United States Department of Agriculture

Forest Service Fire Management Volume 49, No.2 1988 Notes United States Department of Fire Agriculture Management Forest Service An international quarterly periodical Volume 49, No.2 Notes devoted to forest fire management 1988

Contents Fire Management Notes is published by the Forest Service 01the United Stales Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. 3 Artificial Intelligence Applications to Fire The Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the publication of this periodical is DOll J. Latham necessaryin the transaction 01 the public bI.Isiness requlroo by lawaI this De?anman\.

Subscriptions may be obtained from the 6 The Florida Division of Forestry Helicopter Program Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, John Mason Glen D,C. 20402

NOTE-· The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is lor the 8 Prescribed Burning for Cultural Resources iniorma\ion and ccrwewerce o~ Ihe reacer. John E. HUJ1ler Such use does not constitute an official endorsement of any product or service by the U.S. Department 01Agriculture.

10 "SO. Ya Wanna Make a Movie')" Disclaimer: Individual authors are responsible lor the technical accuracy 01the Frank Carroll metenar presented in Fire Management Notes. 13 Building a Command Post That Is Mobile Send suggestions and articles to Chief, Forest Service (Attn: Fire Management Bill Tern' Notes). P.O. 80x 96090, U.S. Department ol Agriculture, Washington, DC 20090-6090.

Richard E. Lynq, Secretary 16 An Evaluation of Foam as a Fire Suppressant U.S. Department of Agriculture

Paul Scblobolun alld ROil Roc/mel F. Dale Robertson, Chia1 Forest Service 21 South Dakota Strike Teams Help Fight California Fires L.A Amicarelia, Director Fire and Aviation Management Ken Terrill and Greg Krumbach Francis A. Russ, General Manager 23 A Quick Method To Determine Northeastern Woody Fuel Weights Cary Rouse and Donna Paananen

25 Celebrating Research Accomplishments at the Forest Fire Laboratory Roberta M. Burzynski

26 An Overview of the 1987 Wallace Lake Fire. Manitoba Kelvin Hirsch

28 Mapping Fires With the FIRE MOUSE TRAP Duane Dtpert and John R. Warren

31 Correcting an Error in the HP-7IB Fire Behavior CROM Robert E. Burgan and Ronald A. SUSOf{

33 New McCall Smokejumper Base Dedication Planned Gene Benedict

Cover. Gene Benedict, Branch Chief. Fire Management and Recreation. stands before McCaJl Smokcjumpcr Base. on Payette National Forest. ID. See story on p. 33. (Photo courtesy of Eric Bechtcl,Cel1lra) Idaho Star News.] l 2 Fire Management Notes Artificial Intelligence Applications to Fire

Don J. Latham

Meteorologist/physicist. lntcnnountain Fire Science.'!' Laboratory. USDA Forest Service, Missoufa, MT

Just what is artificial intelligence deal of intelligence. including the (AI). and what could it possibly do capability of refusing to carry out a for (or to) fire science and manage­ self-destructive action (see Asirnov's ment? Before getting into uses that , laws of robotics). as we shall sec. will be manifold and Where are we now in the realm of pervasive, Jet's dig into some of the AI" Currently. the field is broken characteristics and definitions of into several overlapping categories. artificial intelligence. The most common divisions are: Many potential or actual users of environmental sensing (vision. hear­ developed to recognize tanks. Does AI will insist that the term is an ing). including pattern matching and that sound like something desirable oxymoron. That is, anything arti­ recognition of things: computer learn­ for fire application? ficial cannot be intelligent, and vice ing and analysis; "natural" language At present. the most useful Al versa. There is a simple operational and linguistics; and reasoning. or technology is the' 'expert system" or definition that gets us around this dif­ knowledge-based systems (. 'expert knowledge-based system. These com­ ficulty: the Turing rest, named after systems"). Does this sound familiar? puter programs usc knowledge bases its inventor. Allan Turing. If you are It should. because it is just what peo­ (composed of facts and rules). inter­ communicating with someone or ple do: input data from the senses (or preters of the facts and rules (called something. and you can't tell from internal sources such as a inference engines), input and output whether thc someone or something is dream). filter and think about the routines. and explanation routines. human or machine. then it is intet­ data. apply known processes and Most of these programs follow long ligcnt. We can expand this test just a remembered data to the result. and and sometimes tortuous reasoning little to include more behavior than act on the result. Some of our actions chains through to a conclusion. They communication. and we have a pretty are "hard-wired;" like reflexes, are good at this. whereas people arc good working definition of artificial some "background" or meta­ not; it is not a survival characteristic. intelligence. along the lines of: if it programs, like driving a car, and Engaging in long reasoning chains walks like a duck. quacks like a some call for much active thought. when threatened by a saber-tooth duck, and looks like a duck. then it like reading this paper. tiger probably would get you eaten. is probably a duck, Each of these divisions of AI is An expert at something has created I don't think there is any question in its embryonic stage. Every step a domain of knowledge about the that we can replicate human thinking forward seems to generate more something. Within that domain. the processes in machinery and usc questions than answers. Robotics. for expert has formed heuristics, or machinery to expand those processes. example. a sort of melding of these rules-of-thumb. to guide activities We've already done this. We will arbitrary divisions of Al• is moving within the domain. If the expert can. build machinery that thinks to match fast. Both military and commercial with the aid of a knowledge 'engi­ the job to be done. Imagine coming interests want robots to work for neer, or without. codify his or her to work one morning and turning on them: robots don't talk back. they knowledge, an expert system can be your desktop thinking machine. only obey orders, are dispensable, and constructed to mimic the behavior of to have it announce that it was call­ cannot sue you. At present. however. the expert in the domain. The cod­ ing in sick. So. we'd probably want robots are limited in capability. A ification and the knowledge base that our desktop machines to be rather robot van has successfully negotiated result are knowledge representation, subservient. On the other hand. sup­ a road, on its own, at about 3 miles one of the major problems in expert pose we send a machine to explore per hour. Remotely piloted helicop­ systems. This process is, of course, the surface of Jupiter. We would ters. using infrared scanners and putting the expert's knowledge into want this machine to have a great knowledge-based systems, arc being machine-understandable format.

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 3 Why not just teach the machine to accept the knowledge and codify it. thus replacing the knowledge engi­ neer with a program'? Attempts to do just that arc ongoing. It is one of the current hot topics in artificial intelligence. Of course. the program. unlike the expert. is not able to extend the knowledge base in other than an ele­ mentary deductive way. Once we have started the program going and it has deduced all the consequences of the knowledge it has in its knowl­ edge base. it stops. We have not told the program how to extend its knowl­ o A scmi-auromntcd land-use plan­ track of wildlife and the like. It edge. The machine's extension of its ning system. could be programmed to do clcmcn­ knowledge is. as you might expect. C!) An elementary, reasoning fire dis­ wry thinking about its environment one aspect of machine learning. The patch system. and would call for help if needed. Of program has to know not only how o Prescribed burning plans that learn. course. it would know where it is to learn. or store data, but also to e Interactive. self-correcting, geo­ and communicate by satellite. form and test new hypotheses about graphic information systems. Fire dispatch machinery such as I new input. To do that. the program Many of these would have been describe is already beginning to be has to know how to think about availablc this year or during the next used, except for the robotics. in thinking. And so on. couple of years on cheap mass stor­ Ontario and Quebec. The package If our understanding of how to age and running on advanced work and concept were developed by Peter huild effective machines is so infan­ stations, large desktop computers. Kourtz at Pctawaw«. The machine tile, then what good. in a practical We are, then at least 5 years behind. dispatcher keeps track of fuels by sense, arc the simple programs that Jf we run Iike heck to get caught satellite, rainbll by radar. and arc available to us'! Right now we lip. how far could we get by the year weather and lightning occurrence by can computerize any repetitive proc­ 2000:) We could be testing or have: land-based sensors. It is at present ess or any closed operation for which e The first crude robots for forest dependent on human input. but will a knowledge representation can be usc. become more and more intelligent as found. We can also generate pro­ o Completely automated fire dispatch time goes on. grams that add facts within the machinery that would be able to Do such machines and programs representation to their knowledge use the forest robots as smoke­ replace people? Yes. of course. They bases. and reason, using those new chasers and forest plans for broad replace people who arc doing mun­ facts. We can construct intelligent guidance. dane, repetitive tasks. tasks that databases and inventory systems. If o Interactive teaching tools with almost all people dislike and perform we hac! started work 5 years ago, in highly realistic simulations. poorly. They free people to do what a serious way, we could right now be A robot for a forest or rangeland they do better than machines-think using: vvould he programmed to roam a creatively and with common sense. o An expert system that is the Forest given geographic area, monitoring The machinery must be looked at as Service Manual. for fire and bug activity. and keeping a tool. as an extension of the mind

4 Fire Management Notes and body. Look-did the bulldozer TheWebster's dream house took 26,000 board-feet replace the Pulaski'? Sure. for some of lumber, 13,146 hours and their entire savings to build. uses, hut each still has its place. It took one match to destroy. Aside from cost, which is a matter Remember, only you can prevent forest fires. of commitment to a course of action. the things that hotd us back from implementation of this or other new technology arc simple human inertia. a reluctance to change. and a man­ agement system firmly rooted in the 19th century. Resistance to change is. however. a survival trait. New things must be tested to assess their value. What I am doing is proposing that applica­ tion of new technology is more than just a better way of putting out a fire or even better planning tools. It now includes change in a chain of com­ mand. with information and policy implementation passing through many layers. to a system two or three -layers deep and with far more automated information passing. We are seeing the beginnings of this with implementation of the Forest Servicc­ wide computer system. It is starting as an aid within the old management structure. but will sooner or later enable a far more efficient structure. releasing managers from much of the paper shuffling necessary for passing information through a vertical struc­ ture. Geographic Information Systems will tie information to the land. and make it available without being manually handled. Administra­ tive information can be quickly dispersed without the need for many differing interpretations as it passes through a chain of people. And arti­ ficial intelligence programming techniques will be helping us all the way .•

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 5 The Florida Division of Forestry Helicopter Program

