Federal, State, tribal, and local agencies that will help us man- (Southeast, South Central, Mid- use the national mobilization age and live with wildland fire as a Atlantic, Northeast, Great Lakes, system or go to regional compact Nation. The vision is that effective Big Rivers, Northwest, and Great arrangements first. partnerships, with shared responsi- Plains) allow States to mobilize bility held by all stakeholders of the resources out of State and help A Shared Vision wildland fire problem, will create one another with prevention and Interagency cooperation and col- well-prepared, fire-adapted commu- suppression operations. In 2008, laboration is essential for all of us nities and healthy, resilient land- the Southern States processed in the wildland fire business. Some scapes at the most efficient cost. 2,000 compact resource orders that of the current issues that can strain While this effort continues, the provided over 18,000 personnel interagency relations are: strong interagency relationships in days of fire assistance to Texas • decreasing budgets, place at local, State, regional, and and North Carolina. Three of the • longer and more severe fire sea- national levels must serve us well compacts are international in scope sons, in today’s complex world of wild- and include specific Canadian • resource shortages, land fire management. I am confi- provinces; in 2009, the Northeast • more people in the WUI, dent that, collectively, we are up for Forest Fire Protection Compact the challenge.
Fire Management Today 18 Supporting Cultural Uniqueness: The Bureau of Indian Affairs Branch of Wildland Fire Management Protecting human life . . Restoring cultural landscapes . . Supporting Indian self-determination .
Robyn Broyles
henever a fire crew leaves the Zuni Reservation in New The cultural, spiritual, and historical ties WMexico, the tribe makes tribes have to the land give rise to the unique an offering of cornmeal and says a prayer to pay respect to the contributions the Branch of Wildland Fire spirit of fire. Firefighters then carry Management brings to the interagency wildland cornmeal pouches to the fireline fire community. as a source of protection. Upon their safe return, the tribe makes another offering and says a prayer give rise to the unique contribu- consistent with each tribe’s goals of thanks. tions the Branch of Wildland Fire and objectives. With about 65 Management (the Branch) brings to permanent, full-time employees, Native Americans are no strangers the interagency wildland fire com- the Branch executes its fiduciary to fire management. From time munity. The roots that ground the trust responsibility by protecting immemorial, tribes have been liv- Branch are found in the larger BIA lives, property, and resources while ing on and managing landscapes for mission—which, as a tribal partner, restoring and maintaining healthy cultural and natural resource ben- is to fulfill its fiduciary responsibil- ecosystems. Using cost-effective efits through fire. People in Indian ity of enhancing the tribal quality and creative fire management pro- Country know and respect fire as an of life, promoting economic oppor- grams, the Branch also promotes important land management tool tunity, and carrying out the obliga- Indian self-determination. and honor it spiritually in ceremo- tion to protect and improve the ny (Kimmer and Kanawha 2001; trust assets of American Indians, History Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives. Dejong 2004; White 2005). As the The Forest Service was formed This mission has influenced the agency that supports tribal inter- in 1905 to protect America’s tim- Branch’s history and organizational ests, the U.S. Department of the ber lands. The BIA soon followed structure, which cross many natu- Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs’ suit and developed its Division of ral resource fields within Indian (BIA) role in wildland fire manage- Forestry in 1910 with the goal that Country. This historical perspective ment is as diverse as the 352 feder- forests should be used to help tribes provides a better understanding ally recognized tribal populations become self-supporting (Newell of the economic and cultural role and Alaskan villages it serves. and others 1986). Today, forests on of forestry and fire protection in Indian lands cover nearly 18 mil- Indian Country. Mission lion acres (7.3 million ha) on 275 reservations and form the largest The cultural, spiritual, and his- The Branch is a component of the private commercial timber holding torical ties tribes have to the land Division of Forestry and Wildland in the United States. Fire Management, which reports to the Deputy Bureau Director, Office In order to protect the tim- Robyn Broyles is a fire communication of Trust Services, in Washington, ber holdings of the tribes, the and education specialist with the U.S. DC. The most unique aspect of Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Division of the Citizen Indian Country fire management Indian Affairs, National Interagency Fire Conservation Corps (ID-CCC) Center, in Boise, ID. is its mission to provide services
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 19 was created in 1933 as part of The organization within lished at NIFC, the overlap between President’s Roosevelt’s plan to put agency and tribal natural resource people back to work during the the branch is tribally management concerns has yielded Great Depression. Throughout driven and operates a successful and progressive collab- the 9 years the program was from a bottom-up orative relationship. funded, 80,000 Native American approach rather and Alaskan Native workers helped than being driven by Overall, the Branch consists build forest protection infra- of eight major sections: fire structure, including roads, trails, centralized agency operations, aviation, preparedness telephone lines, lookout towers, oversight. (fuels management and preven- and fire cabins. They also became tion), fire planning, training, trained experts in preventing, administration, budget and fiscal ted from the cultural view that detecting, and fighting wildfires management, and communication being a firefighter brought honor (Newell and others 1986; Kimmer and education. Each program and recognition to one’s tribe. That and Kanawha 2001; Dejong 2004; is responsible for providing tradition still holds true today. Shaw 2005). guidance to BIA central offices in Washington DC, and regional When veterans returned home Organization directors regarding the integration from the Second World War, Indian Country encompasses of wildland fire procedures into forest protection continued to be approximately 66 million acres natural resource management. a valuable source of income for (26.7 million ha) across 34 States tribes and provided veterans a and a population of nearly 1.9 mil- The organization within the Branch natural niche in which to apply lion American Indian and Alaskan is tribally driven and operates from their skills and energy. In the Natives. The history of BIA fire a bottom-up approach rather than postwar era, Native American fire protection and the development of being driven by centralized agency suppression crews sprang up across the Branch are intrinsically con- oversight. Lyle Carlile, BIA fire the Western States and Alaska. In nected, not only to the land, but director, states that the Branch is Arizona and New Mexico, 2,000 to the other natural resource and an organizational structure that Southwest Indian forest firefighters forest management programs in works and one he appreciates: “We became available. In 1955, Indian Country as well. From the have the freedom to be creative to several reservations in Montana time the BIA program was estab- help the field as the need arises.” and Idaho formed the Montana Indian Firefighters, and in 1957, the Bureau of Land Management formed crews using Native Americans and Alaskan Natives.
In 1977, the BIA Office of Trust Responsibilities (now Trust Services) appointed George Smith as the first permanent representative to what was then the Boise Interagency Center, the predecessor to today’s National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, ID. Since then, the reputation and stature of the BIA fire organization has continued to grow in the national fire community. The Nebraska Ponca bison herd grazes on restored pasture following a prescribed fire. The The reputation and stature of the fire was ignited as part of a fuels management plan to restore native grasslands and in turn increase the Nebraska Ponca bison herd, the lifeblood of the Ponca culture. Photo: BIA fire organization also benefit- Larry Wright, Ponca tribe of Nebraska Bison Program Manager, 2006.
Fire Management Today 20 The intimate connection between income as self-employed artisans, the Branch and tribal governing fire assignments help subsidize bodies also provides timely feed- annual earnings. back that has direct impact on both the tribes and the Branch. It also In hiring firefighters, the BIA relies fosters relationships that enable the heavily on the administratively Branch to respond to tribal, agency, determined (AD) pay plan, which regional, and national needs. enables agencies within Indian New standardized BIA Model 52 Engines Country that otherwise lack suf- on display at Dulce, NM. Initially started Firefighting Operations ficient funding for full-time fire as a grassroots movement, the design and layout of the fleet comes directly from Tradition and culture are programs to temporarily hire local the experience and feedback of the engine threads that hold families and individuals as needed. In 2007 and technicians and field operators who build communities together. Since the 2008, nearly 7,000 AD firefighters and maintain the fleet throughout the Nation. Photo: Dennis Zentz, BIA Model 52 dawn of the ID-CCC program, were hired by BIA. This brought in Program Manager, Dulce, NM, 2009. being a member of a fire crew $19.6 million to families in tribal has become a part of a cultural communities. In economically ning in the field, the Model 52 has heritage in many communities. depressed areas, this income is very proven to be an efficient and cost- Cal Pino, BIA fire management important (Shaw 2005). officer for the Southwest Region, effective program. explains, “It is not uncommon for Many firefighters who begin their two consecutive generations of a Overall, the BIA has over 200 careers as ADs will choose to move family to work on the same hand or engines that—along with dozers, up into more challenging positions camp crew. While a parent is away water tenders, and heavy equip- such as membership in the elite on fire assignments, children are ment—contribute to fire suppres- often left with grandparents who interagency hotshot crew (IHC) sion efforts in Indian Country. With may have been members of the ranks. They are among the most this equipment, aviation resources original ID-CCC crews. Also, while experienced and highly skilled totaling 22 fixed and rotor wing air- traveling, members function as fire crews in the national fire craft, and highly experienced crews, representatives of the interagency community. Of the 107 nationally firefighters suppress approximately fire community; in doing so, they certified IHCs, 7 are sponsored by 98 percent of all fire starts in bring honor to their tribes, which the BIA. “It is a very competitive Indian Country before they become hold them in high esteem.” program, and only the best of the large, costly incidents. best are admitted,” says Dalan Approximately 98 Romero, BIA fire operations Fuels Management percent of all fire starts director, adding that, “in Indian The fuels program in Indian in Indian Country are Country, being a member of one of Country manages the vegetation these crews is a badge of honor for across a broad spectrum of land- suppressed before the tribes represented.” scapes, fuels, and ecosystems from becoming large, costly Alaska to Florida. Of the 66 million incidents. Another program, the Model 52 acres (26.7 million ha) under BIA program, has also served an impor- jurisdiction, close to 30 percent tant and unique role in fire opera- of them are within the wildland- Pino explains that there is also an urban interface (WUI) areas. This tions. Through this program, the economic element to this tradition. proportion of WUI area to total BIA is the only remaining agency Seasonal employment provides a jurisdiction is greater than in any significant economic contribution to build and assemble its own uni- other land agency within the U.S. to families in Indian Country. For form fleet of engines. Operating out Department of the Interior. While communities like Santo Domingo, of three centrally located regional this presents challenges for fuels New Mexico, for instance, where offices, each having specialized managers, tribal members agree on many tribal members must oth- mechanics, parts, and mobile sup- the need for and positive outcomes erwise depend almost entirely on port vehicles to keep the fleet run- of fuel treatments.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 21 Traditional ecological knowledge is aggressively being reintroduced by tribal elders and community members to help teach and better understand the historic relationship between fire, the environment, and people.
