A Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire
by Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph.D.
Published by FUSEE Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology
January 2005 ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Timothy Ingalsbee, Ph.D. is the executive director of Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE), and is a former wildland firefighter for the U.S. Forest Service and National Park Service. Ingalsbee is a nationally recognized writer and speaker on wildland fire ecology and management issues that link firefighter safety with community protection and ecological restoration. Ingalsbee directed the Western Fire Ecology Center for the American Lands Alliance from 1997 to 2004. In 2002 Ingalsbee was appointed by former Oregon Governor Kitzhaber to serve on the Western Governors' Association's collaborative stakeholder group that developed the Implementation Plan and Performance Measures for the Ten-Year Comprehensive Strategy and National Fire Plan. In 2003 he was elected to secretary of the board of directors for the nonprofit Association for Fire Ecology. Ingalsbee is also an adjunct professor in the Environmental Studies Department at the University of Oregon, and teaches a seminar on Forests, Fires and Society.
ABOUT FIREFIGHTERS UNITED FOR SAFETY, ETHICS, AND ECOLOGY (FUSEE): FUSEE (pronounced FEW-zee) is a national nonprofit organization founded in 2004 that is dedicated to uniting wildland firefighters to promote safe, ethical, and ecological fire management. FUSEE members include current and former wildland firefighters, other fire professionals, rural homeowners, and other citizens supportive of the mission and activities of FUSEE. A "fusee" is a quick-igniting, handheld torch used by firefighters to secure firelines, create safety zones, reduce hazardous fuel loads, and restore fire- adapted ecosystems.
FUSEE's acronym announces vital parts of its organizational mission: Firefighters: reforming wildland fire management from the ground up. United: championing firefighter solidarity and workplace issues. Safety: empowering firefighters to assert their rights to health and safety on the firelines. Ethics: serving the public interest by promoting the highest professional standards and conduct, and exposing waste, fraud, and abuse of public resources. Ecology: restoring fire to wildlands and ensuring that fire management policies and practices meet authentic ecological objectives.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: The author would like to thank the following FUSEE members for their thoughtful reviews of the manuscript: Tom Ribe, Rich Fairbanks, Joseph Fox, and Stephen Clarke. Thanks also goes to Catia Juliana for formatting the photos and text for this publication. All photos are courtesy of the Bureau of Land Management
For more information or to receive hardcopies of the Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire: FUSEE, P.O. Box 51016, Eugene, OR 97405 phone: 541-302-6218 email: [email protected] website: www.fusee.org
2 TABLE OF CONTENTS
Section I: Introduction 4 Section II: Incendiary Rhetoric: Getting Beyond Hype and Hysteria 5 War Metaphor 5 Catastrophe Mentality 6 Usual Suspects: Fire as Villain, Homeowners as Victims, Firefighters as Heroes 7 Section III: Fireside Chats: Getting Beyond Official Sources for Information and Interviews 7 Wildland Firefighters 8 Fire Scientists and Fire Ecologists 8 Local Homeowners and Community Members 9 Small Business Owners 9 Conservation Volunteers and Timber Workers 9 Section IV: Burning Issues: Essential Fire Ecology Terms and Concepts 10 Fire Ecology 10 Fire Triangle and Fire Environment 10 Fire Behavior and Fire Effects 10 Fire Risk and Fire Hazard 11 Fire Types: Ground, Surface, Crown Fires 11 Fire Intensity and Fire Severity 11 Fire Management 12 Fire Regimes 12 Fire Return Interval 13 Fire-Adapted Species 13 Section V: Blowing Smoke, Venting Heat, or Shedding Light? Myths Versus Facts 13 Myth: Firefighters Can Physically Put Out Large Wildfires 14 Myth: We Can Prevent Wildfires or Fireproof Forests 14 Myth: Large Wildfires are Caused by High Fuels Loads and Dense Forest Stands 15 Myth: Commercial Logging Helps Prevent Wildfires 16 Myth: Livestock Grazing Helps Prevent Wildfires 16 Myth: Road-building Helps Prevent Wildfires 17 Myth: Recent Summers Have Been the Worst Fire Seasons in History 17 Myth: Most Wildfires Burn in Densely Forested Areas of National Forests 18 Myth: There Are Only Two Responses to Wildfire: Totally Suppress It or Let It Burn 18 Section VI: Smoke Reports: Covering Underreported Issues 18 Risks to Firefighter Safety: Near Misses 19 Taxpayer Costs of Fighting Fire 20 Environmental Impacts of Firefighting 21 Benefits of Prescribed Burning and Wildland Fire Use 22 Role of Climate Change in Prevalence of Large Wildfires 23 Role of Past Commercial Logging and Livestock Grazing on Wildfire 23 Section VII: All the Words Fit to Print: New Fire Management Terminology 24 Section VIII: Questioning Authority: Asking Critical Questions of Government Fire Officials 25 Firelines 25 Retardants 26 Firing Operations (e.g. Burnouts and Backfires) 26 Fire Costs 27 Suppression Strategy and Rationale 27 Post-Fire Rehabilitation 27 Section IX: Conclusion 28 Section X: Comprehensive Glossary of Wildland Fire Management Terms and Concepts 28-38
3 Section One Introduction
Every summer thousands of wildland fires, both large and small, ignite across the U.S. The largest, most severe wildfires provide reporters with all the elements needed for exciting news stories: Crisis and conflict, drama and suspense, death and destruction. Wildfire stories also carry a readymade template for framing the story, identifying the main characters, and describing the unfolding events.
However, wildfire stories often follow a standard script that sometimes verges on sensationalist hype and hysteria. This tendency is rooted in the dominant cultural attitude toward fire, and can be exacerbated by the intense commercial pressures of the news business. The net result may produce riveting stories, but this misses an opportunity to more accurately and fully inform the public with the whole story.
In addition to being inaccurate and incomplete, year after year of the same boilerplate wildfire "shtick" is getting boring. This Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire is intended to help improve the accuracy, quality, and value of press accounts of wildfire events. It is hoped that this Guide will inspire more alternative and investigative reporting on wildfire events as well as coverage of a broader array of important fire management issues beyond the typical focus on firefighting.
This Reporter's Guide includes constructive criticisms of the typical problems of wildfire reporting: Overused angles, unexamined assumptions, ecological illiteracy, inaccurate terminology, biased sources, unasked questions, and underreported issues. These critiques are then followed by suggestions for new story angles, better word choices, more challenging questions, expanded information sources, and alternative issues to cover.
Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) trusts that some journalists will be motivated to break out of the trite story line that, to-date, has framed the vast majority of wildland fire articles. Using the tips and tools in this Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire will help journalists produce more powerful, informative, inspiring news stories that reflect the best ideals of the journalistic profession.
Firefighters using fusees to ignite controlled fires.
4 Section Two Incendiary Rhetoric: Getting Beyond Hype and Hysteria War Metaphor
One of the biggest problems is the overused story frame that has become the boilerplate script for reporting on wildfires: The depiction of firefighting through the rubric of "war." Along with this standard storyline comes a predictable cast of characters: Wildfire is portrayed as a heinous villain, homeowners are its hapless victims, and firefighters are heroic victors.
Journalists are not solely to blame for repeatedly using these hackneyed angles, for they represent dominant cultural attitudes about forest fires often perpetuated by government agencies. Military models and metaphors are pervasive in the discourse of fire management, beginning with the concept of fire fighting and extending to the array of suppression strategies and tactics all defined as various kinds of attack. When journalists use language like "fighting fires" or "battling blazes," though, they are actually utilizing terms loaded with ideological content.
What exactly are the implications of a society that is perpetually making war on wildfire, essentially a war on nature itself? And what are the political and economic interests of the firefighting establishment who have vested stakes in perpetuating the so-called "war"? These are tougher questions that hard-hitting journalists should be asking. Overheated rhetoric about the "war on wildfire" is both inaccurate and irresponsible. Please refer to Section 7 of this Guide for suggested alternative terminology that more accurately portrays the nature of wildland fires and their social and ecological effects.
In fact, the federal government's antagonistic stance towards wildfire in the last century stands in stark contrast to our species’ vital relationship with wildland fires spanning millennia. This cultural and ecological legacy, as well as a broad range of contemporary fire management activities aimed at restoring historic fire regimes, are obscured by the media's "war on wildfire" metaphor. By essentially militarizing fire management issues, conventional news stories inhibit informed public debate over future alternative policies and practices that might help our society resolve its continual crises and conflicts with wildland fire.
Military metaphors used to describe firefighting are not only flawed and inaccurate, but they have become in the words of renowned fire historian, Stephen Pyne, "a cliche, made banal by misuse and overuse." (Pyne, 2003: 114) The effect of consistently using the same worn-out phrases of firefighting as combat, Pyne warns, is that eventually the public will become bored. Thus, although war metaphors have become easy, time- tested, proven literary devices to write exciting fire stories, they are also unimaginative, time- worn, and overly predictable. Like governmental campaigns against poverty, crime, and drugs; the rhetoric of making “war on wildfire” will someday lose its ability to stimulate and command attention. Firefighters reading the news in fire camp.
5 For all of the above reasons, FUSEE believes now is the time for journalists to break out of the trite story mold that frames the vast majority of wildfire articles, and start developing alternative angles and descriptors for reporting on fire. Catastrophe Mentality
After war, the next most popular way to portray wildfire events is that they are universally "destructive" and "catastrophic." Language describing fires as “consuming” acres and “incinerating” forests, and enumerating acres "lost" to wildfire bolsters that image of catastrophe. Yet, the fact remains that there is absolutely no source definition in the scientific literature for the concept of "catastrophic" wildfire!
Like floods, windstorms, insect and disease outbreaks, wildland fires are natural disturbances that have affected forest ecosystems for millennia. Even the most severe wildfires do not completely consume all forest biomass. To the contrary, fire-killed trees provide a biological legacy that is vital for forest regeneration and development of old-growth stands and the wildlife that inhabits old-growth forests. Fire changes ecological conditions in ways that create new habitats for shifting assemblages of vegetation and wildlife that industrial timber plantations cannot replicate. Although fires can kill large numbers of trees, in general, high-severity patches constitute only a small fraction of most fire areas.
Most large-scale wildfires that are labeled "catastrophic" actually exhibit a broad range of effects from low to high severity, and there can be large areas within wildfire perimeters that are completely untouched by the fire. For example, analysis of Forest Service statistics from the 2000 Bitterroot fires and the largest wildfires of the 2002 season (the Biscuit, Hayman, McNalley, and Rodeo-Chediski fires) reveals that, on average, only 23% of these areas burned with high severity; 24% had moderate severity; and 52% of these areas experienced low severity or were unburned! The diverse effects of fire across landscapes has been called the "fire mosaic," and it facilitates rich biological diversity. Disregarding this fact, some journalists continue to label nearly all wildfires as "catastrophic," mistakenly implying that every acre within a burned area was totally incinerated.
Part of the problem may be that journalists rarely get the opportunity to return to formerly burned areas to witness natural recovery. Even within the most severely burned areas, natural succession processes start to revegetate the sites almost as soon as the fire is out. If journalists were to do follow-up stories a year or two or even a decade after a big fire event, what was formerly viewed as a “catastrophe” would more accurately be viewed as change, and the image of phoenix forests, or forests arising out of the ashes, would visibly emerge.
