Smoke Issues and Air Quality Also: Our Response to Hurricane Katrina

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006

Coming Next… The next issue of Fire Management Today (Fall 2006) will feature a series of articles that describe and probe the challenges and opportunities associated with both elements of “fire use”—prescribed fire and wildland fire use. The issue’s special coordinator is Tim Sexton, fire use program manager for the USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Management, Washington Office, National Interagency Fire Center, Boise, ID.

Fire Management Today is published by the Forest Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC. The Secretary of Agriculture has determined that the publication of this periodical is necessary in the transaction of the public business required by law of this Department.

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Mike Johanns, Secretary Melissa Frey U.S. Department of Agriculture General Manager

Dale Bosworth, Chief Paul Keller Forest Service Managing Editor

Tom Harbour, Director Madelyn Dillon Fire and Aviation Management Editor

Pete Lahm Issue Coordinator

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Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006

On the Cover: Contents Where There Is Fire There Is Smoke...... 4 Pete Lahm Applying BlueSky Smoke Modeling Framework on Wildland Fires.....5 Louisa Evers, Sue Ferguson, Susan O’Neill, and Jeanne Hoadley BlueSky Proves Its Value in Predicting Smoke...... 9 Louisa Evers Smoke, Fire, and Weather: What Forest Service Research Is Doing To Help...... 12 Brian E. Potter, Narasimhan K. Larkin, and Ned Nikolov Left: Smoky haze shrouding the sun over the Bitterroot Smoke-Monitoring Equipment and Applications...... 17 Andy Trent and Ricardo Cisneros River following the 2003 fire bust in the mountains around SPOTS: Maximizing Fuel and Vegetation Management Effectiveness ...... 22 Missoula, MT. Photo: Kristen Sue Stewart Honig, Los Alamos, NM, 2003. Bottom Right: Sun in smoke A Review of Smoke Management and Emission Estimation Tools...27 Pete Lahm from the 2006 Ward Lake Fire, Quachita National Forest. Responding in Force to Hurricane Katrina...... 34 Photo: Nate Bell, Potter Rural Learning From the IMT Assigned to the Fire Department, Mena, AR. New Orleans Airport...... 35 Top Right: Smoke column George Custer rises up from the 2004 Nuttall- Hurricane Katrina Incident: Areas of Concern and Gibson Complex, Coronado Recommendations...... 38 George Custer National Forest. Photo: Jayson Coil, Flagstaff, AZ. True Story: A Firsthand Experience With Hurricane Katrina’s Aftermath...... 43 Betsy Haynes For more on the air quality issues raised by smoke from Pitfalls in the Silvicultural Treatment of Canopy Fuels...... 48 Christopher R. Keyes and J. Morgan Varner wildfires and fire use, see the articles beginning on page 4. Changing Beliefs and Building Trust at the Wildland/Urban Interface...... 51 The USDA Forest Service’s Fire and Aviation Jeremy S. Fried, Demetrios Gatziolis, J. Keith Gilless, Management Staff has adopted a logo reflect- Christine A. Vogt, and Greg Winter ing three central principles of wildland fire management: Franklin Awards Salute Achievements in Cooperative • Innovation: We will respect and value thinking minds, voices, and thoughts of Fire Protection ...... 55 those that challenge the status quo while Melissa Frey focusing on the greater good. • Execution: We will do what we say we will Short Features do. Achieving program objectives, improving diversity, and accomplishing targets are Southwestern Ponderosa Pine: Ceanothus, Wasps, and Fire...... 58 essential to our credibility. Hutch Brown • Discipline: What we do, we will do well. Fiscal, managerial, and operational discipline All Our Past Issues Now Available on the Web...... 59 are at the core of our ability to fulfill our mission. Guidelines for Contributors...... 60 Websites on Fire...... 61 New Photo Contest Procedures...... 61 Firefighter and public safety is our first priority.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 Where There Is Fire There Is Smoke

Pete Lahm

his issue of Fire Management Better Tools and Through the expanding array of Today highlights the expanding Approaches. modeling tools, these emissions esti- T science of smoke issues and air Better tools and approaches to mates can then be used to support quality. From the discussion of Web- address fuels management and better smoke management deci- based tools that predict how much understand the state of fuels sions, both on the ground and for smoke might come from that fire on the landscape are now being planning purposes. The integration and where it might go, to the grow- developed for fire managers. They of smoke management and how air ing array of monitoring equipment are being fashioned with an eye quality can be incorporated into the to measure the concentration of toward how smoke emissions planning of vegetation treatments smoke on the ground in real time, will be calculated and how fire can also be found in the rapidly the technology available to fire man- management’s potential smoke developing Strategic Placement of agers today to support better smoke impacts can be demonstrated. Treatments (SPOTS) projects, also management decisions is vastly dif- discussed in the following pages. The clear recognition of the state of ferent than just a few years ago. wildland fuels and the undertaking of addressing this reality through The integration of smoke manage- Combined Science: . increased vegetation management ment into fire management deci- Fire and Smoke efforts is fully underway. On a sions has never been greater. A There is an increasing awareness national scale, prescribed fire and land manager can now support a of both the unprecedented air wildland fire use are two approach- decision to ignite a prescribed fire quality effects of wildfire on air es that are dramatically increasing with better knowledge of potential quality health standards and the to address the fuels crisis. smoke impacts based on the USDA efforts to mitigate—where pos- Forest Service Research’s BlueSky- sible—these smoke impacts. The The amount of smoke is increasing RAINS model—explained in detail need to increase the use of pre- in the environment—whether from beginning on page 12. scribed fire in many areas across the large wildfire with catastrophic the country—as well as to further effects in the wildland/urban inter- A public information officer from utilize wildland fire—reinforces face, the managed wildland fire use an air regulatory or land manage- the need for future growth in the incident, or the ignited prescribed ment agency—through the use of smoke management arena. fire. An example of this integration increasingly portable air quality monitoring devices—can more fre- As we reintroduce fire into natural quently be found providing infor- The integration of smoke ecosystems, our technical tools mation about the measured levels will need to be further improved of pollutants to a community management into fire and new approaches developed to inundated by smoke. In addition, management decisions has balance the protection of air qual- the interagency linkages between never been greater. ity and its human health benefits, land managers and the air qual- as well as to address the current ity regulatory community are also fuels crisis within the wildlands of smoke with fuels management is impressively growing. Many enti- around us. As we proceed, this issue the rapidly developing LANDFIRE ties are now working together to will highlight a number of lead- ecosystem and fuels mapping project, improve the quality and utilization ing efforts and technologies in this with its set of vegetative data layers of these tools. growing integration of the com- that will allow for multiple methods bined science of fire and smoke. n for calculating fire emissions. Pete Lahm, coordinator for this special “smoke and air quality” issue of Fire Management Today, is the smoke management specialist for the USDA Forest Service, Fire Ecology Division of Fire and Aviation Management, Washington, DC.

Fire Management Today U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Applying BlueSky Smoke BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Modeling Framework on Wildland Fires

Louisa Evers, Sue Ferguson, Susan O’Neill, and Jeanne Hoadley moke is a common concern the needed revenue to carry them and Washington in the Pacific on long-duration wildland through the winter and spring. In Northwest. S fires, both those managed for many resort areas, reduced visibil- resource benefits and suppression ity can obscure or conceal the main Air quality managers in these two incidents. Since the mid-1980s, the scenic attractions. States were pushing Federal land Western United States has seen an managers to get more involved increasing number of smoke events Communities with existing air in anticipating potential impacts and prolonged smoke production quality problems and class 1 from prescribed burning. A 1999 from these large and long-lasting areas—those places designated by national smoke-modeling meet- wildland fires. the Clean Air Act for air quality ing on Washington’s Mt. Baker– protection or improvement—are Snoqualmie National Forest result- Fine particulates in smoke from ed in the formation of the BlueSky wildland fires—at concentra- modeling consortium. tions well below the National BlueSky accurately predicted Ambient Air Quality Standards a smoke event into central Participants at this meeting included: (NAAQSs) for “PM2.5” set by the • Federal land managers from sev- Environmental Protection Agency Washington’s Wenatchee– eral agencies, (EPA)—can cause significant Leavenworth area that was • Air quality regulators from several health problems for people with confirmed by verbal reports States, respiratory illnesses, young chil- and data from particulate • EPA representatives, and dren, and the elderly (Core and • Members of the air quality mod- Peterson 2001). monitors. eling group (now known as the AirFIRE team) from the Pacific Prolonged smoke events can also also sensitive to particulates pro- Northwest Research Station’s have significant adverse effects on duced by long-duration fires and Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences small, tourism-dependent econo- large-spread events. The increased Laboratory in Seattle, WA. mies as visitors either shorten their use of prescribed fire to meet visits or cancel trips due to smoke National Fire Plan and Healthy in the area. Moreover, many of Forests Restoration Act goals and Project Goal these small towns and businesses objectives escalates the potential The BlueSky project goal was to have only a few months in the for smoke impacts to extend into build a centralized, automated tool summer and fall in which to make the spring or fall. All of these con- for estimating potential smoke cerns highlight the need for real- impacts at the surface by simulat- time emission production and ing smoke’s movement across the Louisa Evers is the fire ecologist for smoke dispersion modeling. landscape. To accomplish this, the the USDI Bureau of Land Management, State Office, Portland, OR; the late Sue project’s coordinators first assem- Ferguson was the former leader of the Enter: BlueSky to the rescue. bled all of the existing and develop- AirFIRE Team, USDA Forest Service, ing knowledge on fuels, weather, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, and smoke. Seattle, WA; Susan O’Neill is an air The Creation of BlueSky quality engineer for the USDA Natural Project BlueSky (Ferguson and At the same time, the Fire Resources Conservation Service, Portland, OR; and Jeanne Hoadley is the meteorolo- others, 2001, O’Neill and others, Consortia for Advanced Modeling of gist technology transfer specialist for the 2005) evolved from the smoke Meteorology and Smoke (FCAMMS) USDA Forest Service, Pacific Northwest management plans for Oregon was conceived as a method of Research Station, Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory, Seattle, WA. Continued on page 7

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 Sue Ann Ferguson . February 11, 1953 – December 18, 2005 Dr. Sue Excellence in Ferguson passed Research Award. away December The success of 18, 2005, on a Sue’s Northwest gloriously beau- Regional Modeling tiful, crisp, blue- Consortium and sky Seattle day. BlueSky smoke- Sue had been modeling frame- battling can- work has prompt- cer for the past ed similar efforts year and one- around the coun- half. She leaves try. Now—due to behind a leg- Lifelong sailor—Sue Ferguson sailing on Lake Washington in September 2005. Photo: Sue’s work and acy of accom- Greg Ferguson, Sue’s brother. vision—real-time plishments in her research and in lives—at all of this country’s ava- tailored forecasts of fire indices her relationships with friends, fam- lanche centers. For her many con- and smoke predictions are avail- ily, and coworkers. With her enthu- tributions to snow and avalanche able throughout the lower 48 siasm, tenacity, and boundless ener- research and forecasting, Sue was States. gy, Sue was an inspiration to all who awarded an honorary membership in knew her. the American Avalanche Association. Sue was also instrumental in the revival of the American Sue Ferguson enjoyed a 13- Wildland Fire Research Meteorological Society’s bienni- year career in avalanche fore- In wildland fire research, Sue pro- al Fire and Forest Meteorology casting before coming to wild- vided the vision and helped estab- Conferences. Through her dedicat- land fire research at the USDA lish the Northwest Regional ed work, the utility of meteorol- Forest Service’s Pacific Northwest Modeling Consortium, a multia- ogy in fire research has been ele- Research Station (PNW) in gency effort to develop improved vated to an unprecedented level. 1992. At PNW, she worked as weather forecasts. Using these Her efforts continue to benefit and a research meteorologist with predictions, she was able to offer assist managers and researchers in the Fire and Environmental land and fire managers tailored the fire management field. Research Applications Team. Sue real-time forecast products that founded the Atmosphere and enhance and display existing fire Sue Ferguson will be sorely missed. Fire Interactions Research and weather indices such as the Haines Her talent and wisdom and her Engineering (AirFIRE) Team. Index, Fosberg Fire Weather Index, infectious laugh, smile, and good and a new dry lightning index. humor made us all better for being Everywhere she went, Sue thought with her. big. She organized scientists and Through the National Fire Plan, users to create large enterprises she created the BlueSky smoke- Editor’s Note: People with com- that have had lasting effects. modeling framework, the innova- ments, memories, stories, or pho- tive tool that—for the first time— tos of Sue Ferguson—to share As an avalanche forecaster, Sue creat- allows users to see real-time pre- with her family and friends— ed the Avalanche Review, now a predictions of cumulative smoke are asked to contact Sim Larkin, miere publication in the field. She impacts from prescribed, wildland, AirFIRE Team, USDA Forest worked at a variety of avalanche cen- and agricultural fire. This tool Service, Pacific Wildland Fire ters throughout the United States. has been hailed as one of the best Sciences Laboratory, 400 N. 34th Sue developed several programs that research products to emerge from St., Suite #201, Seattle, WA 98103, enhanced the operations—and have the National Fire Plan. It recently 206-732-7849 (office), 206-321-2013 been instrumental in saving many won the National Fire Plan’s (cell), [email protected] (e-mail).

Fire Management Today Figure 1—An example of BlueSky output for the Quartz Mountain Complex, November 1, 2002.

Continued from page 5 organizing the country into weather First Use of BlueSky ment strategy. The complex had and smoke-modeling areas (Riebau the potential to spread for up to 2 The first use of BlueSky predic- and Fox 2003). (See article on page months before snowfall would extin- tions on a wildland fire occurred 12 that provides details on the guish it. The Okanogan National in 2002 in Washington’s Pasayten FCAMMS and their implementation Forest managers decided to order Wilderness on the Okanogan of BlueSky across the country.) Gary Cones’ Fire Use Management National Forest. Called the Quartz Team to manage this incident due: Mountain Complex, it comprised two early-September fires. Shortly Fine particulates in smoke after discovery, the complex, spreading rapidly, threatened to move into The first use of BlueSky from wildland fires can cause the “Red Zone”—the area closest to predictions occurred in the significant health problems the Canadian border. This fire activ- Pasayten Wilderness on for people with respiratory ity triggered a suppression decision. Okanogan National Forest. illnesses, young children, and Firefighter safety on this remote the elderly. complex was the primary driver behind the subsequent management decision to employ a confine-

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 • To the late-season nature of the Washington Department of Ecology References fires, were pleased with the results of this Core, J.E.; Peterson, J. 2001. Public health • The complex’s insulated loca- test of BlueSky. and exposure to smoke. In: Hardy, C.C.; Ottmar, R.D.; Peterson, J.L.; Core, J.E.; tion in the middle of the vast Seamon, P., eds. and comps. Smoke Pasayten Wilderness, and management guide for prescribed and • The fact that the fires posed few Estimating Wildland wildland fire: 2001 edition. NFES 1279. Fire Smoke Impacts Boise, ID: National Wildfire Coordinating threats to other resources. Group: 27–33. Besides BlueSky’s proven value Ferguson, S.A. 2001. Smoke Dispersion in estimating potential impacts Prediction Systems. In: C.C. Hardy; Potential Smoke Impacts from prescribed burning, begin- R.D. Ottmar; J.L. Peterson; J.E. Core; The Okanogan National Forest was ning in 2002, the value of this tool P. Seamon; eds. and comps. Smoke management guide for prescribed and most concerned about potential for estimating air quality impacts wildland fire: 2001 edition. NFES 1279. adverse impacts from smoke on from wildland fire has also been 27–33. Boise, ID. National Wildfire the economies and public health in demonstrated. Coordinating Group. Washington’s nearby Methow Valley Ferguson, S.A.; Peterson, J.; Acheson, and in the area of Penticton, BC. A. 2001. Automated, real-time predic- Using past fires, the forest identified tions of cumulative smoke impacts All of these concerns from prescribed forest and agricul- potential daily fire growth rates— tural fires. Presentation at conference: depending on wind direction and highlight the need for real- Fourth Symposium on Fire and Forest speed—of 500 or more acres (200+ time emission production Meteorology; 13–15 November; Reno, NV. hectares) as sufficient to cause and smoke dispersion O’Neill, S.; Hoadley, J.; Ferguson, S.; Solomon, R.; Peterson, J.; and Larkin, N. adverse effects. modeling. 2005. Applications of the BlueSkyRAINS Smoke Prediction System, EM: The Tom Leuschen of the Okanogan Magazine for Environmental Managers, National Forest, who was assist- Wildland fire can pose consider- Air and Waste Management Association, September 2005; 42–45. ing the fire use management team, ations—such as prolonged ignition Riebau, A.; Fox, D. 2003. Fire Consortia asked for assistance in smoke mod- periods and adequately accounting for Advanced Modeling of Meteorology eling from Sue Ferguson, project for extended smoldering—that are and Smoke. Presentation at confer- leader for smoke-modeling research not associated with prescribed fire. ence: Fifth Symposium on Fire and for the USDA Forest Service’s Based on past fire seasons using Forest Meteorology; 16–20 November; Orlando, FL. n Pacific Northwest Research Station. BlueSky on wildfires, such consider- ations are being addressed. BlueSky was far enough along in its development to test operation- In addition, BlueSky continues to be ally on a wildland fire. Together, a valuable communication tool for Leuschen and Ferguson decided the public and air quality regulators. to try BlueSky as the modeling framework for smoke management projections on the Quartz Mountain Complex. For More Information Running daily for almost 3 months, BlueSky accurately FCAMMS predicted a smoke event into For more information on the Fire Consortia for Advanced Modeling of central Washington’s Wenatchee– Meteorology and Smoke (FCAMMS), visit the gateway Website at Leavenworth area that was con- http://www.fs.fed.us/fcamms/ and click on the FCAMMS for your area. firmed by verbal reports and data from particulate monitors. Figure BlueSky 1 shows an example of BlueSky For more information on BlueSky, visit the Website at output for the Quartz Mountain http://www.blueskyrains.org or contact Jeanne Hoadley at Complex. Representatives from 206-732-7867, [email protected]. the Okanogan National Forest and

Fire Management Today U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR BlueSky Proves Its Value in BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT Predicting Smoke

Louisa Evers

n the fall of 2002, I was the long- conditions are more likely to spread and western Montana in August, and term analyst on the fire use man- and continue burning throughout in southern California in October. I agement team assigned to the the summer and into fall. Quartz Mountain Complex on the In late June of 2003, Gary Cones’ Okanogan National Forest. This was Fire Use Management Team was my first exposure to the BlueSky 2003 Smoke Impacts dispatched to New Mexico’s Gila smoke-modeling process and my Competition for “air space” there- National Forest to manage the Dry first introduction to the concept fore became quite keen in certain Lake Complex. The complex started of the Fire Consortia for Advanced locations during 2003. The biggest in late May and wasn’t declared out Modeling of Meteorology and events were the series of wildland until October—becoming the larg- Smoke (FCAMMS). fires that started in northern Idaho est fire in recent New Mexico history. Due to the complex’s prolonged nature, smoke impacts became a concern for the local communities We ensured that the New Mexico State air quality surrounding the Gila Wilderness. coordinator and the Southwest Coordination Center knew that the smoke predictions were posted on a publicly For assistance in setting up BlueSky available Website. on this incident, I called Ned Nikolov at the Rocky Mountain FCAMMS. We then contacted Sue Due to BlueSky’s merits and suc- Ferguson at the USDA Forest cess in 2002, I used BlueSky smoke predictions on three incidents in different areas of the country the following year.

While the 2003 fire season was slightly below average for the number of wildland fires and acres burned, it was still a significant season in terms of smoke production. For the first time, the number of acres burned in suppression incidents was only slightly larger than the number of acres burned in wildland fire use and prescribed fire projects.