John Mason Glen

State {d' Florida aviation safesv officer. Taltnhnsscc, FL

The 19H5 fire season was the worst in recent history for the State of Flor­ ida. One Division of Forestry fire­ fighter and one local forest products industry firefighter were burned to death battling a wildfire: over 2.00 homes were destroyed and in excess of 400,000 acres of timber management area was ruined. This conflagration did provide the impetus for a concentrated effort on the part or the Division of Forestry. in concert with the industry, Senator Paula Hawkins' office. and the . .~. ,:--~. Florida Forestry Association, to .... -":. . , acquire helicopter assets to assist in ~~~.~-,,,:,,"._~.~,,~~,,,,'.,,,'--._"-'_-'- ~_-J

fire management. These efforts were 11/ fore,l!,l"Oul1d. Bell UH-I E heli('opter Oil {(/(I/I to Florida Divisian or Forestry: ill rear, II{,lI'!." pur­ rewarded by the U.S. Navy's releasing c/lt/scd HI/giles 50()f). two Bell UH-1 E helicopters into the USDA Forest Service Excess Prop­ erty Program for loan to the Florida expire. King intercom, Nav-com. Interagency cooperation and assist­ Division of Forestry. The helicopters transponder. and Wulfsberg 9600 ance has been highly visible since thc are operated within the strict guide­ channel radios replaced the 20-year­ inception of the program. The U.S. lines of a-cooperative agreement with old military radio equipment. One Navy provided Division aircraft the Forest Service requiring 90 per­ "Hucy' was painted Division green mechanics with training as well as cent of the flight time to be on fire­ and white and had new soundproof some specialized tools. The Division related activities. interior installed. The other paint job is able (0 order helicopter parts from The 1966 U1'I-IE models. with will be accomplished in fiscal year the Army on the same priority code roughly 4.000 hours of flight time 1988. Three "Hucy fuselages for as a frontline military unit. each. underwent comprehensive nondynamic parts replacement were All three helicopters and pilots maintenance inspections following also acquired, as well as an entire are based in Tallahassee. Current their arrival from the storage depot at rebuilt spare Lycoming 1'-53-11 management objectives call for Davis-Monthun Air Force Base near engine. repositioning of a helicopter into the Tucson, AZ. All inspection panels Additionally. the Florida State leg­ Southern Region of the State when were opened; corroded areas islaturc appropriated $200.000 for the weather build-up index reaches repaired: new rivets, tail rotor cables the Division to purchase outright a very high or extreme. or fires have and guides, drive shafts, thick-walled smaller helicopter for seed orchard occurred, or a combination of the masts, dynamic bearings, stabilizer and nursery spraying, aerial ignition. two. During our fire season, roughly bars and other miscellaneous items fire management. and other forestry February through June, an aircraft installed: and an engine "hot-end" duties. Out of a list of 30 possible will remain in the Southern Region, inspection completed by factory tech- candidates, six helicopters were with the pilots rotating on a weekly niciuns. Main and tail rotor blades looked at. A ! 979 Hughes soon with basis. A portable auxiliary power were ordered to replace some that are 1.600 hours on it seemed to he the unit. 240 gallon Bambi bucket. cargo high time and will be installed once best choice, and came on-line in net and lead line, tool box and these components' hour requirements February 1987. helmets, and Nomex night suits and

6 Fire Management Notes gloves accompany the deployment of helicopter pilots during fire-related period. The Hughes 5000 is inter­ a helicopter. activities. but optional for administra­ agency authorized for any sort of Aircraft maintenance is accom­ tive flights. has been provided fire management duties. while the plished by the Division aircraft through the USDA Forest Service UH-I E's are carded for water drop­ mechanic staff. which also maintains excess property program. ping only. 19 single-engine fixed wing and The Division taught a helicopter The pilots take proficiency check 3 multi-engine fixed wing airplanes. managers course to familiarize our rides on a 6-month renewal basis and The single-engine airplanes. used for own people with the capabilities of are required to keep current and pro­ fire patrol and some personnel trans­ these new tools. and 1-374. the ficient at their unique type of flying. port. are not instrument flight rule­ Incident Command System (ICS) such as aerial delivery of water or equipped nor do they fly at night. Helicopter Coordinator course. which retardant. aerial ignition. and nursery The multi-engine airplanes. used included Division personnel as well spraying. One 'pilot divides his time almost exclusively for administrative as participation by the National Park between maintenance and flight fire protection and travel. are for Service. Florida Fire College. and duties. another handles both fixed all-weather. day or night usage. the USDA Forest Service. Addi­ wing trips and helicopter missions, Parts. Airworthiness Directives. and tionally. the Division will host the while the third administers the heli­ information are tracked through a USFS/OAS (USDI Office of Aircraft copter program and acts as the microfiche system. while all time Services) Southeast Regional Heli­ Division flight instructor and Safety components arc on a computer spread copter Manager workshop this year, Officer. We comply with the 7 sheet updated monthly that alerts the second week in February. A night-hour and 10 hours of uninter­ maintenance to components with less Division UH-I E recently assisted at rupted rest requirements. as well as than 25 hours useful life remaining. the Florida Fire College in Ocala by no night flights nor Instrument Flight Although the three pilots fly any of rappelling firefighters onto a high­ Rules. the helicopters. each aircraft is rise building at the end of their train­ Although the National Guard has assigned to one pilot who is respon­ ing session. Ten Division employees provided valuable aviation assistance sible for ensuring that it is cosmet­ are also carded as Premo Mark III in the past. they could only be COIll­ ically maintained and that the mainte­ aerial ignition machines operators mitred in life threatening or fire nance staff is aware of write-ups or after having had instruction from disaster situations. The Division discrepancies. Personal protective either the USDA Forest Service or hopes to utilize its helicopters to pre­ equipment. required for Division the National Park Service. The Divi­ vent these types of situations from sion completed nearly 10.000 acres occurring. Further. the Fire Control of prescribed burns during calendar Bureau has felt for some time that year 1987. in cooperation with USFS Division helicopters could arrive and the Florida Freshwater Fish and more quickly and do more in fire Game Commission. and has plans to management simply because they do at least 15.000 together with the were schooled in fire-related activi­ Freshwater Fish and Game Commis­ ties. Now. with our own helicopters. sion. USFS. and the U.S. Fish and fire management objectives such Game Commission. All three heli­ as increased seedling production and copter pilots are USDA/USDI decreased fuel loading through aerial Interagency carded. One of the pilots ignition can be better achieved. Also. was recently sent as Air Operations the Division now has one more tool Director for an Interagency Incident available during lightning busts' and Command Team to east Tennessee peak fire periods. when most other during its extreme fire problem assets arc committed.•

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 7 Prescribed Burning for Cultural Resources

John E. Hunter

Forestry technician, Orleans Ranger District. .r-;ix Rivers NlI1ioJ/(/! Forest. USDA Forest Service, Orleans. CA

Gathering plants by Native Ameri­ treatment that produces good results area. Burning higher elevation stands calls Oil public lands is a widespread in hazel. Also. willow (Sulix spp.) may be preferred since bear grass practice in some areas. Land man­ can be used as a substitute when growing there produces longer and agers concerned with fair multiple good hazel is not available. With stronger leaves (1). The continuity lise on these lands should facilitate bear grass. however, fire is the only within hear grass stands will vary this legitimate resource use par­ effective treatment and no other plant from site to site, and deciding ticularly when the administration of is considered a good substitute. Bear whether or not the fire can carry will those lands has hampered traditional grass is collected during the spring he the responsibility of the individual practices in the past. Fire suppression and summer of the first post-fire burn planner. Other treatment area and prevention programs, for exam­ year. The new bear grass leaves arc specifications such as soil type and ple. have limited the ability of Native superior to older leaves since they aspect are of no apparent importance Americans to burn vegetation in con­ arc stronger. thinner. and more as far as the quality of the bear grass junction with collecting and other pliable. is concerned. activities. As a result. some special To obtain information on correct Specific Burn Objectives and resources collected only in burned burning procedures in order to Desired Results. By consuming areas arc not readily available. Fire provide for bear grass users. three between 90 and 100 percent of the managers thus find thcmselves in a experimental burns and numerous dead bear grass foliage and about unique position to utilize their exper­ interviews with local collectors were 75 to 95 percent or the live bear tise in the development of important conducted on the Orleans District grass foliage: the burn stimulates cultural resources. during tbe 1987 field season. Tbe new growth and the young shoots The Orleans Ranger District of the information gathered during this will provide the preferred basket con­ Six Rivers National forest has a long period was used to assemble the fol­ struction material. history of gathering by Native Amer­ lowing burning guidelines. These Seasonal Timing. Various pub­ icans and a more recent history of guidelines can be used in planning lications summarized by Lewis (2) fire exclusion by the Forest Service. fire use on units interested in burning indicate that burning to improve bas­ Located in northwestern California. to enhance cultural resources. kerry materials traditionally took the District is still frequently used by place in the summer and early fall in members of the Karuk , Yurok , and Prescribed Fire Guidelines northwestern California. Burning Hupa tribes to collect plants for a later in the fall is acceptable if condi­ variety of subsistence, ceremonial. Treatment Area Specifications. tions are within the prescription. and native arts purposes. Both bear The two most important specifica­ Summer burning during periods of grass (Xcrophy//u!1I lcnox) and hazel tions to consider when selecting burn low or normal wildfire occurrence tCorvlus COrflltW var. cutifornica; are sites are accessibility and shading. will produce good results at a time preferentially collected in burned Sites adjacent to maintained roads arc when fire management personnel arc areas around Orleans and are used in more accessible to collectors. many available. constructing baskets and other items. of whom are elderly. Bear grass Desired Fire Behavior. Flame Hazel sticks are collected early in the stands beneath a canopy are preferred lengths between .'1~ of a foot and second or third spring following fire since plants in the shade remain pli­ 3 feet and a rate of spread between when the new shoots are straighter able tor a longer period of time. 1 and 4 feet per minute have pro­ and more Ilexible. But the majority Site selection criteria such as size duced acceptable results. A specific of requests for information on burned or the burn, elevation, and fuel con­ fire behavior is not necessary to pro­ areas for plant procurement in the tinuity arc less important. Burn duce good results in bear grass as Orleans area concern bear grass acreage will depend on local resource long as the desired consumption is rather than hazel. This may be needs. the number of planned burns. obtained and the fire is held within because hand pruning is an alternate and size of bear grass stands in the control lines. But very high tempera-