Forest and fire ecologists now recognize the natural diversity of fire behavior and effects, and take a longer-term view of forest dynamics. It is time for journalists to take a longer view, as well, and to commit to greater accuracy in their depictions of fire behavior and effects. Otherwise, reporters play into the hands of powerful political, governmental, and economic interests who seek to profit from public perceptions of wildland fires as "catastrophes" and "crises." For example, government and industry gain enormous powers to fight fires without any fiscal constraint or public accountability, and to "salvage" log burned trees with little or no regulatory restraint under self-proclaimed "states of emergency." Journalists need to maintain a critical and skeptical stance towards official "crisis-mongerers."
6 Usual Suspects: Fire as Villain, Homeowners as Victims, Firefighters as Heroes
Along with news stories using the military metaphor and catastrophe mentality comes a common cast of characters: Villainous wildfire, victimized homeowners, and valorized firefighters. But these characterizations are overused and inaccurate. The dogmatic, one-dimensional view of wildfire as a destructive agent ignores the absolute fact that it can also be a creative biological force that provides many beneficial ecological and economic services.
The routine depiction of homeowners as helpless, hapless victims threatened by wildfire denies them any personal responsibility for actions they took or failed to take in order to protect their homes and properties. In actuality, many counties and local fire departments across the West are requiring people to clear brush and create defensible space around the homes. Those homeowners who do not manage the fire hazards on their own properties face possible fines--or worse: firefighters may refuse to defend those homes in the event of wildfire.
Finally, though many firefighters are selfless and altruistic heroes, this typical portrayal obscures the power and profit incentives that motivate public agencies, private companies, and individual workers to engage in firefighting. For example, federal agencies can engage in deficit spending for firefighting, and use fire funds to supplement budgets and salaries. Private companies reap lucrative "no bid" government contracts for supplying firefighting labor, equipment, and supplies, yet face minimal public scrutiny or agency oversight to assess the quality of the goods or services they provide. See Section 6 of this Guide for more leads on the taxpayer costs and private economic incentives of firefighting.
These common characterizations make for predicable stories full of drama and conflict, but do very little to advance public understanding of reality, nor do they spark imagination for developing alternatives to the agencies' dominant paradigm of fire management.
Section Three Fireside Chats: Getting Beyond Official Sources for Information and Interviews
Surprisingly, reporters are more tightly controlled in covering domestic wildfire incidents than they are on foreign military combat operations. In the war against Iraq, for example, the U.S. military allows "embedded reporters" to accompany troops on the front lines of battle. Very few similar opportunities are offered to reporters to visit firelines and observe firefighting crews. If reporters get to the fireline at all, it is usually in the form of press pools for brief tours escorted by agency fire information officers under carefully prescribed conditions.
The agencies claim they have nothing to hide, and official escorts are for a reporter’s own good. But an official media handbook warns agency employees about photographers and reporters: “They should never be allowed out of the fire camp unescorted. It is too easy for them to get lost and/or hurt wandering around a fire by themselves. They might also see some control activities that they don’t understand, like a backfire being set, and get the wrong impression: ‘Fire fighters start a massive forest fire.’” [source: National Wildfire Coordinating Group. 1982. Fire Information Officer’s Guide. PMS 411-1, NFES 0383. Pg.13].
7 Consequently, reporters are mostly contained and controlled within the safe confines of fire camps, where they are almost exclusively dependent upon official government spokespersons to inform them of firefighting operations and events.
In March 2004, federal agencies developed new guidelines to provide better media access to wildland fires, including escorted visits to firelines. Although the guidelines state that denials should be rare, press access to firelines is still considered a privilege, not a right, that requires the approval of fire incident commanders. Despite the new media guidelines, in July, 2004, U.S. Forest Service officials denied reporters from the Helena Independent Record access to the Ogden Mountain Fire in Montana. ["No Time for Fire Smoke Screen.” Helena Independent-Record. July 28, 2004]
The vast majority of sources interviewed for fire stories are thus Forest Service incident commanders, public affairs officers, or fire information officers. In a real military organization, these would be the equivalent of generals and information officers. Reporters interview a fire official in fire camp.
The few exceptions to these official voices are the occasional interviews with local residents, usually discussing such things as their fears of the fire, steps they are taking to prepare for evacuation or protect their property, and their admiration and gratitude for the firefighters.
The rarest voice of all interviewed in fire stories are ground-level firefighters speaking directly from the firelines. It is incumbent upon journalists to expand the range of their information and interview sources used to report fire news. Below are some alternative sources that FUSEE urges reporters to interview. Wildland Firefighters The first new sources to seek are wildland firefighters. Their voices will certainly add color to stories, but more importantly, may reveal another valuable "grounded" perspective of fire issues, different than that provided by official spokespersons. See Section 7 of this Guide for some suggested questions about suppression operations to ask firefighters in the field. Reporters would do well to offer anonymity to ground-level firefighters, too, since they face potential retaliation on the job for speaking critically about government operations.
Reporters need to demand interview access to fire crews, and should insist on the right to observe firefighters in action on the firelines, not just in fire camp. Observing and interviewing firefighters on the fireline will expose journalists to some of the safety risks, health hazards, misery, fear and boredom that makes up the lot of wildland firefighters. These experiences may prompt new angles and critical perspectives than the typical glorified firefighting story written from the safe confines of fire camp. Fire Scientists and Fire Ecologists Other sources to interview in order to gain greater context for reporting fires include various fire experts such as scientists and ecologists. These people can help explain the broader context for wildland fire events. Examples include: The natural ecological role of fire, the specific fire history or fire regime of a
8 given place, the expected biological and physical effects of the fire, the influence of past management activities on fire behavior and fire effects.
Interviewing fire scientists and fire ecologists provides balance to the perspective of fire managers, and adds a valuable educational component to the news. The outcome might be to help make fires seem less “alien” and more understandable to people, thereby diminishing some of the fear and hatred of fires that results from patented sensationalistic wildfire accounts that fail to provide any scientific, ecological, or historical context for these events. Local Homeowners and Community Members When interviewing in rural areas, remember: No two homeowners are alike -- those who have taken proactive steps to prepare their homes for living in a fire environment using “FIREWISE” principles might offer a completely different perspective than those homeowners who have done little or nothing to prepare their properties. Reporters might even be surprised to discover that there are some people who refuse to leave their homes when authorities give evacuation orders, and instead, choose to “stay and fight” wildfires in order to protect their homes. These people are more often isolated homeowners living in the rural/wildland “intermix” (as opposed to the urban/wildland “interface”) who do not always show up at town meetings convened by fire officials. Reporters may have to go out into the hinterland and seek them out. Small Business Owners Other voices from rural America that offer valuable perspectives are small business owners. Typically, news media report wildfires as causing economic disasters to rural communities either through the “destruction” of natural resources or the disruption of tourist activities. However, many merchants and other local businesses can make windfall profits while wildfires are burning by providing goods and services to firefighters. Additionally, some tourist-related businesses may have their incomes temporarily suspended while a fire is burning, but the beneficial ecological effects of fire may more than compensate them for their losses. This is especially true for hunting and fishing guides, for example, when fires help produce excellent foraging habitat for big game and superior spawning habitat for wild fish. Fires can also create new commercial opportunities for harvesting wild mushrooms and berries in burned areas.
Big fires can also become tourist attractions in themselves, as was discovered following the Yellowstone Fires of 1988. While news media had reported that the nation’s premier national park had been “destroyed” by wildfire, the rich displays of wildflowers and bison flourishing in some of the most severely burned areas of the park debunked this image. Tourists continued to come to the park to the delight of local tourist-dependent businesses. Such “enlightened” business owners who can acknowledge the economic opportunities resulting from wildfires are worthy voices to interview, helping to balance the predictable “doom and gloom” voices. So are the tourists who deliberately or accidentally visit burned forests. Conservation Volunteers and Timber Workers Finally, reporters will occasionally interview paid staff and official representatives of forest conservation organizations and logging companies. Often, specific wildfire events become proxies for ongoing public debates over federal land management policies. The fire issue often becomes reduced to a debate over commercial logging, as happens to most journalistic accounts of controversial forest management issues.
Reporters gather plenty of “spin” from professional agency staff and public relations firms, but media have largely failed to investigate the attitudes and beliefs held by conservationist volunteers, timber workers, and ordinary citizens about a whole array of fire-related issues. Timber workers and
9 conservation volunteers--distinct from business executives and professional staff--are still mainly an untapped source of information and interview material. One of the biggest stories yet to be fully told is the growing support among conservationists and timber workers for ecologically-based small-diameter understory tree thinning--qualitatively distinct from large-diameter overstory logging--as a means of reducing wildfire hazards and preparing sites for prescribed burning while generating jobs for local communities and woodsworkers.
Section Four Burning Issues: Essential Fire Ecology Terms and Concepts
News stories that sensationalize wildfire events by hyping the danger of wildfires and the drama of firefighting efforts offer little or no scientific or policy context for readers. The goal of this section of A Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire is to provide journalists with key fire ecology concepts and terms they can use to increase the accuracy of their reporting and to raise the educational value of their stories. Please also note the more comprehensive glossary of wildland fire suppression and fire management terms are provided in Sections 7 and 10 at the end of this Guide. Fire Ecology Fire Ecology refers to the relationship between living organisms, their physical environment, and fire. Fire is a natural disturbance that functions as a biophysical stimulus that renews ecosystems and enhances diversity. Fire Triangle and Fire Environment The Fire Triangle refers to the combination of heat, oxygen, and fuel that is necessary for something to ignite and sustain combustion. Remove any one of these legs of the triangle, and a fire goes extinct. The Fire Environment involves the interaction between weather, topography, and fuels. These all influence fire behavior and fire effects.
In general, fires burn more rapidly and intensely in/on: Hot, dry, windy weather conditions; ÿ steep, south-facing slopes; ÿ dense flammable vegetation; ÿ high amounts of small-diameter dead downed needles and limbs.
In general, fires burn more slowly and less intensely in/on: ÿ cool, moist weather conditions; ÿ flat terrain or gentle slopes; ÿ sparse or low-lying vegetation; ÿ large-diameter trees and downed logs. Change any one or more of the above factors and it can significantly change fire behavior and effects. Fire Behavior and Fire Effects Together, the fire triangle and fire environment influence fire behavior, which includes the rate of spread (measured in distance per unit time, e.g. feet per hour), the fireline intensity or heat output at the flame front (measured in BTUs or flame lengths), and various qualitative descriptors (e.g. smoldering, torching, running, etc.). Fire Effects are affected by fire behavior, and this examines the physical, biological, and ecological impacts of fire on the environment, often measured in terms of fire severity (see below).
10 Fire Risk and Fire Hazard These terms are often wrongly used interchangeably by journalists. There are qualitative differences that are important to distinguish. Fire risk is the probability of an ignition occurring by any source (e.g. human or lightning). Fire hazard refers to the potential flammability of a given fuel type.