The year also saw record-high energy release component values in much of the Western United States. Wildland fires that are not suppressed immediately under such

Louisa Evers is a fire ecologist for the USDI Bureau of Land Management, State Office, Figure 1—BlueSky predictions for Arizona and New Mexico, including the Dry Lake Portland, OR. Complex on the Gila National Forest on July 15, 2003.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 Service’s Pacific Northwest Research BlueSky to the problems in Missoula, the impact Station’s Pacific Wildland Fire Rescue Again was relatively insignificant due to Sciences Laboratory in Seattle, WA. much lower levels (less acres) of In August 2003, Cones’ Fire Use fire growth than the fires in closer Management Team was sent to proximity to Missoula and the Idaho to manage 10 wildland fire Two Predictive . Bitterroot Valley. Runs Per Day use incidents on the Clearwater and Nez Perce National Forests. During I provided estimated number of our briefing, dry thunderstorms acres burned per day; the Rocky Stagnant Air Problems were moving over our part of Idaho Mountain FCAMMS provided the Finally, in September 2003 I used and western Montana, igniting MM5 (mesoscale model—a real- BlueSky once again on California’s several hundred wildland fires. time meteorological measurement) Stanislaus National Forest. Cones’ Our team continued to manage weather fields for New Mexico and Fire Use Management Team was the wildland fire use incidents Arizona; and Susan O’Neill, then assigned to two fires—one on each as well as several suppression at the USDA Forest Service, Pacific side of Spicer Reservoir. Each fire fires managed under a confine- Northwest Research Station’s was located in a different air quality ment strategy. Because of the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences district. Each district had different air quality problems related to Laboratory in Seattle, WA, initial- regulations and levels of concern. the numerous fires burning near ized the BlueSky model and insti- Missoula, MT, the Montana–Idaho tuted two predictive runs per day. Smoke was affecting both of these Airshed Group and the air qual- air quality districts, as well as several ity program manager for the These model results were then post- others. In addition, several other USDA Forest Service’s Northern ed on the Rocky Mountain FCAMMS wildland fire use incidents were Region wondered what impact our Website. In addition, I provided wildland fire use incidents might information to the Gila National be having on Missoula and the Forest’s public affairs office on how Bitterroot Valley’s air quality. BlueSky was asked to to access the model for distribution to the public. model potential smoke Once again, I contacted Sue impacts using two points Ferguson and Susan O’Neill at the Seattle lab to set up BlueSky for of origins that The year 2003 saw us. They were already modeling represented the more record-high energy the potential smoke impacts from active concentrations of release component values several of the larger Missoula area fire activity. in much of the Western fires. We realized we had a logistical United States. modeling problem. We were deal- ing with nearly 80 wildland fire use occurring between the Stanislaus and suppression incidents scattered We also ensured that the New National Forest and Yosemite over four ranger districts and two Mexico State air quality coordinator National Park. There were resultant national forests. and the Southwest Coordination stagnant-air problems in the San Center knew that the smoke pre- Joaquin Valley. I eventually decided to ask BlueSky dictions were posted on a publicly to model potential smoke impacts available Website. (Figure 1 shows using two points of origin that rep- BlueSky predictions for fires in New Proved Its Value resented the more active concen- Mexico and Arizona, including the Nighttime smoke was the most trations of fire activity. These model Dry Lake Complex.) significant problem. Several of the results (fig. 2) indicated that while area’s small communities were we were contributing to air quality occasionally experiencing very dense smoke. There were also con-

Fire Management Today 10 Figure 2—BlueSky predictions of smoke in northern Idaho and western Montana on August 26, 2003. cerns that daytime smoke could team’s information officer, we suc- affect Carson City, NV, and the Lake For the third time that fire cessfully distributed information Tahoe area. season, BlueSky proved its on model results to the air quality boards, local communities, and sev- Once again I contacted Susan value as a communication eral news outlets. O’Neill and the California-Nevada tool. FCAMMS and asked them to For the third time that fire season, start BlueSky. Working with the BlueSky proved its value as a com- Stanislaus National Forest and our munication tool. n

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 11 Smoke, Fire, and Weather: What Forest Service Research Is Doing To Help

Brian E. Potter, Narasimhan K. Larkin, Ned Nikolov

any Federal and local land conditions at and near the ground. weather conditions likely to change management agencies are Resources may be carefully allocat- rapidly—possibly resulting in a loss M expanding their fuel manage- ed and distributed days or months of control? ment efforts by using combinations in advance of the burn. Terrain and of mechanical removal, prescribed fuels may be studied and measured The regional Fire Consortia for the fire, and mixed treatments. When in great detail—noting species com- Advanced Modeling of Meteorology prescribed fire is used to any extent, position, fuel loads, and topographic and Smoke (FCAMMS) are research execution of the fuel management features with great specificity. groups that study the interaction of plan requires great care to avoid fires, smoke, and the atmosphere unexpected fire behavior that could to develop science-based products endanger personnel or property. To mitigate and reduce that help meet these needs. Each group has a USDA Forest Service While prescribed fire managers downstream smoke research component and works with focus their attention primarily on complaints, clients in the the Geographic Area Coordination people and events in the immediate Pacific Northwest and Centers and National Weather vicinity of the fire, they must also elsewhere have used BlueSky Service meteorologists to develop be aware of potential impacts from the tools needed by land and fire smoke. For a burn on any given and BlueSky-RAINS on managers on the ground. day, air quality regulations related prescribed burns for go/no- to public health and visibility can go decisions and timing. These experimental forecast prod- be the limiting factors in the final ucts enhance and expand the stan- go/no-go decision. dard National Weather Service products such as fire weather forecasts, Failure to meet air quality obliga- But when it’s time to light the drip red flag watches and warnings, and tions can lead to more stringent torches—even with the most careful spot forecasts. The experimental legal limits on future prescribed preparation and preburn study—the products are available daily on the fires and a poor public image for the weather is the deciding factor. For Internet, allowing feedback from burning agency. Even when smoke instance, the burn must wait for the users to the research teams. The from a fire does not violate any another day if current conditions ultimate goal is to develop better laws, it can still be a nuisance or are too dry or too windy, the wind operational weather products. annoyance to the public. is blowing toward a city or a 1977 Clean Air Act class I area, or the Both fire behavior and smoke trans- forecast calls for other unfavorable Understanding Land port depend largely on weather conditions. More than just inconve- Manager Needs nient, weather delays can also lead While each individual FCAMMS to added resource expenses. performs globally relevant research, Brian Potter is a research meteorologist for the USDA Forest Service, North Central they also work together to apply Research Station, East Lansing, MI. In this research regionally. Based December 2004—when this article was Regional Fire Consortia on the success of the Northwest written—he was acting team leader of the AirFIRE Team, USDA Forest Service, Pacific When it comes to weather forecasts, Regional Modeling Consortium Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR. fire managers have very specific (NWRMC), an association of orga- Narasimhan Larkin is a physical climatolo- information needs. Will the weather nizations with a common interest gist for the Pacific Northwest Research Station’s AirFIRE Team; and Ned Nikolov be dry enough, or too dry, to burn? in weather issues that formed in is a research meteorologist for the USDA Where will the smoke travel? How 1992, the FCAMMS were created to Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research much smoke is likely to linger in work with regional land managers Station, Rocky Mountain Center, Fort the vicinity of the fire? Are the to better understand their needs Collins, CO.

Fire Management Today 12 BlueSky Smoke Modeling Framework With funding from the National Fire Plan, the USDA Forest Service AirFIRE team, a member of the NWRMC, created a science-based smoke modeling framework named BlueSky (http://www.fs.fed.us/ bluesky). To simulate movement of smoke across the landscape, this system links together previously developed models of fuel emissions and combustion, smoke plume rise, and smoke dispersion.

BlueSky provides fire managers with simulations of where smoke Figure 1—Locations and areas covered by the numerical weather models of the regional from fire in their region—as well Fire Consortia for the Advanced Modeling of Meteorology and Smoke (FCAMMS). as from other regions—is likely to travel. BlueSky users can view and interests. Thus, the FCAMMS The FCAMMS each maintain their output such as expected smoke tra- develop research programs and new own Websites that provide infor- jectories and surface concentrations science-based applications to meet mation on new or experimental of PM2.5—one of the measures dic- these needs and interests. In 2002, products and research programs tated and regulated by the Clean Air under the National Fire Plan, four for their region. These regional Act—using a variety of visualization additional FCAMMS were formed to Websites provide fire weather, fire systems. The BlueSky Consortium, span the contiguous 48 States (fig. 1). danger, and smoke products in pre- which includes Federal, State, sentation formats tailored to the tribal, and local agencies, governs The meteorologists at the needs of fire and smoke managers BlueSky’s development. FCAMMS each have their own area working on individual fires. of specialization, and the FCAMMS Before BlueSky’s development, strive to match the science to Efforts are currently underway most fire managers had to rely on the scientists. As new scientific to create a single Web interface the ventilation index (VI), which knowledge and tools develop, the for the uniform display of prod- is the depth of the atmospheric FCAMMS share them to benefit the ucts of interest to national users. mixed layer multiplied by the aver- entire country, as well as to evalu- Maintenance of separate national age windspeed in that layer. The VI ate their performance and applica- and regional Web pages allows the assumes that smoke mixes uniform- bility in each region. FCAMMS to present information ly from the ground through the that meets two potentially different sets of user needs.

FCAMMS and Related Websites

http://www.fcamms.org Gateway Website with links to all FCAMMS.

http://gacc.nifc.gov National Geographic Area Coordination Center Website.

http://www.airfire.org/bluesky BlueSky Website.

http://www.blueskyrains.org BlueSky-RAINS Website.

http://fire.boi.noaa.gov National Weather Service Fire Weather Forecast Website.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 13 Figure 2—Example of BlueSky-RAINS interface showing smoke trajectories, PM2.5, and class 1 airsheds in northern Idaho and western Montana. mixed layer, that there is no change tools for prescribed fire. The system In essence, BlueSky allows users to in wind direction with height, and distributes smoke upward from the go from a two-dimensional (height that the wind and mixed-layer depth ground based on the heat of the and one horizontal direction) view will not change substantially while fire and the structure of the atmo- of smoke transport to a four-dimen- the fire is burning. sphere. BlueSky determines the sional (all three spatial dimensions direction and speed of smoke move- as well as time) view. And yet, anyone who has seen a fire ment across the landscape, all based knows that smoke does not mix uni- on physical laws. This allows the BlueSky has been available across formly from the ground to the top smoke to travel in different direc- the lower 48 States since the of the plume. It is less obvious—but tions at different heights, depending summer of 2005. The Forest just as true—that wind direction on winds at those heights. It also Service’s AirFIRE Research Team usually changes with height, and that allows BlueSky to determine how (http://www.airfire.org), part of the both mixed-layer depth and winds in much smoke might remain near the NWRMC, distributed the modeling the mixed layer change significantly ground—where it impacts visibility framework to the other FCAMMS. throughout the day, or when pres- and human health. Each, in turn, has implemented sure troughs or cold fronts pass. BlueSky and created a regional sys- Because BlueSky uses the same type tem for users to enter information of weather model that the National regarding location, time, and size Tremendous Leap Weather Service uses for regular on planned fires. Forward forecasts, it is sensitive to the diur- BlueSky represents a tremendous nal changes in the atmosphere and leap forward in smoke management to the passage of fronts or troughs.

Fire Management Today 14 Regional Implementations • The USDA Forest Service’s Pacific and the timing and visibility for Northwest Region, aircraft operations. Many organiza- While AirFIRE continues to pro- • The Environmental Protection tions also use BlueSky and BlueSky- vide technical support for BlueSky, Agency’s Region 10, RAINS as part of their public com- each FCAMMS is also responsible • The Montana/Idaho Airshed munication. for evaluating BlueSky’s perfor- Group, mance in its own region. To ensure • Northwest tribes, and that predictions are optimized for • Other Federal, State, and local BlueSky Consortium its area, geographic differences officials. The development of BlueSky- between the Pacific Northwest and RAINS has been directed through other areas—such as lake effects Members of the public also access the BlueSky Consortium, which and sea breezes in the Lake States the site to obtain information about includes both developers and users and Atlantic Coast, arid conditions smoke and fires around the Pacific of the system. These users have in the Southwest, and the impor- Northwest. been integral in determining the tance of smoldering emissions in system’s look and feel, as well as its the Southeast—require regional In addition to standard GIS layers— capabilities. Through yearly work- implementation of BlueSky. This towns, highways, rivers, and other shops and other training oppor- ability to regionally “tune” models humanmade and natural terrain tunities, the system has evolved and products is one of the strengths features—user-specific layers such into one that is user friendly and of the FCAMMS. as the borders of the Montana/Idaho directly applicable to decision sup- Airshed Group reporting areas are port. Efforts are now underway BlueSky also works with the also available. These can be dis- to migrate RAINS to the other Rapid Access Information System played underneath meteorological FCAMMS areas. (RAINS), a GIS-based Web tool forecast information such as winds originally developed by the and VI, as well as projected smoke In 2004, after viewing BlueSky- Environmental Protection Agency concentrations. RAINS, EPA Director Mike Leavitt (EPA) and later modified to func- urged the creation of a major west- tion with BlueSky by the EPA and To mitigate and reduce downstream ern implementation of BlueSky- the AirFIRE team. RAINS provides smoke complaints, clients in the RAINS for viewing smoke effects an array of visualization tools that Pacific Northwest and elsewhere from wildfires. The goal of this allow users to overlay—from their BlueSky-RAINS–West project was Internet browser—a variety of GIS to forecast wildfire smoke for public layers such as roads and urban health purposes—including air qual- centers; to zoom in and out; and Failure to meet air quality ity warnings—across a large portion access the underlying data (fig. obligations can lead to more of the Western United States. 2). This coupling of BlueSky and stringent legal limits on RAINS is commonly referred to as At the time of this writing, this BlueSky-RAINS. future prescribed fires and a poor public image for the project—a joint effort of the Forest burning agency. Service, Environmental Protection BlueSky-RAINS Agency, and U.S. Department of the Interior—is in a demonstration BlueSky-RAINS is the most popu- phase. A final assessment report is lar way to access the BlueSky have used BlueSky and BlueSky- expected in the near future. smoke predictions in the Pacific RAINS on prescribed burns for Northwest. To support their fire and go/no-go decisions and timing. The smoke management efforts, a vari- Montana/Idaho Airshed Group uses BlueSky-RAINS– ety of users access the Website: BlueSky-RAINS daily in issuing per- West Project mits for prescribed burns. The BlueSky-RAINS–West project • The Washington Department of has involved both the NWRMC Natural Resources, On wildfires, BlueSky-RAINS has and the Forest Service’s Rocky • The Oregon Department of been used to support a variety of Mountain Center (RMC), another of Forestry, decisions, including whether to let the FCAMMS. AirFIRE helped coor- wildland fire use complexes burn dinate development of the BlueSky-

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 15 RAINS–West project among the In addition, RMC maintains a non- • Integrating high-resolution Federal agencies and RMC took lead GIS user interface to the BlueSky weather information and pre- responsibility for delivering daily output on its official Website (http:// dictions into the National Fire BlueSky forecasts. www.FireWeather.info) to serve as Danger Rating System, and a backup display to the BlueSky- • Daily evaluation of how well In 2004, RMC had enhanced its RAINS product. the weather models used by the Web-based user interface by intro- FCAMMS are predicting fire- ducing a “user submission form” related indices. for prescribed burns, allowing users Future Research Areas to enter their planned burns and The implementation of BlueSky receive forecasts of likely smoke by all of the FCAMMS and the FCAMMS Future Work dispersion. Because RMC had the lessons learned from the BlueSky- As they have since they formed, ability to provide high-resolution RAINS–West project are providing the FCAMMS will continue to forecasts with weather information insights into how well BlueSky work to answer questions raised performs under different cir- by their users—the fire manage- cumstances. Future smoke man- ment, smoke management, and fire The FCAMMS were created agement research areas for the weather communities. The various FCAMMS include: projects and programs involving to work with regional land BlueSky and BlueSky-RAINS dem- managers to better • Ongoing field observations for onstrate the general philosophy understand their evaluation and improvement of behind the FCAMMS. meteorological and smoke surface PM2.5 estimations, • Improving the accuracy of smoke management forecast needs Based on regional needs and scien- dispersion predictions by improv- tific expertise, research programs and interests. ing forecasted wind fields through develop tools to address these a more realistic simulation of needs. These tools can then be vegetation-controlled surface heat shared across the United States for every 2.3-square-mile (6-km2) and moisture processes, and beyond. They can also be area across the West, it provided • Better representation of smoke tested in other geographic regions. the smoke forecast fields for the from smoldering fires, Adjustments for these areas can BlueSky-RAINS–West project. (For • More realistic treatment of smoke improve the tools for everyone. logistical and technical reasons, transport at night and near large Moreover, because each FCAMMS RMC switched to a 4.6-square-mile bodies of water, and works primarily with local users, no (12-km2) resolution in fall of 2004.) • Adding the ability to use multiple single region’s users have to depend fuel or emissions models to pro- on scientists from another region Specifically, RMC’s role in the proj- vide a sense of the uncertainty in for support. ect includes: BlueSky output. The FCAMMS continue to work 1. Producing meteorological fore- Beyond smoke management, the on new products and tools to casts for the entire West using FCAMMS are also working on: share. If BlueSky-related products the MM5 mesoscale model (a real- are any indication, there is more time meteorological measure- • Increasing the spatial resolu- than enough work to keep the ment); tion of forecasted fields from 4.6 FCAMMS busy. n 2. Running BlueSky for the entire square miles (12 km2) to 3.1 West using MM5 forecast fields as square miles (8 km2), drivers; and 3. Delivering BlueSky output to RAINS.

Fire Management Today 16 Smoke-Monitoring Equipment and Applications

Andy Trent and Ricardo Cisneros

efore lighting a prescribed by the forest to address the 2003 Health Effects fire on the Okanogan and notice of violation issued by the Wenatchee National Forests, State of Washington’s Department These commercial monitors use dif- B ferent technologies to estimate the fire managers rely on Tom Robison of Ecology. to check air quality in several of particulate concentrations in real the nearby small towns. Using data In the past, smoke monitoring may time, with an emphasis on measur- from a network of real-time smoke have been conducted by a visual ing the levels of particles smaller monitors, Robison helps fire man- assessment of the local area—or than 2.5 microns in diameter. Such agers prevent prescribed fire smoke even by simply breathing in a whiff fine particles can penetrate deep from violating air quality standards. of air to determine whether smoke into human lungs—where the was present. body’s defense mechanisms can’t If a monitor downwind from the remove them. proposed burn shows elevated par- The Montana Department of ticulate concentrations, the fire Environmental Quality has estab- While most healthy people will not manager works with Robison to lished visual parameters to assess be affected by the particles produced determine if the burn should be current air quality conditions (see by prescribed fires, people with postponed. This process is part of a table 1). However, new portable respiratory or cardiopulmonary smoke management plan developed monitoring equipment—another disease, as well as other physical ail- tool for fire managers—can do a ments, can be at risk. Fire manag- better job of estimating smoke con- ers should therefore be aware of the Andy Trent is a project leader for the USDA Forest Service, Missoula Technology and centrations. Development Center, Missoula, MT; and Ricardo Cisneros is an air resource spe- Table 1—Visibility ranges used in the State of Montana to determine health effect cialist for the USDA Forest Service, Sierra categories from smoke. The table was developed by the Montana State Department of National Forest, Clovis, CA. Environmental Quality.