“Tribes live in a rural environment spiritual involvement, qualities Unwanted, human-caused wildfires and understand fuel manipula- he recognizes as essential for the are the most common wildland tion. This awareness provides tribal Indian way of life. By blending fires in Indian Country, and unfor- income, reduces the risk of wildfire, traditional ecological knowledge tunately, this problem is increasing. and promotes healthier forests,” with a scientific approach, BIA fuels Wildfire prevention and education said Gene Lonning, fuels special- management is working alongside is a function the BIA takes very ist for the BIA’s Northwest Region. tribes to restore natural resources seriously. Lonning is an expert in fuels man- and culturally familiar landscapes. agement and helps manage one of In total, the BIA sponsors 41 fire the largest and most progressive Fire Prevention prevention programs throughout fuels program in Indian Country. the Nation. Prevention staff work When an unwanted wildfire occurs, Each year, this program alone treats closely with communities to imple- the resources it threatens and more than 40,000 acres (16,000 ha) ment juvenile firesetter interven- everything connected to them through prescribed fire, mechanical tion programs, develop commu- can be affected for the next two or thinning, and other treatments. nity wildfire protection plans, and three generations. Hence, Native support community participation Americans and Alaska Natives, with in Firewise workshops. They also Using Traditional their strong ties to the environ- conduct fire investigations and Knowledge ment, sense a deep urgency to collaborate with appropriate law protect and nurture the land and While more modern technology and enforcement to provide leadership natural resources. tools have their place, traditional in fire trespass cases. ecological knowledge is aggres- sively being reintroduced by tribal elders and community members to help teach and better understand the historic relationship between fire, the environment, and people. Through traditional stories told and performed by tribal elders, fire is being returned to a respected place in land management (Pierrotti and Wildcat 2000; Kimmer and Kanawha 2001; White 2005).
Dennis Dupuis believes this is a critical and necessary approach. “Reintroducing indigenous use of fire is not optional. It brings back a lost art that is relevant and essen- tial to restore cultural landscapes,” he said. Dupuis also notes the tra- ditional landscape fosters diversity A CL-215 drops a load of water on the Westside Fire on the Red Lake Reservation, MN. and sustainability; supports edible Highly experienced aviation crews work with 22 fixed and rotor wing aircraft throughout and medicinal plants; and creates the year to suppress unwanted wildfires. Photo: Greg Peterson, BIA Midwest Aviation an environment that encourages Manager, 2009
Fire Management Today 22 Unwanted, human-caused wildfires are the most of the firefighting community: common wildland fires in Indian Country. Wildfire individual firefighters, tribes, part- ners, and other land and natural prevention and education is a function the BIA resource management entities. The takes very seriously. Smoke Signals readership contin- ues to grow, in part, because the publication is a bottom-up effort: Every region, agency, and tribe and hone their skills. This C-Faller its authors are agency and field has unique needs regarding fire program uses instructors with the personnel who encourage the open prevention and education. As a highest level faller certification, as exchange of ideas and recognize result, the BIA prevention pro- well as other professional fallers successful individuals and pro- grams encourage each reservation experienced in safe fire operations. grams across Indian Country. and jurisdictional area to develop their own strategy and curriculum Although the mentorship program A Unique Agency and to meet their specific needs. Most is relatively new, it has proven to be Organization tribes challenged by high numbers extremely successful. Each winter, of human-caused fires now have trainees at all levels of experience, Fire plays a significant role in approved fire prevention and miti- knowledge, and expertise travel to Earth’s natural cycles, or perhaps gation plans and appropriate staff the Seminole Indian Reservation in none understand and value this to implement them. Florida. There, through networking more than those living in Indian and sharing, trainees develop and Country. The BIA’s Branch of Training improve their skills in everything Wildland Fire Management arose from creating burn plans to imple- from the determination, dedication, Training is a critical element in the menting projects and monitoring knowledge, and wisdom of the early success of BIA’s fire management fire effects. Designed as an expe- fire crews. These crews renewed program. The Branch training riential learning opportunity, this a tradition of service that makes program, in concert with its inter- program is proving to be a great tribes and families proud. Today, agency partners, oversees a com- benefit to trainees, the BIA, and the the Branch is a unique and multi- prehensive training program geared U.S. Department of the Interior as toward achieving a highly skilled, faceted organization that continues a whole. safety-conscious, and professional to foster highly trained, skilled, and workforce. professional hotshot, engine, and aviation crews on the front lines to Some of the focus areas within protect Indian Country lands. this program are the class C chain sawer operator (C-Faller) train- References ing program, the Prescribed Fire Dejong, D.H. 2004. Fire warriors: American Mentorship program, Technical Indian firefighters in the Southwest. Forest History Today. Spring/Fall: 45–54. Fire Management, the Interagency Kimmer R. W.; Kanawha, L. 2001. The role Qualification Communications of indigenous burning in land manage- System, and Interagency Fire ment. Journal of Forestry. 99(11): 34–41. Program Management. Newell, A.S.; Clow, R.L.; Ellis, R. N. 1986. Shaun Willeto conducts C-Faller training A forest in trust: Three quarters of a on the Hoopa Reservation on Yurok land in century of Indian forestry, 1910–1986. With the help of Walt Lara, a Yurok California. The C-Faller program provides Missoula, MT: Historical Research highly professional, hands-on learning tribal member, forester, and long- Associates. experience to new and experienced fallers. Pierrotti, R.; Wildcat, D. 2000. Traditional time faller, the C-Faller training Photo: Dave Koch, BIA National Training ecological knowledge: The third alter- program provides a highly profes- Specialist, 2009. native (commentary). Ecological sional, hands-on learning experi- Applications. 10(5): 1333–1340. Outreach Shaw, B. 2005. Fire fighting forces in ence. Twice a year, experienced Indian country: Yesterday and today. and qualified C-Fallers meet, typi- Smoke Signals is a quarterly publi- Evergreen. Winter: 69–71. cally on the Hoopa Reservation on cation that collects and distributes White, G. 2005. The gift of fire. Evergreen. Winter: 66–68 Yurok land in California, to learn information through all levels
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 23 General Services Administration’s Role in Wildland Firefighting John Barnicle and William Hicks
he Federal Government’s General Services Administration GSA can provide the same selection of items T(GSA) has actively supported and professional support to local agencies that the national wildland fire suppres- sion effort since the 1950s. The is available to the Forest Service and other terms of this support are outlined Federal agencies. in interagency agreements between GSA, the USDA Forest Service, and the U.S. Department of the Interior, is provided by wildland firefighting At the end of the fire season— Bureau of Land Management agencies, including State forestry normally around the end of (BLM). GSA coordinates several organizations. September—the GSA inventory functions in support of wildland managers review current demand firefighting, including fire item specifications, purchasing, order processing, stocking, inventory management, and transportation.
Materials Supply There are nearly 300 items classi- fied as fire items and contained in the GSA wildland fire equipment catalog. These items include water handling equipment and supplies, fireline tools, fire shelters, protec- tive clothing, canteens, field packs, sleeping bags, batteries, chainsaw chaps, first aid kits, gloves, goggles, and safety glasses. Specifications for these items are developed and maintained by the Forest Service, which employs experts on the lat- est technology and materials avail- able from the commercial market as well as standards established by the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA). They use the information to improve the quality and safety of available items. Input
John Barnicle is a supply specialist with the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service in St. Paul, MN. William Hicks is the Fire, Disaster, and Mandatory Source Coordinator of the General Services Administration’s Federal Acquisition Service in Fort Worth, TX.” GSA’s 2010 Wildland Fire Equipment catalog.
Fire Management Today 24 GSA Goes International vices) offers training programs on specific fire-related topics, includ- While GSA’s primary focus for wildland fire support is assisting Federal, ing fire preparedness and public State, and local partners with U.S. operations, there are situations that safety education. require GSA to provide international assistance as well. In recent years, for example, Greece has suffered from terrible fires and received support Federal Partnerships from American agencies. With State and Local Firefighters In January 2010, GSA assisted the Federal Emergency Management GSA and its Federal partners pro- Agency and the U.S. military with emergency response to the tragic vide assistance to State and local earthquake in Haiti. At the same time, widespread wildland fires in firefighting agencies and coordinate Colombia threatened to grow in size and severity. At the request of this support to avoid confusion and the U.S. Agency for International Development, Office of U.S. Foreign overlap. State and local agencies Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA), an official of the USDA Forest are invited to contact their Federal Service Disaster Assistance Support Program (DASP) contacted GSA Excess Personal Property (FEPP) Fire Coordinator Bill Hicks for assistance. Hicks worked with staff at coordinator to evaluate the feasi- GSA’s western distribution center and Tory Henderson of the National bility and practicality of a coop- Interagency Fire Center to assemble a shipment of approximately erative agreement with the Forest 30,000 pounds (13,000 kg) of firefighting equipment from GSA and Service. When such an agreement interagency fire caches around the country. The shipment, which was is reached, partners are eligible paid for by USAID/OFDA, was flown to Bogota, Colombia, on January to receive an activity address code 25 and immediately dispatched to fire brigades around the country. from GSA to verify eligibility and to According to Forest Service-DASP records, the shipment was the largest facilitate ordering. Then, a State’s to date for U.S. fire equipment to a foreign country. department of natural resources, for example, can order the same equipment from GSA that Federal data on each fire item and compare average fire season, GSA processes agencies can buy. Depending on it with comparable demand data for orders for 1,600 tons (1,450 tonnes) the State’s organization and poli- the prior 5 years. After the review, of gear to support ongoing fires and cies, the relevant State agency can GSA presents stock level recom- replenishment efforts. coordinate supply operations for its mendations for items designated county and municipal partners or as “critical” to the Forest Service Additional Resources delegate supply orders to the local and BLM for review and approval. In addition to the items stocked by level. In either scenario, GSA can GSA then schedules purchases so GSA and highlighted in the annual provide the same selection of items that deliveries will be staggered catalog, there are other resources and professional support to local throughout the following months, agencies that is available to the available through complementary with stock level objectives to be Forest Service and other Federal GSA programs. Schedule contracts met by June 1, when fire activity agencies. with commercial suppliers provide normally increases substantially. access to firefighting vehicles and GSA accepts emergency orders To find out more about cooperative other heavy equipment. The GSA around the clock, 365 days a year. agreements, State and local officials Personal Property program handles (GSA’s fire program coordinator can contact a FEPP coordinator at excess property and has transferred is always available via cell phone the State level. Information is avail- equipment, including aircraft, to or email.) These orders can typi- able at