In some cases, a dense tree stand may have a high fire hazard rating but may also have a relatively low fire risk because it is a high-elevation stand in a remote roadless area with a cool, moist environment. Thus, the fire hazard level may be high but may still be tolerable because the chance of an ignition is low. In other cases, a tree stand may have a high fire risk because it is located in a low-elevation roaded area with a hot, dry environment, but it might have a low hazard rating because fire has burned fairly frequently and kept flammable fuel loads to a minimum. Fire Types: Ground, Surface, and Crown There are three main types of fire: Ground, surface, and crown, although it is important to realize that on large fires all three kinds of fires may be evident.
Ground fires burn below the ground surface. They are very slow-moving fires that smolder underground in buried fuels, and in the case of peat bogs, can be extremely difficult to fully extinguish. The significance of ground fires is that these can be "sleeper fires" that may escape detection for several days following their ignition until they become an unexpected wildfire.
Surface fire is the most common type of fire. It burns dead fuels and live vegetation located above the ground, including dead needles and limbs, grasses, forbs, brush, tree saplings and poles, but does not include burning the overstory tree canopy layer. Surface fires can range from slow- to fast-moving and from low to high intensity. Firefighting efforts are successful when they can contain or "corral" surface fires within firelines, and then control all visible smokes within a few hundred feet within the perimeter.
Crown fire is the most popular image shown on television newscasts, yet it is the rarest type of fire. Crown fires are normally fast-spreading and high-intensity fires. They can begin by single-tree "torching" that spreads to adjacent stands. Crown fires can be dependent upon surface flames, or in the most extreme type of fire event, can move independent of flames on the ground. In the latter case, fire moves extremely rapidly through the canopy layer ahead of fires burning along the surface. Crown fires are the most severe kind of fire since they kill most or all of the trees they burn. They are also the fires that are near impossible to humanly contain and control until the fire drops back down to the ground and more favorable conditions permit containment. Crown fires are extremely dangerous to firefighters because they can ignite spotfires ahead of the main flame front, thereby entrapping firefighters between two fires. Fire Intensity and Fire Severity These terms are also often used interchangeably by journalists, but need to be distinguished and used appropriately.
Fire intensity refers to the amount of heat output per unit of time or fuel. Scientists measure intensity in terms of "BTUs," while managers measure intensity in terms of flame length. The concept of "fireline intensity" refers to the amount of heat emitted at the perimeter of a fire. Flame lengths of four feet or less can normally be approached directly by firefighters; flame lengths of four-to-eight feet require heavy equipment like bulldozers; flame lengths exceeding twelve feet tall cannot be directly confronted by firefighters and require "indirect attack" strategies that construct firelines at a considerable distance away from the wildfire's leading edge.
11 Fire severity refers to the effects of a fire on forest soils and vegetation. Scientists tend to measure the effects in terms of soil impacts, examining how much soil organic matter (e.g. litter and duff) was consumed based on how deep the heat penetrated into the soil. The more organic matter that is consumed or deeper the heat, the higher the severity of a fire. This has a bearing on the mortality of vegetation and the amount and kind of post-fire vegetation recovery. Managers, however, tend to measure severity in terms of mortality effects on dominant overstory vegetation, which can be trees, shrubs, or grasses and forbs. The higher the percentage of dominant vegetation that is killed by fire, the higher the severity.
The distinction between the concepts of intensity and severity is important because in some cases a relatively high-intensity fire may result in low severity if it burns rapidly across the surface but the heat does not penetrate the soil or the flames do not reach the tree canopy layer. Alternately, a low-intensity slow-moving fire that smolders in deep duff layers or downed decayed logs may result in high severity effects on a localized level (e.g. directly beneath downed logs). When the heat resides in one place for a long time, it is able to penetrate deeper soil layers, and can kill large overstory trees by essentially "baking" their roots. In terms of assessing the ecological effects of fire, severity is the main issue to focus on, not size, spread, or intensity. Fire Management Fire Management includes all agency activities to prevent, suppress, or use fire in order to manage burnable wildland fuels. Fire management is fast becoming the most critical area of funding and focus of federal land management agencies as recent severe wildfire seasons have captured the attention of the public, policymakers, and the press. Unfortunately, current fire management policies and practices are not based on fire ecology principles, as evidenced by the dominance of fire exclusion and fire suppression in federal fire management agencies. Firefighter managing a prescribed fire. Fire Regimes Fire Regime is a concept that uses fire frequency and severity to provide a general description of the role that wildland fire plays in shaping and maintaining an ecosystem or vegetative community. There are five main historical fire regimes in the west:
Fire Regime I: 0-35 year frequency/low-severity (e.g. old-growth ponderosa pine stands with grassy understories) Fire Regime II: 0-35 year frequency/stand-replacement severity (e.g. grasslands and shrublands) Fire Regime III: 35-100+ year frequency/mixed severity (e.g. mixed conifer stands) Fire Regime IV: 35-100+ year frequency/stand-replacement severity (e.g. coastal chaparral, boreal forests) Fire Regime V: 200+ year frequency/stand-replacement severity (e.g. coastal temperate rainforests)
12 Fire Return Interval Fire Return Interval is related to fire frequency, and refers to the typical length of time between two successive natural fires in a given area. This can be expressed as an average/mean or a range of years. In general, fire return intervals have been lengthened in many areas due to fire exclusion and suppression policies. In short-interval fire regimes, this has resulted in wildfires of uncharacteristically greater size and severity due to the accumulation of fuels that would have normally been burned. However, in long- interval fire regimes, the period of effective fire suppression has not been sufficient enough to significantly alter fire processes across the landscape, although specific sites that used to be burned by Native Americans (e.g. meadow communities in forests) may have been adversely affected by modern fire exclusion/suppression. Fire-Adapted Species Fire-Adapted Species refers to various characteristics that specific plants have developed through evolution in order to survive or thrive from fire events. Any single species may exhibit one or more special adaptations to fire. Dr. James Agee (1993, Fire Ecology of Pacific Northwest Forests. pgs.135- 136) classifies five different kinds of plants with adaptations to fire: Invaders: These are the "pioneer" plants that seek to "colonize" sites where fire has removed the previous vegetation. Evaders: These plants have the ability to reseed from serotinous cones that open and release their seeds in the heat of a fire. Avoiders: These are shade-tolerant, late-successional plants that are generally killed by fire and do not return to burned areas for a long time. Resisters: These plants have adaptations like thick bark that enables them to survive most low-intensity fires. Endurers: These plants have the ability to resprout from live roots that survive most fires.
Presenting fundamental fire ecology terms and concepts provides some critical scientific context for readers to understand fire events in the "big picture." To reiterate, A Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire hopes to make it clear that, in most cases, even the largest wildfire incidents are not catastrophes, but are natural disturbances in which individual species and whole communities have evolved numerous adaptations to naturally recover from fire.
Providing fire ecology science in news stories in no way diminishes the natural drama of wildfires, but it offer a more complex analysis than simply labeling a fire as "catastrophic." More importantly, it increases the educational value of news reporting by raising the scientific and ecological literacy of news readers, viewers, and listeners.
Section Five Blowing Smoke, Venting Heat, or Shedding Light? Myths Versus Facts
As a rule, journalists need to cover the basic facts of wildfire incidents, getting information on the following items: ÿ The wildfire's name; ÿ The fire's location and size; ÿ The source of ignition, if known (e.g. people or lightning); ÿ The agency in charge of managing the incident (e.g. U.S. Forest Service or others); ÿ The number of firefighters and equipment working on the fire.
13 But good journalism requires that articles report more than these basic facts. Other information that journalists need to gather and share with readers includes such items as: ÿ The names of communities-at-risk within range of potential fire spread; ÿ The natural resource values-at-risk (e.g. wildlife habitat, old-growth stands; municipal water supplies); ÿ The challenges to firefighting efforts (e.g. severe fire weather, steep rugged terrain, high hazardous fuel loads); ÿ The fire action (e.g. general fire behavior, suppression tactics and strategies); and ÿ Human interest stories (e.g. destruction of homes and other personal losses).
The top set of items involves mostly objective information; however, the second set of items includes more subjective opinions, and they are more prone to personal or institutional biases of the speaker/source. In addressing these set of questions, many unquestioned cultural assumptions (or "myths") and intentional ideological slants (or "spin") are communicated that are wrongly presented as if they were objective statements of fact.
Reporters get most of their information about wildfire events from official government sources, specifically, agency spokespersons called fire information officers. These employees are trained to weave agency-directed "management messages" into the information they present to reporters as "the facts." [source: National Wildfire Coordinating Group. 1982. Fire Information Officers' Guide. PMS 411- 1/NFES 0383. USDA/USDI/NASF. pg.1]
Below is a short list of some of the prevailing myths that commonly intrude into fire-related news stories via management messages uttered by official spokespersons. These myths are then followed by countervailing facts that are frequently absent or under-represented in conventional fire stories.
Myth #1: Firefighters "put out" large wildfires. Fact: Firefighters cannot physically "put out" large wildfires.
Firefighters are able to encircle and extinguish small wildfires burning under relatively cool, moist conditions, but it is humanly impossible to do this on large wildfires burning under severe weather conditions. The latter kind of fires are the only ones that really make the news. Changes in weather conditions (e.g. cooler temperatures, lighter winds, increased humidity or precipitation) are required for firefighters to successfully contain and control large wildfires. Large wildfires can continue to smolder and burn until winter precipitation (rain or snow) actually put them out. The net effect is that firefighters put out the kinds of small-scale or low-severity fires that ideally should be permitted to burn for ecological benefits, but cannot put out the kinds of large-scale or high-severity fires that make the news.
Myth #2: We can "prevent" wildfires and "fireproof" our forests. Fact: Wildfires cannot be prevented, and forests cannot be fireproofed.
For as long as the Earth's atmosphere has had sufficient oxygen content, and carbon-based lifeforms have inhabited the terrestrial surface, there have been wildland fires. Fire is a natural, normal, and inevitable natural disturbance process that has been a primary agent in enhancing landscape and biological diversity. Native flora and fauna in many forest and grassland ecosystems across North America evolved various
14 adaptations to fire, and wildland fire is essential for maintaining these communities' biological health and ecological prominence. Any forest that experiences warm/dry weather periods of sufficient length of time to allow fuels to dry will burn given an ignition source. The prolonged absence or exclusion of fire due to suppression policies has ironically led to declines in biological health and ecological integrity for several forest types, especially those adapted to frequent, low-severity fire regimes. However, fire exclusion is never absolute for lightning strikes and accidental (or incendiary) human ignitions will eventually occur. Thus, by physical law or by definition these ignition sources and the wildfires they cause cannot be absolutely prevented. [source: Pyne, S.J., Andrews, P.L., and R.D. Laven. 1996. Introduction to Wildland Fire. New York, New York: John Wiley and Sons.]
Myth #3: Large wildfires are caused by high fuel loads and dense forest stands resulting from past fire suppression. Related Myth: Weather and terrain conditions are secondary influences, but they are beyond human control and nothing can be done about them. Fact: Large fire size and high severity are driven primarily by weather conditions.
There are three components of the "fire environment" that affect the spread, intensity, and severity of wildland fires: weather, topography, and fuels (both live and dead vegetation). Weather conditions are the primary cause of large wildfires (defined by the Forest Service as 5,000 acres or greater in size), and historically most extensive wildfire episodes in North America have occurred during prolonged dry periods. Weather conditions such as drought, high temperatures, low humidities, and strong winds cause fires to spread more rapidly and intensely across all vegetation types, fuel loads, and stand densities including sparsely-vegetated areas, clearcuts, and overgrazed rangelands.