Visibility PM2.5 Categories Particulate Levels miles km (averaged 1 hour, µg/m3)

Good 10 and up ≥ 16 0–40

Moderate 6–9 10–14 41–80

Unhealthy for sensitive groups (children, elderly, persons with cardiopulmo- 3–5 5–8 81–175 nary and respiratory disease)

Unhealthy 1.5–2.5 2.4–4 176–300

Very unhealthy 0.9–1.4 1.4–2.2 301–500

Hazardous 0.8 or less ≤ 1.3 > 500

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 17 health effects of smoke and mini- • On Wildland Fire Use Incidents. Real-time monitors also have been mize the public’s exposure. Similar to wildland fire monitor- deployed during large wildfires. ing, real-time smoke-monitoring Several publications have been pro- The selection of a smoke moni- instruments can provide data to duced describing the results of the tor depends on its intended use. the public, incident information evaluations (available at http://www. If the highest degree of accuracy officers, local air quality regula- fs.fed.us/eng/t-d.php). is needed, “gravimetric samplers,” tors, and health departments. which capture particles on a filter, Additionally, the data from these Most of MTDC’s work has focused should be used. Fire managers or monitors can be used to ascer- on real-time smoke monitors that air resource specialists can use tain impacts on class I wilderness use light-scattering principles to gravimetric samplers to help deter- areas (congressionally designated estimate smoke concentrations. mine if air quality standards have to protect pristine air quality) and Advantages of these instruments, been violated. assess impacts from the incident known as nephelometers, include to help determine whether or not being lightweight, portable, and Gravimetric samplers and other the incident’s air quality objec- relatively easy to use. Most can be Environmental Protection Agency- tives are being met. operated for short periods using a approved techniques are used to • On Prescribed Fires. Real-time battery. For longer deployments, monitor compliance with National monitoring instruments can (1) line power or solar panel arrays Ambient Air Quality Standards provide additional information to might be needed. (NAAQSs). Gravimetric samplers fire mangers for go/no-go deci- cannot provide real time results. sions; (2) determine nuisance The accuracy of nephelometers is Because their filters need to be smoke levels; (3) provide data to affected by several factors, includ- analyzed at special facilities, their develop comparisons between pre- ing the composition, size, and shape results will not be available for days, scribed and wildfire smoke con- of the particles being sampled. For or even weeks. centrations for public education most of the nephelometers used and compliance with prescribed for smoke monitoring, MTDC has fire monitoring requirements; (4) Real-Time Monitoring developed conversions from the evaluate impacts from smoke; (5) light scattering measured by neph- While real-time smoke monitors and monitor air quality before, elometers to smoke concentration. provide nearly instantaneous esti- during, and after the burn, as well If nephelometers were used to mations of particulate concentra- as for National Environmental monitor particles of dust or other tions, they are not as accurate as Policy Act documentation. sources, a different conversion fac- gravimetric samplers. Real-time tor would be utilized. monitors give “ballpark” estima- Evaluating the Technology tions and provide trend information The Forest Service uses several of the current situation. These real- The USDA Forest Service’s Missoula different commercial monitors, time monitors can be used for a Technology and Development Center including the MIE DataRAM (fig. 1), variety of purposes: (MTDC) has been evaluating real- Radiance Research Nephelometer, time particulate monitors for sev- Met One Instrument’s E-Sampler, • On Wildland Fires. Real-time eral years. MTDC worked with the and TSI’s DustTrack*. smoke monitors can provide (1) Rocky Mountain Research Station’s information to the public and Missoula Fire Laboratory to compare incident information officers the results from real-time monitors Beta Attenuation regarding local smoke concentra- with a filter-based, Environmental Technology tions and potential impacts from Protection Agency “Federal Another monitor being evaluated smoke; (2) current smoke con- Reference Method” gravimetric sam- uses a principle called beta attenu- centration and trend data to local pler* to determine the accuracy of ation to estimate the particulate air quality regulators and health each of the real-time monitors. departments; (3) fire safety information during emergency opera- * The EPA has developed design standards and require- * The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this ments that samplers have to meet in order to be com- publication is for the information and convenience tions; and (4) smoke concentra- pliant. These standards are called Federal Reference of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official Methods standards. Samplers that meet the standards endorsement of any product or service by the U.S. tions at fire camps and incident are therefore known as Federal Reference Method Department of Agriculture. Individual authors are command posts. samplers. They are always filter-based (gravimetric) responsible for the technical accuracy of the material samplers. presented in Fire Management Today.

Fire Management Today 18 smoke by State air quality special- and modems can be used to down- ists during emergencies. load data. Other instruments can transmit the data using cell phone modems or radios, although the Downloading the Data range might be limited. A data telemetry system can be used to obtain information from MTDC worked with a satellite smoke monitors in real time. communications company (Airsis, Some monitors, like the ones used Inc.) to develop a satellite telem- on the Okanogan and Wenatchee etry system that can be used Figure 1—The MIE DataRAM is a small, National Forests, are established at with most of the real-time smoke portable, real-time smoke monitor—shown fixed sites from which phone lines monitors. This system uses the here with a satellite telemetry system. The USDA Forest Service, USDI Bureau of Land Management, and some State agencies have used the DataRAM for monitoring smoke from wildland and prescribed fires. concentration. Beta attenuation monitors (BAMs) work by deposit- ing particulate from the sampled air onto a filter tape that is exposed to beta particles. Calculations con- vert the amount of beta particles being attenuated or absorbed by the particles on the tape to a smoke concentration.

This beta attenuation technology has been used by the Environmental Protection Agency and States to monitor air quality for NAAQS purposes. Met One Instruments has repackaged their rack-mounted BAM-1020 monitor into a smaller, more portable, environmentally protected system to be used for smoke monitoring. This instrument is called an E-BAM (fig. 2).

Meteorological sensors, such as those measuring ambient air temperature, relative humidity, and windspeed or direction, can be added to these instruments to greatly enhance the utility of the monitoring effort. The Forest Service has purchased several E-BAMs. Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency is undergoing a large-scale test to determine the usefulness of the E- Figure 2—The Met One Instrument’s E-BAM is a new portable beta attenuation instru- BAM for monitoring wildland fire ment used by some agencies for monitoring smoke. It can be configured with meteorological sensors (shown) such as windspeed and direction, temperature, and relative humidity. Photo: Air Resource Specialists, Inc.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 19 low-earth orbiting satellite system Sequoia, Sierra, and Stanislaus Website at http://www.air-resource. (ORBCOMM) to transmit data National Forests. com/fsairpgm/fscor/fscor.html. hourly to a Web server. Two of the E-BAMs operated year Land managers also have a growing The data are displayed on the round; three operated only during interest in sharing information with Interagency Real-Time Smoke the 2004 burn season. The remain- the public in a way that displays Monitoring Website at http://www. ing systems were used to support their agency’s interest in balancing satguard.com/usfs. A global posi- smoke-monitoring events (includ- public health and air quality con- tioning system receiver was incor- ing the 2004 Yosemite Meadow cerns with forest health, as well as porated into the satellite system, Complex Fire) and as backup units. the need to address hazardous fuels allowing the monitor’s location to for community safety. be correlated to the data for GIS All of the E-BAMs were equipped and archiving purposes. with basic meteorological instru- mentation. Satellite telemetry Helping Forest Managers systems were configured with each Monthly and annual data sum- Sierra Nevada . of the units. The raw data were maries from the pilot study will be Pilot Study displayed on the Interagency Real- used to develop local information In March 2004, the Forest Service Time Smoke Monitoring Website. for communities with histories of Pacific Southwest Region’s Fire smoke impacts. Particle concentra- Management and Air Programs tion and meteorological data will established the Sierra Nevada This information can help be correlated with public nuisance Smoke Monitoring Pilot (SNSMP). complaints to create a complaint This 2-year study in California’s forest and range managers “threshold” air quality index—dif- southern Sierra Nevada region is meet fuel reduction goals ferent from the existing health testing the utility, accuracy, reliabil- while minimizing the impacts thresholds. Satellite imagery and ity, and monitoring requirements of of smoke on air quality. ground-based digital photography the Met One Instruments BAM 1020 will document visibility conditions and E-BAM continuous particle during periods of poor air quality. monitors. The monitors’ effectiveness as practical smoke manage- Immediate Web Access Smoke emissions from prescribed ment tools is also being evaluated. Immediate Web access to the data and wildland fires continue to be transmitted during this pilot study a concern in many areas. At the Information collected from this provides fire managers with infor- same time, the need to manage the study will help land managers mation to help implement strategies increasing forest and range fuels understand spatial and temporal air to reduce smoke production—or is critical. The SNSMP and the quality trends that affect the south- alter its transport. Air Resource Okanogan and Wenatchee National ern Sierra Nevada region. This will Specialists, Inc., of Fort Collins, CO, Forests’ smoke-monitoring pro- improve the fire managers’ ability to also collects all ORBCOMM-trans- grams illustrate how networks communicate potential air pollution mitted SNSMP data for daily opera- of real-time smoke monitors and health impacts from prescribed fire tional instrument integrity checks, portable smoke monitors can be and wildfire to the public. data archive, quality assurance, vali- deployed quickly and provide high- dation, and reporting. quality information. Ten portable E-BAM instruments can be deployed quickly to moni- Validated SNSMP data summaries These monitors are configured with tor short-term smoke events and and reports are e-mailed regularly a telemetry system that allows easy, community impacts at the height of to local fire and air managers and real-time access to the data. This the fire season. Five line-powered, are posted on the Forest Service information can help forest and tripod-mounted E-BAMs and three Air Monitoring Program Project range managers meet fuel reduction solar-powered, trailer-mounted goals while minimizing the impacts E-BAMs were deployed on the of smoke on air quality. n

Fire Management Today 20 Real-Time Smoke Monitor Specification/Cost and Operations Comparison* By Air Resource Specialists, Inc., and Andy Trent Radiance Parameter E-BAM E-Sampler DataRAM 4 DustTrack 8520 Research Nephelometer Sampling Beta Ray Nephelometry – Nephelometry – Nephelometry – Nephelometry – Method Attenuation forward scattering forward scattering forward scatter- back scattering (600 & 880 nm) ing (780 nm) (550 nm)

Range of 0–100 m g/m3 0–100 mg/m3 0–400 mg/m3 0.010–100 mg/ 0–1mg/m3 Concentration m3 (approx) Power AC, DC, Battery, AC, DC, Battery, AC, DC, Battery AC, DC, Battery AC, DC, Battery, Requirements Solar Solar (6V), Solar (7.2 V= 6 C Solar cells), Solar Environmentally Yes Yes No Yes – as acces- No Enclosed sory Met Sensor Yes (max of 4 Yes – WS/WD, Interface sensors) – WS/ RH (Ambient WD, AT/RH, Bar temp and pres- No No No Pressure sure standard) Calibration Factory, manual Factory, auto- Clean-air zero Factory, manual Factory, manu- Technique calibration check matic span/zero adjust calibration al span and zero mode calibration Approx System < 50 lb (22.8 kg) 13 lb (5.9 kg) 12 lb (5.44 kg) 4 lb (1.81 kg) 5 lb (2.27 kg) Weight $5,000 with Mfg Base Price $7,500 $4,500 $10,750 enclosure $5,500 Pros Good accura- Small and light Easy to use, Easy to use, Reliable, small cy and reliabili- weight, tripod small and light, small and porta- and portable, ty, meteorologi- mounted, meteo- very portable, ble, environmen- low power con- cal sensors can rological sensors dual wavelength, tally protected sumption. be added, tripod can be added, satellite telem- (accessory). setup, environ- easy to use and etry. mentally pro- calibrate, envi- tected, satellite ronmentally pro- telemetry. tected, satellite telemetry. Cons Bulky compared Pump failures, Prone to failures Satellite teleme- Difficult to cal- to other instru- data tends to if shipped exces- try has not been ibrate, no envi- ments, pump drift to zero at sively, difficult to developed to ronmental failures, residue low concentra- troubleshoot, not date. enclosure, no buildup on noz- tions. environmentally satellite teleme- zle can cause protected, no tri- try to date. poor data. pod mount.

* The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement of any product or service by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Individual authors are responsible for the technical accuracy of the material presented in Fire Management Today.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 21 SPOTS: Maximizing Fuel and Vegetation Management Effectiveness

Sue Stewart

with management objectives and well as efforts to protect a range of he hazardous fuels treatment sustainable given the expected dis- valuable social and ecological assets and ecological restoration turbance processes—including fire, and attributes. T task confronting our Federal insects, and disease. Only through land management agencies, tribes, dedication and alignment of the full This prioritization can be aided dra- States, counties, and local com- force and capabilities of integrated, matically with the use of existing munities is enormous. Across these interagency efforts can meaningful analysis tools, including modeling lands, acres burned by wildland fire progress be made toward the res- software and data sets that can sup- continues to increase (fig. 1). Many toration and maintenance of more port the development and assess- of these acres are uncharacteristi- resilient ecosystems. ment of alternative treatment pat- cally severe. terns at a variety of scales. Landscape-scale restoration of While not all wildland fires grow desired, ecologically consistent to catastrophic proportions, many conditions is a long-term goal that Reducing Undesired do become “problem fires”—large, should guide all land management Effects destructive, dangerous, and costly activities. Given the enormous size Only 2 to 3 percent of all ignitions to manage. Often, these fires are of this task, annual priorities should escape initial attack. Some of these symptoms of a larger forest health address the most urgent work first. become the problem fires that dam- issue in which ecological realities This includes activities to reduce age resources, threaten communi- conflict with both social expecta- the likelihood of extreme fire behav- tions and economic limitations. ior in and around communities, as To protect communities, assets, resources, and investments, we must continue to treat the symptoms of problem fire through fire suppression efforts. At the same time, however, the cause of these fires must also be addressed through hazardous fuels reduction and vegetation management activities that result in landscapes that provide a mixture of:

• Species, • Stand and fuel characteristics, • Tree sizes, and • Density and distribution of fuel.

Enormous Task Furthermore, all of these landscape features must be both consistent

Sue Stewart is the applied fire ecologist for the USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Figure 1. Wildland fire acres trend over 45 years. Source: National Interagency Fire Management, Washington, DC. Center, wildland fire statistics.

Fire Management Today 22 ties, and cost millions of dollars in actions include hazardous fuel ing wind, size, shape, and treatment suppression efforts. reduction as well as other vegeta- intensity within the unit—could tion management for a variety of reduce the undesired effects of prob- Fuel reduction treatments have lem fires and the acres burned with proven effective in changing fire undesired severity. behavior and effects at the indi- These “problem fires” are the vidual stand level. These treat- symptoms of a larger forest Strategic Fuels ments can also address the more health issue in which complex issue of changing land- Placement Theory scape-scale fire behavior, effects, ecological realities conflict Figure 2 (Finney 2001) demonstrates and suppression costs. with both social expectations the strategic fuels placement theory. and economic limitations. On the far left side of the image, a Gaming—simulating—expected fire simulation was run in a single fire behavior scenarios at the land- fuel type in a theoretical landscape scape scale with information tools objectives—from habitat improve- with constant slope and winds. The like FARSITE or FlamMap suggests ment to forest health and silvicul- elliptical shape shows the ultimate that the deliberate and strategic tural treatments. fire perimeter following the desig- placement of management units nated simulation time, with the con- might very well reduce the potential A strategic approach to the place- centric lines showing fire perimeter for problem fires to move across ment of treatments—including their at intermediate time intervals. the landscape. Such management arrangement relative to the prevail-

Figure 2. Mark Finney’s FARSITE scenarios for strategic treatment patterns.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 23 The next window to the right has 20 In the fourth image (farthest to the influence in reducing ultimate fire percent of the theoretical landscape right), this strategic pattern, with size, intensity, and effects. Where treated in a random pattern, result- slightly overlapping linear treat- it is possible to treat more than 60 ing—with all other conditions held ments aligned against the wind, percent of the area—regardless of equal—in slower fire spread rates also yields smaller fires while treat- the specific placement of fuel treat- in the treated areas. While the over- ing the same landscape proportion ments—most fires will be smaller all fire size is somewhat smaller, as the “perfect linear solution” and less intense, and the actual considering the effort expended in (represented in the third image treatment pattern will mean little. placing those fuel treatments, the from left, discussed above). This change is minimal. strategic approach appears most To be most effective in robbing the effective when the treatments can momentum needed for significant The third image from the left shows be accomplished on at least 20 per- runs into tree crowns in a moving the perfect solution with 20 percent cent, but less than 60 percent, of fire, the treated areas should be: of the landscape treated. The linear the landscape. treated strips are perpendicular to • Smaller in size than the expected the wind direction and fire spread. problem fire event, While the fire is dramatically Different Treatment • Oriented perpendicular to the smaller, the solution—in the real Outcomes expected fire spread direction, and world—is impractical due to the When less than 20 percent of the • Slightly overlapping spatially—to variety of other resource and social acres are changed to a slower-burn- force a moving fire to flank or objectives that often influence land ing fuel type, the pattern and distri- spot around the treated area, management decisions. bution of treated areas has minimal rather than burning through at high speed (fig. 3).

In many cases, treating 20 to 60 percent of the landscape will be a significant step toward the long- term goal of restoring ecosystems at meaningful scales. Treating at this rate, however, may not fully accomplish the goal with the first entry.

Increasing Manager’s Comfort Level On the other hand, if the initial strategic entry is successful in reducing the probability of large, uncharacteristically severe fire, it can benefit managers by providing more time to continue working toward the long-term restoration goal. In addition, success in this initial strategic entry also increases the comfort level of both managers and communities for allowing more unplanned fires to be managed for resource objectives as wildland fire use events.

An additional benefit of this stra- Figure 3. This cartoon depiction of a SPOTS approach shows fire in an untreated land- tegic approach is the ability to scape, compared to the same event following strategic placement of treatments. locate areas where biomass could

Fire Management Today 24 and infrastructure, administrative sites, Threatened and Endangered Species Act species’ habitats that are not compatible with the current expected fire behavior and effects, and ecosystem components that are rare or unique locally or regionally (such as stands of large, old trees where they are uncommon).