8 Fire Management Notes tures and long residence times of high moisture does not produce suitable wildfires and the planned associated with heavy fuel concentra­ good results. burns. These maps are available to tions will cause unwanted plant Other Considerations. Experience interested persons during the spring mortality. has shown that a five-person engine and summer gathering season. In Fire Behavior Prescription. Since module can successfully line, burn. addition to the maps. a small sign a highly specific fire behavior is not and mop-up small beargrassplots designating each planned burn site as required to obtain good results, the during a normal work day. With the a "Cultural Burn Area" will improve following fire behavior prescription is possible exception of mileage, costs access and increase public visibility not restrictive. are minimal. Bear grass fuels present of the program. The combined no special mop-up problems and acreage of planned and unplanned Maxi- Mini- spotting is rare since very few fire burns should meet the needs of local Item mum mum brands are put up during combustion. collectors, although obtaining data Dry bulb (OF) 85 40 The only smoke management strategy on exactly what those needs are is Relative used at Orleans was to burn only on difficult. humidity (%) 25 70 a specified "burn day." But sur­ A burning program to enhance I-hr fuel prisingly heavy smoke on even small cultural resources offers an excellent moisture (%) 6 II burns warrants the usual notification opportunity to improve relations with IO-hr fuel of other agencies and the public. If members of the community who play moisture (%) 8 17 fuel accumulation is sufficient, bien­ an important role in managing public Midflame wind- nial burning of a particular site is lands. By allowing collectors to par­ speed (mph) 10 0 acceptable. ticipate in the program by identifying Live fuel potential burn sites. the ranger dis­ moisture (%) 75 150 Current Burning Program trict may obtain additional good will and cooperation. Seldom do resource On the Orleans District, live fuel The favorable public response and managers have such a good oppor­ moistures for bear grass in July and the success in meeting burn objec­ tunity to provide resources and August were consistently about 115 tives during the first season of improve public relations at the same percent, and this value was adequate burning prompted the Orleans Ranger time.• for fire behavior computations. District to plan a modest target of Firing Techniqnes and Equip­ 2 acres per year for cultural burning. Literature Cited ment. Bear grass is similar to many The burns will be conducted during I. Heffner. Kathy. Following the smoke: Con­ other live fuels in that burning will the regular fire season on 1/10 to 1/4 temporary plant procurement by the Indians be vigorous as long as enough heat is acre plots. At least one burn will also of Northwest California. Unpublished mart­ applied initially. Hand-held drip be conducted to enhance hazel. uscript on file. Six Rivers National Forest. torches easily supply the required Site preparation burns are com­ Eureka. CA; 1994. 94 p. 2. Lewis. Henry. Patterns of Indian burning in heat. Any strip burning method is monly utilized for gathering bear California: Ecology and cthnohixrory. acceptable, although the minimum grass (1). Prior to any planned burn­ Ramona. CA: Ballena Press: 1973. 101 p. number of strips necessary to control ing for bear grass. these burns were the fire and to meet objectives is the only areas available. These loca­ recommended so as to simulate fire tions are not optimal however, since behavior as it must have been for the they are usually unshaded and are original practitioners. Unlike broad­ often difficult to access. But some cast burning, spot burning of site preparation burns are good for individual plants with gelled gasoline collecting. Those that are acceptable or pressurized torches during periods are identified on maps along with

1988 Volume 49. Number 2 9 "So, Va Wanna Make a Movie?"

Frank Carroll

Public affairs officer, Coconino National Forest, USDA Forest Service. Flagstaff. AZ

Firefighters are used to new tech­ with hands-on training and actual photos that tell the camera people nology on the fircline. The two experience, can give a trainee a more what to shoot and show everyone firefighters punching line near the thorough feel for how to accomplish else what you're trying to portray. I head of the Deardorff Fire on the some objective such as how to use a hired a local artist at $10 an hour to MaIheur National Forest near John shovel properly. draw the storyboard based on video f Day looked us over, decided who we The NWCG had certified the skills already had. pictures from textbooks, were, then went back to work. As course S-130 in 1983. The Training and from real life modeling provided we walked by I heard one tell the Working Team identified u need for by myself. II took her 2 days 10 draw other that we were an infrared unit new audio-visual materials to com­ over 90 frames and complete the looking for hot spots. plete the course. Most of our training storyboard. Close. We were looking for hot films were too old or not up to cur­ Next I added video instructions spots. And we were also looking for rent standards. that I \carned about by reading three numerous other dramatic or tech­ The team decided it needed to or four pages of a university text­ nically correct scenes that would begin to get into producing nationally book-such things as "medium eventually translate our storyboard certifiable training videos cost­ shot" and "extreme close up." into the video movie called "Wild­ effectively. They assigned the project audio instructions in the form of fire: Hand Tools," a training video a budget of $15,000. Neil volun­ what narrative goes where, and, supplement to 5-J30, "Basic reercd to make the video using finally, transition instructions, how to Firefighter. " National Forest resources which, in get from one shot to another by It's a phenomenon that has be­ this case. consisted of one fledgling "fading to black" or using a "cut." come more common as technology videographer with a minimum of Then we sent the whole package becomes more accessible-video equipment, a maximum of enthusi­ back to the team and advisors and cameras on the fireline. at the very asm and ideas, and lots of fireline they said, . 'Great. Now shoot it." head of the fire. intermingled with experience. Oh ... and a lot of help We wrapped the video equipment the leading clements of crack hand from many interested firefighting in high impact foam and packed it in crews, camera lenses inches from the friends, standard Forest Service red fire bags bright glow of fusees. Nor arc these to transport it. Then we waited, As VHS 'h-inch camcorders. We're talk­ How We Did It the fire season progressed, I followed ing television. low-end industrial hand crews to fires in various parts cameras, state-of-the-art chip cam­ The techniques of firefighting with of the country taking pictures to eras, network quality cameras! hand tools have not changed appre­ match the storyboard. We tried to ciably over the years. We decided to use footage from as many different What We Wanted make the video along the lines of its parts of the country as possible to most recent predecessor, •.Handtools assure that it would be a national When Neil Paulson. Forest Super­ for Wildfire," and in a format that video. visor and Chairperson for the would complement the new course. When we finally got all the pic­ National Wildfire Coordinating We prepared a script and sent it tures we needed. I took the raw tape Group's Training Working Team, out to members and advisors of the to Bureau of Land Management edit­ came into my office in May of 1986 Training Working Team for com­ ing bays in Santa Fe, NM, and to the and asked me if I thought we could ment. "Great," they said. "Wheres Forest Service bay in Albuquerque. make a national movie on using hand the storyboard?" J contacted the NM, and edited the movie together tools. I said. "Yes!" And then! video experts at Northern Arizona according to the instructions provided started to figure out how. University. They told me that a in the storyboard. I ended up with a Video is an important and useful storyboard is a visualization of the movie that had pictures. sound tool that. when used in conjunction project in the form of drawings or effects, and narration.

10 Fire Management Notes STORYBOARD 11 Dale: 6/19/86

Project: FIREFIGHTING HAND TOOLS Frank Carroll

MCLEOD

Video: MCU of McLeod scraping fireline. The tool is CU of side of McLeod overscraping between MS of McLeods building line. turned to show the rakers rakin~ needles. rocks. The scraper edge is shown cutting grass and brush. Freeze frame and title. Audio: VQ: The shovel is sometimes followed by the VQ: The sides are useful in tight places. va: In fuel types where the McLeod can be McLeod or kortick tool. The kortick has a used, it is one of the fastest line building tools detachable head for easy packing. The available. McLeod is used to clean and improve the fireline. The teeth easily rake debris. The scrapingedge cu1s grassand brush.

Transition

Video: MCU of council tool building fireline in leaves. MS/MCU of council tool being carried and its MS of McLeod and council tool building Freezeframe and title. uses in mop-up. fireline. Audio: VO: The council rake is highly efficient for va: It should be carried with the cutlers va:The McLeod is preferredover the fireline building in deciduous leaves. pointed down. The council tool is used during council rake in open pine areas of the west. mop-up to scrape burning embers off trees and stumps, pull hot logs and stumps from the fire edge, and shovel soil onto hot Transition materials.

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 11 Next. I took the "master com­ TheRussells'silverware • The more people involved in posite," as it is called, to a got caught in a forest fire. making the movie. the more popu­ production studio in Albuquerque to lar it will be. and the more useful. have "final production" done. The Invite those you want to use the studio put the titles. special effects. film to help make it. If it's a and final credits into the movie. national film. be sure it has a Next. I presented the movie. now national perspective. officially titled "Wildfire: Hand • Try not to show vchic Ic cabs and Tools." to the NWCG Training other things that will prematurely Working Team at a meeting in River­ date the movie. side. CA. • Do not usc simple computers to They recommended several generate titles for your movie. It changes in pictures and narrative. costs only a few hundred dollars to and agreed to certify the movie for put professional looking titles and national use when the changes were credits on the tape. "Homemade' complete. I made the changes and titles look homemade. sent the final l7-minute-long master • Do final production in a produc­ to the Boise Interagency Fire Center tion studio but usc a friend's and where the Publications Management cooperator's editing bays to do System folks had it copied and put most of the work. on the shelf. where it is available • Whenever possible. use actual today for $9.95 in YHS. situations rather than stagcd situa­ tions. Combat photography looks What We Learned real because it is real. • Hire a quality narrator. and make We started in mid-May and So did the Russells. sure his or her voice fits the finished in September. We could pro~ lilJay, more and more r<-~'P!c oreliving project. closer and closer to !he forest"~ That'swhy, duce the same movie today in less today,fores! fire, kill more than trees. P!caS<.' be careful You can do it! There are lots of Only you can prevent f("es! fires than 2 months. It took much longer good people who can help with because we needed to learn as we did advice and equipment. Video is not the video. Here is some other advice: hand. Make sure that the people the wave of the future. It is the here •A Forest Service or Bureau of who are ultimately responsible for and now. and land managers can Land Management District Office the production have signed their thoughtfully and purposefully take or National Park or State Forester name or names to the storyboard. advantage of this powerful communi­ can make national training videos. • It is usually cheaper to use outside cations tool to help care for the land The equipment is available or can talent to draw the storyboard than and serve the people. be bought for $12 to $15,000. to pay wages and travel to talented For more information. contact: • Half-inch VHS camcorders will people in the organization. Frank Carroll, Public Affairs Officer. not do the job. They are fine lor • For safety reasons when making Boise National Forest. Boise. ID internal project-oriented work. but fire-oriented video. provide the ~3702, 208-334-1854. they do not produce a quality camera person with an experienced image for extensive internal or firefighter to help see that the Neil R. Paulson. Forest Supervisor, external use. camera crew doesn't get caught Coconino National Forest. 2323 East • Do not pick up a camera without a and to help haul equipment, which Greenlaw Lane, Flagstaff. AZ completed storyboard in your . is a hit bulky. ~6004, 602-527-7400.•