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 25 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service: Keeping Fire on Our Side Karen Miranda Gleason
he U.S. Department of the Interior’s U.S. Fish and Wildlife As the only agency managing lands in all 50 TService (FWS) is the principal States and every U.S. territory, the FWS manages Federal agency responsible for con- serving, protecting, and enhancing fire on the greatest number of units with the fish, wildlife, and plants and their smallest fire budget of any Federal agency. habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. Its mis- sion is to work with partners to A Network of Diverse forest, 8 million acres (3.2 million achieve these goals. The agency has Lands and Values ha) of brush, and 4 million acres two separate management tools (1.6 million ha) of grassland. The Fire is essential to managing FWS for accomplishing its mission: a majority of these lands are fire- lands, which include 551 national land base of more than 150 million adapted: more than 80 percent in wildlife refuges (at least one within acres (60 million ha) and authority the lower 48 States and more than an hour’s drive of every major city for implementing the Endangered 90 percent in Alaska. Without fire, in the United States), 70 national Species Act (ESA). land managers could not restore fish hatcheries, and tens of thou- and maintain the health of these sands of small tracts spread across The FWS fire management pro- ecosystems. rural and urban areas and along gram supports the long-term, every U.S. coastline. These parcels ecologically based mission through comprise large wetland manage- strategic hazardous fuels reduction Brush ment districts, small waterfowl pro- Wetland 12% and wildfire management projects duction areas, a variety of conserva- 21% that achieve dual benefits for both Desert tion easements, and other special 9% people and wildlife: reducing the management units. They are home risk of damage to land and property to 280 of the Nation’s 1,200 feder- while maintaining and restoring ally listed threatened or endangered healthy ecosystems. As the only species, as well as more than 700 Tundra Forest agency managing lands in all 50 26% 26% species of birds, 220 species of States and every U.S. territory, the mammals, 250 reptile and amphib- FWS manages fire on the greatest Grassland ian species, and more than 200 number of units with the smallest 6% species of fish. In Alaska, the FWS fire budget of any Federal agency. manages 72.4 million acres (29.2 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service lands by To date, the FWS has maintained vegetation type. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife million ha), more than any other an exemplary record of firefighter Service manages 150 million acres (61 Federal agency. About 20 million and public safety, with only three million ha) of diverse lands in all 50 States acres (8.1 million ha) of FWS lands and every U.S. territory. Data valid as fire-related fatalities in its history— in 26 States are protected wilder- of 2005. those occurred in 1979 and 1981, ness. Refuge lands also include wild prior to standardized training. and scenic rivers and marine pro- Fire as a Critical Tool tected areas. The FWS has long recognized fire as an effective tool for shaping The FWS’s more than 75 million ecosystem structure and function. burnable acres (30 million ha) Native Americans, pioneer agri- Karen Miranda Gleason is the national fire includes 25 million acres (10 mil- culturalists, and wildlife biologists outreach coordinator for the U.S. Fish and lion ha) of burnable wetlands, 16 have used prescribed burns to man- Wildlife Service, National Interagency Fire Center, in Boise, ID. million acres (6.5 million ha) of age wildlife and plants. Without
Fire Management Today 26 Without fire to periodically cleanse dead and are chosen to best protect commu- overgrown vegetation and recycle nutrients back nities and natural resources. into the soil, there could be no native tallgrass Clean Air: Through long experi- prairie, no duck-laden wetlands, no lodgepole pine ence in prescribed burning, the or jack pine forests, and no productive fields of FWS is able to plan and manage medicinal wildflowers. burning conditions and smoke dis- persion to keep smoke away from major roads and communities and within acceptably safe air quality fire to periodically cleanse dead and became St. Marks National Wildlife levels. This avoids potential driving overgrown vegetation and recycle Refuge. In 1933, naturalist Aldo hazards and health risks that often nutrients back into the soil, there Leopold reinforced the concept of occur during wildfires. During could be no native tallgrass prairie, using fire to manage wildlife habi- wildfires, incident management no duck-laden wetlands, no lodge- tat when he identified “the axe, the teams minimize these impacts pole pine or jack pine forests, and match, the cow, the plow, and the whenever possible. no productive fields of medicinal gun” as the five critical tools for wildflowers. The populations of game management (Leopold 1933). many animal species would dwindle Thus, fire became recognized as a as the lush mosaic of feeding, mat- critical tool for managing national ing, and nesting areas was dimin- wildlife refuges. ished by lack of fire. Even during the era of aggressive The roots of fire management Federal fire suppression, starting in the FWS are interwoven with in the 1930s and 1940s, refuge early wildlife management in managers took the long view by the Southeast. Wildlife biologist continuing to burn. Through this Herbert L. Stoddard first discovered quiet confidence in science and a beneficial relationship between mother nature, trees and brush on fire and wildlife while studying many refuge lands were regularly Prescribed fire planning helps to divert smoke away from roads and homes at quail (Stoddard 1925). After biolo- thinned, while vegetation accu- Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge, FL. gists became aware of the connec- mulated in areas where fire was Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2004. tion between fire and wildlife, they excluded. This foresight is carried ignited a prescribed burn in 1927 on today in the agency’s continuing Clean Water: Whether serving as along the Gulf Coast, on what use of fire to maintain the desired the local fishing hole or a town’s condition of its lands. water supply, a water source is best protected by effective management Maintaining Positive of fire. The FWS’s long-term eco- Environmental logical approach to land manage- Conditions ment minimizes the risk of intense Wildland fire management benefits wildfires that severely damage soils, human communities by lower- thus avoiding potential mudslides ing the risk of property damage and impairment of water quality. from wildfire and enhancing out- An active program of emergency door recreation. The FWS plans stabilization after wildfires helps and conducts prescribed burns to decrease the risk of post-fire ero- realize these benefits while main- sion and keep lakes, rivers, and Fire greatly benefits both the endangered taining clean air and clean water. streams cleaner. Fender’s blue butterfly and its host plant, Management objectives during large the threatened Kincaide’s lupine, in the Willamette valley, OR. Photo: Quentin wildfires remain dynamic, depend- Cronk, University of British Columbia, 2009. ing upon changing conditions, and
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 27 A Small But Skilled Organization In 1978, Congress directed the FWS to establish a formal fire program. The first national fire director, Art Belcher, was previously assigned to the Bureau of Land Management fire program. At FWS, he began by building a fire budget and hiring professional regional fire managers. In 1979, Belcher joined the FWS operation to other agencies at the Boise Interagency Fire Center, and FWS became an equal partner in the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG). In the 1980s, FWS began implementing NWCG train- ing and operational standards and developed a unique field training FWS and Bureau of Land Management fire staff on the Lower Colorado River observe course that integrated basic fire the ignition of a prescribed burn at Imperial National Wildlife Refuge along the Arizona– suppression (S-130), basic fire California border. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2004. behavior (S-190), and prescribed fire operations. The course, pre- sented in several regions through- out the country for the next half REGION 1 REGION 3 REGION 5 REGION 7 911 NE 11th Ave Federal Bldg, Fort Snelling 300 Westgate Center Drive 1011 East Tudor Road dozen years, was the first fire train- Portland, OR 97232-4181 1 Federal Drive Hadley, MA 01035-9587 Anchorage, AK 99503 http://www.fws.gov/pacific/ Twin Cities, MN 55111-4056 http://www.fws.gov/northeast/ http://alaska.fws.gov/fire/ ing sponsored by FWS. refuges/fire/index.html http://www.fws.gov/midwest/fire refuges/fire default.cfmw REGION 2 REGION 4 REGION 6 REGION 8 P.O. Box 1306 1875 Century Boulevard 134 Union Boulevard 2800 Cottage Way W-2606 The FWS’s fire management pro- Albuquerque, NM Atlanta, GA 30345 Lakewood, Colorado 80228 Sacramento, CA 95825 87103-1306 http://www.fws.gov/southeast/ref- http://www.fws.gov/mountain- http://www.fws.gov/cno/fire/ gram is now administered as part of http://www/fws.gov/southwest/ uges/fire-management.html prairie/fire/ index.cfm firemanagement/ the FWS National Wildlife Refuge System (NWRS), with fire manage- ment coordinators in each of eight FWS regions. Zone and refuge fire management officers handle fire staff operations on the ground to protect and manage FWS lands and provide assistance to other Federal, State, and local agencies. More than 500 permanent employees and more than 200 seasonal and tempo- rary fire staff members support the fire management program across the United States.
The FWS Fire Management Fire Management Branch Branch, which includes 20 National Interagency Fire Center diverse professionals at the 3883 S. Development Avenue Boise, ID 83705 National Interagency Fire Center http://www.fws.gov/fire (NIFC) and a handful in other More than 500 permanent employees and 200 seasonal and temporary fire staff members locations, is responsible for policy, across the United States support the FWS fire management program.