3. Define the problem fire behavior or effects to be mitigated in the treatment. Most fires are successfully suppressed before reaching problem fire proportions. The strategic approach is not intended to fireproof a landscape against all possible fires. In fact, the desired scenario might include more fre- Figure 4. Location of 2005 SPOTS teams. quent, broadly spread, low-intensity fires to create and maintain desired be made available to help offset social settings. One of these projects fuel conditions. The problem fires treatment costs. Such an analysis is an interagency effort between the might include crown fire or fast- could provide a vision of level- USDA Forest Service and the USDI moving surface fire. They might ized biomass supply strategies to Bureau of Land Management. also involve long-range spotting, encourage business growth and affect house-filled canyons with capital investments. While strategic approaches to only one way out, or threaten a account for different fuels, topog- downwind community with weeks raphy, weather, and social factors of adverse smoke impacts. The A Framework for SPOTS will vary throughout the country, specific concerns might be fire sup- In 2005, eight interdisciplinary all spatial approaches targeting planning teams across the coun- undesired fire behavior will feature try tested “Strategic Placement of collaboration throughout and will Treatments” (SPOTS) approaches include the following seven steps. Only through dedication and to design landscape level treat- alignment of the full force ment strategies. SPOTS are project The seven steps, or elements, of the and capabilities of integrated, specific, while the “Strategically standard approach to SPOTS: interagency efforts can Placed Landscape Area Treatments” (SPLATS) have been applied at a 1. Define the analysis area explic- meaningful progress be strategic scale rather than a practi- itly on a map with acre values. made toward the restoration cal one. This should be large enough to and maintenance of more contain the expected problem resilient ecosystems. These eight teams also were key in fire. It might be necessary to developing a consistent framework game—simulate with information to describe the common analysis tools—some ignitions in areas of pression cost, value lost in resource features of all strategic landscape contiguous fuels under extreme damage, or threats to public and scale projects designed to minimize summer weather conditions to see firefighter safety—or any combi- the adverse impacts of unwanted where fire might go. nation of these. Determination of wildland fire. the problem fire should be based 2. Identify the protection targets on fire history and observed burn These pilot areas (Fig. 4) are located and assets within that landscape. size and patterns, or the presence throughout the country in a range These will include wildland/urban of contiguous hazardous fuels that of fuel and vegetation types and interface areas, private inholdings could feed a rapid fire run into and

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 25 over a protection target. The assess- 5. Test the proposed treatment and treatment intensities. This ment must also include extreme pattern against modeled expected transparent display of tradeoffs fire weather parameters observed wildfire behavior and effects. This is one of the great strengths of a nearby to support modeling. The modeling will include the use of SPOTS approach to analysis and description should delineate the FARSITE or FlamMap to evaluate implementation. weather factors used in modeling spatial fire behavior and effects. A that contribute to the problem fire variety of other spatially explicit 7. A final, vital characteristic of a behavior and effects. models and simulations can be run spatial fuel management approach concurrently to display the effects will be a strong monitoring and 4. Design of treatment units. of the planned treatment pattern adaptive management strategy. The Treatment units should be designed on (1) wildlife habitat, (2) vegeta- only way to ensure that the plan to be specifically located to insulate tion management, (3) forest health and implementation was successful the protection target areas from and watershed values, (4) recreation is to document wildland fire events undesired fire behavior and effects, opportunity, (5) economic impacts, following treatments. Questions to as well as to allow suppression and (6) smoke production or visual ask include: So what? Were the fuel quality effects. This integrated mod- reduction treatments successful? eling of a given treatment pattern’s Can the approach be improved? This transparent display of success allows for tradeoff displays to the team and decisionmaker. SPOTS approaches should fit very tradeoffs is one of the great This success of the treatment pat- well with products from the national strengths of a SPOTS tern should also demonstrate how LANDFIRE data set. Two of the nine approach to analysis and the proposed treatment has an pilot efforts tested SPOTS using implementation. expected impact on the outcome LANDFIRE data to build FARSITE of an unplanned fire event, as well landscape files and run interactive as indicate how the treatment also analysis of treatment effectiveness. meets a variety of other objectives. forces to be as safe and successful as In this way, the integrated team can Using SPOTS, we are standard- possible in controlling unplanned test a variety of treatment patterns izing—for the first time—the ignitions. The treatments should and intensities to determine the approach to defining the risk of be targeted at the specific problem “best fit” for the area’s objectives. unwanted wildland fire and pre- fire attributes while still address- Specifics on the appropriate level of scribing treatments to address these ing other resource objectives and risk reduction will be locally defined risks at appropriate scales. The concerns such as wildlife habitat, and take into account all of the resulting patterns should also lead watershed values, and recreation project’s other objectives as well as to smaller, less intense wildland fire opportunities. If the problem fire forest plan guidance for the area. and ultimately reduce suppression concern constitutes large and costs and provide managers with costly events, the treatments should 6. Display tradeoffs graphically more time for restoration activities. increase the chances of slowing or or in tabular format. The choices stopping high-intensity, high-sever- between treatment patterns should ity, or high-cost fires. be suitable for display, using charts, Reference graphs, or tables to show differ- Finney, M.A. 2001. Design of regular landscape fuel treatment patterns for modi- ences between potential patterns fying fire growth and behavior. Forest Science. 47: 219–228. n

Fire Management Today 26 A Review of Smoke Management and Emission Estimation Tools

Pete Lahm

ith the growing use of pre- products of a broad effort that will more accurate these fire emissions scribed fire and the rise in help land and air quality managers estimates are at national, regional, W utilizing the wildland fire address the smoke effects of wild- and local levels, the more they can use option, the toolbox for fire land fire. be relied on by fire and air qual- managers to better assess smoke ity managers to make appropriate impacts and improve decisions per- decisions. taining to fire management and air Emissions Estimation quality is growing rapidly. There is an increasing need for wildland fire emission inventories Critical Calculation This article reviews the array of to facilitate air quality planning Factors tools that are currently available to throughout the United States. The first step in creating a high- use for: Better knowledge about smoke quality emissions inventory is an emissions from an area that will accurate assessment of how much • Estimating fuel consumption, burn, or is currently burning, will area was burned or will be burned. • Calculating smoke emissions, support better fire management Mapping the area and critically • Projecting smoke impacts, and decisions. assessing the actual blackened area • Incorporating smoke impacts and are vital. air quality concerns into planning for fuel treatments. One of the challenges for all For retrospective inventories, recordkeeping of daily fire activity Ongoing investment into fire smoke dispersion and impact should, at a minimum, include: science is resulting in fire and models is to characterize the air quality professionals and accuracy of their prediction • The blackened acres, researchers making important of smoke trajectories, • The location of the area burned strides on all these elements of (latitude and longitude of some smoke management. concentration of pollutants, known location of the fire such as and duration of impacts. centroid or start location), and The National Ambient Air Quality • When the fire occurred. Standards (NAAQSs) are based on periodic scientific study and review Better fire activity and emissions Armed with these critical data, the as established in the Clean Air Act. inventories are critical for use in next steps in emissions calculation The current science is indicating models that project downwind can utilize the latest fire science that the NAAQSs need to be more smoke impacts such as BlueSky- tools. Estimating the same informa- stringent for some of the pollutants RAINS or VSMOKE. These inven- tion is also important for planning that wildland fires emit. tories will also be important for purposes. showing the effects and tradeoffs of These impending changes to the different land and vegetation man- NAAQSs reinforce the need to con- agement options. Fuels Characterization tinue—and perhaps increase—the After assessment of blackened investment into smoke manage- Fire emissions estimates are acres, the next step is to determine ment tools that support better air essential to support inventories of the fuels that burned—or could quality and fire decisionmaking. pollutants for complying with the burn. Advances in characterizing The tools described below are the regional haze rule, and to ensure the vegetative landscape are best that fire is represented accurately epitomized by the LANDFIRE effort, Pete Lahm is the smoke management in efforts to address areas that do which is incorporating the latest specialist for the USDA Forest Service, Fire Ecology Division, Fire and Aviation not meet air quality standards. The independent scientific methods to Management, Washington, DC.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 27 characterize fuels. This undertaking While these two maps are useful benchmark environmental condi- is developing information that can for fire behavior prediction, there tions) during the flaming, smolder- be used by managers to describe are also drawbacks to using them ing, and residual combustion stages. how much fuel might be available for calculating fire emissions. They for consumption and also allow cal- do not include the critical duff fuel The fuelbeds and the available fuel culation of smoke emissions. layer loading—a key contributor to estimates can then be mapped at fire emissions. Other regional-scale any scale from the project level to The LANDFIRE effort is a USDA wildland fire emission inventory the continental level. In 2005, a Forest Service and U.S. Department efforts have included assumptions 1-kilometer map of FCCS fuelbeds of the Interior multipartner wild- that address this data shortcoming and FCCS Fire Potentials (including land fire, ecosystem, and fuel (Air Sciences Inc., Western Regional available fuel) was developed for the mapping project. Its products Air Partnership fire emission proj- contiguous United States. A further include nationally consistent land- ects, 2002-ongoing). refined mapping of FCCS will be scape-scale maps and data that will included in LANDFIRE. describe vegetation, fire, and fuels A more robust and complete fuel characteristics across the United characteristic system created spe- States. It will integrate many cur- cifically to derive fire emissions Future Emission rently available map products and Inventories develop new fire science products. FCCS calculates, by default, avail- These map products will allow man- Understanding the needs able fuel in each combustion stage agers to prioritize and plan hazard- and requirements of the when the fuelbed is extremely dry. ous fuel reduction and ecosystem The FCCS user can then apply any restoration projects—as well as model users is key to set of consumption algorithms and provide input for a variety of fire understanding the levels of emission factors, such as those in behavior and effects software pack- confidence needed in a CONSUME or FOFEM models—or ages such as FARSITE, CONSUME, smoke dispersion model. the approximations contained in and FOFEM. the Fire Emissions Production Simulator (FEPS) to represent The first products are now available known fuel moisture conditions. for some locations via the national estimates will provide the basis for To allow expected emissions to be rapid assessment models, available another map layer that will soon be mapped and used in future emission at http://www.landfire.gov. available. This layer will utilize the inventories, FERA will incorporate Fuel Characteristic Classification emission factors and consumption System (FCCS) (Ottmar and others algorithms within FCCS. Mapping Efforts [in press], Sandberg and Ottmar There are several fuel character- 2001). This is an interactive catalog Another LANDFIRE layer that istic systems that are useful for of measured physical properties of will soon be available is the Fuel estimating emissions that have wildland fuelbeds across the United Loading Model (FLM) layer, which been developed by Forest Service States. can also be used for calculating Research. These will also be avail- smoke emissions. This FLM clas- able in the map products of the Currently, the stand-alone sys- sification contains 10 unique fuel LANDFIRE effort. Surface fuel maps tem is available at the Fire categories that are described by the describing the spatial distribution and Environmental Research loading of 7 fuel components— of the standard 13 fire behavior fuel Applications Team (FERA) website shrub, herb, four woody fuel classes, models (Anderson 1982) will also be at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/ duff, and litter (Lutes and others mapped. Recently, the 13 fire behav- products. FCCS is designed to pro- 2007 [in prep]). These loading ior models have been expanded, vide realistic estimates of fuelbed values can be put into various fire resulting in an additional map layer characteristics. It also provides an effects models such as CONSUME using a set of 43 fire behavior fuel estimate of fire behavior and effects, or FOFEM to compute fuel con- models (Scott and Burgan 2005). including an estimate of fuel mass sumption and then emissions. available for combustion (under

Continued on page 30

Fire Management Today 28 The Integration of Smoke Impacts with Fuel Management

The tools discussed in the accompany- assessed for effectiveness in reduc- air quality standards, class 1 areas, and ing article have a variety of uses. This ing the risk of the problem fire, emis- other smoke sensitive locations. utilization is determined by the need sions can be calculated concurrently. to address the air quality impacts These emissions can then be displayed Choosing Treatment Strategy from wildland fire—both in a retro- as part of the tradeoff of different land- Air quality spatial information might spective analysis as well as for onsite scape management approaches. also influence the likelihood of suc- decisionmaking. cess for a chosen treatment strate- Displaying the total projected annual gy. If only prescribed burning is cho- Although the tools have utility for plan- particulate emissions for each alterna- sen as the treatment of choice in a ning, the actual integration of air quali- tive is a good start for comparison pur- smoke-sensitive area or an area where ty concerns with projecting the air qual- poses. If biomass utilization is part of the burning is limited due to smoke man- ity impacts of a chosen fire and fuels fuels management strategy, the removal agement program rules, this consid- management strategy is still developing. of potentially consumed fuel and subse- eration can be accounted for in the quently averted emissions could also be overall assessment. The burgeoning Strategic Placement displayed. The emissions benefits of pro- of Treatments (SPOTS) approach (see jected use of emission reduction tech- Smoke concerns can influence the like- article on page 22) for maximizing niques—such as piling and burning or lihood of success in meeting the acre- the effectiveness of fuel and vegeta- burning under high fuel moisture condi- age targets or the timing of fuel treat- tion management perhaps highlights tions in larger fuels or duff—could also ment efforts. Using the projected fire how the consideration and poten- be shown in the tradeoff display. activity and emission inventory can also tial quantification of wildland fire’s allow for more serious levels of air qual- air quality impacts can be integrated The final chosen option for fuel and ity impact modeling that might be use- into a planning effort. vegetation management of the area ful for meeting conformity determina- could potentially be included in a local tion requirements, as well as for display- In the SPOTS approach, the large emission inventory maintained by the ing the tradeoffs. problem wildfire is determined and air regulatory agency for modeling and modeled for fire growth and behavior. incorporation into their airshed man- Understanding the air quality chal- Many of the fuel characteristics, fuel agement strategies. lenges and incorporating them into conditions, and weather conditions a SPOTS-based strategy analysis— that are needed for fire behavior runs This last step can help meet current or any vegetation management plan- support smoke management tools and “conformity determination” require- ning effort—could result in differ- can provide an estimate of emissions. ments for areas located in nonattain- ent outcomes. This could change ment status for air quality standards— the mix of treatments—such as bio- The potential duration of these prob- or allow for incorporation into upcom- mass utilization versus prescribed lem fire emissions is also important ing PM2.5 (one of the particulate mat- fire—which could lead to reduction for later comparisons with alterna- ter standards dictated and regulated by of smoke impacts from the needed tive treatment options. If the integrat- the Clean Air Act) ozone and visibility fuels treatments. ed landscape assessment area is in a State implementation plans. location that does not meet air quali- Monitoring the progress and imple- ty standards, scenarios of the projected As the SPOTS analysis of fuels manage- mentation of the chosen vegetation wildfire impacts on air quality can be ment alternatives frequently uses GIS management strategy is also part of prepared for air quality impact demon- tools, many of the LANDFIRE layers the SPOTS approach. Over time, both stration purposes. can be effective for determining poten- air quality and fuel conditions change. tial emissions of the fire scenarios. In Monitoring the effects of the SPOTS Displaying Management addition, GIS analysis can aid in under- approach and how it affects air qual- Tradeoffs standing the interaction between treat- ity could therefore provide for further As alternative fuel and vegeta- ment areas and plans, as well as the adaptive management and midcourse tion treatment patterns are devel- boundaries of nonattainment areas for adjustments. n oped using the SPOTS approach and

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 29 Continued from page 28 vide fuel consumption and emis- wildfire. Revised in 2000 (Reinhardt sions for several key air pollutants. and Keane 2000), FOFEM 5.0 added There are several LANDFIRE canopy After a user inputs fuel character- an improved consumption model fuel layers that are also useful for istics, lighting patterns, fuel condi- for woody fuels, replacing previ- smoke modeling. The canopy bulk tions, and meteorological attributes, ous empirical fuel consumption density layer maps the density of CONSUME provides fuel consump- algorithms. This model also has the available canopy fuel for crown fire tion and emissions by the flaming, capability to be run in batch mode, combustion (kg m-3). This layer, smoldering, and residual combus- which is useful for smoke impact along with the stand height (m) tion phases for the tree, shrub, model input. It is periodically updat- and canopy base height (m) layer grass, litter, and duff fuelbed strata. ed and available at http://fire.org/. can be used to compute the amount Including duff loading and deter- of fuel consumed in a crown fire. mining its consumption are critical for accurate emissions estimation. Smoke Production: . The last canopy layer, canopy cover A Critical Step (percent), might also be useful in modeling smoke emissions. The latest version of CONSUME— If the emissions estimates described version 3.0—is designed to import above are to be used for determin- All eight LANDFIRE fuel data layers fuel data directly from the FCCS. ing potential air quality impacts, should provide sufficient informa- The model provides output that can several key steps are necessary. tion to model fuel consumption be formatted as input for a variety and emissions at multiple scales. of smoke impact models. Air quality health standards are typ- The options for calculating smoke ically a concentration of a pollutant emissions from LANDFIRE prod- The emissions estimated from measured over a set time period. ucts are a clear indication of the CONSUME can also provide usable As fire consumes fuels and emits integration of fuel and smoke outputs for burn plan preparation smoke over time with varying levels management needs. They also pro- of strength, a simulation of air qual- vide an opportunity to build more ity effects can be used to capture refined emission inventories based The tools discussed in this the relationship between emissions on the expanding knowledge of fuel article represent a broad and air quality impacts. characteristics. effort that will FEPS calculates fuel consump- help land and air quality tion, emissions, and heat release Calculating Fuel managers address the characteristics of prescribed burns Consumption smoke effects of and wildfires. Critical hourly plume Total fuel loading (available fuel) wildland fire. rise estimates are also calculated. derived with the fuel characteriza- Total burn consumption values are tion tools is an important step in distributed over the life of the burn calculating smoke emissions from and smoke management reporting to generate hourly emission and fire. However, fuels burn under requirements. CONSUME 3.0 can release information. Data includes different fuel moisture and mete- be used for most forest-, shrub-, the amount and fuel moisture of orological conditions that can and grasslands in North America. various fuel strata, hourly weather, vastly affect (increase or decrease) It is anticipated to be released in and a number of other factors. the emissions. February 2006. It can be downloaded at http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/fera/ An evolution of the Emissions Tools to calculate consumption of products/consume.html. Production Model (EPM) (Sandberg fuels for different fuel moistures and Peterson 1984), FEPS can be have also been improving. Examples FOFEM version 4.0 (Reinhardt and used for most forest, shrub, and include FOFEM and CONSUME. The others 1997) is another model that grassland types in North America— CONSUME model has recently under- can provide information on fuel and the world. The tool was devel- gone significant improvements to consumption and estimate emis- oped to support application at a allow for better emissions estimations. sions. It was developed for predict- broad scale—needed for regional air CONSUME (Ottmar and others ing tree mortality, fuel consump- quality planning as well as for the 1993) is a software application tion, smoke production, and soil manager at the local project level. designed for land managers to pro- heating caused by prescribed fire or

Fire Management Today 30 The program allows users to pro- others 2000). This is a more com- between 2.5 and 10 microns in size) duce reasonable results with very plex air quality dispersion model. are being proposed. little information by providing SIS is a simple-to-use planning default values and calculations. model for calculating particulate If promulgated, these new stan- If more detailed information is matter emissions and concentra- dards will create a need to develop available, customization of the tions downwind of wildland fires. A new, more accurate models—as data is possible to produce more series of burns were modeled using well as emission factors—in order refined results. CALPUFF that provided a spread- for fire and air quality managers to sheet of smoke impact results. SIS estimate emissions and air quality Incorporating FEPS directly into conservatively predicts downwind impacts with increasing confidence. smoke dispersion models is a future particulate matter concentrations task that needs to be addressed. for comparison with air quality The BlueSky smoke impact model The output from FEPS can drive a standards. SIS is available at http:// (Ferguson and others 2003; O’Neill variety of smoke dispersion models www.airsci.com/SIS.htm. and others 2005) predicts ground that allow for assessment of poten- level pollutant concentration based tial air quality impacts. FEPS can Increasing in complexity, VSMOKE on user input of planned prescribed be downloaded at http://www.fs.fed. (Lavdas 1996) is a model that esti- fires. Information on BlueSky is us/pnw/fera/products. mates downwind concentrations available at http://www.fs.fed.us/ of particulate matter at 31 fixed bluesky. distances. This model can also esti- Smoke Dispersion This model approach demonstrates and Impact Models the need for smoke impact tools that FEPS and other tools can provide These new standards will support good prescribed fire and the information needed to simulate create a need to develop new, wildland fire use decisions. Although how fire emissions can be lofted into inputs from the user can be quite the atmosphere. The meteorologi- more accurate models. basic, the underlying system is cal conditions under which the fire extremely complex and allows for occurs—or will occur—are critical modeling of many burns of differ- to the ground-level smoke effects mate visibility impacts for assess- ent types while providing a valuable and subsequent pollutant concentra- ment of smoke impacts on roads at approach to address the difficult- tions against which the NAAQSs are these same receptor points. to-model interaction of wildland measured. Simulating the dispersal fire smoke and the atmosphere. of emissions from a fire in the atmo- VSMOKE can provide estimates BlueSKY is continually evolving and sphere can be accomplished with on the dimensions of the plume is currently available for application varying levels of complexity. above the ground at each of the 31 in the lower 48 States. distances. Inputs from a model like A simple and self-contained smoke EPM or FEPS are useful for a smoke dispersion model is the Simple impact analysis using VSMOKE. Situation in the Approach Smoke Estimation Model When there is a need for a site- Southeast (SASEM). This was developed to specific, detailed assessment of Some smoke impact model develop- meet regulatory requirements for the impacts, VSMOKE or VSMOKE–GIS ment work focuses on the complex conservative—it predicts higher than are valuable tools. They are avail- prediction of ground level smoke actual concentrations—go/no-go able at http://216.48.37.155/vsmoke. concentration. A series of fairly type screening of prescribed fires in region-specific smoke management Wyoming (Sestak and Riebau 1988). As air quality standards become models is under development by the Updated in 2000, SASEM 4.0 still more stringent, more sophistication Forest Service Smoke Management has utility for simple smoke impact and confidence in the prediction of Team in Athens, GA. assessments in flat terrain. It is avail- smoke impact assessment models able at http://www.azdeq.gov/environ/ are needed. New, more stringent The Southeast is a hotbed of pre- air/smoke/download/sasem4.exe. Environmental Protection Agency scribed fire activity. It is also a region standards for coarse particulate with a number of areas that do not The Smoke Impact Spreadsheet matter (the particulate matter meet air quality standards for fine (SIS) utilizes CALPUFF (Scire and