12 Fire Management Notes Building a Command Post That is Mobile

Bill Terry

Head. Training Section Fire Control Department, Texas Forest Service, Lufkin, TX

It was a typical cold front passing The same TFS personnel had were modified to provide room for through Central Texas, which Texans responded a few months earlier to dispatchers. storage, communica­ like to call a "norther." This help when a plastics factory in Jack­ tions gear, and a work area. While one was more severe with high sonville caught fire. When any type trailers have been used in Texas. a winds, rain. and scattered tornados. of disaster strikes. communications is large step van or motor home could Although November was a bit late the first priority. Without it, it is be converted. for this type of weather. it was not impossible to get anything done. But The unit was made self-contained unprecedented. By mid-afternoon a how do you put together a func­ by using only 12-voll equipment. In series of tornados had ravaged sev­ tional, relatively inexpensive and addition to a heavy storage battery, a eral small communities and rural totally self-contained communications special 12-volt generator was built areas across Central Texas. base that can go anywhere at a from a small gas engine and an auto­ The tornados hit south of Pal­ moment's notice? The answer is not mobile 60-amp alternator. With a estine. moved into the Jacksonville simple, but the TFS has developed small amount of fuel. the unit can area. and passed south of Tyler several units that can help others to run uninterrupted for days. before dissipating. Within a few min­ design a mobile communications The layout of the communications utes telephone service and power center. center. which we call a mobile com­ were disrupted across. a wide area. The first step was to put it on mand post. is shown in figures 2, 3, and extensive damage was inflicted wheels. TFS did it by using Federal and 4. This concept has been both on mobile horne parks, scattered excess property travel trailers, which functional and relatively incxpen­ commercial properties, and about had previously been used for tempo­ sive-$15.000 total cost. including 15,lJOO acres of timberland. rary housing (see fig. I). These were communications equipment (sec fig. Texas Forest Service (TFS) per­ 22~foot or 24-foot trailers equipped 2). We hope that others can adapt sonnel helped set up an emergency with kitchens and baths. The trailers this idea to their needs, command post in the sheriff's dis­ patch station in Jacksonville and helped to set up search and rescue teams. Emergency standby power generators were set up at the TFS Area II Headquarters in the Hender­ son Dispatch Center to ensure communications for the TFS units on the scene as well as cross-channel communications with other emer­ -? gency crews. Within a few hours ,~ additional personnel brought up a Mobile Command Post from Lufkin to set up a similar operations center in Palestine. The Texas Forest Service provided local maps, portable radios, and resource locators for emergency crews involved in search and rescue. The TFS crews cleared roadways to Figure I-Alohile COI/1/I/(///(jpost with 1001'er. a Icff'scopillg 5()~j(1(I/ allTelll/(/ ttiat contains (/ 11I01111I

provide access and later assisted tim­ (or a high-balld l/111f'I1lUl and {/ mobiie-phonc (//llellllll. Other (/I1!e////{/s call he nunnned (/.1' needed. ber owners with salvage operations. Tower call he raised and (IJItC/lI1(/.1 connected and he operatio//al H'ithill j() minutes,

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 13 For more information contact Charles Barbier. Head. Communica­ r, , tions Section. Fire Control Department, Texas Forest Service. I P.O. Box 310. Lufkin. TX 75902·0130. (409) 639·RIOO.•

Figure 2-lntaiof (d'lIIohile conunand post. Law-hand radios 011 {he righl. hip,li-h(lnd /"{Idios Oil the feli. /:!-\"(I!I gellc/"(I{or ill the cenler. T!Ie RCIH'l"illor is set outsidejor 0pcfa/io/l.

o o LB HB ANTENNA ANTENNA

TO~

LB liB ANTENNA ANTENNA o o o 122 MHZ FAA RADIO ANTENNA TRAILER TOP VIEW

t Igurc ~'l--I ulliel tOIl I'inl'. .1-ilOwing lll"rUI/RelliCI1l l!( IiiI' low-hand WIt! high-IJU/I{{ Uljinilili.l. Also. il/e/I/ded is II 122 MHZ FAA radiojor ll/Iking ll'itll (lifemli. All (lnICII//(I,I' lire nununedfcn: transport 01/ (/1/ all/mini/III catwalt:[rume 11101 attows technicians to ll'Ofk 011 the roo!"o!"the unit without damaging it. This Il'as dcsigncd hy the Texas Forest Service 10 prevent roo!"damugc und III S£'I"I'C us (/ cradle III {'afry the tower,

14 Fire Management Notes @ [g~ STORAGE COUCH

STORAGE

fAN

STORAGE COUCH

@ ® FLOOR

1. Mobile-phone transmitter, DC to 9. 12-volt heavy duty storage bat­ 120 VAC inverter-500-watt tery. Can be connected to public address amplifier. 12-volr generator to maintain 2. Mobile-phone control head. charge. 3. 120 VAC from inverter. 10. Midland low-band radio. 4. Small copy machine-should lise II. Midland low-band radio. less than 400 watts. 12. Conference table. 5. 120 VAC from external electri­ 13. Outside 12-volt flood lamps to cal hookup. shine over exterior removable 6. Midland high-band 80 channel canopies. radio. 14. Outside 12-volt flood lamps to 7. Midland high-hand 80 channel shine under exterior removable radio. canopies. 8. Midland high-band 80 channel radio-mounted on slide-out Note: All radios can be programmed brackets. by a technician. All lights and fans arc 12 volt.

Figure 4--F/oor ptan (~l the Tevas Fore,ll Service mobile ('OIlIlIIWld post.

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 15 An Evaluation of Foam as a U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 8UReAU Of lA~D MANIIGEMeNT Fire Suppressant'

Paul Schlobohm and Ron Rochna

Fire tunnagcment specialists. Boise !1I1('mgcncy Fire Center, Bureau of Land Management. U.S. Dcpcmmem ojlntcrior, Solem, OR

The Bureau or Land Management Since 1985. foaming agents ute (gpm) of water as foam at 150 (BLM) is evaluating the effectiveness designed for wildland fire suppres­ pounds per square inch (psi). with a of foam as a means of controlling sion have been available. These discharge distance or 85 feet. Water fire. The impetus for this study can products combine relatively stable is expanded about 10 times at agent! he described by the reality of current bubble structure. improved wetting water ratios of 0.2-0.3 percent. ground-applied fire control efforts. ability. and vapor suppressants. They CAFS has tbe unique ability to Wildfire suppression capability is provide the capability of instanta­ change foam consistency by changing limited where water is scarce and neous extinguishment. construction water flow rather than mix ratio. real property values arc threatened. or an impenetrable barrier to fire. Extra equipment required for the Prescribed fires arc often difficult 10 and reduced mop-up time. CAFS include Lin air compressor and contain. Time-consuming mop-up full now ball valves. Compressor reduces further burning opportunities. Foam Generating Systems size is dependent on need. Generally. 2 cubic feet of air is necessary for The Concept of Foam Foaming agents can be utilized by every gallon of water to create u variety of means. Synthetic foam­ quality CAFS foam. The ball valves The concept of foam is not new, ing agents have sparked new interest are used as nozzles to shut off the but the limited use of foam in wild­ in the foam generating systems made foam flow. Janus warrants a review of its popular hy pine soap. Compressed Foaming agents have also initiated capabilities. Foam extends the life air foam systems (CAFS) have been the production of a wide range or and effectiveness of its water. Foam modified with centrifugal pumps and air-aspirating or expansion noz- reduces the surface tension of water metering devices and enlarged with zles. Low- and medium-expansion molecules. enabling greater penetra­ 40 or more cubic-teet-per-minute air nozzles produce quality foam. Low­ tion of the water. Soap-based foam compressors. Air-aspirating and con­ expansion nozzles arc most common. dissolves the waxy coating of green ventional water systems also have They flow I() to 30 gpm at 150 psi, vegetation. further enhancing wetting applications for foam. discharging .30 to 70 feet. The air­ ability. Foam inhibits water evapora­ Foam is produced in the CAFS by aspirating system pumps solution tion, allowing more of the water mixing compressed air and solution through the hose and creates foam at applied to be used for cooling and at equal or nearly equal pressures and the nozzle. Air is drawn into the penetration. As foam. water becomes pumping the mixture through one of nozzle when the solution is atomized a reflective. insulating blanket (I, 2). three forms of agitation. Hoselays and passed through a pressure gra­ longer than 50 feet (I-inch diameter) dient. Water is expanded 5 to 10 Foaming Agents provide enough space for air and times with agent mix ratios between water to mix into foam. Scrub cham­ 0.3-0.4 percent. As recently as 1985. roam systems bers. tubes filled with obstructions, The third system in which foam relied on foam-making substances not force air and water into foam in I to agents can be used is as a wetting. specifically designed for fire suppres­ 2 feet. Specialized nozzles combine extinguishing solute in conventional sion. Pine soap or soap skim. popu­ compressed air and atomized solution water systems. Through all apparatus larized by the Texas Snow Job. is a as they leave the nozzle. Hoselays from turbo jet to sprinklers to bladder derivative of the paper-making pro­ are the most common agitation bags, bubbles will form froth due to cess. Household dish soap was also method; this discussion will concen­ low agitation.' With the surfactant in used because of its availability (3). trate on their features. the water. wetting and extinguishing Compressed air systems that pump will be greater than with straight 'Presented at the Symposium on Wildland fire foam through the hose flow water at water. 2000. April 27-30. IYX7. South Lake Tahoe. less than normal rates. A l-inch Technology offers improvements CA nozzle may flow 12 gallons per min- over conventional equipment for mix

16 Fire Management Notes '!

methods. hose types. bosclays. and Table l-Ho,\'{' dllll"(/c/cris!ic.\ impcntcun !(I./i/{/lIIj!ml' m)'[tJcs. The incJfi-.:\cm:ics of batch mixing concentrate and water arc Resistance Resistance Porosity Resistance Hose type to kinks to fire with foam to flow overcome with cductors or proper­ tinncrs. Eductors also make possible Synthetic Poor Poor High High the lISC of foam when the sole motive Cotton Fair Fair Low Medium force is a water pump. A portable Rubber Excellent Excellent None Low pump. for example. can draw con­ centrate into the hose as it pulls water out of a stream. Proportioncrs. sustained discharge or 55 feet; a mist and long discharge distances which pump concentrate as desired ]·Y.\-inch nozzle: 90 and 70 feel. (fig. I). The fine-bubbled mist is into the water line. have the accuracy respectively. unique to the CAFS. When released. and dependability necessary to be the mist puts on a cooling. suffocat­ integral engine components. Applications ing performance that has been Hose types arc important when compared to halon gas. Together foam is pumped through the hose The applications phase of the proj­ with initial discharge distances of up (CAFS). Durable woven rubber hose ect directly evaluated fire control to ~5 feet with l-inch hose. the mist is used 10 avoid kinking. Any restric­ potential of foam in the field. Where gives the firefighter a deluge initial tion in a hosclay will break down possible. comparisons were made attack capability. Many prescribed bubbles. thus significantly reducing with water performance. Evaluations hurn spot fires have been extin­ foam quality and discharge capa­ occurred on prescribed fires and guished by merely opening and bility. Hose that is porous or has an wildfires throughout the West. closing the ball valve. irregular lining will disrupt foam Direct Attack. Visual evaluations After the initial. fine-bubbled now and reduce discharge perform­ of foam's extinguishing capability surge. the foam produced becomes ance (table I). were made. Flames burning in light. thicker. It forms large masses of llosclavs can be different for the flashy ground fuels. tall snags. pitchy bubbles that cling together. This CAFS. depending on application. stumps. red slash concentrations. clinging property is also an important Usually. roam barriers arc applied and desert sage were treated. Extin­ extinguishing feature. Foam can be with one or two nozzles. Since foam guishment was instuntuncous. For lofted onto flames. the clinging bub­ is compressible. hoses arc easily example. two light engines worked bles forming a vapor suppressing clamped and extended. Hoses filled the flank of a range fire. The engine blanket that also separates oxygen with foam do not exhibit all charac­ using air-aspirated foam never had to from flame. Because it exhibits low teristics of hydraulics. Greatly turn around for rekindled flame. This head pressures, foam can he injected reduced head pressure enables foam engine's pumping time was one-third into the bottom of a burning snag to to be pumped significantly farther greater than the water cngincs. The extinguish fire burning within. The above the pump than water (4). engine using water found some of its foam will fill any accessible cavity. Nozzles vary in performance for flunk had started burning again (5). suffocating fire. aspirated and compressed air sys­ The compressed air foam system Protective Barrier. Applications tems. Low-expansion air-aspirated has great extinguishing capability in or foam for protection include nozzles range in performance for part because foam can be indefinitely prescribed burn boundaries. fuel­ I'/::~inch hose at ]SO psi from 7 gpm compressed in the hose. The hall wood piles. snags (fig. 2). wildlife and 25-foot discharge to 26 gpm and valve can be shut off without risk of trees. fragile sites. and backfire wet­ 70-foot discharge. At 35 gpm and bursting hose. This creates back pres­ lines. Twenty firclincs adjacent to 150 psi. a l-inch CAFS nozzle has a sure in the hose which. when prescribed fire units have been maximum discharge of 70 feet. a released. produces a fine-bubbled pretreated with foam. The foam-