Fire Management Today 28 budgeting, and oversight of the In 1933, naturalist Aldo Leopold reinforced the FWS’s national fire management concept of using fire to manage wildlife habitat program. In addition, about 2,000 FWS employees hold one when he identified “the axe, the match, the cow, or more qualifications under the the plow, and the gun” as the five critical tools for Interagency Qualifications and game management. Certification System (IQCS) to support wildland fire operations. FWS fire staff have helped train fire department, which purchased Every national wildlife refuge is firefighters from the U.S. military two small chippers and contracted required to have a detailed fire and foreign countries in basic a five-person crew to run them. management plan, part of the fire suppression, fire behavior, This community-based initiative comprehensive conservation plan and prescribed burning. As Brian provides an incentive for residents process that elicits ongoing public McManus, chief of the NWRS to clear vegetation from around involvement. Fire managers also branch of fire management, their homes by offering free chip- encourage residents near refuges sees it: “Because we are a small ping and mulch. to take responsibility for mitigat- organization, we tend to know each ing risk by implementing Firewise other and operate well together. Local Partners Are principles and participating in Managing our network of refuges in Essential community wildfire protection small communities has taught us plans. Refuge visitors are reminded to take a down-to-earth approach With more than 700 at-risk com- to be careful while enjoying the when working with our partners.” munities located near national outdoors—hot parts of all-terrain wildlife refuges and other FWS- vehicles, flames and embers from Active and Versatile managed lands, local residents are cooking stoves, and sparks from Fuels Management important partners in fire planning, firearm use could all start wild- fire protection, and fire manage- In addition to suppressing an aver- fires. As Fire Management Branch ment. In recent years, increased Chief Brian McManus puts it: “The age of 450 unwanted wildfires housing development around ref- that burn, on average, more than safety of people and their livelihoods uges, the acquisition of refuges comes first in everything we do.” 954,000 acres (386,000 ha) on its near urban settings, and a growing lands each year, FWS maintains an need for critical habitat for declin- Protecting Threatened active hazardous fuels reduction ing species have increased the com- program. With its strong history plexity of fire management issues. and Endangered and practice in the use of fire, FWS Thinning overgrown vegetation on Species is able to cost-effectively reduce and around FWS lands has become Under provisions of the Endangered fuels using prescribed fire on an increasingly important to keep fire Species Act of 1973 (ESA), with a average of 350,000 acres (142,000 from damaging both human and priority on human safety, the FWS ha) per year. More than 90 percent biological communities. of its fuels reduction treatments are accomplished using fire, often in combination with mechanical thinning, chemical treatment, and other means—including selective grazing. FWS fuels reduction proj- ects combat the spread of invasive plants and yield wood chips now used to supply paper factories and heat rural schools and homes. A mother and son watch goats graze as part Support crews at San Diego National A showcase project at San Diego of a hazardous fuels reduction treatment Wildlife Refuge provide free mulch chips to National Wildlife Refuge directs on a conservation easement at Stone Lakes nearby residents in exchange for clearing fuels reduction funds to the local National Wildlife Refuge, CA. Photo: Kipp flammable vegetation around their homes. Morrill, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2008. Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 2002.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 29 provides biological expertise to all fire management organizations. The ESA directs all Federal agen- cies to conserve threatened and endangered species and, in consul- tation with the FWS, to ensure that their actions do not unnecessarily jeopardize listed species or destroy or adversely modify critical habitat. FWS wildlife biologists consult with fire managers on hazardous fuels reduction projects and review fire management plans to maximize protection and management of threatened and endangered fish, wildlife, and plants. During many large wildfire incidents, wildlife biologists from FWS or the local jurisdiction will advise incident A home remains standing after wildfire at Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, AK, due to advance measures taken by the occupants to apply Firewise principles. Photo: U.S. Fish management teams on wildlife- and Wildlife Service, 2007. related values or concerns, noting that the ESA allows for emergency procedures and does not stand in U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service— the way of an emergency response. With an Emphasis on “Service”
Adapting to Ongoing By keeping natural areas in a sound condition, FWS can support wild- Change life populations and offer visitors wildlife-associated recreation opportu- A long-term land management nities on national wildlife refuges: sustainable hunting, freshwater and approach involves continual adapta- saltwater fishing, wildlife observation, photography, and environmental tion to changes in environmental education. These activities attract nearly 40 million visitors a year and conditions and sociopolitical priori- generate almost $1.7 billion in sales for regional economies (Carver and ties. Fire management is no excep- Caudill 2006). As this spending flows through communities, it creates tion. Whether facing loss of habitat jobs for nearly 27,000 people and generates $542.8 million in employ- and species, climate change, shift- ment income annually. ing demographics, or fluctuations in budgets and public support, the FWS continues to adjust its opera- References Leopold, Aldo. 1933. Game Management. tions to meet its goals in service New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons. 449 p. Carver, E.; Caudill, J. 2007. Banking on Stoddard, H.L. 1925. Report on cooperative to all Americans. As it looks to the nature 2006: The economic benefits to quail investigation, 1924. Washington, future, the FWS and its fire program local communities of national wildlife DC: U.S. Biological Survey, Committee managers anticipate further changes refuge visitation. Washington, DC: Representing the Quail Study Fund U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. in how it manages fuels and wildfire for Southern Georgia and Northern Fish and Wildlife Service, Division of Florida. 62 p. with ongoing flexibility and the col- Economics. 382 p. laboration of its partners.
Fire Management Today 30 The National Park Service: A History of Wildland Fire in Resource Management Roberta D’Amico and Bill Halainen
ver the 16 years prior to 1988, and updated their fire management Yellowstone National Park During the 1930s, plans, assisted by the ecological Omanaged 235 fires under its some managers in the assessment of a panel of indepen- natural fire policy. Only 15 of those dent scientists, and revised national fires were larger than 100 acres NPS began talking about fire management policies. Extensive (4.05 ha), and all were extinguished curtailing the universal evaluations of the effects of the fires naturally. But the summer of 1988 application of fire on the natural community were turned out to be the driest in the suppression to all lands. begun and continue to this day. In park’s recorded history, and the addition, the fire community began season’s fires gradually built up to a looking at the causes of the fires, ferocity unfamiliar to recent mem- the lessons that had been learned, cost of about $120 million. A total of ory. By late July, fires within the and the actions needed in the 793,000 of the park’s 2,221,800 acres park had burned almost 100,000 future. Because of its mission and (321,000 of 899,000 ha), or about 36 acres (40,500 ha) as dry fuels and management policies, the impacts percent, burned. high winds combined to make the on the NPS were particularly con- larger fires nearly uncontrollable. sequential and ushered in a new Although the fires were out by On the worst single day of the sum- age of fire management. fall, the impacts of this extraordi- mer, August 20, high winds pushed nary season continued. Across the fire across more than 150,000 acres Nation, the U.S. Department of The NPS Mission (60,700 ha). the Interior, National Park Service The legislation establishing the (NPS), and other Federal land NPS in 1916 (referred to simply as Despite the widespread miscon- management agencies suspended the Organic Act) stipulated, in its ception that all fires were initially “allowed” to burn, only 31 of the 248 fires that started in the greater Yellowstone area in the 1988 fire season were so managed. In the end, seven major fires were responsible for more than 95 percent of the burned acreage. Five of those fires were ignited outside the park, and three of them were human-caused fires that firefighters attempted to control from the beginning. More than 25,000 firefighters—as many as 9,000 at one time—attacked Yellowstone fires in 1988, at a total
Roberta D’Amico is the communica- tion director for Fire and Aviation Communications, National Park Service, Boise, ID. Bill Halainen is retired from the National Park Service and an avid histo- A crown fire approaches the Old Faithful Lodge, Yellowstone National Park, WY, rian and writer. September 1988. Photo: Jeff Henry, National Park Service.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 31 most salient passage, that the agen- Park supervisors insisted that “resource cy’s mission was to “conserve the scenery and the natural and histor- managers could restore fire to its natural role in ic objects and the wild life therein parks and wilderness…in a way that is acceptable and to provide for the enjoyment to the public.” of the same in such manner and by such means as will leave them unimpaired for the enjoyment of The NPS, then, has a mandate to suppression efforts on controlling future generations.” Key words in protect park lands, prevent their these fires: a pattern that was to this passage are “enjoyment” and degradation and impairment, persist for many years. “unimpaired,” and they have been and maintain natural processes the subject of much review and underway as they were before the This precedent proved strong. Fire opinion, legal and otherwise, in the encroachments of contemporary suppression was among the earliest nearly 100 years since the NPS was civilization. That mandate, how- management goals of the Nation’s created. Taken together, the terms ever, was not always clear. It has only national park. When Sequoia, invite a contradiction in the mis- taken many years for the NPS to General Grant, and Yosemite sion: human use on the one hand fully comprehend the implications national parks were established in and protection of the resource on of this policy, and the history of fire 1890, the policy of fire suppression the other. The passage on interpre- management in the agency mirrors and the utilization of the military tation of the Organic Act found in the evolution of this understanding. were also applied to these areas. the current version of Management Patrols were also undertaken to Policies, the NPS’s comprehensive The Beginnings of Fire guard against livestock trespass and policy statement, summarizes this Management illegal logging. discussion and provides clear direc- Yellowstone National Park became Over the ensuing years, a culture tion to managers on how to inter- the country’s first national park pret the act: of fire “control” grew within the in 1872. Although the park was NPS and its kindred agencies, par- assigned to the U.S. Department ticularly in the Forest Service. For “The enjoyment that is con- of the Interior, no Federal agency the next 50 years, fire suppression templated by the statute is received specific authority to man- reigned as this country’s dominant broad; it is the enjoyment of age this vast area. There was no wildland fire management strategy. all the people of the United organization or entity to protect Even so, total fire suppression had States and includes enjoyment the park, manage its many resourc- its opponents. both by people who visit parks es, or prepare it for visitors—and, and by those who appreciate above all, there was no funding for First Efforts at them from afar. It also includes such. It wasn’t until 14 years later deriving benefit (including that the Secretary of the Interior Managed Natural Fire scientific knowledge) and asked the Secretary of War to pro- During the 1930s, some manag- inspiration from parks, as well vide soldiers to protect the park ers in the NPS began talking about as other forms of enjoyment from human exploitation. curtailing the universal applica- and inspiration. Congress, rec- tion of fire suppression to all lands. ognizing that the enjoyment In the summer of 1886, a cav- Eivind T. Scoyen, the superinten- by future generations of the alry troop arrived in the park and dent at Glacier National Park at national parks can be ensured took charge. Just days before they that time, had seen first-hand the only if the superb quality of arrived, fires beyond human control futility of trying to control large park resources and values is raged within park boundaries. The fires in remote backcountry areas. left unimpaired, has provided cavalry quickly found itself in the By 1950, he was the superintendent that when there is a conflict business of fire suppression. The of Sequoia National Park and sup- between conserving resources Army determined that intention- ported the designation of a large and values and providing for ally set fires and human-caused research area in the park that enjoyment of them, conserva- fires along roads or developed areas would be excluded from fire sup- tion is to be predominant.” posed the biggest threat to the pression. He convinced his supe- landscape and so concentrated its riors to accept this strategy, and
Fire Management Today 32 the principle marked an important resource management. In 1962, the which abut each other, estab- alternative to current policy. For Secretary of the Interior charged lished a “natural fire management the first time, the rationale for a committee with looking into zone”— more popularly known letting these “natural” fires burn wildlife management problems as the “let-burn zone.” This zone was not simply economic; it was inside our country’s national parks. included areas above 9,000 feet also ecological. The 1950s was also This special group (named after (2,700 m), except where fuels were a significant decade for the NPS its chair, Dr. Starker Leopold, son continuous across the park bound- fire program. In 1958, Everglades of famed conservationist Aldo ary onto other non-NPS lands. National Park became the first Leopold) determined that our Within a few years, this fire pro- national park to use prescribed fire national parks should be managed gram began showing measurable (known then as research burns) on as whole, interdependent ecological results, and park supervisors insist- the landscape. systems, or “ecosystems.” The ed that it proved that “resource “Leopold Report” also argued for managers could restore fire to its In 1964, Yosemite National Park a new direction regarding the role natural role in parks and wilder- instituted a policy that all fires of fire. Managers in the NPS began ness…in a way that is acceptable to above 8,000 feet (2,400 m) be per- to recognize the benefits of fire’s the public.” Other parks soon fol- mitted to burn if reconnaissance presence as well as the harmful lowed suit, establishing similar pro- and evaluation showed that they consequences of its absence. grams. At nearly the same time, the could be contained by natural fuel Forest Service implemented similar breaks and that minimal harm- Enlightened and encouraged by the programs focusing on wilderness ful effects would result. While the Leopold Report, the NPS changed resources in the Selway, Bitterroot, reduction in suppression costs its fire policies in 1968. The agency and Gila National Forests. helped justify this fire management now recognized fire as an “ecologi- policy, the key consideration was cal process.” As long as fires could By the middle of the 1970s, the the ecological benefit of fire. This be contained within prescribed NPS promoted natural and pre- “new” concept was not a popular fire management units and would scribed fire as common practice. one, though, and the principle was accomplish approved management Most of the major national parks largely ignored by policymakers at objectives, naturally ignited fires (including Yellowstone, Yosemite, higher levels. were allowed to burn. Saguaro, Grand Teton, and Everglades national parks) had That began to change after the NPS Shortly thereafter, Sequoia and established similar programs. The completed a landmark study on Kings Canyon National Parks, NPS approved Yellowstone’s first fire management plan in the spring of 1972, though it designated only two prescribed natural fire zones. A 1975 revision designated the entire park as a prescribed natural fire zone. Managed natural fire soon became an accepted practice throughout the NPS.