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 31 Figure 1. Upper panel shows airborne photo of smoke plume of an 850-acre (344 ha) prescribed burn on the Oconee National Forest in March 2002. Lower panel shows DaySmoke simulation. Each particle = 1 kg PM2.5. Horizontal line marks the mixing height. The obser- vation and the model both show approximately 30 percent of the smoke plume in the free atmosphere above the mixed layer. particulate matter (particulate matter Air Quality Modeling System (Byun cussed models are currently under- less than 2.5 microns in size). and Ching 1999) that can be used going limited efforts toward this to estimate fine particulate concen- end. Understanding the needs and These high-end models predict trations downwind from individual burns or multiple incidents, as well requirements of the model users is smoke or fog near ground at night as other pollutant sources. key to understanding the levels of (NightSmoke) and during the day confidence needed in a smoke dis- (DaySmoke). Both models require One of the challenges for all of persion model. fairly complex meteorological data the smoke dispersion and impact to run. One of the NightSmoke models is to characterize the accu- Building on this need is the vali- models, Planned Burn (PB)– racy of their prediction of smoke dation test—through field obser- Piedmont (Achtemeier 2001, trajectories, the concentration of vations and measurements of 2005) was placed in operation by pollutants, and duration of impacts. smoke from prescribed burns—of the State of South Carolina in Building confidence in their predic- DaySmoke. Figure 1 shows the 2004. Further implementation is tions by fire managers, land man- observed smoke behavior com- planned at individual forests and agement planners, and air quality pared to the DaySmoke simulated refuges in the Southeast. regulators is a significant challenge smoke dispersion. With the esca- that will require substantial future lating national prescribed fire and DaySmoke (Achtemeier and others wildland fire use activity and the 2005) is a smoke injector for the effort. Some of the previously dis- regional-scale Community Multiscale

Fire Management Today 32 increasingly stringent air quality Achtemeier, G. L. 2005. Planned burn— Ottmar, R.D.; Burns, M.F.; Hall J.N.; and Piedmont: A local operational numerical Hanson, A.D. 1993. CONSUME User’s standards, a great need exists to model for tracking smoke on the ground Guide. Gen. Tech. Rep. PNW–GTR–304. further assess accuracy and develop at night: Model development and sen- U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest confidence for the existing—and sitivity tests. International Journal of Service, Pacific Northwest Research developing—smoke management Wildland Fire. 14, 85–98. Station. Portland, OR. 117 pp. dispersion models. Achtemeier, G. L.; Goodrick, S.A.; and. Liu, Reinhardt, Elizabeth D.; Keane, Robert E.; Y-Q. 2005: A coupled modeling system for Brown, James K. 1997. First Order Fire connecting prescribed fire activity data Effects Model: FOFEM 4.0, users guide. Gen. through CMAQ for simulating regional Tech. Rep. INTGTR–344. Ogden, UT: U.S. Long-Term Investment scale air quality. Proceedings of EastFire Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, The various tools and models out- Conference, Fairfax, VA. May 2005. Intermountain Research Station. 65 p. lined in this article represent a Anderson, H. E. 1982. Aids to determining Reinhardt, Elizabeth D; Keane, Robert E. fuel models for estimating fire behav- 2000. A national fire effects prediction quick review of readily available ior. General Technical Report INT–122, model—revision of FOFEM. Abstract. opportunities to integrate smoke USDA Forest Service Intermountain Joint Fire Science Program Principle management and air quality con- Research Station, Ogden, Utah, USA. Investigators Meeting; 2000 October 3-5, 2000; Reno, NV. . ment science. 1999. Science Algorithms of the EPA Models-3 Community Multiscale Air Sandberg, D.V.; Peterson, J. 1984. A source Quality (CMAQ) Modeling System. U.S. strength model for prescribed fires in Our vegetation management pro- Environmental Protection Agency, Office coniferous logging slash. Presented at grams that use fire as the key of Research and Development. EPA/600/ the 1984 Annual Meeting, Air Pollution management strategy for address- R–99/030. Control Association, Pacific Northwest Section, 1984 November 12-14, Portland, Ferguson, S.A.; Peterson, J.; and Acheson, ing public safety and resource Oregon. 10 pp. A. 2001. Automated, real-time predic- management are increasing. At the tions of cumulative smoke impacts from Sandberg, D. V.; Ottmar, R.D.; and Cushon, same time, more stringent air qual- prescribed forest and agricultural fires. G.H. 2001. Characterizing fuels in the ity standards for the protection of Fourth Symposium on Fire and Forest 21st century. International Journal of public health and welfare are being Meteorology, 13–15 November; Reno, NV. Wildland Fire 10: 381–387. implemented. Lavdas, L.G. 1996. VSMOKE User’s Manual. Scire, J.; Strimaitis, D.G.; Yamartino R.J.; U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Xiaomong, Zhang. 2000a. A User’s Guide Service, Southern Research Station. for CALPUFF Dispersion Model (Version The need for further refinements GTR–SRS–6. 147 pp. 5). Earth Tech, Inc., Concord, MA. to these tools for better assessing Lutes, D. C.; Keane, R.E.; and Caratti, J. F. Scott, J., and Burgan, R.E. 2005. A new smoke impacts and improving fire 2007 [in prep]. Fuel loading models: A set of standard fire behavior fuel models and air quality decisions will con- national classification of wildland fuel- for use with Rothermel’s surface fire beds for fire effects modeling. Canadian spread model. General Technical Report tinue to increase. Their refinement Journal of Forest Research. RMRS–GTR–153, USDA Forest Service and development needs to be a con- Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fort O’Neill, S., Hoadley, J.; Ferguson, S.; Collins, CO. tinuing, long-term investment. Solomon, R.; Peterson, J.; and Larkin, N. 2005. Applications of the BlueSkyRAINS Sestak, M.L., and Riebau, A.R. 1988. Smoke Prediction System, EM: The SASEM, Simple Approach Smoke References Magazine for Environmental Managers, Estimation Model, U.S. Bureau of Land Air and Waste Management Association, Management, Technical Note 382. n Achtemeier, G. L. 2001: Simulating noctur- September 2005, pp. 42–45. nal smoke movement. Fire Management Today. 61(1): 28–33.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 33 Responding in Force to Hurricane Katrina his country’s interagency inci- destroyed and were displaced—rep- 2. Points of Distribution (PODs). dent management teams and resenting a humanitarian crisis on Where teams assisted with the T their crews respond to far more a scale unseen in the United States shipment—often over huge geo- than wildland fire incidents. since the Great Depression. graphical expanses—of ice, water, and meals ready to eat. They also Every year, incident management Hurricane Katrina was the costli- worked in conjunction with local teams are dispatched throughout est natural disaster in the history organizations at these PODs to clear the United States to a wide range of the United States. Federal disas- trees from roads and powerline of these “all-hazard” nonwildland ter declarations blanketed 90,000 right-of-ways. (At a site in Texas, fire emergencies. Past assignments square miles (233,000 km2)—an local utility companies were report- have included everything from the area almost as large as the entire edly amazed at how quickly—and aftermath of the September 11 ter- United Kingdom. safely—incident management team rorist attacks (in New York City and crews opened up miles of right-of- Washington, DC, area) and the mas- ways. These wildland firefighters— sive Space Shuttle Columbia search Mission Asssignments no strangers to clearing trees and and recovery mission, to the quar- At peak deployment, 5,500 wildland brush—exceeded, by several weeks, antine and eradication of Newcastle fire personnel—including 3 area the local utility crews’ ability to Disease—the fatal virus that affects command teams and 31 incident accomplish this gargantuan task.) all bird species and threatens the management teams—were com- commercial poultry industry. mitted to this incident. (During 3. Evacuee Support and Shelter the entire 2005 hurricane season, a Operations. Where incident man- When the category 4 Hurricane total of 13,000 wildland fire person- agement teams helped implement Katrina—possibly the largest hur- nel were dispatched to 30 different and sustain these efforts, in some ricane with the greatest destructive locations in 7 States.) cases facilitating ongoing evacuation strength ever recorded—devastated actions and field hospital operations. the Gulf Coast region in August While the Hurricane Katrina assign- 2005, our country’s wildland fire inci- ments—throughout the Southeast— The incident management teams dent management teams and their varied, for the most part, incident that responded to Hurricanes firefighter crews once again got the management teams were assigned to Katrina and Rita comprised special- call to help. They responded in force. three basic missions: ists from the USDA Forest Service; the U.S. Department of the Interior Hurricane Katrina killed—directly 1. Operations or Logistics Staging agencies, including the Bureau of and indirectly—more than 1,700 Areas. Where teams were tasked Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Land people. More than 1.2 million peo- with building “cities” to support Management, the National Park ple were evacuated. An estimated workers from dozens of agencies Service, and the U.S. Fish and 1 million people had their homes assigned to relief and recovery efforts. Wildlife Service; along with State and local fire program specialists.

Hurricane Katrina Insights and Lessons Learned For more coverage and discus- chaos”—and his lessons-learned Wildland Fire Lessons Learned sion about the interagency wild- recommendations, and one crew Center Website at: land fire community’s response person’s reflection on all that she to Hurricane Katrina relief experienced and learned on two http://www.wildfirelessons.net/ efforts, see the articles beginning hurricane tours. Scratchline.aspx on page 35. More information on the wild- and They include an incident com- land fire community’s Hurricane mander’s insights—he and Katrina mobilization and http://www.wildfirelessons.net/ his team were sent into “mass response is available through the AAR.aspx.

Fire Management Today 34 Learning From the IMT Assigned to the New Orleans Airport

George Custer

Editor’s Note: This article and its related sidebar are excerpted and edited from Incident Commander George Custer’s After Action Review report on his Southern Area “Red” Incident Management Team’s Hurricane Katrina assignment. Custer’s entire original After Action Review report—along with other incident management team’s hurricane response reports—are available through the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Website at http://www.wildfirelessons.net/AAR.aspx.

ur Hurricane Katrina response • Phone numbers, the 82nd Airborne) was welcomed assignment was one of the • Contact names, and helped with overall organiza- O most challenging incidents that • Agency missions, tion and command and control. The the Southern Area “Red” Incident • Feeding and showering schedules, 82nd Airborne arrived onsite and Management Team (IMT) has ever and grew to more than 2,200 personnel. encountered. (The team’s past “all- • Other pertinent information. Because they were self-supporting, hazard” nonwildfire assignments they did not impact our onsite feed- include 30 hurricane incidents, the Meetings were conducted to record ing and showering of civilian and Columbia Space Shuttle recovery issues of concern and find solutions other military resources. effort, the Oklahoma City bomb- to these and other problems. These ing, and several U.S. Department of meetings were also a source of Under the command of Colonel Agriculture disease outbreaks.) input for counting onsite personnel Victor Petrenko, the military unit to know how many we needed to coordinated the establishment Once again, this response to feed and to shower each shift. of a joint interagency operations Hurricane Katrina shows the versa- center (JIOC). After the initial tility of all of our wildland fire IMTs. Onsite personnel, especially the response of September 1 to 6, the Disaster Medical Assistance Team 82nd Airborne brought all agencies The following is a summary of what (DMAT) units, thought that our together at the JIOC to meet once went well—what worked and les- development of the IAP and meet- per day to discuss issues and con- sons learned—during the Southern ing schedule had a calming effect in cerns—and find resolutions. Area Red Team’s assignment at the mass chaos that ensued during the Louis Armstrong New Orleans the first 5 to 6 days of the incident. International Airport. IMT Takes the Lead Saving Lives Communication throughout the What Went Well airport complex was disjointed at Personnel assigned to the DMAT best. Some agencies had their own Our IMT established meeting sched- units worked tirelessly in response radios—but few could talk outside ules and integrated all agencies and to the thousands of injured, infirm, of their networks. It became obvi- other entities with a presence at the and elderly who arrived at the air- ous that one agency needed to take airport. This was crucial for infor- port. Although there were many the lead in providing a standardized mation exchange and development problems with support, procedures, radio communication capability of the incident action plan (IAP). and logistics, the DMAT personnel for all agencies. For this operation, should be praised as heroes for their our IMT—the Southern Area Red We issued an IAP the second day work and professionalism. They Team—provided that leadership role. after our arrival with: were surely responsible for saving numerous lives and giving comfort The communication role of our IMT to hundreds more. was also important in establishing George Custer is the incident commander for the Southern Area “Red” Incident the JIOC. Our team’s communica- Management Team and is the fire manage- Onsite coordination and coopera- tions unit leader supplied both voice ment officer for the USDA Forest Service, tion with military units (especially Ocala National Forest, Umatilla, FL. Continued on page 37

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 35 Southern Area Red Team’s Katrina Chronology

Sunday, August 28, bers cannot reach this Louis Armstrong New Evacuees are arriving by 2005 (1 day before destination until the Orleans International bus and helicopter. Many Hurricane Katrina hits day after that. Airport—where a field appear to come from Gulf Coast) hospital has been oper- nursing home environ- Most of our incident Monday, August 29, to ational for several days ments. The well and able management team Wednesday, August 31 with little support. are processed with the (IMT) members receive We stay at the U.S. sick and—despite efforts an “alert call” to pre- Army Corps of Thursday, September 1 to separate—all comingle pare for deployment— Engineer’s lock and Early this morning, our with each other. allowing them time dam facility in Port team travels in two sepa- for reconfiguring their Allen, LA, through rate convoys to the airport Friday, September 2 clothing, kits, and per- Tuesday night. On with caterer and shower The situation grows sonal supplies for a hur- Wednesday, we move units in tow. By 1900, food even worse as the ricane assignment. to the West Baton is served and showers are evacuation progress- Rouge Parish 4-H facil- operational. For the first es to a speed that does The actual team call- ity where we are staged time in several days, medi- not seem sustainable. out comes around awaiting assignment. cal, airport, and other sup- Planes arrive to start 1600 hours. The infor- port personnel eat their the airlift of evacuees to mation on the mis- The team organizes six first cooked meals and places unknown. Sick sion assignment is scouting teams—with take showers. are transported on mili- sketchy and very lim- Federal Emergency tary medical C-130 and ited. Instructions are Management Agency Upon arrival at the air- C-17 aircraft. for team members to approval—to look for port, the scene we report to Port Allen, LA, likely base camp loca- encounter can best While this certain- by 1800 hours the next tions closer to the New be described as sur- ly helps, it does not day—when Hurricane Orleans area. A report real. Disaster Medical gain any ground on the Katrina is scheduled to is received later in the Assistance Teams have incoming numbers of make landfall. Due to morning that indicates hundreds of patients people. the storm’s intensity, the need for logistical and scattered about the most of the team mem- operational support at the main terminal and tick- Saturday, September eting area. 3, and Sunday, September 4 More than 300 of these Peak activity occurs. people are confined to More than 10,000 evacu- stretchers. Most are ees are transported onto the elderly and infirm. planes leaving the air- Others have injuries port on more than 60 from hurricane-relat- flights. (These numbers ed accidents. Medical are reported at meet- personnel are stretched ings. While we have no to the breaking point. actual confirmation, Security is minimal. observations would indi- And yet, the evacuation cate that these estimates of displaced Americans are close.) has begun. Helping Hand—Firefighters working under the Southern Area “Red” Incident Management Team help load the sick and injured onto medical transport planes. Photo: USDA Forest Service, Southern Area “Red” Incident Management Team.

Fire Management Today 36 Continued from page 35 tinal problems, colds, or any other Hazardous such maladies. Our only injury Evacuation Effort and data, including radio systems— reported was one stubbed toe. distributing more than 300 radios Our IMT’s operations section also to more than 10 agencies. On this took control of a hazardous and incident, it was important to have ICP Tips unsupervised helicopter evacuation effort. It was apparent that as handheld radios used in a tactical Damage should be expected at inci- dozens of helicopters jockeyed for (radio-to-radio) environment. dent command post (ICP) sites that position at the offloading ramp, the are chosen near hurricane disasters. potential was high for an aircraft Throughout the incident, the order- Our team and crews lived and set up accident to occur on the ground. ing of a dedicated type 2 helicopter our ICP at the airport in concourse to carry internal loads and ferry per- B, gates B7 through B15. Our IMT’s Oftentimes, the offloading of sonnel played a vital role in carry- safety officers had to be proactive evacuees was no more than a ing out critical orders. Due to poor and reasonable in their approach to helicopter crewman pointing in communications, questionable road mitigation. Simply saying “we can’t which direction to leave the ship. conditions, and heavy traffic, over- do that” would not have worked. Evacuees wandered about amid the-road deliveries often took 2 to 3 The areas we used were inspected dozens of helicopters—all with times the normal driving time. for hazards and mitigated through rotors turning. creative means, including: While this resource would not be Our team’s operations section needed for mobilization center and • Posting glow sticks at fire extin- chief quickly took control of the receiving and distribution missions, guisher locations, landing area and the offloading of it should be considered anytime • Unlocking doors, and evacuees. Helicopters were orga- base camps or support camps are • Closing certain areas to pedes- nized into two rows, waited their located in the affected zone. trian traffic. turn to offload, and the division group supervisor guided evacuees We also posted 24-hour security, to exits or to baggage carts for Simplified the Process had a fire evacuation plan—as transport to medical. n The buying team and our IMT’s well as riot plan—and identified ordering manager were left at the meeting locations. 4-H facility in Port Allen, LA (which we continued to lease). This was the closest location for getting immediate access to supplies. Orders were placed from the airport to the ordering manager and buying team, who were then in position to fill orders quickly from their location.

Ordering a helicopter to deliver supplies was a great success. This facili- tated and significantly simplified the process for obtaining needed supplies.

The health and safety record of our IMT was outstanding. The conditions that were first encountered certainly could have led to illness and injury. Constant vigilance of hygiene, including waterless hand cleaners, wipes, and hand washing, Mass Chaos—That’s how George Custer, incident commander for the Southern Area “Red” allowed no “camp crud” to occur. Incident Management Team, described the scene at the Louis Armstrong New Orleans We had no reports of gastrointes- International Airport when they first arrived. Photo: USDA Forest Service, Southern Area “Red” Incident Management Team.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 37 Hurricane Katrina Incident: Areas of Concern and Recommendations

George Custer

Editor’s Note: This article is excerpted and edited from Incident Commander George Custer’s After Action Review report on his Southern Area “Red” Incident Management Team’s Hurricane Katrina assignment. Custer’s entire original After Action Review report—along with other incident management teams’ hurricane response reports—are available through the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center Website at http://www. wildfirelessons.net/AAR.aspx.