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 17 relative humidity, 70 of temperature, Lighting or the rest of the unit and light (I to 4 miles per hour). continued across the roam line. The favorable winds was met at 2000 line was exposed to heating on both hours. Nevertheless. running flame flanks for about 5 hours. Inspection lengths were 3 to 20 feet high and the following day showed the line the fire crowned to 60 feet. intact. with green vegetation and fine In the first example. a ISO-foot by fuels throughout. Two logs greater IO-foot by I-inch foam line was than 8 inches in diameter which had placed across one Ih-acre corner of burned through the line from both the unit. No tools were used. no fuel ends were the exceptions. was removed to construct this line. In the second example. a I AOO­ The unit's test fire was lit in the cor­ fool foam line was placed outside a ner, The fire ran quickly to the poles cut fire trail in an adjacent timber standing adjacent to the line. crown­ stand, Foam was applied 100 feet ing and producing firewhirls. When wide. 75 feet into the canopy. and the fire reached the foam line, flames I to 2 inches thick. Application was leaned over the line, but the fire's 5 to 15 minutes prior to ignition of forward progress stopped. Time the adjacent portion of the unit. Two elapsed from foaming to fire contact people created this line with one was 2 minutes. l-inch hose. Application time was

Figure I-Fine-hllhhfcd mist dl/ring initial dis­ charge [rom the CO/llf'rt'sscd oil' [oam sy.ltclI1. treated areas adjacent to firelines ranged from 300 to 1.500 feet in length. Width (25 to 100 feet) and depth (0.25 to 2 inches) depended on the foam generation system and site conditions. The time hetween application and ignition ranged from o to 4S minutes. Spotting beyond the foam lines occurred on occasion, but no foam line was crossed by moving fire. Two examples of foam as a barrier to fire occurred on the Toad Creek unit in western Montana. Fuel load­ ing was 100-tons per acre of fuel model 13 lodgepole pine/subalpine fir (Pinus contorto var. !1lllrruyana . Engelm/Ahies lusiocarpav logging slash. The prescription of 40-pereent Figure 2-Sl/ag protection capabititv ofthe compressed air foam svstern,

18 Fire Management Notes 51h~ hours. Fire behavior remained up 100.000 square feet in 4 hours. A Twelve dollars can make 500 gallons extreme. with long duration. high 25-person water crew mopped up or water into 5.000 gallons of effec­ flame length fire tossing firebrands 25.000 square feet in the same time. tive water as foam. into the treated stand. Personnel Both crews had an unlimited water Foam-generating Systems, Pur­ familiar with burning under these supply. Total water !low for the chasing requirements vary signifi­ conditions expected the fire to foam crew was 30 gallons per cantly with the three generating sys­ escape. The width of the line pre­ minute. tems presented. Foaming agent alone vented most firebrands from starting Again. 15 gallons of foaming will give one an improved wetting spot fires. One spot that did occur agent was mixed. Using the same agent with conventional apparatus. was extinguished with foam from wage assumption in the first com­ As the minimum initial equipment 60 feet away. parison. the foam operation cost investment. air-aspirating nozzles Mop-up. Direct foam versus water 5365: the water operation cost $550. will assure quality foam production. performance ami cost comparisons Foam application technique for especially for protection and mop-LIp. were made during mop-up opera­ both comparisons was designed to let Long-term use or this system is tions. Personnel involved were not the foam do the work. Foam applied appropriate only if the consistent informed of the comparison to avoid was wetter than the protective foam high usc of foam is more tolerable any changes from standard instructed type. Foam was spread out so that it than a high initial investment for the procedure. In each case. the foam penetrated and cooled. while the compressed air system. crew was mopping lip with foam for operator moved on. Extra attention to The CAFS generally requires the the first time. hot spots was given only when heat greatest initial capital outlay. pri­ The first comparison occurred dur­ was well below the surface. marily the air compressor. as well as ing mop-up of a wildfire in felled a retrofitting or new engine package. and bucked douglas fir (Pseudotsuga Discussion However. CAFS can be assembled mcnzicstiv timber. A a-person crew on-site from inexpensive components using 2 nozzles completed 100-per­ Foaming Agents. Of all the types such as rented trailer air com­ cent mop-up of 5 acres in 3 hours of foaming agents presented. the rel­ pressors. readily available plumbing. with 7.700 gallons of water. Nearby. atively new synthetic products made and an existing water pUlllp. The on 5 acres of the same fire. this pro­ specifically for Class A fuels are pre­ high initial cost is quickly returned ducti vity was equaled by two 20­ ferred. The 3.0 percent mix ratios of by increased capability and per­ person crews employing 24 nozzles pine soap arc 10 times greater than formance and reduced volume of and approximately 55.000 gallons of synthetic. Preliminary laboratory tests foaming agent required. water. have shown pine soap to be an Applications. The success of roam

" The foam crew used 15 gallons. inferior wetting agent. Common dish­ in the examples given of performance 'r, or $225. of foaming agent based on soap lacks vapor suppressants and can be attributed to two factors. 0.2 percent mixture and a price of durability. The price of the new First. the combination of synthetic $15 per gallon. Assuming the aver­ agents has continued to drop as the foaming agents and the compressed age salaries for the foam and water demand for them has increased. air foam system creates a powerful crews are $7 and $5.50 per hour. Some users have experienced 25­ tool for fire suppression. respectively, the foam operation cost percent reductions in suppression Second. proper training is neces­ $309 for labor and foaming agent: costs despite the $12- to S15-per­ sary to ensure success. Foam can fail the water operation cost $660 for gallon prices (6. 7). and if its properties and uses arc not labor. The notion that water is free is a understood. it will. Foam should not The second comparison occurred fallacy. The Bureau of Land Man­ be considered a cure for every fire during mop-up of the Toad Creek agement rights most of its fires situation. It is simply a very useful unit. A 5-person foam crew mopped where water sources arc miles away. tool.

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 19 ,

Foam must be of the appropriate Water has served well in fire sup­ consistency: wet. dripping. or dry. it pression over the years. As we move must be applied for the appropriate toward the 21st century, water will effect: lofted for intact. clinging, serve fire managers even better as and smothering bubbles: pressure­ foam .• impacted for broken. wetting bubbles. Foam is a short-term suppres­ sant when applied as a harrier. Literature Cited

Its effective lifetime varies with I. Godwin. D.P. Aerial and chemical aids. fuel, weather, and fire conditions. Fire Control Notes. I ( I I: 5- [0: 11):16. Applications must he adjusted 1. Everts. A.H. A dual purpose hazard reduc­ accordingly. tion burner and foam unit. Fire Control Safety precautions should be fol­ Notes. 8(2. 3): [0---11: 11)47 3 Ebarb. P. Texas snow .I0h. Fire Manage­ lowed when using foam. Foaming ment Notes, 39(3): 3-5: IY7S. agents arc mildly corrosive to skin 4. U.S. Department of Interior. Bureau of and eyes. Protective gear is recom­ Lund Management. Boise lntcragcncy l-ire mended. The high-pressure lines of Center. Data on file. Boise. ID the CAFS should he operated with 5. Carriere. AI. Fire Management Officer. U,S. Department of Interior. BurC

most to gain from foam develop­ hccident this summer. follow up to Federal agencies) should order copies I ment. Research must increase our ensure that this form was completed. from the BIFC Warehouse and i understanding of foam processes. I The Missoula Technology and become familiar with the reporting Training of application techniques Development Center (MTDCI, for­ instructions and information. The must begin. The days of fighting fire ,ineriy the Equipment Development form's PMS number is 405- L NFES with unrefined water are numbered. Center, played a major role in catalog number is 0869. I I

20 Fire Management Notes South Dakota Strike Teams Help Fight California Fires ~...~ " Ken Terrill and Greg Krumbach Deportment of Agriculture Division of Forestry Respectively, fire managemellt specialist lind public information officer, Division ofForestrv, South Dolcota Department ofAgriculture. Pierre, SD