Topographic features such as the aspect and steepness of slope are secondary in importance in their influence on fire behavior. Fuel loads play a tertiary role in fire behavior and effects, although in short- interval/low-severity fire regimes (e.g. Fire Regime I) where fire exclusion has enabled fuel loads to accumulate, fuels may play a more dominant role in influencing fire behavior than in other fire regimes. The ongoing drought throughout the interior West, and apparent increase in large wildfire events, are likely indicators of unfolding global climate change. Although humans cannot control the weather, we are evidently influencing the climate in ways that are creating weather conditions more conducive to large-scale high-severity wildfires. Accordingly, the nation's climate and energy policies have a bearing on dealing with the wildfire issue. [sources: Delvin Bunton, USFS Region Six Ecosystem Management Office. 1999. "Super G Fires in the U.S." Presentation at the Fire Economics: Planning and Policy Bottom Lines Symposium. San Diego, CA April 5-9, 1999. See also: Johnson, E.A. and C.P.S. Larsen. 1991. Climatically Induced Change in Fire Frequency in the Southern Canadian Rockies. Ecology 72:194-201. See also: Clark, J.S. 1988. Effect of Climate Change on Fire Regimes in Northwestern Minnesota. Nature 334:233-235.]
15 Myth #4: Commercial logging helps prevent wildfires. Fact: Past commercial logging has increased fire risks and fuel hazards.
More than any other recent human activity, the legacy of commercial timber extraction has made public forests more flammable and less resilient to fire. Firstly, clearcut and high-grade logging have historically taken the largest, most fire-resilient, most commercially-valuable trees, and left behind dead needles and limbs (logging debris called "slash"), along with smaller trees and brush that are less commercially valuable but more flammable than mature and old-growth trees. The net effect is to increase the amount of available hazardous fuel.
Secondly, the removal of large overstory trees also changes the microclimate of logged sites, making them hotter, drier, and windier, which increases the intensity and rate of spread of wildfires. Third, the creation of densely-stocked even-aged plantations of young conifers made sites even more flammable since this produced a solid mass of highly combustible conifer needles within easy reach of surface flames. These changes in the fuel load, fuel profile, and microclimate make logged sites more prone to high-intensity and high-severity wildfires. [source: Sierra Nevada Ecosystem Project, Final Report to Congress. 1996. Volume II: Assessments and Scientific Basis for Management Options. Davis, CA: Wildland Resources Center Report No. 37. pg. 4]
Firefighters cut fireline next to a burned-over logging unit. Myth #5: Livestock grazing helps prevent wildfires. Fact: The legacy of livestock grazing has made western forests and grasslands much more susceptible to severe wildfire.
Livestock grazing has also increases wildfire hazards in forests and rangelands. In the arid, dry pine forests of the interior West, historic overgrazing removed the fine native grasses growing beneath widely- spaced clusters of mature pines. This eliminated the source of fuel for frequent surface fires that burned
16 rapidly but with low intensity, thereby controlling the growth of other surface vegetation that would compete with the overstory trees for water and nutrients. Cattle and sheep removed the grasses, but avoided small trees and shrubs, which were able to grow and thrive in the absence of fire, creating a dense "in-growth" of understory trees. Livestock also spread invasive weeds like cheatgrass, which is much more flammable than native bunchgrasses. These changes in the fuel structure and composition has made forests and grasslands grazed by livestock more prone to high-intensity, high-severity fire, to the point of radically altering natural fire regimes. [source: Belsky, A.J., and J.L. Gelbard. 2000. Livestock Grazing and Weed Invasions in the Arid West. Portland, OR: Oregon Natural Desert Association. pg. 17]
Myth #6: Road-building in forests helps prevent wildfires. Fact: Building roads in forests increases the risks of wildfire.
National forests already have more than 400,000 miles of logging roads--enough to circle the globe 16 times. Logging roads enable firefighters and heavy equipment to be quickly transported to the scene of wildfires, and roads can be used to construct firelines, but roads also increase the probability of accidental human-caused wildfires by industrial users, careless recreationists, and criminal arsonists. In fact, most human-caused wildfires are ignited along road corridors or road-accessible recreation sites. The short-term benefit of roads for fire suppression operations thus comes at the long-term cost to fire prevention programs. The net effect of building roads in combination with logging and grazing is to increase the risk and hazard of large-scale, severe wildfires. [sources: USDA-Forest Service, USDI-Bureau of Land Management. 1996. Integrated Scientific Assessment for Ecosystem Management in the Interior Columbia Basin and Portions of the Klamath and Great Basins. PNW-GTR-382. Pg. 61. See also: USDA-Forest Service. 2000. Forest Service Roadless Area Conservation Final Environmental Impact Statement, Volume 1. Pg. 3-74. See also: DellaSala, Dominick, and Evan Frost. 2001. An Ecologically Based Strategy for Fire and Fuels Management in National Forest Roadless Areas. Fire Management Today 61(2):12-23.]
Myth #7: Recent summers have been the "worst" fire seasons in history. Fact: Fires in recent years have burned far less acreage than normal when averaged over the last century.
An average 6.4 million acres burned from 2000 to 2002. The 2000 fire season, which news media billed as the "worst fire season ever," burned approximately 8.4 million acres. However, during the 1930s, the average acreage burned in the U.S. was 39 million acres, with the average amount of the last century (1900 to 2000) being 13.9 million. Scientists estimate that in the 11 western states, every year there is a "burning deficit" of 12 million acres that should burn in order to maintain healthy ecosystems, but is not allowed to burn due to fire exclusion policies and fire suppression actions. [source: unpublished study by Dr. Michael Medler, Department of Environmental Studies, Huxley College, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9085 (360) 650-3173]
17 Myth #8: Most wildfires burn in densely forested areas of National Forests. Fact: Most wildfires ignite and burn in sparsely-forested grasslands or scrublands on state, private, and tribal lands.
Most fire starts and acres burned each year occur on grasslands, shrublands, or sparsely-forested areas, not forest lands. Furthermore, most of these acres occur on lands managed by private owners, state or tribal governments, not federal agencies. From 1992 to 2001, the average percentage of acres that burned on National Forests was only 18%. Additionally, most homes and communities are bordered by private, state, or tribal owned lands, not federal lands or National Forests. This is relevant since the Healthy Forests Restoration Act passed by Congress and the Bush Administration was allegedly intended to help protect communities from wildfire, yet the law applies only to fuels reduction projects on forested federal lands, not the areas where most wildfires ignite and burn. [source:. Morrison, P.H., Harma, K.J., Karl, J.W., Swope, L., Allen, T.K., Standen, I., and A. Workowski. 2001. Initial Assessment: Year 2001 Wildfire Situation in the Western United States. Pacific Biodiversity Institute, Winthrop, WA.]
Myth #9: There are only two responses to wildfire: totally suppress it or let it burn. Fact: There is a wide range of tactical and strategic options for devising the appropriate management response(s) to wildland fires.
According to the Federal Wildland Fire Policy, the full range of options can be applied to a single fire incident: from aerial monitoring on one end of the spectrum, to aggressive suppression actions on the other end. Even Wildland Fire Use (formerly called "Prescribed Natural Fires") can include intensive management actions resembling full suppression. The term, "let burn," is a misnomer because even simple observation by aircraft constitutes a management action. Fires are never simply allowed to burn unmonitored or unmanaged in some way.
When fires are burning in remote roadless or wilderness areas, far removed from people or private property, "confinement" strategies may be more appropriate than attempts to contain and control the fire. Confinement works with natural features to help confine the wildfire within a pre-designated area. Thus, using features such as talus fields, bodies of water, or areas of sparse vegetation, fire managers do not have to apply aggressive tactics that put firefighters at extra risk, cost more money, or damage natural resources. [source: USDI/USDA/DOE/DOD/DOC/EPA/FEMA/NASF. 2001. Review and Update of the 1995 Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy. Boise, ID: National Interagency Fire Center. 78 pgs.]
Section Six Smoke Reports: Covering Underreported Issues
The typical "boilerplate" fire story focuses on how big the wildfire is, how much damage it is causing, how many people are fighting the fire, and which local communities are threatened by the fire's potential spread. These angles are sometimes supplemented by human-interest stories, such as the personal
18 tragedies of people who have lost their homes to wildfire, or firefighters who were injured or killed. These story frames are quick, easy, and safe for reporters to apply.
But there are many other aspects to wildfire events and fire management issues that do not get the coverage they deserve. These underreported issues may be less dramatic than daily "battle reports," but they involve important, newsworthy information about the systemic sources of and potential solutions to wildfire "catastrophes" and the wildfire "crisis."
In some cases, covering these necessary issues may only require an alternative perspective, using a different frame, language, or set of questions to cover the same events or issues. In other cases, it will require some investigative reporting to discover suppressed information and alternative sources, requiring more investment by journalists to get the whole story.
Risks to Firefighter Safety: "Near Misses"
Each and every single fire suppression incident involves a certain degree of health hazards and safety risks for wildland firefighters. Between 1910 and 2001, an average of eight wildland firefighters were killed each year; between 1980 and 2001 an average 14 firefighter fatalities occurred each year. According to statistics compiled by the National Interagency Fire Center, most of the fatalities are due to motor vehicle and aircraft accidents, not being overrun by fire. Indeed, from 1980 to 1997 (the last valid year for recording statistics of burnover fatalities), 107 firefighters died in vehicle or aircraft accidents, while 81 firefighters died from burnovers. Beyond actual fatalities, there are scores of injuries and illnesses among firefighters that are recorded by fire officials, but are never reported in the press.
Many of these injuries are minor: Bee stings, poison oak rash, blisters, bruises, cuts and abrasions, and head colds usually don't make newsworthy items. But there is occasionally the drama of helicopter evacuations from remote firelines when some firefighter goes into anaphalactic shock from a bee sting, or when firefighters are sent to hospitals after their eyes swell shut from poison oak rash, or when illnesses sweep through close-knit fire crews and densely populated fire camps.
These are hardly ever reported. There is also the ever-present health issue of fireline accidents--called "near misses" by firefighters-- that are caused by the cumulative effects of sleep deprivation and smoke inhalation. There are the added risks of specific suppression tactics or strategies, such as aggressive direct attack (see glossary) or intensive mop-up on steep, rocky slopes or deep within snag patches. There are long-term health risks related to inhalation of wood smoke, whose symptoms may not appear for decades later, but do appear sooner among long-term firefighters and fuels crew members. Firefighting on steep slopes is inherently hazardous. These relatively frequent firefighter illnesses and injuries, as well as the occasional fatality, are not only of human interest, but can reveal more systematic problems occurring within the fire bureaucracy, as well as the very nature of the tasks of fire management. Firefighter safety is the number one priority for all fire management actions, but firefighting is inherently hazardous duty, and firefighters get no health care
19 benefits besides workmen's compensation. It would be a valuable lesson for the public to learn via news media accounts that there are safety risks, health hazards, and human casualties involved in making "warfare" on wildfire.