1. Who’s in Charge? and persons often relieved them- calls and phone messages from selves in place. One major point of disconnect an individual who said he was during our incident management a Washington, DC, employee Recommendation. Although team’s (IMT’s) Hurricane Katrina and spoke as if he had the high- the situation was dire in New assignment was the impact of est authority. The individual Orleans and evacuations were running the evacuation of dis- informed me (the incident com- needed, communications is still placed Americans through the mander) by message—and our the key to any successful opera- Louis Armstrong New Orleans logistics section chief by phone— tion. Proper planning—start- International Airport without regard that there was a riot in progress ing with a briefing at the air- for the ongoing Disaster Medical at the airport and that the IMT port—would have enabled those Assistance Team’s (DMAT’s) field needed to escape the situation. of us involved to assist with the hospital operations. evacuation, feeding, and comfort No riot occurred and the IMT of evacuees. IMTs are ready at a At all levels, within all agencies, no was always well protected by our moment’s notice to make adjust- one was able to determine who was security personnel as well as by ments and recommendations and in charge of the evacuation effort—or the many other security agencies to supply the necessary person- how many evacuees would arrive at within the facility. the airport site. Medical staff, therefore, could not plan or schedule for Recommendation. Unconfirmed the number of evacuees—or the seri- At all levels, within all rumors can cause panic. ousness of the illnesses and injuries. Situational awareness is best agencies, no one was able to left to those on the ground. determine who was in Evacuees spent long hours—often IMTs need to come prepared to overnight—with little or no food, charge of the evacuation handle security concerns dur- and no accommodations other than effort—or how many ing any emergency—especially a the specific spot of ground that evacuees would arrive at the nonfire emergency that involves evacuations. they occupied. The ill and injured airport site. overloaded the DMAT’s ability to treat them. In addition, because of 3. Health Concerns the overcrowding within the airport nel to assist. These abilities have facility, the well and able people Possible exposure to body fluids, been developed through respons- were exposed to the ill people. bacteria, and contagious disease es to the ever-changing wildland was an ongoing concern on this fire environment in which we are The smell of body waste perme- incident. Despite some health-care- used to operating. ated the air as the vast numbers of related exposures, our IMT mem- people taxed the restroom facilities bers stayed healthy and accident free during this assignment. George Custer is the incident commander 2. Rumor of a Riot for the Southern Area “Red” Incident Management Team and is the fire manage- One evening, the IMT received Crews and personnel were vigilant ment officer for the USDA Forest Service, numerous disturbing phone in their personal hygiene. They Ocala National Forest, Umatilla, FL.

Fire Management Today 38 wore gloves and avoided as much 4. Military Interaction Recommendation. Military exposure as possible. All who were support and interaction during involved with patient transport All future disasters of this magni- tude will surely require the con- declared national emergencies received training by professional need to be examined. While health care workers and doctors. tinued support and use of regular military units as well as U.S. Army military assets should be self- National Guard assets. Integration supporting, sometimes they are Recommendation. IMT mem- not. When others have better bers—especially those involved and definition of roles is not always clear. Often, both civilian assets and arrangements, asking the mili- with operations and logistics— tary personnel to not eat, shower, should be immunized for conta- the military are tasked with identi- cal missions. This situation—occur- or use their facilities seems gious diseases such as hepatitis unfair. Using IMTs to support the and tetanus. ring at the same shared location— can become a logistical concern. military might be practical—but

Agencies Need To Heed National Response Plan

What if they made a to threats and inci- pital incident were acting need to organize under National Response Plan dents—regardless of as separate entities. the NIMS and to use ICS (NRP), but nobody really cause, size, or complexity. for overall command and heeded it? They were not respond- control on these all-haz- In March 2004, Tom Ridge, ing to this emergen- ard nonfire incidents. The NRP represents then-Secretary of the cy under a unified com- the core arrangement Department of Homeland mand structure. “Once again,” Custer for managing domes- Security, directed all reports in his team’s After tic incidents. It estab- Federal and State agen- Custer said that while his Action Review report, “it lishes a comprehensive cies that support declared IMT managed to over- is clear that State and all-hazards approach Federal disasters to adopt come the lack of Incident Federal agencies need to to enhance this coun- the NIMS for disaster Command System (ICS) urgently work to accom- try’s ability to manage response and preparedness. involvement of the other plish the 2003 Homeland domestic incidents. agencies, they nonethe- Security Presidential Unfortunately, the wild- less encountered some Directive 5.” (It outlines The plan details the land fire incident man- problems that could the need for adopting the Federal coordinat- agement teams (IMTs) have been avoided if all NRP and NIMS.) “Key ing structures and pro- assigned to these national agencies practiced ICS. agencies such as FEMA cesses to be used dur- all-hazard incidents often Examples of these prob- and other State and ing these national inci- see scant evidence that lems included: Federal agencies need to dents. When respond- this is occurring in non- complete this presiden- ing to these incidents, it wildland fire agencies. • No inbriefing, tial directive and train specifies how the Federal • Inconsistent shift together with NIMS— Government’s resources Case in Point schedules, or develop courses that will work in concert with According to George • Confusion over author- facilitate this need.” State, local, and tribal Custer, incident com- ity and roles, governments, as well as mander of the Southern • Lack of organization, More information on the with the private sector. Area “Red” IMT that was and National Response Plan assigned to the Hurricane • Duplication of processes. is available at http://www. The NRP is predicated Katrina relief effort, dhs.gov/dhspublic/inter- on the National Incident the various emergency Most Important app/editorial/editorial_ Management System responders at the Louis Recommendation 0566.xml. n (NIMS). Together, the Armstrong New Orleans Custer believes that the NRP and the NIMS pro- International Airport most important recom- vide a national-level tem- evacuation and field hos- mendation to come from plate for working togeth- the overall Hurricane er to prevent or respond Katrina incident is the

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 39 is this the role that IMTs should for time should be established Recommendation. Certain play? Thought should be given to and used by these personnel. supplies that are nonfire in this at the higher levels of disas- nature should be allowed to ter response. be stored at local or regional 7. Need Appropriate caches. It seems apparent that Funding IMTs will continue to support 5. Resource Orders We should have the appropri- and respond to FEMA assign- Denied ate funding to enable the two ments. Stocking of such things During the Hurricane Katrina Southern Area IMTs to have the as generators, light kits, safety response surge through the tools, supplies, and vehicles to reflective vests, traffic cones, Southern Area Coordination respond to hurricanes and other glow sticks, and hand sanitizers Center, our IMT was erroneously all-hazard nonfire disasters. could greatly aid IMTs during the denied our resource orders. initial stages of these disasters. Recommendation. While this Once the team had assembled at recommendation is not meant the assigned location and began to to exclude any other IMTs from 9. Stress Debriefing assess the situation, we began the funding for Federal responses, it Teams process of ordering needed person- needs to be recognized that the Critical incident stress debrief- nel. However, the IMT’s ordering two Southern Area IMTs have ing teams were available and used manager was denied all orders and been tasked almost every year on this incident. The original told that we could not place orders since 1990 to respond to hur- concept, however, was to have because the team was already filled. ricanes and other FEMA-declared crews and teams travel outside disasters. These two IMTs—the of their normal return route and I then made personal contact Red and Blue Teams—have “require” that they attend a criti- with an individual who was responded to more than 30 hurri- cal incident stress debriefing. able to resolve this problem. cane assignments, the Columbia Space Shuttle recovery effort, Recommendation. While criti- Recommendation. Coordination the Oklahoma City bombing, cal incident stress debriefing center personnel should be and several disease outbreaks. can help individuals with those aware that their job is to support With the great amount of funds needs, requiring individuals or IMTs. If they are unclear on the appropriated to other agencies, crews to attend debriefings will ordering process, they should it only seems fair that the IMTs surely not achieve the desired consult with their supervisors. be able to procure such items as outcome. The idea of having command trailers, generators, these stress debriefing teams and communication equipment. available is to be commended. 6. Procurement We continue to see agency after But these teams need to be Work Continues agency arrive at these assign- mobile and able to travel to the The ongoing work of procure- ments with motor homes, trail- crew’s location or site of need. ment and contracting per- ers, and other equipment—yet The IMT’s own human resource sonnel continues after the their part of the response is specialist might be the best actual incident assignment. generally much more narrowly contact and representative for focused than ours. If we are to communications with critical Recommendation. It should be share in the burden, we should incident stress debriefing teams. noted that procurement and con- also share in the financing. tracting personnel will continue to work on items related to the 10. Air Operations Federal Emergency Management 8. Cache Nonfire Suggestions Agency (FEMA) well into the Supplies Our IMT’s operations section next fiscal year. To close out We need to have nonfire incident noticed a need for the Incident these items, personnel should supplies stored at the Southern Command System (ICS) in work in an overtime capacity and Area Cache and other caches. the air operations arena at the not impact their normal duties. Louis Armstrong New Orleans A means of reimbursement International Airport. Military

Fire Management Today 40 aircraft were flying into the air- coordination on the location of Recommendation. The agency port and landing and offloading law enforcement, military, and that had law enforcement evacuees with no coordination as medical staff to specific areas will responsibility for the evacuation to how to safely move evacuees result in less congestion on the should have provided security for from the flight line. The evacu- flight deck. IMTs should include response personnel. Numerous ees were walking behind aircraft the following safety items in law enforcement agencies were with rotors turning. There were their equipment lists for what present but none would step few—and sometimes no—trained to bring to these incidents: forward to brave the outside helicopter personnel on the deck to: heat and take on this role. In the • Highly visible vests, future, when any evacuation is in • Offload and direct aircraft, • Nightglow sticks, and progress, IMTs should be aware • Plan missions for reconnais- • Landing batons for both of this problem—even if the IMT sance or law enforcement night and day operations. is not in charge of the evacua- into the affected area, or tion effort. • Marshal aircraft for an entire 24-hour period. 11. Lack of Security Resources 12. Lack of Unified Recommendation. Under ICS, There were no dedicated security Leadership the air operations branch direc- resources located at the helicop- At the initial IMT meeting—in tor needs to be in place to ter landing area. While numerous response to DMAT concerns—we facilitate safe air operations along agencies were seen at the land- established a meeting schedule and with an individual for air support. ing, triage, and staging areas, no an issue-solving process. Our plan- A central point of contact for mil- agency ever dedicated resources ning section chief was requested to itary helicopter operations is also to this function—despite requests facilitate a DMAT meeting the fol- needed to provide for a safe and from our IMT. Moreover, this initial lowing day after the morning lead- effective operation. In these situ- contact for the evacuees into the ership huddle. ations, there is also a need for: airport property was a point where numerous weapons and ammuni- Recommendation. Encourage • Trained and carded helicopter tion were voluntarily surrendered. additional training to embrace crewmembers to manage the deck operations of unload- ing–transport–marshaling of aircraft by all agencies involved; • A daily shift change briefing with air resources to capture any changes in the frequencies, priorities, and safety concerns; and • A detailed, daily unified air operations plan to cover the safety issues, identify key contacts from all cooperating agencies, and develop a clear operations plan based on missions planned.

The staffing of the tower (military and Federal Aviation Administration) for flight operations for incoming and outgoing aircraft is essential. We need the ability to monitor and Line Up—Truck trailers loaded with supplies—water, ice, and meals ready to eat—for communicate with them. The hurricane victims await delivery assignments. Photo: USDA Forest Service, Jeanne Pincha-Tulley’s California Incident Management Team.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 41 ICS and a unified command structure for disasters. The IMT The smell of body waste permeated the air as the vast tried to enact a unified orga- numbers of people taxed the restroom facilities and persons nization concept. This worked often relieved themselves in place. to a degree, but the unified command concept proved to be unsuccessful. individuals used their phones for to order FEMA phones through incident business and should be FEMA’s system. 13. Bogus Resource reimbursed. The IMT does have a team cell phone kit. But early in Orders Recommendation. The lack of the incident, mailing or delivery cell phone coverage and hard line Resources arrived at our ICP that of this kit into a disaster area was phones in the first couple of days were never ordered by our IMT. This not possible. We should pursue did delay the ordering process might have occurred because other integrating FEMA into “I-Suite” and impeded the ability of the entities with access to the order- (a multiple-function software IMT to communicate important ing system appeared to be order- automation tool for processing information up the line. Often, ing resources without consulting incident data management func- the only working cell phone the incident commander. Also, the tions on an interagency basis) as was a personal phone. A system numbers of personnel assigned to soon as possible. This will enable to identify whose cell phones the IMT never exceed 225, but a FEMA to extract daily cost sum- should be reimbursed needs to human resources specialist arrived mary information without requir- be determined (such as an IC let- unannounced and unexpectedly. ing the IMTs to print hard copies ter, no personal calls). Key IMT of reports. Reports are requested personnel—such as the ordering Early in our assignment, several in numerous formats, already manager, facilities unit leader, forklift operators were ordered available in the I-Suite applica- finance, and others—incurred under our IMT’s “O” numbers. tion Incident Cost Accounting charges in excess of $400 on However, they were not ordered by and Reporting System. n the team and were not needed for their personal cell phones. These a base camp operation. In addition, several team personnel had orders to mistakenly report to Denton, TX.

Recommendation. The Southern Area Coordination Center should review its ordering process and determine how these mistakes occurred. It appears that in several cases, it was as simple as not changing the reporting location with the resource order and status system order before sending the order.

14. Phone Charges A letter dated September 20, 2005, indicated that charges for personal cell phones used during FEMA incidents would not be reimbursed. All-Hazard—George Custer (right), incident commander for the Southern Area “Red” Incident Management Team with NASA astronaut Dom Gorie (left) during the all-hazard The letter further defined the Space Shuttle Columbia Search and Recovery incident in 2003. Photo: Tom Iraci, USDA need to use FEMA cell phones or Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Region, Portland, OR, 2003.

Fire Management Today 42 True Story: A Firsthand Experience With Hurricane Katrina’s Aftermath

Betsy Haynes

Editor’s Note: In October 2004, Betsy Haynes submitted an article to Fire Management Today about Virginia’s Bedford County Interagency Wildland Fire Academy that joined 200 firefighters from 9 States and successfully occurred despite ongoing torrential downpours from Hurricane Frances.

In October 2005, FMT asked Betsy if she could revise her original article with information on that fall’s academy, the focus of which was to be how the Incident Command System is used on hurricanes. Unfortunately, the wildland fire academy that was to concentrate on hurricane incidents had to be cancelled—due to a hurricane incident. Most of the academy’s scheduled participants were already assisting with the massive interagency Hurricane Katrina recovery operation. Betsy Haynes was also dispatched to help.

Thousands of interagency wildland firefighters participated in the initial Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita recovery efforts. That’s thousands of individual stories. FMT asked Betsy Haynes to share one of these stories with us—her story.

ust prior to Labor Day week- • Richmond Battlefield National Hurry Up and Wait end—after 15 years of occa- Park, and We finally arrive at the incident sionally assisting as a wildland • Booker T. Washington National J command post (ICP) at Port Allen. firefighter—I am called out as a Monument. type 2 firefighter to respond to the We are fed and told to prepare for the night. After taking a shower, Hurricane Katrina Recovery efforts. We also have people from the one of my crewmates informs that George Washington and Jefferson this ICP is being converted to a dis- I had never done hurricane duty before. National Forests, and the U.S. Fish placed persons’ camp. We’re moving and Wildlife’s Blackwater National again. This is the experience that At the Shenandoah Eastern Wildlife Refuge and Great Dismal every wildland firefighter is accus- Interagency Coordination Center Swamp National Wildlife Refuge. in Luray, VA, I meet several people tomed to: the plan has changed; hurry up and wait. from various national parks and At 8 a.m., all of us climb aboard national forests scattered across several vehicles and embark for We reload into our vehicles and the Eastern United States. All of Port Allen, LA. Due to the devas- drive another 45 minutes to an us are heading to the destruc- tation from Katrina—and driv- American Legion building some- tion of Hurricane Katrina on the ing time restrictions (10-hour- where in the vicinity of Baton same interagency type 2 crew. We per-day limit)—the drive takes Rouge. When we get there around include employees from the USDA almost 3 days. Forest Service, USDI Fish and 11 p.m., the darkened building is full of other—sleeping—crew mem- Wildlife Service, USDI National As we negotiate this tedious route bers from all over the country. Park Service, and one “casual” West to the incident, we are hearing Virginia structure firefighter. more and more of the terrible post- I tiptoe with two other women hurricane news. Several of us—due through what seems like oceans Our National Park Service employ- to the reports of rioting and shoot- of snoring men and squeaky cots. ees are from: ing in New Orleans—are admittedly We try not to giggle. It’s like we’re • Petersburg National Battlefield, afraid. We begin to question why suddenly inside one enormous bad • Shenandoah National Park, we had signed on to assist with this pajama party! • New River Gorge National Park, incident—to embark on this journey—in the first place. Betsy Haynes is a USDI National Park Service Park Ranger at Booker T. Washington National Monument in Hardy, VA.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 43 The next morning—with little or are nonetheless here to unselfishly the reality of their own disaster- no sleep—we embark on an hour’s assist these natural disaster victims. impacted situations. drive to Covington, LA, to help dis- tribute food, water, and ice to the Our accommodations keep changing. After 10 days, we focus on training myriad residents who no longer We stay a few nights camped in an the new military reserve crews who have any of these basic necessities. old high school yard in Plaquemine, are replacing us. Then we begin our LA. Then, after a 2-hour drive, we long journey home. We all know we Everyday from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. relocate to a vacant JC Penney store did make some difference here—but we staff the Points of Distribution in Hammond, LA. We sleep here we also know that so much more where people drive up to receive each night and drive to a Covington still needs to be done. these supplies. The constant line of shopping center to work every day. vehicles—filled with families, pets, In the post-Katrina traffic, it is a 45- and memories—is nonstop. The minute one-way drive. Called to Help Again people peer out at us through their In late September, just 10 short windows—and their tears. They tell The Covington shopping center days after arriving home, I am us their amazing and emotional where we are distributing the neces- called out again to help with stories. We begin to understand why sities to hurricane victims has a the ongoing hurricane recovery we have come here. Belk department store. Many of its effort. This time, I am a deputy employees become our friends. They information officer with Gordon share their stories with us. They Wissinger’s Eastern Incident Learned Spanish bring us food to eat—besides our Management Team. (Wissinger and Selflessness meals ready to eat. is Chief Ranger in Virginia’s We are working with The Diablos, a Shenandoah National Park.) Mexican crew with a working agree- We are serving 5,000 vehicles per ment with Big Bend National Park day, every day. To help distract us This is my first detail as an informa- in Texas. We begin to speak some from the monotony of our work, tion officer on a hurricane incident. Spanish, learning the words for these local residents also provide I am dispatched to Lafayette, LA, “food,” “water,” “ice,” and also some us with everything from birth- where I am to provide information on numbers. These Diablo crew mem- day cakes to Mardi Gras parades. the activities of this overhead team’s bers—many of whom do not have They tell us that by doing these efforts with this area’s many national much themselves in their own lives— things for us, they don’t focus on parks that have all been affected by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

My fellow information officer Randy Sutton—a district ranger from North Carolina and Virginia’s Blue Ridge Parkway—and I drive to Lafayette. It is a long, 10-hour drive in which we stop only for lunch and gas—no supper! We are suppose to spend the night in a “church flophouse”—the organization’s youth building. But when we finally get there, I am directed to sleep on the floor of an adjacent recreation vehicle.

Mistaken Sleeping Arrangements

Going Up—Betsy Haynes prepares for a helicopter reconnaissance flight above the New In the evening twilight, weary Orleans area. Pilot Andy Boecker (beside her) warns Haynes and John Quirk (far left), from our long road trip, I gather Superintendent of the New Orleans Jazz National Historic Site, that due to the terrible my belongings, sleeping bag, and smells they will encounter, they should smear vaporub beneath their nostrils. Photo: pillow, and head for the RV. When Randy Sutton, USDI National Park Service, Blue Ridge Parkway.