Advances and Challenges In 1975, the lightning caused Waterfall Canyon Fire in Grand Teton National Park produced smoke that spread across Jackson, WY, totally obscuring the surround- ing mountain vistas. The thick smoke sparked a strong, antago- A firefighter monitors the Southwest Prescribed Fire at Devils Tower National Monument, nistic public outcry, with some WY, October 2007. Photo: Keith Mitchell, National Park Service.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 33 people accusing the park of having In the wake of the 1989 the wilderness fire policies of both a “scorched earth” policy toward the NPS and the Forest Service. In fire. With each day that the condi- national review, the its findings, this review team reaf- tions continued, whatever support “prescribed natural fire” firmed the fundamental importance that was once held for the policy programs at several of fire’s natural role, but it also rec- of allowing natural fires to burn national parks and a ommended that fire management quickly diminished. In Wyoming plans be strengthened by establish- and elsewhere across the country, few national forest ing clear management decision large segments of the general pub- wilderness areas were criteria and accountability. This lic either didn’t understand the reinstated. But, in many fire policy review team also deemed scientific basis behind allowing areas, fire managers that interagency cooperation had to such fires to burn or simply didn’t be improved. trust the “natural fire” message. were slow to promote Nonetheless, resource managers the use of naturally Meanwhile, both Secretaries sus- continued to support the program. ignited fire to benefit pended all prescribed natural fire programs effective on June 1, 1989, Experience gained from these resources. first naturally ignited fire “experi- and directed their agencies hence- ments” proved to be instrumental forth to suppress all natural fires in Although the fire started in a “low- in changing fire policy within all national parks and wilderness areas. risk zone” and was closely moni- Federal land management agencies. Until all fire management plans tored and managed for more than a The term “fire control” was, appro- conformed to the new Federal stan- month, sudden high winds pushed priately, replaced by “fire manage- dards, these natural fire programs it out of the zone and toward a ment.” The Forest Service, long were not to be continued. town just outside the park’s bound- committed to fire suppression, now ary. It was saved by a feature of accepted the value of fire and the topography: a small ridge deflected A New Start and New philosophy of “fire management.” the driving winds upward, halting Challenges the fire front and sparing the town. Discussions in the mid-1970s In the wake of the 1989 national to late-1980s centered around review, the “prescribed natural fire” The fire was finally controlled at appropriate planning requirements programs at several national parks month’s end, but it rekindled an and national environmental and a few national forest wilderness old argument between national and policy compliance for managing areas were reinstated. But, in many local constituencies regarding fire “prescribed natural fire” in large areas, fire managers were slow management practices. A board of wilderness areas. While this time to promote the use of naturally review investigating the fire con- period witnessed the successful ignited fire to benefit resources, cluded that the planning: (1) was implementation of many important, particularly following the harrow- not properly implemented, collaborative “natural fire” plans, ing and traumatic fire year of 1994, (2) did not adequately incorporate progress was nearly derailed by when 34 wildland firefighters died ecological information about Rocky two events: the 1978 Ouzel Fire in the line of duty. The National Mountain National Park, and (3) in Rocky Mountain National Park Fire Policy, revised in 1995, reiter- did not place enough emphasis on and the 1988 fires in Yellowstone ated that the first priority of all external considerations, such as National Park. Federal wildland fire programs is adjoining development. firefighter and public safety, but The 1978 Ouzel Fire marked the also stated that wildland fire was an The second major event came in first time a prescribed natural fire essential ecological process and an 1988, when fires in Yellowstone genuinely threatened a community. agent of natural change that had to burned across the landscape, This escaped natural fire represent- be considered in planning. Under ed a significant public relations and prompting major media attention the mandate of this new policy, the program-support problem for the and policy debates. In the after- Federal system focused on a fire’s NPS. What’s more, the Ouzel Fire math of the Yellowstone fires, the effects rather than the origin of a led to the perception that people’s Secretaries of Agriculture and of fire as the basis for decisionmaking. homes were in jeopardy due to a the Interior assembled a special By the end of the 1990s, the new Federal agency’s irresponsibility. fire policy review team to evaluate Federal wildland fire policy had
Fire Management Today 34 As stewards of park lands, NPS fire managers ferences among the Federal wild- balance diverse, complex, and sometimes land fire management agencies in seven operational clarifications and opposing objectives to allow fire to play its natural provided guidance for consistent role whenever and wherever possible. implementation of Federal fire policy. successfully reinvigorated “wild- destroyed 255 homes. The public Because of differences between land fire use” programs. Managers and political outcry was immediate individual agencies’ procedures, the received the support that they and loud. operational clarifications created needed to enable their naturally some confusion among firefighters ignited fire programs to develop In 2001, the Secretaries of deployed on fires, so another task and mature. Finally, Federal land Agriculture and of the Interior group was convened to review these management agencies developed gathered the interagency Federal additions and recommend new a systematic national approach to wildland fire policy working group guidance for implementing Federal wildland fire response focused on to review the implementation of wildland fire policy. The guidance, firefighter and public safety and the policy. This group also exam- released in March 2009, not only land restoration based on the best ined specific issues raised by the affirms existing policy, but also available science and designed to Cerro Grande Fire investigation allows fire staffs to adjust manage- span agency boundaries. As this teams and recommended several ment of fires to fit conditions of country entered the new century, changes to the 1995 wildland fire weather, fuels, and affected values; science-based response to naturally policy, primarily to clarify its ignited fire had an integral place in the current social and political purpose and intent, as well as to resource management. climate; and land and resource address issues not fully covered in management objectives. In one the guidance. Recommendations But, once again, a dark cloud was example, it is now acceptable to focused on five key themes in fire fast approaching to show that there suppress or slow fire spread along management to improve strategic was still more than science alone one portion of a fire’s perimeter direction and activities: (1) ecosys- to be considered. By the year 2000, due to potential negative effects tem sustainability, (2) fire planning, a series of drought years across while simultaneously managing and (3) fire operations, (4) interagency the West contributed to a critical monitoring fire activity on another coordination, and (5) program change in regional fire patterns. portion of its perimeter to achieve management and oversight. The In early May of 2000, a prescribed positive resource effects. burn in New Mexico’s Bandelier result was the adoption of the National Monument escaped con- Interagency Standards for Fire and trol lines. The subsequent Cerro Fire Aviation Operations—which NPS Fire Management Grande Fire burned more than brought all Federal wildland fire Today 48,000 acres (19,400 ha), and the management agencies’ policies “Fire is fire” is a familiar catch- fire front swept down into the into a single document—and phrase in the fire management town of Los Alamos, NM, where it revision of the Wildland Fire community, recognizing that fire Use Implementation Procedures is both a tool and a process that Reference Guide—which outlined shapes the landscape. Today, NPS standardized procedures for plan- managers use the goals and objec- ning and implementation of natu- tives established in their fire man- rally ignited fire response. agement plans to plan prescribed fires and respond to unplanned Policy development continued in fire, while maintaining human the following years. In 2003, an safety as the number one priority interagency group developed a at all levels of decisionmaking. As strategy for Federal wildland fire stewards of park lands, NPS fire An interpretive park ranger discusses the management policy addressing managers balance diverse, complex, Comb Fire with campers in Cedar Grove, the safety of firefighters and the and sometimes opposing objectives Sequoia, and Kings Canyon National Parks, CA, August 2005. Photo: Sheila sequencing of fire use events. The to allow fire to play its natural role Lindquist, National Park Service. group addressed operational dif- whenever and wherever possible.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 35 Wildland Fire Decision Support System Air Quality Tools A new air quality portal provides wildland fire decisionmakers with access to a variety of real-time and forecast air quality information .