Taxpayer Costs of Fighting Fire
Reporters are usually good about reporting on a specific fire's total cumulative costs-to-date of suppression operations. But these days of record-breaking multi-billion dollar budget deficits, such figures are having reduced impact on public consciousness. Rarely do reporters break down the total suppression costs of a given wildfire incident, and provide analysis of where the bulk of taxpayer funds are going.
First, there is the issue of rising costs and budget deficits for suppression expenditures. This issue is, in fact, gaining news coverage, especially the Forest Service's practice of "borrowing" funds from other programs in order to pay for budget deficits in the suppression program.
Stories have reported the apparent absurdity of taking money from fire prevention and fuels reduction programs in order to pay for fire suppression. But just like the Pentagon during times of war, the Forest Service is the only other federal bureaucracy that can engage in deficit spending to fight wildfires, and critics have charged that there is a lack of fiscal constraint or accountability in suppression spending.
In fact, Incident Commanders have few incentives for reducing taxpayer costs, and face no penalties for making costly decisions. As internal Forest Service reports reveal, there is a widespread "spare no expense, blank check" attitude among fire commanders: "The Forest Service manages emergency firefighting funds as if they are unbudgeted, unlimited, unallocated, and without benchmarks on acceptable spending levels. This environment provides the appearance of no accountability." [source: USDA-Forest Service. 2000. An Agency Strategy for Fire Management: Report from the National Management Review Team. Washington, D.C. January 12]
Enterprising reporters will likely discover a significant amount of waste and theft occurring inside fire camps. Resources are often "horded," meaning more dozers, for example, are ordered from fire dispatch centers than may be needed at the moment. And occasionally there are some firefighters who will try to take some tool or piece of equipment home with them from an incident's fire cache.
But investigative reporters may discover more questionable expenses and taxpayer losses due to the exorbitant rates the federal government pays to private contractors for crews, equipment, goods and services. The growing privatization of federal firefighting operations, and the increasing monopolization of firefighting companies, is significantly accelerating under the second Bush Administration, but this issue has escaped most journalist's attention.
There are a number of important economic issues to cover: The high payments for contractors, the growing political involvement of lobbying organizations representing the private firefighting industry, the lack of accountability and restraint in government purchasing decisions. In some cases, the government pays far greater amounts to lease equipment from contractors than they would if they simply purchased the items outright. FUSEE firefighters argue that waste and abuse of taxpayers resources is fundamentally an ethical issue that adversely affects firefighter safety, and begs for the watchdog role of the media.
20 Finally, while reporting on suppression costs and examining some of the economic issues of suppression, journalists should translate total or daily cost figures into more comprehensible terms for the average reader. These would include calculations of the dollars-per-minute, per-hour, or per-firefighter that the federal agencies pay private contractors to lease helicopters, heavy equipment and motor vehicles, or to purchase various goods and services such as meals and showers.
Broken down into more comprehensible figures, the economic costs of suppression operations will likely appear alarming, if not scandalous, to some readers, and will provide a valuable alternative perspective for great articles addressing the economic aspects of fire management.
Environmental Impacts of Firefighting
Contrary to notions that firefighting "protects" natural resources from "destruction," fighting fires causes its own set of environmental impacts that in some cases can be more significant and long-lasting than the effects of wildfire alone. [source: Backer, D.M.; Jensen, S.E.; and G.R. McPherson. 2004. Impacts of Fire-Suppression Activities on Natural Communities. Conservation Biology 18(4): 937-946]
Some of the adverse environmental impacts from aggressive wildfire suppression include: Soil compaction and erosion and stream sedimentation from firelines and especially dozerlines; water pollution from fire retardants; old-growth logging from "hazard" tree removal; high-severity burning from backfires and burnouts, just to name a few. For a comprehensive primer on firefighting actions and their environmental impacts, see the report, "Collateral Damage: The Environmental Effects of Firefighting," archived at: http://www.fire-ecology.org/research/biscuit_suppression.html.
However, unlike every other major ground-disturbing land management activity--such as logging, road- building, grazing, or mining--firefighting stands alone as a programmed activity that agencies do not subject to federal environmental protection or public disclosure laws. The federal government has never systematically examined or scientifically analyzed the environmental impacts of firefighting. This is a huge void that needs to be covered by the press.
Firefighting damages are not too difficult to discover; reporters just need to know who and what to ask, and where to look. In Section 8 of this Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire, a list of questions is offered to help journalists get at this information from government spokespersons. But the real people to ask and places to look are firefighters on the frontlines. Again, it has been argued that journalists are tightly controlled by government agencies and largely excluded from speaking to firefighters on the firelines, but members of the press are going to have to demand this kind of access in order to get this type of story.
Many federal bureaucrats and elected officials have the opinion that the majority of people do not care about environmental damages caused by firefighting--people just want wildfires put out no matter what. Similar to actual combat operations, there will be strong proponents of a kind of "patriotism" that espouses "my government, right or wrong."
But the more the public learns via news stories about fire ecology and how many forest ecosystems are adapted to, depend upon, or benefit from fire, and the more the public learns about the short-term damages and long-term negative impacts of firefighting, the more a critical perspective on the costs and impacts of suppression will become an accepted and important angle for fire reporting. FUSEE firefighters believe the press should inform the public about this serious albeit suppressed environmental issue that represents institutional, political, and policy choices.
21 Benefits of Prescribed Burning and Wildland Fire Use
Fire professionals are keenly aware of a double-standard in fire management: Whereas high-intensity backfires can be ignited during suppression incidents, causing extensive damage to natural resources, these firing operations will not be challenged or criticized by news media. Low-intensity prescribed burning operations, on the other hand, will either go unreported (except for stories about local residents complaining about smoke emissions), or if a prescribed burn escapes control and becomes a wildfire, then the responsible agency or crew will get "crucified" in the press. This famously occurred during the 2000 Cerro Grande fire in New Mexico despite the fact that it was a suppression backfire--not the original prescribed fire--that burned into Los Alamos and destroyed over 200 homes. Thus, the double-standard works such that fire professionals believe if you ignite a severe backfire that burns uncontrollably the press will celebrate you as a hero, but if you ignite a prescribed fire that "slops over" the fireline the press will castigate you as a villain. [sources: http://www.fire-ecology.org/citizen/cerro_grande_myths.html. See also: http://www.fseee.org/forestmag/losalamosreport.shtml]
Wildland Fire Use, formerly called "Prescribed Natural Fires," are lightning-caused fires mostly in designated wilderness areas that are not actively suppressed. Instead, these fires are allowed to burn for ecological and resource benefits. These Wildland Fire Use incidents always require a plan, an incident management team, and firefighters to monitor and manage the fire, and this can entail significant numbers of personnel and resources.
Wildland Fire Use incidents are managed wildland fires; regardless, the press often erroneously labels these fire management operations as "let burn." The implication is that these are unfettered wildfires burning out of control and unattended. The fact is that vastly more acres of forestland need to be burned than agencies have the resources or ability to ignite. Natural ignitions provide opportunities to reintroduce beneficial fires into ecosystems at reduced costs than management-ignited prescribed burns. Wildland Fire Use provides a means for avoiding the safety risks, economic costs, and environmental impacts of aggressive fire suppression.
Wildland Fire Use operations do not generate the same kind of media coverage as suppression incidents, probably because they tend to occur in more remote wildlands that do not threaten private homes or communities. It is also possible that they do not attract reporter's attention because managing wildland fires does not fit the same dramatic "combat" frame as fighting wildfires.
But, it is a vital necessity for the public to understand and eventually accept a greater role of natural and prescribed fire in forest ecosystems. Expanded Wildland Fire Use opportunities are going to be a principal means of reintroducing fires, especially into remote natural areas.
If reporters choose to cover Wildland Fire Use incidents, they may be surprised to discover many of the same tools, equipment, and tactics conducted on suppression operations, only these would be used to "put fires in" instead of "put fires out." Accordingly, Wildland Fire Use stories can be written in dramatic, heroic, action-filled terms, too.
At a minimum, though, journalists need to end the double-standard in fire reporting: Their uncritical if not unquestioningly positive coverage of suppression operations no matter how costly or destructive; contrasted to their skeptical, alarmist, negative coverage of Wildland Fire Use and prescribed burning operations (if there is any coverage of these operations at all).
22 Role of Climate Change in Prevalence of Large Wildfires
Another underreported issue that seems to be gaining more credence as a potential angle for writing is the role of climate change or "global warming" in the recent spate of large, severe wildfires. As discussed in Section 5 of this Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire, scientific evidence is accumulating that global warming is causing changes in weather and vegetation patterns that is more conducive to rapid fire spread and high fire intensity.
Whole regions of the country are experiencing prolonged drought, higher temperatures, and more storm activity (especially dry lightning), and these trends in changes in weather conditions are highly correlated with large wildfire events since the late 1980s.
Most climate researchers warn that we have just begun to see the rise in temperatures, changes in precipitation patterns, shifts in vegetation cover, and increasing frequency of extreme weather events that are in store in the future as a result of global warming. Add to this list the increasing frequency of large- scale, high-severity wildfires resulting from these changes in climate. Consequently, the energy and climate policies of the current Administration and Congress deserve some critical media scrutiny and coverage in reporting on wildfire events.
Influence of Past Commercial Logging and Livestock Grazing on Wildfire
In the debates over the Bush Administration's "Healthy Forests Initiative" (HFI) and subsequent "Healthy Forests Restoration Act" of 2003, news media largely failed to take the environmental community's criticisms of commercial logging seriously. These were not simply ideologically-based charges against future logging in theory, but science-based critiques with historical and empirical data on the legacy of commercial logging and livestock grazing and their effects on current wildfire events.
Journalists did not have to rely solely on the words of environmentalists, but could have easily witnessed for themselves the relationship between logging and wildfire. This opportunity is still available to the media to pursue. It is a relatively easy operation for journalists to fly over recent burned areas and observe the patterns of fire severity.
In general, the most severely-burned areas of the fire tend to be located within roaded and logged areas. Journalists can clearly see for themselves that clearcuts and young timber plantations tend to be uniformly and severely burned from wildfires. These distinct cutover patches are easily distinguished from adjacent uncut areas, and reveal that burned clearcuts are the closest things to the proverbial "moonscape" scene of a treeless, lifeless, scorched Earth.
As well, journalists can see the effects of burned logged areas on adjacent unlogged stands. Young timber plantations tend to cause higher mortality effects on adjacent old-growth stands. However, outside the fragmented general forest with its isolated "islands" of old-growth stands amidst a virtual sea of plantations, unroaded and unlogged areas tend to exhibit more of a diverse or mosaic pattern of fire effects, with old-growth stands showing less uniform severity or mortality.
Given the effects of past logging on current wildfires, how will future logging have different effects on future wildfires? Journalists do not need to approach that question purely as a matter of faith or theoretical conjecture, as logging proponents would have them do, but can look to the recent past as a
23 guide to the future. Accordingly, in reporting on future wildfire events, journalists should directly address this issue, and question the glowing, optimistic, and unfounded claims that increased logging will decrease wildfire size and severity.
In sum, the above items represent underreported issues that are ripe for journalists to take some initiative and investigate. Reporting these issues will distinguish more these reporters from the rest of the pack, better inform the public about systemic policy or institutional problems, alert citizens about potential solutions, and expose possible non-solutions.