Firefighters from South Dakota helped battle the fires that raged in California during the month of Sep­ ,.1 tember. After receiving a request for assistance from the USDA Forest Service in Denver. the State resource center in Rapid City made sure South Dakota could spare the personnel and equipment. Assured it would not impair the local firefighting capabil­ ities.5 fire trucks and 12 firefighters were sent to do battle. Of the five fire trucks--engines if you prefer-that went to California. two were from the State Division of Forestry, one from the Black Hawk SUI/lh Dakola engines fowled/or transport 10California. volunteer fire department. and one each from the Piedmont and Nema volunteer fire departments. State. After a week battling the Men­ "You couldn't have asked for a Ken Terrill. fire management spe­ denhall blaze, the strike team was better, hard working crew," DCHte/' cialist for the South Dakota Depart­ demobilized and reassigned to what said .. 'Everyone was working ment of Agriculture's Division of was called the Salmon Complex ncar together. II' they need to send us Forestry, said two of the engines Yreka, CA. a l-day trip further again. I'd be ready to go." were rather unusual because at one north. Terry Chaplin. district ranger for time they had been Federal military Dale Deeter. a mechanic, semi­ the USDA Forest Service in Spear­ trucks that became Federal excess driver, firefighter. and full-time fish and also the South Dakota strike property before being converted to employee for the South Dakota Divi­ team leader. said there were some fire engines similar to engines built sion of Forestry's Rapid City office, minor problems. but overall things by the State Division of Forestry's said they battled fires for 2 weeks in went smoothly. "There is frequently fire equipment shop. Suppressing (he the Yreka area, working mostly at a coordination problem when you get California fires gave the refurbished night. He said there was a total of 2.500 people in a fire camp," Chap­ engines, one a J/.1-ton Dodge and the 16 separate fires to contend with. lin said...But you just have to take other a II/.t-ton Jeep, the chance to "Our fire camp was almost com­ it with a grain of salt and do the best again help the Federal government. pletely surrounded," Deuter said. you can. Terril! said two scmi-rractors and "You could see fire in almost every Dave Fieroh. Ncmo, South Dakota low-boy transports hauled the engines direction.' . fire chief. said that as if fighting fires to the West Coast. Denter. who first started fighting wasn't enough, they also had two The firefighting crew left Rapid fires as an IS-year-old volunteer. other obstacles to contend with. One City September 4 and, after traveling said the sight of all the fires was of those was the threat of bears. who practically nonstop, arrived in Cal­ "spectacular." He also had words of Ficroh said' 'enjoyed very much our ifornia 2 1/2 days later. praise for how well firefighters from second choice of sandwich meat­ Their first assignment was the 38 States, including State employees slab turkey on wheat bread!" Mendenhall fire ncar Willows, Cal- and volunteers. and the USDA Forest The second obstacIe they encoun­ ifornia. in the northern part of the Service. worked together. tered was running into illegal

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 21

-'- marijuana fields that were protected by mines and shotguns wired as booby traps. "You just didn't walk up ancl down with a backpack on without looking twice," Ficroh said. Nevertheless, those obstacles didn't deter Fieroh or any of the fire­ fighters. "Our Black Hills engine forest fires strike ream performed with a profes­ sional attitude and I believe we will destroymany homes. go again if the situation arises. We all learned a lot." •

:Ivy Block Status I I United Catalysts, Inc., has recalledl Ivv Block. The recall concerns a dif- , , ' , ference in interpretation over product 1 tlussification with the Food and Drugl [Administration, (FDA), not Ivy , Block's safety or effectiveness in I preventing dermatitis from poison , bak, ivy, and sumac. University of \ California at San Francisco lab tests I ~howed Ivy Block to be highly effec- i tive in preventing dermatitis from the I ! .... i poison plants. The Missoula Technol-: bgy and Development Center had ~sked field units to evaluate Ivy I _ ~ ,Block during the 1986 season. To ,help United Catalysts comply with the FDA recall order, Forest Service ~nits should send unused Ivy Block 1 to the company COD for a S4.80 I Irefund per can. The address is United Catalysts, lnc., 1240 South 13th Street, Louisville. KY 40210. If you 'used Ivy Block, please complete and ~eturn your evaluation form to iI-HOC. . I I A spokesman for United Catalysts, I ~Inc .. has said that the firm is ncgo- I 'tiating with a major company to Imarket Ivy Block once FDA approv-I bls arc obtained. I I

22 Fire Management Notes A Quick Method To Determine - Northeastern Woody Fuel Weights

Cary Rouse and Donna Paananen

Respectively, research forester and technical writer, North Central Forest Experiment Station. USDA Forest Service, East l.ansing, MI

I 'f Results of prescribed burns depend The usual formula for estimating To use table I. proceed through upon the quantity and arrangement of fuel weights (modified from refer­ the following steps: the materials that burn. When fire ence 6) is: I. Sum the total number (N) or " managers know the weights or intersects tallied for each size FW = 11.65 x I x 5 x D downed. woody fuels of different class and species. diameters. they can L1SC this informa­ where: FW fuel weight (tons 2. Sum the total length (L) of lines tion to predict the behavior of their per acre). sampled in feet. planned fires. After the prescribed 11.65 is a constant to 3. Divide N by L to obtain the aver­ hums. the)' can compare prcburn and convert specific age number of intersects per foot posrbum fuel weights to assess how gravity (in (I): N .;- L ~ Land successful the fire was. particularly pounds per cubic 4. Multiply I hy the appropriate when one or the main objectives is feet) and fuel composite factor (CF) in table fuel reduction. diameters (in to obtain the fuel weight: Currently. fire managers in the square inches) to I x CF ~ FW. Northeast make a visual "guessti­ FW (in tons per (\Vhen slopes exceed 30 percent. mate" of the amount of fuel acre). consult Brown (3) for slope correc­ loadings. or they spend long hours average number tion factorx.} sampling and making calculations of intersections For example. suppose you have using the planar intersect method (3). per foot in each just completed a planar intersect line The planar intersect method is a species!sizc-cIass of 200 feet on a jack pine clcarcut sampling technique that permits accu­ category. site and have the tallies shown in rate estimation of downed. woody 5 representative raolc 2. Divide each tally iN) hy 200 fuel weights. The method requires specific gravity to yield the average number of inter­ relatively simple field procedures: the of fuels in each sects per foot (I). Then multiply each estimator tallies different-sized twigs. spccics/size-cIass I by its corresponding composite fac­ branches. and boles of a species or category in tor (CF) for jack pine in table I to species group that intersect an imag­ pounds per cubic get fuel weights (FW). inary vertical sampling plane. (In the feet. and Using this method can help fire Northeast. downed. woody fuels with D representative managers determine light. medium. , diameters of 3 inches or less are gen­ squared diameter and heavily loaded plots at the site. " erally tallied because these are the (square inches) shorten the time it takes to input ones that burn during a prescribed for fuels in each information into fire behavior predic­ fire.I Once the tallies are made. the size-class cate­ tion models such as BEHAVE (2. 4), 'I estimator either uses a graph (I) to gory. and enhance the ability of these mod­ convert the tallies to fuel weights or els to reflect true prescribed fire returns to the office and mathemat­ To simplify computation by field behavior in the Northeast. ically computes the fuel weights personnel. Brown (3) multiplied the Historical methods to determine using multi-variable formulas. Both constant 11.65 by the other fuel fuel weights range from a quick. but graph conversions and mathematical characteristics (S and D) to obtain inaccurate, method ("eyeballing") to computations can require complex composite factors (CF) for several time-consuming ones (using a graphi­ analysis and a great deal of time. western fuels. In this report. we cal aid or multi-variable formulas). We propose a method that allows obtained CFs for three size classes The method suggested here is a com­ the fire manager to make quick. of four hardwoods and six conifers promise in that it involves an easy­ accurate estimates in the field by found in the Northeast (table I). to-usc formula that requires only the using the planar intersect technique (Values for Sand 0 arc extrapolated knowledge of the northeastern spe­ and a . 'simplifying factor." from reference 5.) cies, the average number of

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 23

_1,__ _ __ J Table I-ColI/f!osit£' [actor (eF) for each (!lI/lrel' ,Ii:::e elIIS.IC.\' I!f' do-vncd, woody.filets (!f'selected 6 Roussopoulos. Peter J.; Johnson. Von 1. northeastern species Estimating slash fuel loading for several Lake States tree species. Res. Pap. NC-HS. St. Paul. MN: U.S. Department of Agricul­ Size class I Size class II Size class III ture. Forest Service. North Central Forest Species (0-'/4 in) (1/4-1 in) (1-3 in) Experiment Station: 1973. g p.

Hardwoods Aspen 2.584 6.613 20.122 Birch 2.572 6.500 27.668 Maple 3.211 6.798 27.364 Other 3.211 7.910 27.341

Conifers Balsam fir 1.477 5.275 16.512 Conference Announcement Black spruce 1.594 9.384 21.280 Jack pine 2.377 9.011 25.968 The 1988 Interior West Fire Coun­ Northern white cedar 1.324 6.830 18.787 cil (lWFC) Annual Meeting and Red pine 3.198 7.704 23.010 Workshop will be held October 24­ White pine 1.780 6.327 23.199 27 at the C.P. Mountain Resort Alpine Village in Kananaskis Valley, Alberta, Canada. The theme of the Table 2-Fi/e1 weight calculations [or Jack pine s/o.l'h meeting/workshop is "The Art and Science of Fire Management" and will feature four 'h-day technical ses- Fuel t sions (fire management problems and Total Intersections Composite weight Size class number per foot factor (tons per acre) opportunities; fire research programs in support of fire management deci­ 8.72 I (0-'/4 in) 734 3.67 2.377 sions and solutions; role of new II (l/4-1 in) 412 2.06 9.011 18.56 III (1-3 in) 50 .25 25.968 6.49 technologies, analytical systems, and Total 33.77 \SUpport services in fire management lactivities: and fire management lactions and practices), luncheon and intersections per foot in each species/ 3. Brown. James K. Handbook for inventory­ Ibanquet with distinguished speakers, size-class category, and a necessary ing downed woody material. Gen. Tech. 'and a '/o-day field trip in Kananaskis composite factor.• Rep. INT-16. Ogden. UT: U.S. Depart­ Icountry or Banff National Park. ment of Agriculture. Forest Service. I The IWFC represents an amal­ Literature Cited Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment Station: 1974. 24 p. 19amation of the former Intermountain I. Anderson. Hal E. Graphic aids for field 4. Burgan. Robert E.: Rothermel. Richard C. bnd Rocky Mountain Fire Councils. calculation of dead. down forest fuels. BEHAVE: Fire behavior prediction and fuel r For more information contact: Gen. Tech. Rep. INT-45. Ogden. UT: U.S. modeling system-FUEL subsystem. Gen. Gordon Bisgrove, Alberta Forest Department of Agriculture. forest Service. Tech. Rep. INT-167. Ogden. UT: U.S. IService. Forest Protection Branch, lntermnun\ain Research Statil..m: 1979. Department of Agriculture. Forest Service. iP.O. Box 7040, Edmonton, Alberta. 21 p. Intermountain Forest and Range Experiment 2. Andrews. Patricia L. BEHAVE: Fire Station: 19M. 126 p. ranada (Telephone: 403-427-6807) b..:havior prediction and fuel modeling sys­ 5. Roussopoulos. Peter J. An appraisal of or Marty Alexander, Canadian For­ tem-BURN subsystem, Part I. Gen. upland forest fuels and potential fire :estry Service. Northern Forestry Tech. Rep. INT-194. Ogden, UT: U.S. behavior for a portion of the Boundary C entre, 5320-122 Street, Edmonton, Department of Agriculture. Forest Service. Waters Canoe Area. East Lansing: Michi­ Intermountain Research Station: 1986. gan Slate University; 1971:!. 166 p. IAlberta, Canada (Telephone: 403- 1.10 p. Dissertation. r35-n lO).