Sim Larkin, Tim Brown, Pete Lahm, and Tom Zimmerman
moke and air quality informa- tion have an important role WFDSS replaces three past wildland fire decision Sin wildland fire decisionmak- ing that is reinforced in the 2009 analysis and documentation systems as a single “Guidance for Implementation of system applicable for all wildland fires. Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy.” A key intent of the guid- ance is to allow consideration and for wildland fires. This system cur- air quality tools are needed as part use of the full range of strategic rently incorporates access and use of the decision analysis and docu- and tactical options that are avail- of numerous datasets and models, mentation process to support man- able in the response to every wild- including weather analyses, fire agement decisions on unplanned land fire. This guidance directs behavior prediction tools, economic as well as planned ignitions. In that wildland fire responses will be assessment tools, and landscape response to recent medical findings, developed through evaluations of data acquisition and analysis pro- the U.S. Environmental Protection situational assessment and analysis cesses, to provide users with critical Agency (EPA) has strengthened of hazards and risk. It also defines information when making decisions virtually all air quality standards. implementation actions and directs on wildland fires. WFDSS replaces The increase in wildfire activity and documentation of decisions and three past wildland fire decision emissions along with the need to rationale. Smoke and air quality analysis and documentation sys- increase the use of prescribed fire are now among the top issues in tems as a single system applicable present a substantial challenge in decisionmaking, both on wildfires for all wildland fires. Developed meeting those standards. This chal- (unplanned ignitions) and pre- over the past 4 years, this system lenge further supports the need scribed fires (planned ignitions). was delivered for use in 2009, but and use of air quality tools, particu- Federal agencies have chosen to larly on long-duration wildfires, The Wildland Fire Decision Support implement it on an agency-specific which are well-suited for air qual- System (WFDSS) is a new Web- and sometimes phased-in approach. ity analyses to address public and based system designed to integrate Since April 2009, use of WFDSS air regulatory concerns regarding science and technology in support has resulted in documentation and smoke impacts. Geographic infor- of risk-informed decisionmaking analysis for more than 7,500 wild- mation system (GIS) layers like the fires by the five Federal wildland EPA National Ambient Air Quality Sim Larkin is a climate scientist at the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research fire management agencies and by Standard (NAAQS) nonattainment Station in Seattle, WA. Tim Brown is an 17 States and Alaska Native corpo- areas are being incorporated into associate research professor, director of rations in partnership with Federal WFDSS along with the creation of the Western Regional Climate Center, and director of climate, ecosystem, and agencies. This fire season, all five a new WFDSS Air Quality compo- fire applications at the Desert Research Federal wildland fire agencies are nent (WFDSS-AQ) to assist in those Institute in Reno, NV. Pete Lahm is the fire implementing WFDSS to a much analyses. air quality specialist for Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management in Washington, greater degree and some require DC. Tom Zimmerman is the Forest Service WFDSS on all wildland fires. WFDSS-AQ program manager for wildland fire man- The goal of WFDSS-AQ is to agement research, development, and appli- Air quality is a human health and cations at the National Interagency Fire advance decisionmaking through safety factor related to all fire, and Center in Boise, ID. the acquisition, analysis, and con-
Fire Management Today 36 sideration of air quality informa- tion. Version 1.0 is now available submitted via a feedback form at tion. Decisionmakers linked to the in beta version as an experimen- the bottom of the portal window. larger collection of available air tal design that can be accessed quality tools can markedly improve directly through the Web (
Users can filter the eight air quality tools available on WFDSS-AQ using Each tool is listed on the page with the following attributes to meet their specific needs: a number of attributes that can help the user filter down to those • TEXT-BASED: the information returned from the tool is provided as tools that meet his or her specific text; needs (see sidebar). • GRAPHICAL: the information returned from the tool is provided graphically, generally as a map or time series; Included AQ Tools • ATMOSPHERIC CONDITIONS: the tool provides information about the state of the atmosphere (weather, climate) that can be used to Smoke Guidance Point Forecast infer air quality conditions or potential dispersion of smoke; and Smoke Guidance Regional Maps • SMOKE: the tool provides information on smoke concentrations Many different pieces of informa- directly (forecasted or observed); tion available from weather and • INSTANT ACCESS: information is returned from the tool immedi- smoke forecast models are rel- ately, generally with “one-click” access from the portal; evant to air quality. These include • EASY TO USE: a subjective assessment of the air quality tool’s user simple measures such as mixing interface—those marked as such have little or no learning curve height and transport winds as required to access data; well as derived quantities such • LOCALIZED: the tool utilizes the fire location from WFDSS to pro- as the Haines index, all of which vide information local to the fire; are important for understanding • REGIONAL: the tool utilizes the fire location from WFDSS to pro- a fire’s potential smoke impact. vide information from a regional area around the fire; and These tools, from the National • INTERACTIVE: the tool’s interface allows the user to manipulate Fire Consortia for the Advanced parameters, input data, and rerun the underlying model, thereby Modeling of Meteorology and allowing the user to interact with the tool’s model and customize Smoke (FCAMMS) and hosted at results. the Desert Research Institute (DRI), provide a single point of access to Additionally, a second set of attributes is assigned based on the time a variety of these elements. This period of the information presented by the tool: can inform decisionmakers about fire and smoke activity that may • USES CLIMATOLOGICAL DATA: for tools that utilize and provide influence their respective area. Fine historical information; particulate matter (PM ) smoke • CURRENT CONDITIONS: for tools that provide the real-time (or 2.5 concentration values are also avail- near-real-time) conditions; able through forecasts enabled • 7 DAY+ FORECAST: for tools that provide forecasts extending into by the BlueSky Smoke Modeling the future 7+ days; Framework using SMARTFIRE fire • 3 DAY+ FORECAST: as above, but for forecasts extending 3+ days information (reflecting primarily (note that all tools meeting 7 DAY+ FORECASTS will also be listed wildfires). The Point Forecast tool in this attribute); and produces a text summary listing of • 1 DAY+ FORECAST: as above, but for forecasts extending 1+ days smoke dispersion parameters for (note that all tools meeting 3 DAY+ FORECASTS will also be listed in this attribute).
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 37 the location of the fire (fig. 1a), Diurnal Surface Wind Pattern a fire. The wind roses are divided while the Regional Maps can Analysis into day and night, utilizing the full be viewed at either regional or Wind speed and direction can be period of the RAWS data record to national (CONUS) scale (fig. 1b). critical factors affecting air qual- develop the climatology (fig. 1c). Both tools utilize National Weather ity impacts. This tool, provided by The bars on the wind rose represent Service model forecast guidance DRI’s Western Regional Climate the percentage of time from that available at 7.5-mile (12-km) reso- Center, provides climatological direction, and the color indicates lution out to 3 days and 25-mile wind roses from the collected net- the percentage of time that particu- (40-km) resolution out to 7 days. work of remote automated weather lar range of speed occurs. stations (RAWS) for the site nearest
(a) (b) (c)
(d) (e) (f)
(g) (h)
Figure 1—Examples of air quality information accessible through the WFDSS-AQ portal: (a) point forecast text table of weather and smoke information; (b) national map of mixing height [from National FCAMMS]; (c) daytime wind rose [from RAWS station data]; (d) climatology summary of ventilation index values [from VCIS]; (e) current conditions map of hourly AQI [from AIRNow]; (f) custom trajectories from fire locations [from SMARTFIRE Viewer]; (g) custom fuels, plume, and dispersion modeling [from BlueSky Playground]; (h) custom probabilistic impact maps based on climatological weather [from AQUIPT]. Additional types of output are also available.
Fire Management Today 38 How To Use the WFDSS-AQ Site Climatological Ventilation Index Point Statistics Ventilation index, the product of Access the WFDSS-AQ portal site from WFDSS or by going directly to mixing height and surface trans-
Current Air Quality Conditions Map A number of regional air quality monitoring networks exist that monitor conditions related to the NAAQS standards, such as PM2.5 or ozone concentrations. Air qual- ity data from most Federal, State, and local government monitors are collected via the EPA’s AirNow program. The data from these sites are presented via maps showing the air quality index (AQI) equivalent values (fig. 1e). An AQI of green (“good”) or yellow (“moderate”) is below the NAAQS level, while orange or above represents the potential for health impacts for var- ious groups. WFDSS-AQ currently The WFDSS-AQ portal (http://firesmoke.us/wfdss). The site can be accessed from within WFDSS, or as a stand-alone portal for other purposes, such as training. accesses information available to the public, but work is underway to enable WFDSS users to access all the monitoring data and techni-
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 39 cal tools in EPA’s AirNow program. tions. At each step, the user can period would have been and can Both national and regional maps choose from a variety of embed- serve as a guide for what may occur are available. ded models (e.g., CONSUME 3 and in the future. Maps of average FEPS for consumption), and direct- impact, maximum impact, and per- Fire-Specific Smoke Trajectories ly edit the model inputs. All model- cent time above a threshold impact Smoke trajectories can pro- ing is done while-you-wait, with level (e.g., the NAAQS standard for vide a quick way to examine the response times generally under 1 PM2.5) are provided (e.g., fig. 1h). likely geographic extent of plume minute. The user can go back, edit impact. This tool, provided by the previous choices, and experiment Future Development with different models or model SMARTFIRE Viewer created by the The WFDSS-AQ portal is designed options, thereby gaining insight Forest Service AirFire Team and to better incorporate air quality into model variability. Sonoma Technology, Inc. (STI), tools into a larger decision sup- allows the user to create trajec- Probabilistic Smoke Impacts port framework. It will continue to tories on a while-you-wait basis, Based on Past Weather undergo evaluation and evolution with response times of just a few The most complicated model- based on user feedback and emerg- seconds. Although they lack the ing system available through ing requirements. More and better spread of a full-plume model, these WFDSS-AQ, this tool (based on tools will be required in order to trajectories, coupled with the tool’s the Air Quality Impacts Planning fully address air quality, especially ability to quickly create many dif- Tool [AQUIPT] by the Forest given changing regulations such as ferent trajectories from nearby Service AirFire Team) is meant for the new lower standards for ozone starting locations, can provide the advanced modelers with an under- under the NAAQS. Improved user user with a quick look at a fire’s standing of statistics. The objective interfaces, more tailored graph- likely smoke transport. The tool is is to use historical weather infor- ics, and a closer integration with provided via a Web-based customiz- mation to build a probabilistic fore- WFDSS will be necessary to enable able GIS viewing system that allows cast of a planned fire or unplanned users to access and utilize air qual- the user to see fire location infor- fire of long duration. ity information without undue mation from ground reports, satel- burden. WFDSS-AQ is just the first lite detects, and sensitive receptor Such a forecast is most useful when step in this process, and we invite locations (fig. 1f). The trajectories the period of interest is multiple everyone to test out the WFDSS-AQ are run using the National Weather weeks to months into the future, site and provide feedback. Service’s meteorological model when weather forecast models can- guidance forecast and the HYSPLIT not predict the weather directly. Acknowledgments model. The viewer provides mul- Utilizing a 30-year climatology, the This work is a collaboration tiple zoom levels and background tool runs multiple scenarios of the layers for viewing purposes. between the Forest Service AirFire planned fire for the period of inter- Team (N. Larkin, T. Strand, R. est. This period can be set by date Solomon, M. Rorig, C. Krull, B. Customized Fuels, Consumption, conditions (e.g., the month of June Potter), the Forest Service Wildland and Smoke Modeling or the last week in September) or Fire Management RD&A WFDSS One of the most complex tools identified based on standard meteo- development team (T. Zimmerman, available through WFDSS-AQ, the rological burn parameters (e.g., R. Seli, M., Hovorka, G. Crabtree, BlueSky Playground by the Forest ranges of wind speed, temperature, B. Butler, D. Keller, M. Burgard, Service AirFire Team and STI, fea- and relative humidity). The output D. Rau), the Desert Research tures a relatively simple interface is a statistical representation of the Institute’s Program for Ecosystem (fig. 1g) that allows the user to smoke impacts modeled from the and Fire Applications (T. Brown, walk through a series of steps: from fire during past periods that meet H. Reinbold, D. Podnar), Sonoma fire activity information through the specified conditions. In this Technology, Inc. (S. Raffuse, K. fuel loading, fire consumption, fire way, the tool provides information Craig, D. Pryden, D. Sullivan, emissions, and plume rise, all the on what the probabilistic impacts of N. Wheeler, L. Chinkin), and way to surface smoke concentra- a fire occurring during the specified Forest Service Fire and Aviation Management (P. Lahm).