Section Seven All the Words Fit to Print: New Fire Management Terminology
Reporters don't need to strip their writing of the fiery language that makes for great stories, but they should not sacrifice accuracy in their pursuit of exciting prose. Many terms commonly used to report the "facts" are explicit pejoratives (e.g. the term, "catastrophic wildfire") that are often wildly inaccurate for describing the actual behavior and effects of specific fires. Moreover, these words have become politicized terms with not-so-subtle ideological intentions for promoting fire policies that favor existing bureaucratic institutions and economic interests.
Reporters are therefore urged to replace the common "loaded" terms with some of the neutral or new terms offered below.
Loaded Terms Neutral Terms New Terms
Wildfires Forest/Brush/Grassland Fires Wildland Fires Catastrophic Stand-Replacing High-Severity Natural Disaster Natural Disturbance Ecological Stimulus Escaped/Out-of-Control Uncontained/Uncontrolled Unconfined Fighting Fire Suppressing Fire Managing Fire Let Burn Wildland Fire Use Monitored Fire Backfire/Burnout Firing Operation Backburn Fire Dangers Fire Conditions Fire Environment Firestorm/Conflagration/ Mass Fire Large-Scale Severe Fire Superfire/Megafire Controlled Burning Prescribed Burning Light-Burning
Please also note that Section 10 at the conclusion of this Reporter's Guide contains a comprehensive glossary of fire management terms and concepts in hopes of improving the accuracy and expanding the vocabulary of journalists reporting on fire events and issues.
24 Section Eight Questioning Authority: Asking Critical Questions of Government Fire Officials
Reporters take great personal and professional pride in asking tough questions of government officials, but when it comes to reporting on wildfires, they routinely fail to ask the important, critical questions about the land management objectives, and the strategies and tactics of fire suppression operations.
News media often fail to recognize that the specific decisions of fire incident commanders are not simply neutral reactions to natural events, but instead, reflect personal choices, cultural biases, and institutional motives that are laden with political and economic interests.
The majority of wildfire news stories differ little in style from a typical sports story or battle report: The focus on "acres burned" is analogous to box scores or body counts, and reveals little about the real human drama of risk-taking and decision-making underlying the actual events in the field. Asking the hard questions of agency officials will not only lead to greater public awareness of the risks, costs, and impacts of various firefighting strategies and tactics, but may also lead to greater government accountability for managers' decisions and actions.
Reporters need to start challenging the unspoken assumptions held by fire managers that no taxpayer expense or environmental impact should be spared in putting wildfires out because wildfires are such terrible "catastrophic" disasters. Reporters need to ask why certain suppression strategies or tactics are being selected, and what are the firefighter and public safety risks, economic costs, and environmental impacts associated with them.
Below are some examples of specific questions arranged by topic to ask fire officials in order to get the full story: Firelines Official spokespersons will disclose the location and length of firelines, and how many firefighters are working, but may not reveal much else. Critical questions to ask: ÿ How much fireline has been constructed by handcrews versus heavy equipment? ÿ What kinds of heavy equipment are being used (e.g. bulldozers, fellerbunchers)? ÿ Have dozerlines been constructed in unroaded or inventoried roadless areas? ÿ Are firelines going through sensitive natural areas (e.g. old-growth stands, endangered species habitats, fragile soils, heritage sites, scenic areas)? ÿ Are mature or old-growth trees being felled for firelines, and if so, are they being cut-to-length and decked for commercial removal? ÿ What are some of the environmental impacts caused by the firelines? ÿ How many secondary and contingency firelines are being constructed? How far are these located from the wildfire perimeter? ÿ If firelines are located for "indirect attack" (see glossary for definition), then are managers planning to create a large-scale wildfire by design? ÿ How many interior firelines have been breached by the fire and abandoned? ÿ What are the costs per linear mile of firelines constructed to date?
25 Retardants Retardant drops by airtankers and helicopters make dramatic film footage, but official spokespersons may not disclose information on the environmental effects or operational ineffectiveness of many retardant drops. Critical questions to ask: ÿ What kinds of retardant chemicals are being used? (e.g. Fire Trol versus Phos Chek. These brand names contain different kinds of toxic chemicals) ÿ What parts of the fire have received retardant drops (e.g. head, flanks, hotspots)? ÿ What have been the effects of retardant drops on the fire's intensity and rate of spread? ÿ Are there ground crews in position to take advantage of retardant drops? ÿ What might be the effects of retardants on water quality, soil chemistry, and vegetation? ÿ Have retardants fallen into any fish-bearing streams? (Retardant chemicals are highly toxic to aquatic wildlife) ÿ Were the aircraft used to deliver water and/or retardant during the mop-up stage of the fire? ÿ What are the costs per gallon/per load of retardant? What are the total costs to date of retardant use? ÿ What percentage of the total fire cost is due to aircraft use? Firing Operations (e.g. Burnouts and Backfires) It is routine for firefighters to start fires as a means of suppressing wildfires, but spokespersons will rarely explain the purpose, locations, and methods for firing operations which, in several instances, plays a major factor in the growing size and severity of recent wildfires. Critical questions to ask: ÿ Are firefighters starting backfires or burnouts (be specific)? ÿ What is the purpose of firing operations? ÿ Where are the locations of firing operations in relation to firelines and the edge of the wildfire? ÿ Have all firing operations merged with the main fire, or have they started separate spotfires? ÿ How many acres have been added to the total fire size due to the backfiring or burnout operations? ÿ What are the ignition devices being used (e.g. driptorches, fusees, helitorches, ping-pong balls)? ÿ What times have the firing operations been conducted (e.g. morning, afternoon, evening)? ÿ What are the expected behavior of firing operations (e.g. what will be the intensity, flame length, and rate of spread, of backfires/burnouts)? ÿ Are firing operations occurring within sensitive natural areas (e.g. old-growth stands, endangered species habitats, heritage sites, scenic/recreational areas)? ÿ What are the expected environmental effects of firing operations (e.g. what will be the severity, impacts on soils, mortality of overstory trees)? ÿ Have there been any "near misses" of firefighters getting entrapped or burned over during firing operations? Helitorch ignites a large-scale burnout on a wildfire.
26 Fire Costs Spokespersons may occasionally reveal total cumulative suppression costs, but there's more to the story. Critical questions to ask: ÿ What have been the actual and predicted costs of suppression operations? ÿ What was the cost per acre of suppression operations? ÿ How much money is going to private contractors? ÿ What is the hourly/daily rate for contractors to provide such things as handcrews, engines, water tenders, dozers, helicopters, aircraft? ÿ What is the loss rate of non-consumable property and supplies? (The "Redbook" fire management manual 14-8 defines acceptable losses to be no more than 15%) Suppression Strategy and Rationale It is time to stop assuming that all fires in all places must always be aggressively suppressed. In fact, forest and fire managers have many options available for implementing the Appropriate Management Response, provided they have done the necessary pre-planning and preparation. Critical questions to ask: ÿ Does the Forest/Park unit have a current approved Fire Management Plan (FMP)? ÿ Does the FMP fully comply with the Federal Wildland Fire Management Policy? ÿ Is the FMP being used and implemented during the suppression incident? ÿ What is the natural fire ecology and historical fire regime of the wildfire area (i.e. what is the relationship of the native vegetation to wildland fire, and what is the expected frequency and severity of wildland fires)? ÿ What plant or animal species might benefit from the effects of the fire? ÿ What kinds of fuels reduction and forest restoration goals have been accomplished by the wildfire? ÿ Is the wildfire having any beneficial effects on the ecosystem? ÿ Is the suppression strategy and tactics based on direct attack or indirect attack? ÿ If indirect attack, how far away from the wildfire's perimeter edge are the firelines being constructed? What is the expected size of the wildfire going to be given the location of indirect firelines? ÿ Were suppressions actions taken in designated wilderness or inventoried roadless areas? If so, why? ÿ Are minimum impact suppression tactics being used? If so, where? ÿ Did the Wildland Fire Situation Analysis (WFSA) examine alternative management scenarios for the fire? What were the predicted sizes and costs of the wildfire in these alternatives? What was the decisionmaker's rationale for the selected alternative? Post-Fire Rehabilitation After a wildfire is contained and controlled, post-fire rehabilitation actions begin using money from emergency suppression funds to pay for mitigating the damage caused by suppression. The more damage that is caused by firefighting, the more funding the agency receives for rehabilitation projects. Critical questions to ask: ÿ What kinds of impacts and damage was caused by fire suppression activities? ÿ Is there a rehab plan for the area affected by the fire? ÿ Does it include firelines, helispots, and camp areas? ÿ Is the agency using certified "weed free" straw and native grass seed for slope stabilization efforts? ÿ Are there suppression damages that cannot be fully rehabilitated?
Asking the above critical questions of government fire officials and spokespersons will help reporters get the whole story.
27 Section Nine Conclusion
Using this Reporter's Guide to Wildland Fire will not necessarily make a reporter's job quicker or easier, but it is hoped that it will make news stories just as compelling but also more accurate and complete. This Guide has offered tips and information on new story frames and angles, interview questions, information and interview sources, fire ecology terms and concepts, new terminology, and underreported issues ripe for alternative or investigative journalists to cover.
Undoubtedly, in the news industry there will still be pressures for some reporters to rely on sensationalist hype to sell their stories. But FUSEE trusts that as more enterprising journalists take advantage of the new tools provided in this Guide, the accuracy, quality, public interest and usefulness of their stories concerning wildfire incidents will markedly improve, and coverage of the full spectrum of fire management activities will expand. Section Ten Comprehensive Glossary of Wildland Fire Management Terms and Concepts
Aerial Ignition: Igniting wildland fuels by dropping incendiary devices or materials from aircraft. The most common means are the "helitorch" (helicopter carrying a device that disperses flaming lumps of gelled gasoline) and helicopters or fixed-wing aircraft carrying "ping pong balls" (polystyrene balls containing potassium permanganate that, when injected with a water-glycol solution and dropped from the aircraft, creates a chemical reaction that ignites after a 30 second delay).
Air tanker: Fixed-wing aircraft that transports and drops fire retardant or suppressants.
Anchor point: The location from which to start constructing fire containment lines. It is usually a secure place where fire behavior is low and there is minimal chance of the fire flanking firefighters while fireline is being constructed.
Appropriate Management Response: The selected strategies and tactics for managing a wildland fire in compliance with and area's Fire Management Plan. Appropriate management responses can range from aggressive suppression actions on one part of a fire, to light-hand tactics or simple monitoring on other portions of the same fire.
Arson fire: A wildfire intentionally ignited by anyone to burn or spread to vegetation or property without the consent of the agency/owner.
Available fuel: The portion of the total fuel profile that would actually ignite and burn under various environmental conditions. Normally, small-diameter surface fuels are available under most conditions, while large-diameter fuels are least available.
Backfire: A high-intensity fire ignited by firefighters with the goal stopping a spreading wildfire by reducing the fuel and/or changing the direction or force of a convection column. This is an "indirect attack" tactic that allows the wildfire to burn across greater acreage than "direct attack" strategy.
Backing fire: A fire spreading against the wind or down a slope. These are usually low-intensity fires.