24 Fire Management Notes Celebrating Research Accomplishments at the Forest Fire Laboratory

Roberta M. Burzynski

Puh/ie affairs oijicer, Pacific Southwest Forest and Rallge Experiment Stenion, Berkeley, CA

'i· This year marks the 25th anniver­ was: that FIRESCOPE and the Inci­ and brushland management practices. sary of the Forest Fire Laboratory in dent Command System may not have and the special problems caused by Riverside. CA. It is a field facility of been developed or used to benefit people moving into the wildlands and '" the USDA Forest Service's Pacific disaster victims worldwide: that fire creating a wildland-urban interface. Southwest Forest and Range Experi­ suppression methods and equip­ The research program is still ment Station. headquartered in ment-e-especially air attack, hclitack , expanding to include other topics of Berkeley. CA. The laboratory will and use of chemical fire retardants­ regional. national. and international host an anniversary celebration. might not exist at their current level: importance. Because or its location including an open house. on June 16 that prescribed fire might not be used in the Los Angeles Basin, it is a and 17. Scientists at the laboratory. with increasing precision as it is prime site for studies underway on with the cooperation of government today. atmospheric deposition and impacts agencies. universities. and fire Although the laboratory was dedi­ of heavy recreational usc in nearby organizations. have made major con­ cated in 1963, Station scientists National Forests. tributions to various aspects of fire began studying hydrologic effects of For more information. contact Earl management. fire as early as 1930. Recent research B. Anderson. Forest Fire Laboratory, What would fire management be emphasis has been on integrating fire Pacific Southwest Forest and Range like today without research conducted management with other resource Experiment Station, USDA Forest at the Forest Fire Laboratory? To management problems: economic Service, 4955 Canyon Crest Drive. answer this question, you would have assessment of fire management alter­ Riverside. CA 92507.• to imagine that operation FIRESTOP natives among multiple resource may not have been as successful as it uses, effect of meteorology on forest

USDA Forest Service Forest Fire Labonuorv. Riverside, CA.

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 25

_1,_. An Overview of the 1987 Wallace

Lake Fire, Manitoba Canadian Service .+ Forestry canadien des Kelvin G. Hirsch Service torets

Fire research officer, Canadian Forestry Service, Manitoba District Office, winnepeg, Manitoba

Wallace Lake is located in eastern The majority of the area burned by The fire spread projections were suf­ 1 Manitoba approximately 160 kilome­ the Wallace Lake Fire was the result ficiently accurate and reliable to be a ters (100 mil northeast of Winnipeg. of three separate runs. which took major factor in determining evacua­ The surrounding area is comprised place on May 5. 8 and 12 (fig. I). tion requirements. For example. on mainly of mature jack pine and The primary cause of these major fire May 8 the fire jumped the estab­ black spruce stands and is a popular runs was the strong surface winds lished control line and raced eastward location for summer cottage develop­ associated with the passage of three towards the subdivision on the west ments. Spring fires in this area are successive cold fronts. Average wind shore or Wallace Lake at a rate of not uncommon, but the 1987 Wallace speeds were in excess of 30 kilome­ 3.9 kilometers per hour (2.4 mph). A Lake Fire was one of the most devas­ ters per hour (19 mph) on each of lodge. campground. and 54 of 69 tating wildfires in modern times. It these days. with gusts up to 60 kilo­ cottages were either damaged or also has special significance for two meters per hour (38 mph) being destroyed by this fire (fig. 2). How­ main reasons. First. it was the first reported. Minimum relative humidi­ ever. no lives were lost. because of campaign fire in Manitoba during ties ranged from the high teens to the precautions taken by the overhead which the Canadian Forest Fire low thirties. and maximum air tem­ team. Behavior Prediction (FBP) System perature varied from 23°C (73 OF) to The extensive property losses at (1) was used operationally to forecast 32 °C (90 OF). Wallace Lake coupled with the $2.26 probable fire behavior on a ncar real­ The FBP System was used to pre­ million fire suppression costs made time basis. Second. the fire produced dict potential fire behavior (e.g.. the Wallace Lake Fire one of the one of the worst wildland/urban spread rate and type of fire) and most expensive wildfires to be fought interface incidents in the province's proved to be a valuable asset to the in Manitoba. This fire did. however. recent history. overhead team assigned to the fire. illustrate the value and usefulness of The Wallace Lake Fire started on Tuesday. May 5, and by May 13 reached its final size of 20.850 hec­ tares (51.520 acres). The winter of I Y86--87 was unusually warm and much of the fire area experienced below normal precipitation, Snow­ melt occurred rather rapidly in early April due to a strong and persistent upper ridge pattern over the area that produced record maximum tempera­ tures on numerous days. Total precipitation following snow free cover was minimal. Four weather stations in the general area reported an average of only 3.4 miJJimeters (0.13 in) of rain. The combination of these factors contributed significantly to the low moisture content of the dead forest fuels and in part to the extreme fire behavior that occurred Figure I-The Wallace LlI!.:e Fire during the inilial s/lIgc,1 (around 1500 CIJn of its II/ojo/" 1"111I Oil during the first half of May 1987. A101' 8, 1987 (nnoto ("o/lrlc.l.\" ofMalliloha NaT/m.11 Resown's).

26 Fire Management Notes }. -" .. ~- the FBP System on a going fire and showed the potential consequences

(~ that many of the other cottage sub­

, 'I divisions in this general area could ,L possibly face in tbe future .•

Literature Cited

l. Lawson, B.D.: Stocks. B.J.: Alexander. M.E.: Van Wagner. C.E. A system for pre­ dicting fire behavior in Canadian forests. In: Donoghue. Linda R.: Martin, R.E .. cds. Proceedings of the Eighth Conference on Fire and Forest Meteorology: [9~5 April 29-May 2: Detroit. MI. Society of Ameri­ can Foresters Publication 85-04: 6-16 Bethesda, MD: Society of American For­ esters; [985

Figure 2-Afiennath of the Wallace Lake Fire at the shoreline cottage subdivision 011 May R. 1987 around 1ROO CDr (photo counesv (d" Manitoba Natural Resources).

A forest fire could hityou right whereyou l}.ve.., .

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 27 (t'\ Mapping Fires With the FIRE MOUSE TRAP

Duane Dipert and John R. Warren

With USDA Forest Service, respectively, soil scientist, Co/ville National Forest, Pacific Northwest Region, Colville, WA; and electronics engineer, Fire and Aviation Management, State and Private Forestry, Boise. ID

Introduction from hour to hour. The turnaround time on the line scanner information The FIRE MOUSE TRAP' (FMT) could be 10 hours or more from the method of mapping wildland fires time of the flight to the time it was was conceived in 1984 (1). It was delivered on site. first tried experimentally on wildfires We did not use the FMT's plotter by the State of Alaska in 1985. using system on the Yellow Fire, but. a T-28 fixed-wing aircraft (2. 3). instead. relied on the FLIR video Alaska calls it the TROLL' and also imagery and VCR tapes to map the used it in 1986 and 1987. The fire. Several well-defined drainages Alaska conditions and TROLL served as landmarks. The helicopter development and use are described in could follow the fire line or hover detail in the doctoral dissertation of several hundred feet from the fire. Ronald G. Hanks (4). The FMT was panning the terrain to get a good briefly tried. experimentally. in view of the terrain and the fire edge. USDA Forest Service Region 6 (R-6) In spite of a complete smoke in 1986. In 1987. R-6 crews were 'cover, the FMT's infrared system trained, and the FMT was used in Belt 206 with attached FUR unit, confirmed that the fire had not field trials on forest fires in both R·5 crossed the northern control line, and R-6. The plotting capability was Wooley Creek. On several occasions, not used extensively by the R-6 .-IRE MOUSE TRAP Use on the the infrared camera zoomed In on crews because of some Loran equip­ Yellow Fire questionable hot spots adjacent to ment problems. The balance of the Wooley Creek to determine if they system performed very successfully. The Yellow Fire in California was were on the right side of the creek In addition to the system developed an "ideal" situation for the use of or not. for R-6, a similar system was the FMT. This fire was located One planned control line was developed for R-5. The R-5 system. adjacent to the Marble Mountain Hancock Creek, a tributary to including the plotting capability. was Wilderness on the Klamath National Wooley Creek, on the northeast part used successfully. Both systems were Forest in northern California. of the fire. In the second week in used in contractor-supplied Bell 206 During October 1987. a dense October. the high altitude infrared i helicopters with FUR. Inc.• Model layer of smoke blanketed the Yellow line scanner spotted a "possible" 2000. forward looking infrared Fire to an altitude of about 4.000 feet spot on the opposite side of Hancock (FUR) units installed. The Forest in the morning, rising to about 8,000 Creek. The FMT independently Service provided the balance of the feet in the afternoon. The high alti­ located the spot and confirmed that it FMT system. The experience of one tude infrared line scanner had been was on the opposite side of the creek of the R-6 crews on an R-5 fire is making nightly flights of this and and that it was a burning log that had described. followed by a brief other fires for at least a month prior fallen across the creek. After the first description of the FMT concept. to our arrival with the FMT. The one or two FMT flights. the over­ infrared interpreter was located in head team cancelled the line scanner Yreka, at least a 3-hour drive from and requested two nights per day fire camp at Forks of the Salmon. with the FMT instead. 'Flying InfraRed Enhanced Maneuverable Because of the dense smoke, no The next planned control line and Operational User Simple Electronic Tactical visual aerial reconnaissance could be burnout was along Big Meadows Reconnaissance And Patrol. Alaska calls it TROLL for Thermal Recorded Observation done. and even the people on the Creek. another tributary to Wooley and Loran Locating. ground had difficulty locating the fire Creek. Using both infrared and color