Fire Management Today 40 Coarse Estimation of Local Fire Return Intervals for Fire Management Matthew Tuten
Fire Return Intervals The steps required are as follows: and Fire Management Distributions of fire return intervals 1. Define the study area. The area The fire return interval is an often- should be comprised of an area cited indicator of historical fire developed from fire- a) that is relatively homogenous regime conditions. The interval scarred tree cross- in forest structure (species is often expressed as the mean sections can be used composition, age, fire history) number of years between two fires where detailed fire and abiotic conditions (aspect, recorded in the tree ring record slope, soils, etc.) and b) where within a specific site or given area. history studies are a significant questions regarding Several detailed accounts of this budgetary or logistical historical fire regime conditions indicator and others (Weibull medi- impossibility. exist. Examples of these areas an probability interval, natural fire might include areas containing rotation, and fire extent) are used documented threatened or in fire ecology literature to describe development of local fire manage- endangered species populations, fire regimes in many ecosystem ment plans. Study areas and fire high-visibility or high-use types (Agee 1993). Unfortunately, regimes described in the literature areas, or areas with localized detailed fire history studies are may be similar to or substantially unique ecological characteristics time consuming and expensive by different from those requiring man- (e.g., exposed rock layers, nature: they require trained person- agement attention. But in most isolated habitats, or rare species nel for the collection of fire-scarred situations, even a coarse level of assemblages). tree cross-sections, preparation of site-specific understanding of his- 2. Devote a predetermined amount cross-sections within a woodshop, torical fire regime conditions would of time for the field collection of and the application of dendro- be preferable to management action fire-scarred tree cross-sections. chronological methods for analysis. based upon distant, and likely dif- This will require personnel For these reasons, local estimates ferent, ecosystems. trained in the use of chainsaws of this important fire regime and data collection materials and parameter are typically unavailable Assessing the Local procedures. Within the defined at the project level for fire manage- Fire Return Interval area, collect a set number of fire- ment purposes. scarred sections from which data To gain a rapid, coarse-level under- can be extracted. It makes no standing of the fire return interval Fire managers must make use of sense to collect a large number of at the project scale (50–1000 acres; forest inventory data and the avail- samples or extremely decomposed 20–400 ha), distributions of fire able published information regard- samples if time is not available return intervals developed from ing fire regime parameters of the to devote to preparing and ana- fire-scarred tree cross-sections can ecosystem types they manage in the lyzing these specimens. Special be used where detailed fire history effort should be made to disperse studies are a budgetary or logisti- sampling throughout the project cal impossibility. The development area. (If a portion of the site is Matthew Tuten completed this work as of fire interval distributions is still completely devoid of fire evidence, a reasearch technician at the Ecological somewhat time-consuming by Restoration Institute, Nothern Arizona this should be considered and University, Flagstaff, AZ. He is now a for- managers but can be completed in addressed in the final analysis.) ester with the Grand Mesa, Uncompahgre, a fraction of the time required for and Gunnison National Forests in detailed fire regime assessments. Montrose, CO.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 41 Range of Per- 3. Mount sections to plywood Tree cross- Mean Standard backing, label specimens, and Tree Fire Interval sections(n) PMFI Deviation cut and finish (sand) the speci- Means men surfaces for analysis. 4. For each cross-section, count Central AZ 28 6.0 2.4 1-13.5 the number of tree rings Central CO 17 50.0 29.1 14-100 between the fire-scarred rings and document and Point mean fire interval (PMFI) statistics for central Arizona and Colorado study sites. present descriptive statistics summarizing this information ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa), shown in figures 1 and 2. For each for each sample. as evidenced by an abundance of scarred section, a PFMI was deter- 5. Create distributions of all pine stumps, but in the last century mined from all scars on that speci- intervals and determine point appear to have been succeeded by men. The mean, standard deviation, mean fire interval (PMFI) dense growth of more mesic species and range of all PMFIs determined statistics. These can be such as white fir and Douglas-fir. for each site are shown in table 1. calculated and recorded in an electronic spreadsheet. For each project, four to six trained While these methods of data analy- personnel collected field data over 1 sis and description were intention- Results of Two Studies to 2 days. The preparation of speci- ally less rigorous than those typi- mens using a table saw and power cally employed in published fire The following are two examples sander took 2 and 1 days, respec- history studies, the differences of the application of this method. tively, to complete. Laboratory between the results for the two For each study, significant ques- analysis of the prepared specimens sites are nonetheless striking. The tions relating to local historical required only a microscope and the pooled fire interval distributions fire regimes existed and a limited ability to count rings and distin- and the PMFI statistics appear to amount of time was available for guish fire scars. For all sections, describe two very different histori- data collection and analysis. The only the number of years between cal fire regimes. For the Arizona first study site is located in the fires was recorded; no dates were site, the pooled fire interval Bradshaw Mountains in Arizona at associated with fire events. The distribution is skewed dramati- an elevation of 6,800 to 7,400 feet entire process for each site, includ- cally to the lower interval classes. (2,070 to 2,260 m). The second ing data analysis, was completed Additionally, the mean PMFI was study site is located on the north along with other project work in very short (6 years), and little vari- slope of the San Juan Mountains less than 3 months. ability in fire interval length (std. in central Colorado at an eleva- dev. = 2.4 years) was observed in tion of 9,100 to 9,500 feet (2,280 Pooled distributions of all fire the 28 cross-sections collected to 2,900 m). Both sites appear to intervals measured at each site are within the study area. At this site, have been historically dominated by the argument for a frequent-fire
90 12 80 10 70 y
y 60 8 c n
e 50 6 u q
40 equenc e r r
F 4
F 30 20 2 10 0 0 0-10 10- 20- 30- 40- 50- 60- 70- 80- 90- 100- 0-10 10-20 20-30 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 Interval Class (years) Interval Class (years) Figure 1—Fire regime distribution, central Arizona. In 28 Figure 2—Fire interval distribution, central Colorado. Forty- collected sections, there were 90 measured fire return intervals. six intervals were measured in 17 collected sections. There was The most common interval class (80 of 90 measurements) was a broad distribution of intervals, though most were grouped in the 0-10 year interval. As a result, the central Arizona fire in the more frequent interval classes. As a result, the central regime is considered a “frequent fire regime” (0- to 35-year fire Colorado fire regime is considered a “frequent to moderate return interval). frequency” fire regime (0- to 100-year fire return interval).
Fire Management Today 42 While these methods of data analysis and seem to signify that a mix of short- to moderate-length fire return description were intentionally less rigorous than intervals was common at this site those typically employed in published fire history in historical times. studies, the differences between the results for the two sites are nonetheless striking. Conclusion It is well known that the long-term management of fire frequency in regime (<35 years between fires), chronological cross-dating methods ponderosa pine forests may have based upon the interagency fire were employed, it is possible that extremely broad ecological implica- regime condition class (FRCC) defi- intervals may be slightly larger or tions for ecosystem structure and nition (Hann et al. 2004), is very smaller to the degree that over- function. It is also one of only a few strong, if not overwhelming. looked or misinterpreted rings were fire regime parameters that can be present within the tree ring record For the Colorado site, the data easily controlled and documented for each scarred cross-section. paints a different picture. At this through fire management. The meth- site, a much smaller proportion of ods employed in these two studies measured intervals were shorter Interpretation yield practical information related to than 10 years; most fell within the Even with these shortcomings, fire this single, but very important aspect 20- to 40-year range. Many moder- interval data produced from cross- of historical fire regimes. ate length fire return intervals (40– sections can be used managerially. 110 years) were also observed in References this distribution. The mean PMFI At the Arizona site, it is clear from from the 17 cross-sections collected the findings of this study that fire Agee, James K. 1993. Fire ecology of Pacific frequency in historical times (prior Northwest forests. Washington, DC: at this site was much higher and Island Press. 490 p. more variable, indicating a mix to the 1870s) is markedly different Dieterich, J. H.; Hibbert, A. R. 1990. Fire of different observed fire interval from fire incident over the last cen- history in a small ponderosa pine stand tury. The time period since the last surrounded by chaparral. In: Krammes, lengths across the study area. J. S., tech. coord. Effects of fire manage- historical fire is over eight times ment of southwestern natural resources: Study Limitations the longest fire interval measured Proceedings of the symposium. Gen. (18 years) from 28 cross-sections. Tech. Rep. RM-191. Fort Collins, CO: The results of these small-scale This data fits well with published Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Forest studies are not entirely free of and Range Experiment Station: 168–173. fire history studies from similar Hann, W.; Shlisky, A.; Havlina, D.; Schon, ambiguity. It was assumed that the surrounding areas (Dieterich and K.; Barrett, S.; DeMeo, T.; Pohl, K.; fires observed on each cross-section Hibbert 1990). Menakis, J.; Hamilton, D.; Jones, occurred prior to Euro-American J.; Levesque, M.; Frame, C. 2004. settlement during a period of intact Interagency fire regime condition class At the Colorado site, the situation guidebook. Version 1.3.0 (last update historical fire regimes, as no post- is less clear. A mix of long and January 2008). Available at
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 43 A Foundation for Initial Attack Simulation: The Fried and Fried Fire Containment Model Jeremy S. Fried and Burton D. Fried
Why Simulate Initial fire occurrence, fire behavior, fire- Attack? The fire’s rate of spread fighting capacity, and firefighting at the front of the line- challenge (as manifest in fireline Fire protection planners have long productivity). Modelers often simu- sought analytic approaches for building effort will be late containment of fire events from evaluating the effectiveness and continually increasing as multiple fire seasons (either by efficiency of fire protection organi- the unit moves closer running event data from actual fire zations. A reasonably faithful rep- seasons or from “synthetic” seasons resentation of initial attack is a key to the head of the fire, simulated so as to be consistent requirement for almost any analysis where fire spread rate with the distributions of fire occur- in exploring alternative configura- is maximum. rence, behavior, etc. from actual tions of initial attack. fire seasons). While one could attempt to simulate the growth ratio ellipse representing a freely Early Efforts and containment of each wildfire burning, uncontained fire and 2) Simplistic simulations of ini- in a spatially explicit modeling the length of fireline that could be tial attack date to the 1970s: for environment such as FARSITE, this constructed as modeled firefight- example, in the Forest Service approach is time-intensive, and it is ing resources “arrived” at the fire. National Fire Management Analysis not clear if there are advantages to If the two values, perimeter length System’s Initial Action Assessment and constructed fireline length, using this technique over modeling (NFMAS-IAA) model and the converged, the fire was declared a broad range of fire behaviors with U.S. Department of the Interior’s contained. If this did not occur response times and fireline produc- Airpro model. In the NFMAS-IAA within a specified time or before tivities based on representative geo- model, which sought to identify the fire had grown to a specific graphic information system data. the configuration of initial attack size, an escape event was declared. Instead, contemporary initial attack resources that would minimize fire- Although computationally simple, models, such as the California Fire fighting costs and the net change this convention (or algorithm) Economics Simulator (CFES) ver- in resource values resulting from produced overestimates of fire sion 2 and the Interagency Fire fires, the fire containment process size—sometimes by a factor of 10 Program Analysis’ Initial Response was represented in caricature—in or more—because no “credit” was Simulator (FPA-IRS), simulate other words, as a highly simpli- given for the effects of line-building containment on thousands of fied version of the real world. The efforts by early-arriving resources such quasi-spatially represented model tracked two numbers sepa- in slowing in the growth of the fire. fires. Both of these models rely on rately as the simulation of initial the Fried and Fried containment attack progressed: 1) the perimeter Scaling Up, Enhancing algorithm (Fried and Fried 1996), of a growing, 2:1 length-to-width Realism which models the effect of suppres- sion efforts on fire growth, allows Capturing the essence of fire man- simulation of any mathematically agement in a simulation context representable fire shape, provides typically requires simulating initial Jeremy Fried is a research forester for the for “head” and “tail” attack tactics Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research attack for thousands of simulated as well as parallel attack (building Station in Portland, OR. Burton Fried fires in any given scenario due to fireline parallel to but at some off- (deceased) was a professor emeritus in the considerable local, spatial, and the Department of Physics, University of set distance from the free-burning California, Los Angeles, CA. temporal, real-world variability in fire perimeter, alone and in combi-
Fire Management Today 44 nation with “firing out”), and sup- How It Works at a constant forward rate of spread, ports dynamic (variable) forward calculated from slope, fuels, and The following scenario illustrates rates of spread and fireline pro- weather data for the location how the simulation works: ductivity over the course of initial (extracted from enterprise data). A single firefighting unit arrives at attack (fig. 1). The unit anchors at the tail (heel) the scene of a fire. The fire spreads and begins line construction. The unit works its way around the fire perimeter (fig. 2). If the line holds Fried & Fried tail attack perimeter: 10.1 acres, 58 minutes and the unit is catching the fire, there will be a net decrease in over- all fire spread. No further spread will occur where the perimeter is contained, but the fire’s rate of spread at the front of the linebuild- Tail Head ing effort will be continually increasing as the unit moves closer to the head of the fire, where fire spread rate is maximum.