28 Bambi Bucket: A collapsible bucket slung below a helicopter. Used to dip water from a variety of sources and dump on wildfires. Also called "bucket drops."
Base camp: The main field encampment for staging firefighters, vehicles and equipment. Firefighting plans are made in base camp, and most firefighters get their food and sleep in base camp.
BIA: Bureau of Indian Affairs, a federal agency within the Department of Interior responsible for administering governmental programs on Indian Reservations. The BIA organizes several Indian firefighting crews, a major source of employment for Native youth.
Bladder Bag: A collapsible backpack water container with a portable sprayer and hand-held pump used to spray water on fire. Used mainly in "mop-up" operations which occurs after the flame front has passed through an area, the wildfire is contained, and the objective is to extinguish burning coals and embers and eliminate all visible smokes.
BLM: Bureau of Land Management, a federal land management agency within the Department of Interior that is responsible for managing wildland fires primarily on Resource Areas.
Blow-up: Sudden increase in fire's rate of spread or intensity such that firefighters cannot apply direct suppression tactics. This is often accompanied by a convection column and "mushroom cloud" of dense black smoke.
Burning Out/Burnout: Burning fuels between fire containment lines and the edge of a wildfire to "starve" the wildfire of burnable fuel and secure firelines by making them "blacklines."
Clearcut: A form of commercial logging in which nearly every tree within a designated logging unit is cut down and/or removed. Other agency terms for clearcutting include: regeneration harvest, seed-tree or shelterwood logging, group selection, and minimum green-tree retention.
Combustion: The rapid oxidation of fuel in which energy (e.g. heat and light) is released. The four phases of combustion are: pre-ignition, flaming, smoldering, and glowing.
Complex: Two or more individual wildfires located in the same general area and are managed as a single suppression operation. Wildfire complexes are often burned out in order to create a single burn perimeter that is more efficient to manage, even though it creates more burned acreage.
Confinement: The least aggressive strategy for fire suppression, typically allows a wildland fire to burn within pre-determined natural or existing boundaries such as rocky ridges, talus fields, streams, or possibly roads. Confinement is not the same thing as "let burn," and this strategy can be applied to all or parts of a wildland fire.
Containment: Changes in weather conditions and/or the construction of "scratch lines" to stop the forward spread of fire, however, perimeter firelines may not be completed or may not be able to keep the fire from spreading farther .
Control: A secure fireline has been established completely around the fire's perimeter so that all fuels have been burned up to containment lines, there is no remaining heat or visible smoke near the fireline, and there is no possibility of the fire spreading farther.
Convection column: The rising column of gases, smoke, ash, embers, and other debris produced by a fire.
29 Convergence zone: The area of increased flame height and fire intensity produced when two or more fire fronts burn together. This occurs on backfires and burnouts, and can increase mortality of vegetation and wildlife entrapped between fires.
Counterfire: A fire set between main fire and backfire intended to hasten the spread of backfire. Also can be an emergency firing operation to stop, slow, split, or steer a fire front.
Coyote tactics: Self-sufficient firefighting crews capable of building progressive fireline, sleeping near the fireline, and then building fireline again where they left off at the previous work shift.
Creeping Fire: Fire burning with a low flame and spreading slowly.
Crew: An organized group of firefighters. Crews can vary in type and size from two-person engine crews to 20 person hotshot crews.
Crew boss: The person in charge of supervising crews of 16-21 firefighters, and is responsible for their safety, welfare, and performance.
Crownfire: A fire that burns through the canopy layer of trees or shrubs, consuming most of the small limbs and foliage. Crownfires can be "dependent" on surface flames or "independent" and capable of spreading ahead of surface fire (also described respectively as "passive" versus "active" crownfires. Active or independent crownfires have the highest rates of spread, intensity and severity, and pose the greatest danger of entrapping firefighters.
Defensible Space: An area either natural or manmade where combustible material has been treated, cleared, reduced, or changed to retard fire spread and protect life, property, or resources from getting burned over. In practice, "defensible space" is defined as an area a minimum of 30 feet around a structure that is cleared of flammable brush or vegetation.
Direct attack: Suppression actions conducted directly to burning fuel, such as wetting with water, smothering with soil, applying chemical retardants, or physically separating the burning and unburned fuel by constructing fireline.
Dispatch: A command decision to move a crew or resources from one place to another, usually from home base to a wildfire incident.
Doghair: A dense thicket of young trees that form a solid horizontal and vertical fuel mass.
Dozerline: A fire containment line constructed by bulldozers. Also called "catline."
Driptorch: A handheld device used for igniting fires by dripping flaming liquid fuel, usually a mixture of diesel and gasoline.
Duff: The layer of decomposing organic materials lying below the litter layer of freshly fallen twigs, needles, and leaves, and immediately above the mineral soil.
Ecological fire management: A FUSEE concept of fire management actions that minimize the adverse environmental impacts of management operations while maximizing the positive ecological benefits of fire. Usually requires careful pre-fire planning to determine desired future conditions and burning prescriptions. Ecological fire management is most closely associated with prescribed burning and
30 wildland fire use, but is also applicable to minimum impact suppression tactics undertaken with ecologically-based restoration or protection objectives.
Ecological restoration: The attempt to restore the integrity of ecosystem structures, composition, functions and processes that have been adversely altered by human activities.
Engine: Any ground vehicle capable of transporting, pumping, and spraying water on fire. Also used with "engine crew" to refer to the firefighters assigned to an engine.
Entrapment: A situation where firefighters are unexpectantly caught in a life-threatening position where planned escape routs or safety zones are absent or inadequate, and they face a risk of being burned over by wildfire.
Escape Route: A preplanned route firefighters take to move to a safety zone or other low-risk area, such as an already burned area or a natural rocky area, when fire behavior increases and threatens to entrap or burn over firefighters.
Escaped Fire: A fire which has exceeded or is expected to exceed initial attack capabilities or prescription.
Ethical Fire Management: A FUSEE concept that promotes the highest professional standards for personal conduct and public service for fire personnel. Respect for firefighter safety, efficient and effective use of taxpayer resources, and minimization of environmental damage are raised to the level of moral principles for fire management operations.
Extended Attack: A wildland fire that has not been contained or controlled by initial attack forces and for which more firefighting resources have been ordered to arrive.
Extreme Fire Behavior: Fire behavior that precludes normal suppression actions because of a high rate of spread, prolific crowning and/or spotting, presence of fire whirls, or strong convection column. Such fires can influence on their own environment and behave erratically, sometimes dangerously.
Extended attack: A situation when initial attack actions are unsuccessful in containing or controlling a wildland fire, and additional firefighting resources are arriving, en route, or being ordered from dispatch. Extended attack implies that initial attack forces are unable to handle the incresing size and complexity of the fire.
Fine (Light) Fuels: Fast-drying fuels which are less than 1/4-inch in diameter, have a timelag of one hour or less, and a high surface area-to-volume ratio. These fuels readily ignite and are rapidly consumed by fire when dry. Examples include grasses, needles, and small twigs.
Fire behavior: The way fire reacts to the influences of weather, topography, and fuel. Includes quantitative measures such as rate of spread and flame lengths, and also qualitative descriptors such as creeping, running, torching, etc. Extreme fire behavior is a level of fire activity that precludes the ability of firefighters to safely take direct control actions. This includes rapid rate of spread, erratic fire spread, prolific crowning or spotting, presence of fire whirls, and strong convection column.
Fire boss: An obsolete term for the Incident Commander, the person in supervisory charge of managing all suppression operations.
31 Fire camp: The main encampment where firefighters are staged, sleep and eat. Most operational plans and communications are based in fire camp. Smaller satellite camps called "spike camps" can be established closer to the fire perimeter.
Fire complex: A group or cluster of fires usually ignited by multiple lightning strikes. Fire complexes are often burned-out in order to merge them into a single large fire that is more efficient to manage, contain and control.
Fire danger: The probability of fire igniting based on weather (e.g. temperature, relative humidity, winds) and fuel moisture conditions.
Fire effects: The physical, biological, and ecological impacts of fire on the environment, including soil, water, air, and vegetation.
Fire Front: The leading edge of a fire perimeter in which continuous flaming combustion is taking place. Sometimes called "headfire" to refer to the most active, most intense, and fastest spreading part of a wildfire.
Fire hazard: A fuel complex defined by volume, type condition, arrangement, and location that determines the degree of ease of ignition and difficulty of control efforts.
Fire information officers: Agency personnel responsible for disseminating information from official sources about wildfire suppression incidents and related management activities.
Fire intensity: The heat output of a fire. This is often measured on the fireline in terms of flame lengths or BTUs (British thermal units).
Fireline: A line constructed around the perimeter of a fire designed to contain a fire and stop its outward spread. Usually, all burnable vegetation has been removed and ground cover has been stripped to bare mineral soil.
Fireline explosives: A specially developed cord with explosives that are detonated to create a fireline. Used in steep, rocky terrain that is hazardous to crews using handtools.
Fire Management Plan: A strategic guide for all fire and fuels management activities, including prevention, suppression, and prescription burning projects. Plans are constructed for specific fire management units defined by geographic, jurisdictional, or political boundaries. In areas without current, approved Fire Management Plans, land managers have no option other than to commit to total suppression in response to wildfires.
Fire risk: The probability of an ignition occurring by any source (e.g. human or lightning).
Fire prevention: Activities including education, engineering, enforcement, and administration that attempt to reduce the number of wildfires, the costs of suppression, and fire-caused damages to resources and property.
Fire regime: A generalized way of describing fire behavior and effects in different vegetative communities by integrating various fire characteristics, such as the fire frequency and severity.
32 Fire severity: A qualitative assessment (e.g. low, moderate, high) of the degree of soil heating assessed by the consumption of duff, litter, and large logs. Also can be assessed by the percentage of overstory mortality of the dominant vegetation in a given area.
Flame length: The distance between the base and tip of flames; used as an indicator of fire intensity.
Flashy fuels: Small-diameter fuels such as grass, leaves, needles, tree moss, and "red slash" (recent logging debris) that ignite readily and are consumed rapidly when dry. Also called "fine" or "light" fuels.
Fuel: All potentially combustible material. Not all fuels are "available" for burning unless they are spatially arranged and located within reach of heat and flames, and fuel moisture levels permit ignition and combustion. Various characteristics describe fuel conditions that affect flammability: Compactness, loading, vertical arrangement, horizontal continuity, chemical content, size and shape, moisture content. See also ìHazardous fuels.î
Fuelbreak: A natural or human-made change in fuel characteristics that affects fire behavior so that fires burning into them can be more readily controlled. Shaded fuelbreaks are built in forested areas, removing trees and lower limbs but retaining a certain percentage of crown closure to make a less favorable microclimate for surface fires.
Fuel management: Actions to control flammability and suppression effectiveness. Fuel reduction treatments can include manual, mechanical, chemical, biological, or prescribed fire methods to remove or rearrange fuels.
Fuel Reduction: The physical manipulation, including combustion, manual or mechanical removal of fuels, in order to reduce the likelihood of ignition and/or to lessen potential flammability. Called "hazardous fuels reduction" to refer to reduction of highly-flammable surface fuels that are usually of a size or type that is not suitable for commercial uses.