Fire Management Today 44 I open the door, three surprised Chalmette National Battlefield, within Assisting Displaced young men—approximately 15 Jean Lafitte National Park, is the site Employees years old—peer out at me. of the 1815 Battle of New Orleans. From the minute we arrive, we are This historic battlefield is located in all working as busy as bees in these “I am supposed to be sleeping here St. Bernard’s Parrish, one of the most summerlike conditions. Our day- tonight,” I inform them. badly damaged areas from Hurricane time temperatures continue to hit Katrina. The monument was estab- the mid-80s every day. “Oh no you’re not!” they lished in 1864. Its cemetery holds laughingly reply. soldiers from the time of the Civil War Our work includes cooperating with to the Vietnam War. various partners, including Bayou Fortunately, they are more than Segnette State Park, FEMA, and the pleased to tell me of another Our team has been called here to General Services Administration. camper nearby. I open the door help begin the laborious task of We are helping to find housing for to this temporary abode to find recovering this national treasure— national park employees displaced all beds already taken by other and others. The work crews arriv- by the hurricane. Our law enforce- women. Not to worry. I make my ing at Chalmette are embarking on ment crews are assisting residents bed on the floor. their own battle with the aftermath and employees in protecting their of Mother Nature. property and recovering personal We get up early the next morn- items. Other team members are ing and drive 2 more hours down helping in ground support, supply, to Thibodaux, LA, where the ICP Bugs, Vaporub, . first aid, and finance and payroll. is located on a portion of the Jean and Gag Reflex Lafitte National Historical Park and On one of our first days here, Randy Our team is also responsible for Preserve. Our team is taking over Sutton and I are scheduled to take ordering: for J.D. Swed’s National Incident an aerial reconnaissance helicopter • Saw crews, Management Team. flight above New Orleans and the • Carpenters, various surrounding national parks • Electricians, and damaged by Katrina—including the • Historic preservation specialists. Team’s Main Goals New Orleans Jazz National Historic Our team’s main goals are to assist: Site and the Bataria Preserve section We spend approximately 20 days in • The area’s various national parks of Jean Lafitte National Historical Louisiana. By the time our team in cleaning up and preparing to Park and Preserve. starts our demobilization process, reopen, we have successfully reached many • Displaced USDI National Park It is going to be a long, 1½-hour of our goals. USDI National Park Service employees in receiving flight. We are warned that the air Service Director Mainella visited Federal Emergency Management above New Orleans will be incredibly and saw, firsthand, the temporary Agency (FEMA) trailers, and odiferous. Smells so bad, they can housing available for her employees. • Preparation efforts for USDI cause the gag reflex. We are handed In addition, some park units were National Park Service Director vaporub and vomit bags. I fear I finally able to reopen to the public. Fran Mainella’s upcoming visit to might get nauseous—but during the these recovery areas. flight, the smell never seems to over- I am back home now, working at whelm me. my regular job as a ranger at the The national parks we are working Booker T. Washington National with include: We are staying in a nice hotel in Monument in Hardy, VA. I find • Jean Lafitte National Historical Houma, LA. However, we’ve heard myself feeling privileged for having Park and Preserve, reports from others who are not so this home and this job to return • New Orleans Jazz National lucky. Many have been assigned to to. My unusual Hurricane Katrina Historic Site, “scary hotels” with lots of roaches. assignments have provided me a • Cane River Creole National We even heard that one woman who unique opportunity to discover how Historical Park, received bites was told by her hotel fortunate I truly am. n • Big Thicket National Preserve, and staff to prove that the bugs were • Gulf Islands National Seashore. from her room. So she brought in a bottle with a bunch of bugs!

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 45 Pitfalls in the Silvicultural Treatment of Canopy Fuels

Christopher R. Keyes and J. Morgan Varner

o one denies that forest stand (first proposed by Van Wagner in crown ignition, through a con- structure is related to fire 1977) of the relationships between tinuous canopy. N behavior, or that canopy fuel crown fire behavior, surface fire structure can be altered using sil- behavior, and canopy fuel structure. Silvicultural canopy fuel treat- vicultural methods to successfully ments attempt to depreciate crown modify forest fire behavior—reduc- This model has since been refined fire potential by targeting struc- ing the susceptibility to crown fire and adapted for use in prescrib- tural parameters associated with initiation and spread (Graham and ing fuel treatments (Agee 1996; crown fire initiation or crown fire others 2004). Alexander 1988; Keyes and O’Hara spread—or both of these elements. 2002; Scott and Reinhardt 2001), All other factors held constant, Silvicultural treatments can be and is utilized by virtually all crown practices that either raise the applied to remediate hazardous fire behavior prediction and deci- canopy base height or reduce the stand structures that have resulted sion-support software currently anticipated surface fire intensity from the exclusion of low-intensity used in North America, including: decrease susceptibility to crown fire surface fires. Abundant case studies initiation. Practices that reduce the offer evidence of crown fires subsid- • FARSITE (Finney 1998), canopy bulk density decrease sus- ing when encountering recently • NEXUS (Scott 1999), ceptibility to crown fire spread. thinned stands (Agee and Skinner • The CrownMass program of the 2005). Many modeling studies cor- Fuels Management Analyst tool Other factors, however, are almost roborate this phenomenon (Keyes suite (Fire Program Solutions never held constant. Canopy fuel 1996; Scott 1998; Stephens 1998; 2003), and treatments used to abate one Van Wagtendonk 1996). • The Forest Vegetation Simulator’s component of crown fire potential Fire and Fuels Extension simultaneously affect other com- And yet, despite their great poten- (Reinhardt and Crookston 2003). ponents. tial, valid concerns still exist regarding the effects of silvicultural canopy fuel treatments on forest fuel The wisest fuel management Understanding Fuel Structures complexes and fire behavior. strategies are those that yield enduring effects with To prescribe effective and enduring silvicultural treatments to canopy Crown Fire Potential limited requirement for fuels, a detailed understanding is Thinning to reduce the mass of can- follow-up treatment. required of two important areas. opy fuels and to disrupt these fuels’ The first is an understanding of vertical and horizontal continuity is the many ways in which stand the most widely utilized silvicultur- Crown fire behavior under the Van structure directly and indirectly al tool in canopy fuel management. Wagner model is segregated into relates to fire behavior and crown two constituent processes: fire hazard. This will help in Decision-support tools for these anticipating the deleterious side canopy fuel management practices 1. Crown fire initiation—or the effects of fuel treatments on other are based on a quantitative model ignition of crown fuels as surface aspects of fire behavior. The sec- fire converts to crown fire; and ond is an understanding of forest Christopher Keyes is an assistant profes- 2. Crown fire spread—or the per- fuel dynamics, or changes in forest sor of silviculture and J. Morgan Varner petuation of crown fire, after fuel structures over time. This will is an assistant professor of wildland fire help in forecasting the influence of management, Department of Forestry and Watershed Management, Humboldt State those treatments on fire behavior University, Arcata, CA. Continued on page 49

Fire Management Today 46 Nine Ways Fuel Treatments Can Exacerbate Wildfire Hazard A review of stand processes associated with thinning suggests the following nine situations in which well-intended thinning treatments can inadvertently exacerbate crown fire hazard or fire severity. 1. Translocation of fuel loads. Unless slash is adequately burned or removed, thinning translocates live canopy fuels to the forest floor as part of the surface fuel complex (fig. 1). Thinning converts live canopy fuel with high moisture content to dead fuel with substantially lower moisture content—and greater flammability. For example, live foliage moisture content largely unaffected by ambient conditions— even under wildfire weather conditions—will typically be around 100 percent, and rarely lower than 80 percent. Dead foliage reacts more rapidly to changes in humidity than any other fuel type, and often hovers in the range of 5 percent during wildfire conditions. 2. Inflated fuelbed depth. Residue generated from thinning results in the temporary inflation of fuelbed depth. This is one of the parameters to which surface fire behavior is most sensitive (fig. 1). Given surface fuel complexes of equal load, inflated fuelbeds result in greater fire behavior than compressed fuelbeds. Fuelbed inflation can be prevented by whole tree harvesting Figure 1—Unmanaged surface fuel loads and fuelbed depths associated with thinning in merchantable stands. It can specifically for fire resistance (Northern California). Top: Monterey pine plantation. Bottom: tanoak/Douglas-fir stand. also be ameliorated by lopping, compaction, mastication, chipping and redistribution, and pile or broadcast burning. 3. Increased fuel availability. The canopy directly influences the microclimate of the forest floor. Reducing canopy cover by thinning facilitates the drying of dead surface fuels. This is due to increased light on the forest floor, increased forest floor temperatures, and greater air movement and exchange. In short, reducing the canopy can create a forest floor microclimate that more closely tracks ambient conditions. Lower forest floor fuel moisture content results in greater quantities of fuel available to burn in the event Figure 2—Smoldering duff in longleaf pine stand undergoing restoration prescribed of a fire. burn (Florida).

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 47 4. Greater subcanopy wind penetration. Under continuous closed canopies, subcanopy windspeeds are dampened considerably below ambient conditions. This relationship of stand structure to subcanopy winds has been recognized operationally in the application of midflame windspeed adjustment factors based on slope position and structural factors. Thinning exposes the subcanopy environment to greater wind penetration and turbulence—resulting in higher midflame windspeeds, enhanced rates of spread, and potentially more erratic fire behavior. 5. Reduced duff moisture content. Duff moisture content is regulated in part by canopy shade. Thinning increases Figure 3—Rapid sprouting of redwood to 5-feet (1.5 m) heights, less than 1 year after sunlight and winds on the forest floor. thinning in a dense, young plantation. Crowns of sprouts will interlace with overstory Underlying duff horizons retain less crowns within 10 years (northern California). moisture, which controls both the ignition and duration of smoldering combustion in duff fuels. Duff consumption has been linked to elevated mortality of remnant trees in many thinned and restored forests (fig. 2). 6. Proliferation of stump sprouts. Live surface fuel loads can increase dramatically when hardwood tree and shrub species resprout after the main stem has been damaged or cut. Sprouts are highly competitive and can reclaim full canopy cover in the understory or midstory within several years after thinning (fig. 3). Unless herbicides or subsequent prescribed fires are applied, the thinning of sprouting species serves to relocate Figure 4—Sprouts of Ceanothus thrysiflorus emerge from within piles of untreated elevated live fuels from the midstory slash from midstory fuel treatment less than 1 year prior (northern California). or overstory down to the forest floor level. Thus, this complex of fine live fuels is intermingled with dead fuels, resulting in greater surface fire intensities (fig. 4).

7. Proliferation of seedling regeneration. In undisturbed stands, litter and duff perform a mulching role, forestalling new stem initiation by seedfall or soil-banked seeds. Thinning and other mechanical fuel treatments, however, are inevitably accompanied by some amount of soil disturbance that functions as a form of site scarification. For other objectives, this is a common silvicultural practice that is deliberately used to expose mineral soil for seedling germination and establishment. Soil disturbance also facilitates the recruitment of shrub and Figure 5a—Naturally regenerated cohort of ponderosa pine ladder fuels beneath overstories thinned to 60 ft2 (5.6 m2) per acre (Oregon).

Fire Management Today 48 herbaceous species. The heavier the thinning, the greater the extent of soil disturbance and subsequent promotion of live understory fuels (figs. 5a, 5b). 8. Release of advance regeneration. Seedlings or saplings of shade-tolerant tree species are commonly present as advance regeneration in shaded understories. Thinning favors the survival and growth of these species over shade-intolerants, which retain foliage at lower light levels during the course of stand development. Hence, crown recession of such a cohort occurs more slowly, resulting in deeper crowns and a greater vertical continuity between surface and aerial fuel complexes. Figure 5b—Naturally regenerated cohort of ponderosa pine ladder fuels beneath over- 9. Cessation of overstory crown 2 2 recession. In closed stands of stories thinned to 30 ft (2.7 m ) per acre basal area (Oregon). continuous canopies, canopy base height ascension occurs by crown recession of individual trees—the natural process of branch abscission on shaded lowermost branches. Thinning increases the light quality and quantity available to lower branches in overstory tree crowns and, thus, extends their persistence. Unless artificial pruning is conducted to lift the canopy base height, it remains constant until crown closure reoccurs and the crown recession process commences again. Because it promotes conditions that simultaneously halt crown recession and speed the growth of understory ladder fuels, heavy thinning perilously expedites the vertical integration Figure 6—Ponderosa pine with understory of natural regeneration and Ceanothus of the canopy fuel and surface fuel velutinus after partial cutting (Oregon). Overstory crown recession has stopped, but complexes (fig. 6). n seedlings are growing in height at an increasing rate.

Continued from page 46 over realistic management time • Dead surface fuel moisture • Crowns of shade-tolerant species scales (see sidebar on next page). contents, elongate vertically; Thinning does much more than • Duff cover and horizontal • Crowns of shade-intolerant tree simply reduce the density and conti- continuity, species ascend while shedding guity of aerial fuels. Directly or indi- • Duff moisture content, and self-pruned lower branches; rectly, every canopy fuel treatment • Midflame windspeed. • Canopy differentiation occurs affects—to some degree—each of with attendant competition- the following determinants of fire induced mortality; behavior: Creation, Transformation, • Species mixtures stratify and and Decay partition the canopy space • Canopy bulk density and base The forest fuel complex is never con- volume; height, stant. It is embroiled in continuous • New seedlings initiate in • Both live and dead surface fuel processes of creation, transforma- understory cohorts; load and composition, tion, and decay. The following “fuel • Shrubs extend their crowns • Dead surface fuelbed depth and dynamics” occur even in the absence vertically and horizontally; and density, of significant allogenic disturbance:

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 49 • Coarse woody debris and agement strategies are those that Fire Program Solutions. 2003. Users’ litter degrade structurally and yield enduring effects with limited guide to crown mass. Estacada, OR: Fire Program Solutions, LLC. compositionally, decompose requirement for follow-up treat- Graham, R.T.; McCaffrey, S.; Jain, T.B., eventually, and are replaced by ment. Under some circumstances, tech. eds. 2004. Science basis for chang- a gradual cascade of litter fall, this might mean managing for ing forest structure to modify wildfire senesced and abscised branches, structures that do not necessarily behavior and severity. Gen. Tech. Rep. and snags. replicate historical fire-maintained RMRS–GTR–120. Fort Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain structures, but that might none- Research Station. Fuels management activities direct- theless possess sustained resis- Keyes, C.R. 1996. Stand structures and ly affect these processes through tance to one or more aspects of silvicultural strategies to prevent crown their effects on stand development crown fire potential. fires in northern Rocky Mountain forests. and dynamics. Masters thesis. Missoula, MT: University of Montana. For example, maintaining continuous closed overstories by light thin- Keyes, C.R.; O’Hara, K.L. 2002. Quantifying Fuel Management stand targets for silvicultural prevention ning that removes ladder fuels—or of crown fires. Western Journal of Applied vs. Maintenance perhaps simply pruning such stands Forestry. 17(2): 101–109. Historically, low- and moderate- to raise canopy base heights—are Reinhardt, E.D.; Crookston, N.L., tech. intensity fires in many forest types practices that serve to reduce crown eds. 2003. The fire and fuels extension to the forest vegetation simulator. Gen. regulated spatial and structural pat- fire initiation potential without Tech. Rep. RMRS–GTR–116. Ogden, UT: terns of forests and their fuels over promoting the subsequent develop- USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain long temporal scales. Maintenance ment of ladder fuels that eventually Research Station. fires governed potential fire behav- negates these benefits. Scott, J.H. 1998. Fuel reduction in residen- ior and sustained resistance to tial and scenic forests: A comparison of three treatments in a western Montana crown fires. While silvicultural manipulations ponderosa pine stand. Res. Pap. RMRS– to degraded, fire-adapted forest RP–5. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Rather than restoring historical ecosystems offer great promise for Rocky Mountain Research Station. fire regimes, today’s fuels man- restoration, our current prescrip- Scott, J.H. 1999. NEXUS: A system for agement interventions establish tions need to be examined carefully assessing crown fire hazard. Fire new fuel structures and transition for their dynamic effects on fuel Management Notes. 59(2): 20–24. stands into new trajectories of structures over time. Scott, J.H.; Reinhardt, E.D. 2001. Assessing crown fire potential by link- structural development. This man- ing models of surface and crown fire agement action has direct implica- behavior. Res. Pap. RMRS–RP–29. Fort tions for future fuel structures and References Collins, CO: USDA Forest Service, Rocky fire behavior. Agee, J.K. 1996. The influence of forest Mountain Research Station. structure on fire behavior. In: Agee, Stephens, S.L. 1998. Evaluation of the J.K., ed. Proceedings of the 17th Forest effects of silvicultural and fuels treat- It is therefore vital that seemingly Vegetation Management Conference: ments on potential fire behavior in Sierra benign prescriptions implemented Working With Fire; 16–18 January 1996; Nevada mixed-conifer forests. Forest today be regarded for: Redding, CA: 52–68. Ecology and Management. 105: 21–35. Agee, J.K.; Skinner, C.N. 2005. Basic prin- Van Wagner, C.E. 1977. Conditions for the ciples of forest fuel reduction treatments. • Their effect on fuel dynamics, start and spread of crown fire. Canadian Forest Ecology and Management. 211: Journal of Forest Research. 7: 23–34. • The need for future stand 83–96. manipulations, Van Wagtendonk, J.W. 1996. Use of a Alexander, M.E. 1988. Help with mak- deterministic fire growth model to • The costs of these manipulations, ing crown fire hazard assessments. test fuel treatments. Sierra Nevada and In: Fischer, W.C.; Arno, S.F., comps. Ecosystem Project, final report to Proceedings of the Symposium and • Their likelihood of consistent Congress. Vol. II: Assessments and sci- Workshop: Protecting People and Homes entific basis for management options. implementation. From Wildfire in the Interior West; 6–8 Water Res. Rep. 37. Davis, CA: University October 1987; Missoula, MT. Gen. Tech. of California–Davis, Center for Water Rep. INT–GTR–251. Ogden, UT: USDA and Wildland Resources. n Wise Fuel Management Forest Service, Intermountain Research Strategies Station: 147–156. Finney, M.A. 1998. FARSITE: Fire Area Because funding for today’s pro- Simulator—Model development and grams cannot be expected to exist evaluation. Res. Pap. RMRS–RP–4. Ogden, UT: USDA Forest Service, Rocky indefinitely, the wisest fuel man- Mountain Research Station.

Fire Management Today 50 Changing Beliefs and Building Trust at the Wildland/Urban Interface

Jeremy S. Fried, Demetrios Gatziolis, J. Keith Gilless, Christine A. Vogt, and Greg Winter

hat makes prescribed burn- We sought to assess and understand and concerns that were remarkably ing an acceptable fuel man- wildland/urban interface homeown- consistent in these disparate sec- W agement approach to most ers’ attitudes toward different fuel tions of the country. people in one community, but unac- management approaches by focus- ceptable to most people in another ing on: Building on these discussions, we community? developed and tested a nationally • How they are influenced by beliefs applicable survey instrument for Is it the people—their knowledge, about likely outcomes, evaluating public acceptance of understanding, attitudes, and • Their trust in the implementing fuel management approaches. We beliefs? Or is it the context—prox- agency, and focused on three specific approaches imity of homes to fuels, an area’s • The importance they place on fuel that seemed to experience widely fire history? management issues. varying levels of acceptance within and between wildland/urban inter- Can demographic and geographic We hoped that acceptance of fuel face communities: information be used to predict management approaches could be where different fuel management modeled from homeowners’ beliefs • Prescribed burning, approaches will be accepted or and attitudes as predicted at the • Mechanical treatment, and resisted? neighborhood scale using demo- • Defensible space ordinances.