Note that, in a head attack, the NFMAS perimeter: 32.8 ac, 80 minutes opposite is true: even if fireline pro- duction is declining—for example, Fried & Fried head attack perimeter: 3.5 acres, 39 minutes due to engines running out of water or crews becoming exhaust- Figure 1—Final simulated perimeters, sizes, and containment times of a fire that is 0.01 ed—there will still be a chance of acres atFigure report 1. time, has a forward rate of spread of 20 chains/hour, is assumed to have containing the fire as linebuilding a 2:1 length-to-width ratio elliptical shape when free-burning (not suppressed), and is attacked on two flanks 20 minutes after reporting by two resources, each producing fire- efforts approach the tail. line at 35 chains per hour, using the NFMAS algorithm and the Fried and Fried algorithm with tail and head attack options. The algorithm represents one flank of the contained fire perimeter as a differential equation in which location of the constructed contain- g in ld ment line is a function of the ratio Backing fire ui eb (lowest rate of spread) lin of fireline productivity to forward of n io rate of spread. For simplicity and ct ire D computational tractability, the sec- Tail Direction of fire Head ond flank is assumed to be a mirror image of the first flank. D ire Anchor point cti on If, in the above example, the unit is of li unable to make net progress toward ne bu il the head of the fire, for example, di ng because the aggregate linebuild- Head fire ing rate is dwarfed by the rate of (full forward rate of spread) perimeter expansion, linebuilding resources become inadequate for Flanking fire (reduced rate of spread) the task, engines run out of water, or hand crews become exhausted, the fire would “outrun” the sup- Figure 2—Schematic representation of a tail attack on an elliptical fire that would have a 2:1Figure length 2. to width ratio if free-burning. Rate of spread at the point of linebuilding pression resources and exceed increases steadily as firefighters get closer to the head. simulation limits.
Volume 70 • No. 2 • 2010 45 D Inputs to the Algorithm E F For each fire to be modeled, the Fried and Fried algorithm requires C B the following inputs: (1) report- A G ing time, (2) fire size at reporting time, (3) forward rate of spread, (4) length-to-width ratio of the ellipse, (5) type of attack (head, tail, or parallel), (6) offset distance (if Label Arriving Arrival Time Change in Production Rate Point resource minutes chains per hour parallel), and (7) simulation size A Small crew 5 +2 and time limits. In addition, for B Small engine 25 +6 each ground-based line-building C Large crew 30 +25 resource dispatched to the fire (for D Air tanker 40 +240 example, fire engines, bulldoz- E Air tanker 41 -240 F Bulldozer 55 +45 ers, or hand crews), the algorithm G #N/A 62 Fire contained requires the following inputs: (1) time of arrival; (2) initial productiv- FigureFigure 3—Perimeter 3. of a fire attacked from the tail by five resources. Note that 1) as ity (in chains per hour); (3) time at production rate changes with the arrival of resources, forward progress in containing the fire adjusts accordingly, 2) the air tanker drop is modeled as a one minute long burst of which productivity drops from an high productivity between points D and E, 3) production rates are halved by the model to initial, high rate to a lower, more fulfill the assumption of symmetry between the two fire flanks, and 4) the final fire shape sustainable rate; and (4) the associ- is more elongated than the assumed 2:1 free-burning elliptical shape because attack was from the tail. (Successful head attacks result in less elongated fire shapes.) ated sustainable production rate. Air tanker and helicopter drops of resents the one-flank containment be contained. Because the one-flank water and retardant are represented boundary as a differential equation containment line is fully repre- somewhat differently. The length of and then attempts to solve it using sented in the model following solu- containment line corresponding to numerical integration. Solution tion of a differential equation, it is a drop is a required input, but the of the equation is successful if the computationally straightforward algorithm translates this distance resources are sufficient to contain to calculate the area “under” that to a rate of line production that will the fire and fails if the resources flank using numerical approxima- continue for 1 minute, resulting in are not. tions and then double the result to the specified length of containment get the full area of the contained line. Thus, a drop that produced 10 The differential equation can fail fire. If this area exceeds the simula- chains (200 m) of fire line would mathematically if the linebuilding tion size limit or the containment be represented by the algorithm as rate is less than the spread rate of time exceeds the simulation time 600 chains (12,070 m) per hour for the fire and firefighters would be limit, the fire is classified as exceed- 1 minute (600 chains per hour x overcome by the fire unless they ing simulation limits; otherwise, it 1 hour/60 minutes = 10 chains per abandon the attack. In this situa- is classified as contained. minute). Such drops can generate tion, the algorithm attempts to “re- rapid linebuilding progress that is run” the simulation, delaying the What We Can Learn quite noticeable on a plot of the fire initiation of attack until the arrival We can learn much in analyzing perimeter (fig. 3). of the next firefighting resource or the parameters of fires that exceed until the simulation time limit is simulation limits. Some fires could Will the Fire Be exceeded. If re-runs are unsuccess- have been contained by initial ful in achieving containment, the Contained? attack resources but not within fire is labeled “outrun” and classi- The algorithm outputs whether or the specified size or time limits. fied as having exceeded simulation not the fire could be contained with These limits are typically set at the limits. the available resources and, if so, point at which a fire would transi- the containment time and final size tion from an initial attack fire to If the solution of the differential of the fire in perimeter and area. equation does not fail mathemati- an extended attack fire or when Using all of the input data provided, cally, then the simulated fire may the shape for a free-burning fire the Fried and Fried algorithm rep-
Fire Management Today 46 changes from a shape easily rep- Algorithm realism of initial attack—make them less resented by an algebraic function, and flexibility have useful for modeling multiday fires. such as an ellipse, to a more com- However, the comparatively short plex, irregular shape in response to proven instrumental but critically important period of geographical or environmental con- in facilitating initial attack imposes no artificial ditions (for example, when the fire simulation of a wide limitation on the usefulness of the has become large enough to extend range of scenarios, algorithm in a strategic planning and budgeting system. fingers up adjacent canyons or including alternative when wind direction has changed significantly since fire ignition). budgets, initial attack Models such as CFES and FPA-IRS, For other fires, there is little hope configurations, fuels, both of which employ this algo- of ever achieving containment with and changing climates. rithm as the initial attack simu- initial attack because the produc- lation engine, are well-suited to tion rates of firefighting resources marginal analysis—examining the are no match for a rapid forward effects of incremental changes to is an issue, and provide guidance rate of spread. budgets and, ultimately, the con- on prioritizing areas for fuels man- figuration of initial attack on fire agement. Because the resource Some fires fall in a middle ground, suppression effectiveness. CFES has arrival times are known from the in which containment is possible been used by the State of California inputs and the containment time but risky. On such fires, contain- to help ensure consistency in fire is known from the outputs, it is ment involving airdrops would be response across the State. FPA-IRS also possible to use models built on possible except that a retardant or generates lists of fire scenarios that this algorithm to examine resource water drop could push the contain- exceed simulation limits and passes utilization—the specific resources ment efforts on the ground toward them to FPA’s large-fire module, a assigned to fight the fire—both the head of the fire, where the local modeling system that accounts for for specific fires and for all fires in spread rate is closer to the full for- landscape-scale fuel management a fire season. If costs are assigned ward rate of spread; working where and firefighting organization in to modeled resource utilization the spread rate is high may over- addressing large wildland fires and according to initial attack para- whelm ground-based firefighting defining final fire areas. meters, then it is also possible to resources, triggering a provisional assess some components of fire- “exceeds simulation limits” classi- fighting costs through the model. This containment algorithm is also fication. In other instances, a drop- integrated into the BEHAVE fire off in the fireline production rate of modeling system so that outcomes ground forces can trigger an outrun Caveats and for specific fires can be easily condition and represent a provi- Applications analyzed. Algorithm realism and sional “exceeds simulation limits” The Fried and Fried containment flexibility have proven instrumen- status. In still others, an upward, algorithm was designed to repre- tal in facilitating simulation of a diurnal adjustment to the forward sent initial attack scenarios only. wide range of scenarios, including rate of spread as a fire burns from It does not address extended attack alternative budgets, initial attack morning into afternoon may trigger fires for which (1) an elliptical fire configurations, fuels, and chang- the “outrun” condition. In all three shape assumption is likely unrealis- ing climates. These attributes have scenarios, the fire can be rerun by tic, (2) quite different containment contributed to acceptance of simu- the algorithm with a delayed initia- tactics may be deployed, (3) fuel lation results by managers and fire- tion of containment effort, but only types (and thus both forward rate fighters alike. a subset of such fires will ultimately of spread and fireline production be classified as “contained.” rates) may vary over the contain- Reference ment boundary, and (4) spot fires Fried, J.S.; Fried, B.D. 1996. Simulating We can learn something about may figure prominently in the fire- wildfire containment with realistic tac- the efficacy of our dispatch rules fighting challenge. Moreover, sim- tics. Forest Science. 42:267-281. from patterns in modeled fires that plified assumptions—such as air- exceed simulation limits, identify drop-created fireline being “perma- areas where availability of resources nent,” at least over the time-scale
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