Fusee: A handheld flare used by firefighters to ignite backfires, burnouts, and prescribed fires.
FUSEE: An acronym for the national nonprofit organization, Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology.
Ground fire: Wildland fire spread through subsurface biomass such as root systems and buried logs. Ground fire can also spread through coal seams and abandoned mine shafts.
Handline: A fireline constructed with handtools such as chainsaws, shovels, pulaskis, and mcleods.
Hazardous fuels: Generally small-diameter fuels (0-3 inches in diameter) that are of a certain kind, arrangement, volume, condition, or location that forms a special threat of ignition and difficulty of suppression efforts.
Hazard reduction treatment: This reduces the threat of ignition of hazardous fuels or the spread of fire.
Heavy fuels: Large-diameter fuels such as snags, logs, large limbs that are more difficult to ignite and burn more slowly than flashy fuels.
Helispot: A natural or human-made opening intended for use by helicopters in takeoff and landing.
Helitack: The use of helicopters to transport firefighting crews, equipment, or retardants.
33 Helitorch: An aerial ignition device that disperses flaming gelled gasoline, used for backfires, burnouts, and prescribed fires typically in steep, inaccessible terrain.
Holding Actions: Suppression actions intended to slow or stop fire spread without full containment or control. Used to manage wildland and prescribed fires and keep them within their prescribed conditions and burn area.
Hotshots: Specially-trained firefighting crews available for nationwide dispatch used for constructing handline. Also called "Type I" crews.
Humidity: The moisture content of air (measured in terms of relative humidity) and/or fuel particles (measured in terms of fuel moisture). Humidity greatly influences the potential for ignition and rate of combustion: the higher the moisture content, the less flammable is fuel. The flammability of fine-sized or small-diameter fuels are especially influenced by humidity levels.
Incendiary fire: An intentionally ignited wildfire. Also called "Arson" fire.
Incident: A human-caused or natural ignition that requires management actions to confine, contain, or control fire spread.
Incident Action Plan (IAP): A plan containing the suppression objectives, strategies and tactics for a single operational period. Sometimes called a daily "shift plan" by firefighters.
Incident commander: Formerly called the ìfire boss,î this is the individual responsible for managing wildfire suppression operations. Usually is a member of ìIncident Command Teams.î
Incident management team: The Incident Commander and associated staff personnel assigned to supervise and manage fire suppression operations.
Indirect attack: A suppression strategy that locates fire containment lines some considerable distance away from the fireís active edge. This is done usually with a fast-spreading or high-intensity fire burning in rugged terrain. The intervening fuel between the fireline and wildfire is often burned out.
Initial attack: The actions taken by the first firefighters to arrive on a wildfire.
Interface: The line, area or zone where structures and other human development meet or intermingle with undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels. The spatial area where vegetation and fuels management can effectively and efficiently reduce the ignitability of structures within the Interface zone is generally one- quarter to one-third mile around structures.
Intermix: Relatively isolated, scattered human structures located within undeveloped wildland or vegetative fuels. The spatial area where vegetation and fuels management can effectively and efficiently reduce the ignitability of structures within the Intermix zone is approximately 200 feet around individual structures.
Ladder fuels: Fuels such as smaller understory trees and brush, and lower limbs of large trees, that provide vertical continuity for flames to climb from the ground surface into the crowns of trees.
Litter: The relatively undecomposed top layer of the forest, shrubland, or grassland floor. Composed of loose debris of dead sticks, branches, twigs, and recently fallen leaves or needles.
34 Logging: The mechanical removal of the main stems or "trunks" of trees intended for sale as commodities. Sometimes called "thinning" when referring to select-cut logging systems or the commercial removal of relatively small-diameter trees. Logging generally increases the flammability of sites by altering the microclimatic conditions and increasing the amount of available hazardous fuels.
Logging debris: The unmerchantable and unwanted parts of trees left behind after logging operations (e.g. branches and needles, decayed or broken logs, uprooted stumps, etc.). Also called "slash," logging debris is one of the most hazardous fuels in wildlands.
Lop-and-scatter: Cutting up logging debris or small trees and scattering the pieces evenly over the ground.
Megafires: A term invented by the news media to refer to extremely large wildfires hundreds of thousands of acres in size. This term has no foundation in the fire science or management literature.
Minimum Impact Suppression Tactics (MIST): The application of strategies and tactics that effectively meet suppression and resource objectives with the least environmental, cultural, and social impacts.
Mop-up: After the flame front has passed through an area and containment lines have been constructed, this involves extinguishing all residual burning materials and visible smokes near perimeter firelines. Leads to a wildfire being declared ìcontrolledî when there is no threat of the fire spreading beyond containment lines.
NPS: National Park Service, federal land management agency within the Department of Interior that is responsible for managing wildland fires primarily on National Parks and Monuments.
Nomex: The fire-resistant clothing used by wildland firefighters.
Old growth: Relatively big, old trees attaining late-successional growth. Depending on species and structural characteristics, old-growth trees are generally the least flammable and/or most resilient to fire.
Overhead: All personnel in supervisory positions on a wildfire suppression incident.
Overstory: The tallest trees and dominant canopy layer of a stand.
Phoenix forests: The dynamic in which new forests rise from the ashes of old forests burned by stand- replacing fire. Many forest ecosystems (e.g. high-elevation lodgepole pine forests) with long fire return intervals naturally burn with high severity and high tree mortality as a means of regenerating the stand.
Pile burning: Piling logging slash and later burning the individual piles.
Ping-pong balls: An aerial ignition device made of polystyrene balls containing combustible chemicals that, when mixed together and dropped out of aircraft, ignite after a short delay (e.g. 30 seconds). Used to light large-scale prescribed fires, backfires and burnouts.
Plume-dominated wildfire: A wildfire whose rate and direction of spread is determined by its convection column of rising heat and smoke. These fires are capable of generating their own localized winds and weather.
Post-fire rehabilitation: Management activities undertaken after a wildfire to mitigate adverse effects on soils and hydrology caused by severe burning, and/or to mitigate the adverse impacts of suppression
35 operations on natural resources. Some rehabilitation methods are still experimental and controversial since they can cause their own adverse ecological impacts; for exmple, invasive weeds that are spread through straw bale mulching.
Prescribed fire: A wildland fire ignited by managers that burns under pre-planned weather and fuel conditions within a predetermined area to produce desired fire behavior and effects for specific resource management objectives.
Prescribed natural fire: An obsolete term for a lightning ignition that is managed as a prescribed fire in order to gain ecological or resource benefits from the fire effects.
Private contractors: Private business owners who sell or lease labor, vehicles, equipment, supplies, and services to the government for fire management projects or wildfire suppression incidents. Firefighting contractors are the employers of work crews, and should be viewed as having different economic interests than their employees.
Private land: Land owned by private individuals or corporations.
Public land: Land owned by all citizens but managed by federal, state, or local government agencies.
Pulaski: A specialized firefighting handtool that has a combination ax and adze-like hook used for chopping and trenching to construct fireline.
Rate of spread: The distance per unit of time that a fire moves horizontally along the ground surface. Usually expressed in ìchains per hourî (a chain equals 66 feet) or feet per hour. Different kinds of fuels, weather conditions, and slope gradients cause different rates of spread. Usually, small-diameter fuels burning in hot, dry, windy conditions on steep slopes have the highest rates of spread.
Red Card: Fire qualification card issued to firefighters showing their qualifications and training needs to fill fire suppression positions in a large fire suppression or incident organization.
Red flag warning: Term used by weather forecasters to alert managers of imminent critical fire weather conditions.
Resistance to Control (RTC): The relative difficulty of constructing and holding fireline. Presence of heavy fuels or high safety hazards (e.g. large downed logs and snags, steep rocky slopes) that can slow or stop fireline construction have a ìhighî RTC.
Retardant: A substance or chemical agent which reduces the flammability of combustible fuels.
Safety zone: An area cleared of flammable materials and vegetation for use in emergency situations by firefighters to escape fire blow-ups or entrapment.
Salvage logging: Commercial timber extraction of trees killed by natural disturbances such as fire, insects, or disease. Post-fire logging attempts to "salvage" commercial value of burned timber before natural decay processes make the wood fiber unusable for lumber products. This is predominantly an economic activity, and is one of the most environmentally damaging forms of commercial logging since burned stands are highly sensitive to additional soil disturbance caused by mechanical logging operations.
Slash: Parts of trees (e.g. logs, limbs, bark, needles, stumps) resulting from natural disturbances or management activities such as logging operations. Slash is a highly-flammable fuel type.
36 Slopover: A fire edge that burns across a wildfire or prescribed fire containment line.
Smokejumpers: Firefighters who parachute out of fixed-wing aircraft to reach wildfires in remote, unroaded areas.
Snag: A standing dead tree.
Spotfire: A fire that ignites from a wind-carried ember landing outside the perimeter of a main fire.
Stand-replacing fire: A fire that kills most or all of the living overstory trees or vegetation in a stand, and initiates natural succession or regrowth.
Structural fire suppression: The protection of homes or other built structures from wildland fire.
Suppression: All the activities intended to confine, contain, control, and extinguish a fire.
Surface fire: A wildland fire that burns along the surface layers of fuels and vegetation. This is the most common form of fire behavior.
Surface fuel: Fuels such as leaves, needles, branches, low vegetation that lies on the ground surface.
Tanker: A large fire engine or airplane used to transport water or water mixed with retardant.
Terratorch: A vehicle-mounted device that throws a stream of flaming liquid to rapidly ignite burnouts or prescribed fires.
Torching: The burning of the foliage of a single tree or small group of trees from the ground up. Also called "candling."
Tribal Crews: Crews of Native Americans organized by tribal governments or the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA).
Underburn: A fire that kills or consumes surface vegetation and fuels but not overstory trees.
Understory: The ground surface vegetation and younger, smaller trees that stand below the dominant canopy layer of a forest stand.
USFS: U.S. Forest Service, a federal land management agency within the Department of Agriculture that is responsible for managing wildland fires primarily on National Forests. The USFS is the largest federal fire agency in terms of personnel, resources, and budgets.
Values-at-risk: Natural resources, human-built structures, or other values that may be jeopardized if a fire occurs.
Wildfire: An unwanted and unplanned fire burning in wildlands that must be suppressed.
Wildland: An area of public land that is devoid of housing settlements or industrial developments.
Wildland Fire: Any nonstructure fire, other than prescribed fire, that occurs in a wildland environment. Depending on the location and conditions, a wildland fire may be suppressed or managed for resource benefits (called "Wildland Fire Use").
37 Wildland Fire Implementation Plan (WFIP): A fire management plan that documents the analysis and selection of strategies for managing a wildland fire for resource or ecological benefits.
Wildland Fire Situation Analysis (WFSA): A decision-making process that evaluates alternative suppression strategies against environmental, social, political, and economic criteria. Provides a record of decisionmaking.
Wildland Fire Use: A naturally-ignited wildland fire that is managed for resource benefits instead of being suppressed. WFU seeks to accomplish specific pre-planned resource management objectives in pre-defined geographic areas outlined in Fire Management Plans.
Wind-driven wildland fire: A wildland fire that is spread by a strong consistent wind.
Firefighter collecting data while monitoring a wildland fire.
38