28 Fire Management Notes I I shown to fire fighters and news T reporters to provide updated informa­ tion about the progress and intensity of the fire, A common use of the FMT during the 19R7 fire season was to fly along the firclines to map hot spots within 300 feet of the fire perimeter. Hand lines may have been difficult to fol­ low along a cold fireline edge. but tractor lines. roads, and streams were usually easy to follow. On several fires where crews had been removed because the fire was essentially out, the FMT located hot spots adjacent to the fircline. The overhead team could then determine if additional actions were necessary. Marble Mountain witdemess. Klamath National Forest, slu)\\'iIlM terrain tvpica! of that C'lIcoun­ The FMT was also used in a non­ tered 011 the YeI/OII' Fire. fire application earlier in the year for "mapping" bug-kill areas. The pilot flew the helicopter visually around video equipment. the FMT flew Other Uses of the FIRE MOUSE the damaged area while the latitude beyond the smoke to give the over­ TRAP and longitude position points were head team information about terrain stored in a lap-sized personal com­ features. fuel types. and possible Another use of the FMT developed puter (PC), The position points were firelinc locations. During the next while it was attached to the Salmon subsequently plotted on a map to week or so, FMT new two flights Complex (Yellow Fire). Apparently, show the total perimeter and other per day-one in the morning and one local residents along the Salmon and points of interest or damage. in the afternoon. The helicopter North Fork Salmon Rivers were con­ Since the infrared unit can detect ',) landed at the fire camp after each cerned that the USDA Forest Service heat sources as low as body tempera­ flight. Using the infrared VCR tape. was not adequately protecting their tures. another possible usc of the we could accurately map the fire homes, Even though smoke filled system that has been used but not about 'I, hour after the flight-truly many of the canyons, the FMT, in I­ tested extensively is making wildlife up-to-date, immediate information. to 2-hours flying time, recorded each inventories. Cows in a pasture or As the time for the planned burn­ house on video tape and confirmed deer in brush show up as hot spots out along Big Meadows Creek grew with the infrared system that there on a cool or cold background. As closer. the dense smoke layer still were no hot spots near the houses. In long as the animals are not obscured prohibited any visual aerial recon­ one case where a reburn occurred by trees or a dense canopy. they can naissance, and the FMT was near residences, the FMT monitored be seen by the infrared system and scheduled to make four flights during the progress of the fire twice per recorded on video tape for review in the burnout to monitor the progress. day, until it was controlled. the office. Search and rescue opera­ Fortunately. rains during the night The infrared VCR tapes from the tions Can also be conducted using squelched the fire, and the planned FMT were used by the overhead infrared to detect campfires. other burnout was cancelled. team to map the fire. and they were heat sources. or people.

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 29 FIRE MOUSE TRAP Description invaluable in the use of the FMT and selection of best viewing angles, The FMT approach to fire map­ heights. and type of video. ping uses a small. forward-looking infrared unit mounted on a helicopter Conclusion or small fixed-wing aircraft. A color video camera can be mounted beside The FMT has proven its value as the FUR. The color or FUR video is an operational tool for fire manage­ selected for display on the monitors ment. It is adaptable to a variety of in the aircraft and for recording on a fire sizes and conditions as well as common VHS portable VCR. The many non fire uses. It is a quick and pilot flies around the fire perimeter readily available means under the using the FUR where needed to see control of the fire staff to gather fire through smoke or to identify the hot information around the total fire fire perimeter. A LORAN-C naviga­ perimeter or in selected critical areas tion unit with an RS-232C output in a timely manner. provides an update of the aircraft For more information on costs, position every 2 seconds. These posi­ availability. training, and capabilities tion points are stored in a lap-sized of the FMT. contact John Warren, Pc. Upon completion of the flight, FTS 554-1439.• the PC is connected to a plotter. and the fire perimeter and any hot spots References are plotted directly and to scale on a 1. Warren, John R. FIRE MOUSE TRAP. map or transparent overlay up to the Boise. ID: U.S. Department of Agriculture. size of a quad sheet. The plot is Forest Service: unnumbered report: Oct available within a few minutes of the 1984. start of the plotting operation. The ') Warren. John R.: Hanks. Ronald G. FIRE HOW MOUSE TRAP/TROLL Prototype Test and video is also available for playback Operations Report. U.S. Department or THIS RAKE and a good look at any area of spe­ Agriculture. Forest Service: unnumbered cial concern or interest. When color report: Jan. 1%6. CAN SAVE I video and high resolution FLIR units 3. Hanks. Ronald G.: Warren. John R.: Pen­ I arc used. the amount of detail is dleton. Dennis. Alaska Division of Forestry goes TROLLing. Fire Management Notes YOUR LIFE. enough to see even an individual 47( I): 32-36: 1986. This simple garden tool is fallen log as described in the Ycllow 4. Hanks. Ronald G. The TROLL system. a firefighter. It can help you clear Fire narrative above. Trained and Columbia University. Ph.D. dissertation: away brush and leaves that act experienced crews for the FMT are 1986. like kindling around your home. And you, So if you live near the forest, do a little taking. And that's not all. Landscape your home with a fire retardant plant like ivy. Use spark arrester screens on your chimney and vents. And put fire retardant material on your roof and underneath your house where it is exposed. Because a forest fire burns more than trees,

30 Fire Management Notes Correcting an Error in the HP-71B Fire Behavior CROM

Rober! E. Burgan and Ronald A. Susott

Research forester and research chemist, respectively, lntcnnonntuin Fire Sciences Laboratorv, USDA Forest Service, Missoula, MT

The difficulty of writing an error­ 5. Quit the fuel model module by key without entering anything. free computer program has been typing Q and go to the direct (DI) That will get you out of the demonstrated once again. An error module. editor. has been found in the program used 6. Type I. then input the following Some of the characters in the pro­ to produce the fire behavior custom. data: gram might give you trouble: read-only memory (CROM) for the • The single quotation mark is HP-71 B. Fortunately. this error can MODEL 22 obtained by pressing the blue g key. readily be remedied. IH 10 then the number 7. The problem occurs when using a 10H 10 • The : character is obtained by dynamic fuel model. The fuel load is 100H 10 pressing the g key. then the *. not being transferred between live HERB 80 • Pusb the SPC key for a space. herbaceous and I-hour fuel classes. MFWS 10 • Note the zero is slashed (0) but the In other words. dynamic fuel models SLP 40 letter a is not. arc erroneously being treated as static WDIR 0 • There are no spaces between the fuel models. The problem can be PREDICT AT MAX (YIN) Y left and right parentheses that have fixed by entering the program given no characters between them. 7. Type R to get the following later in this paper. Once this program Here is the actual program. Please results: is typed in. the fire behavior program remember the instructions in number is run in routine fashion. But if the ROS 113 3. above. calculator suffers a memory loss H/A 431 10 SUB RDIRECT(MO,EO, from dead batteries or any other FLI 890 OO.Z9(.) cause. you must enter the program FL 10.2 20 LI=M(I) «v L4=M(4) again. RI 3127 30IFM(12)=0THENGOTO The following exercise will dem­ EWS lOA 'STATIC ELSE GOTO onstrate the problem. Once you have MAXD o 'DYNAM' entered the program, you can repeat To enter the program: 40 'DYNAM': this exercise as .1 means of checking I. Type in EDIT LOADFIX and 50 F= -.0111*E(5)+1.33 that you have correctly fixed the press the ENDLINE key to get 60 F= MAX(MIN(l,F).0) problem. into the editor. The display will 70 01 =PM(4) I. Turn on the HP-71 B and type in show LOADFIX BASIC 0. 80 M(I)=M(I)+OI ((I "" RUN BEHAVIOR. 2. Type in AUTO to get automatic M(4)=M(4)= -01 2. Go to the fuel model (FM) module line numhering. Press ENDLINE. 90 ·STATIC: and get fuel model 2 by typing A i0 will be displayed. 100 CALL RDIRECT(MO,EO, G2. 3. Type in the program given below OO,Z9(.) IN RUNALL7 3. Change the fuel model number to exactly, including spaces. The II~) M(4)=L4 «I. M(l)=L1 22 by typing I for input, 22 for calculator will give you the line 120 END model number, and just press the numbers. The characters will You can check the program by ENDLINE key when a model appear in the display as you type typing EDIT LOADFIX again and name is requested. Then type /14 them. Press the ENDLINE key as using the .. and. keys to look at and, when STATIC-DYNAMIC you complete each line. After you each line. Hit ENDLINE to get out (f)--I) appears, type a I. Just press type in the last line (120) the cai­ of the editor. If you have trouble fix­ ENDLINE when the wind factor is culator will display line number ing an incorrect line. use the ..and. requested. 130 and wait for you to input keys to scroll to the erroneous line. 4. Save the model by typing S. something. Just hit the ENDLINE position the cursor over the first

1988 Volume 49, Number 2 31 L ~ _ character in the line. type the whole Run the direct module and you The difference between the two runs line in again. and then press the should get the following results: reflects the fact that herbaceous fuel ENDLINE key. ROS 128 load was not being transferred to the To check that your program H/A 414 l-hour fuel class in the first run. but gives correct results. type in RUN FLI 971 was being transferred in the second BEHAVIOR. go to the Direct or IDI) FL 10.6 run. module and input the data provided RI 3088 We hope that no more errors will in step 6 of the previous exercise. EWS 104 be found. We are fortunate this one MAXD o can be repaired so easily .•

!

32 Fire Management Notes New McCall Smokejumper Base Dedication Planned

Gene Benedict

Brunch chh:t: Fire Munugcment lind Recreation, Puveuc National Forest, USDA Forest Service. McCall, If) l) Planning is underway for a dcdica­ tion ceremony for the new McCall Whenyou cut Smokcjumpcr Complex. The com­ plex is located in the Intermountain down a tree, Region (RA) on the Payette National don't bum Forest in McCall. /D. The dedication is planned for June 25-26. 1988. downs During the last 2 years. construction has been underway for the $2.9 mil­ forest. lion dollar facility. Included in the complex is a new paralof't. airtanker base and off-site housing with bar­ racks for 40 single jumpers. and married jumper facilities for 10 fam­ ilies. The new paraloit has the normal loft features: warehouse/stor­ age and fire pack assembly area. • Please make large drying tower. sewing room, •••• sure your chain Q( ':1:'.. saw has a spark packing room. ready room, first-aid! arrester that works whirlpool roOI11, weight rOOl11, 80­ After all. if you burn down person classroom, conference room the forest, you won't need the saw. and administrative offices. Also located in the para/oft is the Payette Forest Dispatch Office. The facility is located on the west side of the and static displays. Following the McCall City Airport and has a large ceremony, there will be an open rump urea for smokcjumpcr. airtanker house tours untiJ 7:00 p.m. The Place a match With between the arrows and Icadplane aircraft parking and a open house and tours will continue and read to yourself. training unit area to be completed by on Sunday from 9:00 a.m, through 1989. A mixmaster office, tanker 4:00 p.rn. Invitations and specifics pilots rcadyroorn. aircraft maintc­ concerning the dedication ceremony ONLY: nance building, and hclibase round will he mailed by May I. This is the newest such facility in » out the other features. The complex has its own parallel taxiway for the National Forest System and IS an CAN access to the runway. extremely impressive structure. It has The dedication ceremony will an aesthetically pleasing appearance, begin at 1:00 p.m. (mdt) on Satur­ with its mixture of cedar siding, PREVENT day. June 25 and will last for shake roof. and native rock from the approximately 2 hours. It will Salmon River. f<)RESr include speeches, special recogni­ We hope to see you all in tions, and both aerial demonstrations June! • fiRES IA r.t:' A Puhfir Service I)fT"i~ .M·w~p(lllPr V ~ & The Advertising Council

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