Our recently concluded Joint Fire The survey responses We then tested this survey instru- Science Program-funded project ment at some particularly fire-prone Demographic and Geographic showed striking regional wildland/urban interface sites in Approaches to Predicting differences in fire-related these same three States, mailing Acceptance at the Wildland/Urban beliefs, attitudes, out 4,850 surveys and receiving Interface sought answers to these experiences and 2,260 responses back. The survey and related questions through: responses showed striking regional acceptance of fuel differences in fire-related beliefs, • Focus groups, management approaches. attitudes, and experiences, as well • Survey research, and as different levels of acceptance of • Geographic and geostatistical graphic variables, such as those col- fuel management approaches. The analysis. lected by the U.S. Census; and con- responses also revealed some com- textual variables, such as proximity mon factors related to fuel manage- to high hazard fuels or catastrophic ment approach acceptance at all of fire incidents. the study sites. Jeremy Fried and Demetrios Gatziolis are research foresters for the USDA Forest Service, Forest Inventory and Discussions and Focus Survey Results Analysis Program, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Portland, OR; J. Keith Group Interviews On average, California wildland/ Gilless is a professor in the Department In discussions with fire and fuel urban interface residents held of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, managers and focus group inter- strong positive attitudes toward Berkeley; Christine Vogt is an associate views with homeowners living in mechanical fuel reduction on public professor in the Department of Community, wildland/urban interface areas of lands (5.8 on a 7-point scale), and Agriculture, Recreation and Resources California, Michigan, and Florida, defensible space ordinances requir- Studies, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI; and Greg Winter is with we discovered a collection of issues ing firesafe zones around their Cornerstone Strategies in Bellingham, WA. homes (also 5.8). While the aver-

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 51 age Floridian surveyed held strong Beliefs also influenced atti- question, prescribed burning was positive attitudes toward prescribed tudes. For example, a belief that rated most acceptable, with 87-per- burning (5.7), less than half held prescribed burning results in cent approval. positive attitudes toward defensible uncontrolled fires translated into space ordinances. Michigan wild- reduced acceptance. The accep- land/urban interface residents were tance of mechanical treatment and Trusting the Agencies slightly positive toward mechani- defensible space ordinances was An attitude score—on a 7-point cal treatments (5.0). They were diminished by the belief that these scale with endpoints labeled relatively neutral toward all three approaches adversely impact land- “extremely negative” and “extremely of the proposed fuel management scape aesthetics. positive” and a midpoint labeled approaches. “neutral”—was elicited for each fuel When faced with three hypothetical management approach with this At sites in various States, differ- “up or down” votes for each of the three-part question: “How would ences in homeowners’ experiences three fuel management approaches, you rate your general attitude were sometimes striking. For exam- the vast majority of respon- toward each of the three fuel man- ple, 32 percent of the California dents—99 percent in California, 96 agement approaches? (Please circle respondents reported that they percent in Florida, and 86 percent one number for each fuel manage- were required to remove flammable in Michigan—indicated that they ment approach.)” vegetation on their property. Only would approve one or more. Most 2 percent of respondents in Florida respondents, however, also found Although attitude and approval and Michigan reported that they one or more approaches objection- were closely related, the percent- were required to do this. able. The percent of respondents age of respondents from all three who “voted” yes for all three of the states approving a fuel manage- This disparity was mirrored in the fuel management approaches was ment approach was consistently proportions of respondents report- lower than the percentage reporting that they had actually removed ing a positive attitude. While the vegetation from their property. A Acceptance of each fuel disparity between approval and total of 91 percent of California treatment approach attitude varied by approach and respondents reported doing so, could be predicted from site, as many as 40 percent of the versus only 44 percent of Florida attitude and the degree to “no” votes were cast by those with a respondents, and 42 percent of which people trust the positive attitude. Michigan respondents. agencies responsible for Clearly, something else was temper- Such differences in experience were carrying out these ing the positive attitudes toward the also reflected in the respondents’ approaches. fuel management approach being attitudes. California and Michigan considered. Statistical analysis respondents who had removed veg- revealed that “trust in the agency” etation were more likely to have 49 percent in California, 32 percent accounted for at least part of this positive attitudes toward defensible in Michigan, and 18 percent in moderation in positive attitudes. space ordinances. Florida. Wildland/urban interface hom- The approach with the greatest eowners reserved their greatest Attitudes and Beliefs support varied by site. Respondents trust for firefighting, as indicated Homeowners’ attitudes toward all were asked “If you were given the by their agreeing with the state- three fuel management approaches opportunity to vote for or against ment: “The government does a good were contingent on the personal allowing fuel management approach job of protecting private property importance—a measure of rel- ‘X’ in County ‘Y’, how would from wildland fires.” In response, evance—that homeowners attached you vote?” At the California and California respondents were at 5.2 to these approaches, and to the per- Michigan sites, mechanical treat- on the 7-point agreement scale, ceptions of these fuel management ment was most accepted, with 88- Florida respondents were at 4.9, and approaches’ cost-effectiveness. percent and 73-percent approval, Michigan respondents were at 3.9. respectively. When the Florida Floridians were slightly more trust- respondents were asked this same ing (4.5) of the use of prescribed

Fire Management Today 52 burning (“I trust the government of fuel management approaches to make the proper decisions about We sought to assess and proved to have no significant rela- the use of prescribed burning”) understand wildland/urban tionship. than Californians (4.1) or Michigan respondents (3.3). interface homeowners’ For example, experience with a par- attitudes toward different ticular fuel management approach Acceptance of each fuel treat- fuel management was largely unrelated to acceptance. ment approach could be predicted approaches. In fact, every other demographic from attitude and the degree to and geographic variable we collect- which people trust the agencies ed in the survey—or computed in responsible for carrying out these a geographic database—was unre- approaches. dents held more positive attitudes lated to acceptance. These variables toward defensible space and great- included: er trust in the agencies responsible Accepting Fuel for enforcing these ordinances. In • Length of residence, Management Approaches addition, rates of engagement— • Age, Because trust tends to evolve actually implementing defensible • Educational attainment, from experience, it is interesting space work on the ground—at the • Income, to note that in California—where California site far exceeded the • Property value, defensible space requirements other States’ study sites. • Proportion of the vicinity in high- have been in place for more than hazard fuels, 20 years, and creating and main- Most remarkable to us was how • Number of large historical fires in taining defensible space is fairly many attributes that seemed logi- the vicinity, widespread—the study’s respon- cally connected to the acceptance

Three Significant Lessons homeowners to believe ment approaches dis- that prescribed burning: agreed with the notion From listening to wild- that are presumed to that the government can land/urban interface have particular attitudes. • Won’t lead to more effectively manage wild- homeowners in this uncontrollable fires, land, including: study, significant lessons Lesson #2. Attitudes • Doesn’t have terrible emerged that can be used toward some fuel treat- consequences for sce- • Wildfire, in planning fuels man- ment approaches are far nic beauty, and • Prescribed burning, agement communica- less positive than they • Will reduce firefighting • Mechanical fuel reduc- tions and outreach pro- need to be for these costs. tion, and grams. approaches to achieve • Defensible space ordi- widespread acceptance. We would then expect nances. Lesson #1. There are For example, 58 percent attitudes to become more no easy shortcuts to pre- of respondents in Florida positive and acceptance While social science dicting acceptance of fuel and Michigan held neu- of prescribed burning to researchers are not in management. Beyond the tral or negative attitudes increase. complete agreement broad, regional differenc- toward defensible space. about what constitutes es that the survey test- In Michigan, 58 percent Lesson #3. Even with trust, evidence suggests ing demonstrated, the were also neutral or neg- positive attitudes, a lack that with different fuel only way to find out what ative toward prescribed of trust in the agen- management approach- residents will support is burning. The concep- cy doing the treatments es homeowners will place to ask them. This means tual model employed in can significantly reduce more trust in land man- that message develop- this study, however, is the acceptance of a fuels agers who are competent, ment and outreach activ- that beliefs drive atti- management approach. credible, and share their ities should be target- tudes. For instance, let’s On average, homeown- values that relate to nated widely, rather than to say education and dem- ers with negative atti- ural resource manage- specific subpopulations onstrations induce more tudes toward fuel treatment. n

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 53 • Distance to the perimeter of the Spatial Discontinuities The existence of such spatial discon- closest large fire, and tinuities, and the nonsignificance of We observed many cases in an ear- • Distance to the nearest area of geographic variables, meant that it lier study in Michigan’s jack pine high-hazard fuels. was not possible to generate mean- forest in which one family would ingful maps of predicted acceptance take all possible precautions to cre- Because support for a fuel manage- that could be used for targeting ate and maintain a defensible space, ment approach turned out to be promotional messages based on eas- yet the family right next door would unrelated to any geographic vari- ily obtained demographic and geo- purposely not disturb their natural able—or combination of variables— graphic data. n setting—responding that they “live that we considered, it was not sur- in the woods to live in the woods.” prising that this support similarly exhibited no spatial continuity. This These residents believed that any flies in the face of the notion “birds vegetative screening on their prop- of a feather flock together”—a erty would remain undisturbed premise relied upon by marketers unless destroyed by fire or altered when ZIP codes or census tracts are by future landowners. believed to be useful as a basis for business decisions. This approach, however, does not appear to be useful for predicting opinions on fuel treatments.

For More Information Symposium on Society and Winter, G.J.; Fried, J.S. 2001. For more informa- within the following pub- Resource Management. Gen. Estimating contingent val- tion on this study lications. Tech. Rep. NC–231. St. Paul, ues for protection from wild- Demographic and MN: USDA Forest Service, land fire using a two-stage Geographic Approaches Fried, J.S.; Winter, G.J.; North Central Research decision framework. Forest Station: 74–83. Science. 47(3): 349–360. to Predicting Acceptance Gilless, J.K. 1999. Assessing the benefits of reducing fire Vogt, C.A.; Winter, G.; Fried, J. Winter, G.J.; Vogt, C.; Fried, at the Wildland/ risk in the wildland urban 2005. Predicting homeown- J.S. 2002. Fuel treatments at Urban Interface and its interface: A contingent valu- ers’ approval of fuel manage- the wildland/urban interface: ation approach. International ment at the wildland/urban Common concerns in diverse results—including links Journal of Wildland Fire. to publications complet- interface using the Theory of regions. Journal of Forestry. 9(1): 9–20. Reasoned Action. Society and 100: 15–21. ed to date—please see Natural Resources. 18(4): Vogt, C.; Winter, G.; Fried, Winter, G.; Vogt, C.A.; 337–354. the Social Acceptance of J. 2003. Antecedents to McCaffrey, S. 2004. Fuel Treatments Website attitudes toward prescribed Winter, G.J.; Fried, J.S. 2000. Examining social trust in burning, mechanical thin- Homeowner perspectives fuels management strategies. at http://www.fire-saft. ning and defensible space net/index.htm. Published on strategies for reducing Journal of Forestry. 102(9): fuel reduction techniques. fire damage at the wild- 8–15. results from this study In: Jakes, P., ed. People land/urban interface. Society and the one that preced- and Wildfire—Proceedings and Natural Resources. 13: from the 9th International ed it can also be found 33–49.

Fire Management Today 54 Franklin Awards Salute Achievements in Cooperative Fire Protection

Melissa Frey

very year the USDA Forest • State Fire Assistance otherwise be unaffordable. The Service’s Fire and Aviation State fire assistance provides FEPP Award acknowledges the E Management staff presents financial assistance, technical State that demonstrates the best the prestigious Franklin Award to training, and equipment to ensure outreach to help underserved the agency’s State fire protection that Federal, State, and local fire communities equip themselves to partners who have illustrated excep- agencies can deliver a coordinated improve fire protection. tional achievement in reaching response to wildfire. The State underserved communities. Fire Assistance Award is given to • Overall Excellence in Reaching the State that has demonstrated Underserved Communities “Ensuring that all citizens benefit the greatest and best utilization of The Director’s Award represents is a critical part of our Cooperative this assistance. overall excellence in reaching Fire Protection programs,” explains underserved communities. It is Tom Harbour, Forest Service • Management of Federal Excess presented to entries with the best Director of Fire and Aviation Personal Property (FEPP) overall effort in at least two of the Management. “Increased interaction FEPP is made available to help four Franklin Award categories. with underserved communities by State and local fire services our State forestry fire service coop- obtain equipment that might erators is vital.”

Four Award Categories The Franklin Award, initiated in 1999, is named for Benjamin Franklin, the founder of America’s volunteer firefighting force. Each year, four categories are considered for this award:

• Volunteer Fire Assistance Volunteer fire assistance is designed to help smaller communities improve—or begin—fire protection. The Volunteer Fire Assistance Award is for the State that demonstrates the best outreach to help underserved communities improve the fire protection they offer to their people.

Melissa Frey is the Federal Excess Personal Property Program Officer and the General Leah MacSwords, Kentucky State Forester, receives a 2005 Franklin Award from Jack Manager of Fire Management Today for Troyer, USDA Forest Service Acting Deputy Chief. The award acknowledges the Kentucky the USDA Forest Service, Fire and Aviation Division of Forestry’s outstanding outreach in placing Federal Excess Personal Property Management, Washington, DC. within the State’s low-income rural areas. Photo: USDA Forest Service.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 55 Franklin Awards are not necessar- fire assistance grant funds. This ily given for each category every We gratefully acknowledge occurred through the efforts and year. For instance, in 2003, the the outstanding efforts to dedication of Jolene Ackerman, the award was presented in only one of ensure fire protection for all Wisconsin Department of Natural the four categories. Resources’ wildland/urban interface Americans by our State coordinator, and the assistance and Two of the 2005 awards were pre- partners. support of Wisconsin State Forester sented at the October 2005 National Paul Delong, who was presented with the award. Association of State Foresters annu- • In 2004, the Kentucky Division al awards luncheon in Madison, WI. of Forestry acquired more than The Wisconsin Firewise Community Jack Troyer, the Forest Service’s $759 million worth of FEPP by Program had its start in Crystal Acting Deputy Chief for the placing 16 vehicles in rural fire Lake last year with a commu- National Forest System, presented departments. nity chipping day. A multiple- the FEPP Award and State Fire • Presently, the agency has cur- front approach by wildland/urban Assistance Award. rent FEPP loan agreements with interface coordinator Ackerman 530 Kentucky fire departments— increased awareness and mitigation representing 65 percent of the 2005 FEPP Award of wildland/urban interface issues. State’s total fire departments. Specific initiatives include: Leah MacSwords, State Forester, • The agency provides FEPP tech- Kentucky Division of Forestry, nical assistance—37 fire depart- • Door-to-door assessments of accepted the FEPP Award for her ment visits were made in 2004. fire-prone property; agency’s efforts. Under the guid- • Structural mapping develop- ance of FEPP Manager Bernie ment and printing to aid firefight- Anderson, equipment has been 2005 State Fire er units by providing comprehen- placed in Kentucky’s low-income Assistance Award sive location of all structures; rural areas and in the historic The Wisconsin Firewise Community • Hand crew training; Appalachian Mountain region. Program received the State Fire • Video materials developed to Both local governments and volun- Assistance Award in recognition train landowners; teer fire departments in Kentucky of its outstanding use of State have indicated how valuable the FEPP program is to the communities within this State.

The Kentucky Division of Forestry has placed FEPP on loan with 645 fire departments—including 288 new departments. A special emphasis is given to fire departments and communities located in Kentucky’s rural areas. This has been accomplished in numerous ways:

• The Kentucky Division of Forestry has developed a com- puterized “needs list” that gives priority to new fire departments, ensuring that underserved fire departments receive FEPP. • In the placement of FEPP equipment, special consideration is given to remote communities that Wisconsin State Forester Paul Delong (left) receives a 2005 Franklin Award from Jack do not have local fire support. Troyer, USDA Forest Service Acting Deputy Chief. The award acknowledges the State’s outstanding use of State fire assistance grant funds. Photo: USDA Forest Service.

Fire Management Today 56 • Newspaper advertisements, Commission makes equipment Minnesota Division of Forestry Smokey Bear billboards, and available to rural fire departments has extended its already excellent Firewise workshops where the fire through State contract purchases program to better serve Minnesota danger is particularly acute; and the FEPP program. It offers communities. • Color brochures highlighting an interest-free revolving loan for the accomplishments of hazard purchases of vehicles and equip- Through its outreach and constant mitigation projects; ment worth up to $15,000. communication between rural fire • “Point of Origin,” the biannual • An Annual Fire Show is spon- program staff and State firefighters, publication for State fire program sored by the Arkansas Forestry the Minnesota Division of Forestry partners; and Commission every fall to show- continues to improve fire protection • “Living With Fire,” the publica- case improved firefighting equip- for its rural residents. Specific pro- tion—shared as an insert inside ment and the various fire protec- grams and actions include: newspapers throughout the tion programs. • In cooperation with a group State—that addresses wildland/ of fire chiefs, the “Minnesota urban interface issues. Wildland Urban Interface The Minnesota Division of Guidelines” were created. This Forestry continues to action provided a great deal of 2005 Volunteer Fire information and also established Assistance Award improve fire protection for its a basis for cooperation between The Volunteer Fire Assistance Award rural residents. fire departments and their local was presented to Randy Pogue Federal and State wildland man- and Jerry Heaslet of the Arkansas agement agencies. Forestry from Rich Kvale, National • In 2004, 2,035 firefighters from • A fax/e-mail network has Cooperative Fire Protection Program 626 fire departments were trained been created to share wildland Manager, at the 2005 National FEPP in wildland fire suppression. That fire information between the workshop in Chicago, IL. training is currently being updat- Minnesota Division of Forestry ed to improve its quality. and the local fire departments. Pogue and Heaslet received the • 196 departments were awarded Available information includes award for their outstanding use $1,000 matching grants—totaling fire weather reports, red flag of Volunteer Fire Assistance fund- more than $204,000. warnings, staffing levels, air- ing—with the support of John • The 2000 population census craft availability, and experi- Shannon, State Forester, Arkansas revealed that nine Arkansas coun- enced fire behavior. Forestry Commission. They have ties were identified as having • Information booths are set up at shown exemplary efforts in get- inadequate fire protection. Special Minnesota State Fire and Rescue ting equipment and supplies out to efforts and trips were made to the schools throughout the State. underserved communities through- communities in these counties to Photo displays show available out the State of Arkansas. These increase awareness of the avail- FEPP and guidelines on the FEPP efforts include: able Federal and State fire protec- program, as well as contact infor- tion programs. mation. • The Arkansas Forestry • The FEPP and Volunteer Fire Commission has more than tripled Assistance Programs, as well as the number of certified fire depart- 2005 Director’s Award related programs operated by ments since the inception of the The 2005 Director’s Award went the State, are advertised on the Rural Fire Protection Program in to the Minnesota Division of rural fire department assistance 1979. To date, there are 964 certi- Forestry. Under the direction of Websites. Pictures are posted for fied fire departments in Arkansas. State Forester Bob Tomlinson, the all FEPP property available. n • The Arkansas Forestry

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 57 Southwestern Ponderosa Pine: Ceanothus, Wasps, and Fire

Hutch Brown

here’s a shrub that grows under southwestern ponderosa pines T called buckbrush or red root or Fendler’s ceanothus (Ceanothus fendleri). Once, it bloomed in pro- fuse white clusters in the dappled shade of big old pumpkin-barked pines or in the patches of meadow between them. Its smooth, thorny branches, no more than 3 feet high, spread out thicketlike among the lush green grasses, adding diversity to the understory. A Fendler’s ceanothus in bloom. Note the low, spreading habit and the ponderosa pine seedling on the left. Photo: Dave Powell, USDA Forest Service, Umatilla National Forest, Pendleton, OR; courtesy of Forestry Images http://www.forestryimages.org, no. 1215037). Then the sheep came in the 1800s, and the grasses soon went and the pine duff, with little spoon-shaped fruits. In the study area, larval wasps fires starved. Hand crews came with leaves on them. You might easily were killing more than a third of the shovels and starved the fires that step on them and never notice. seeds that ceanothus was producing. remained. Wet cycles came in puls- es after 1910 and again after 1970, But one researcher from the With that rate of mortality, can ceano- flushing the forest floor with pine Ecological Restoration Institute in thus ever fully recover? Did presettle- seedlings that were never choked Flagstaff, AZ, did notice (Huffman ment fires kill wasp larvae inside fallen 2002). Working on the nearby Fort fruits while stimulating the seeds to Valley Experimental Forest, he grow? It’s another piece of the puzzle While examining a ceanothus explored what was happening on the that is fire and fuels, grasses and fruit, he saw a tiny wasp altered forest floor. He wondered ceanothus, wasps and their hosts in emerge, one never identified whether overstory manipulation the ponderosa pine ecosystem. It’s in Arizona. alone would be enough to restore an intricate chain of life and death, plants like ceanothus. and the ecosystem will only be whole again when the chain is restored. by grasses or thinned by fire. They In the process, he found something grew into saplings and poles and that nobody ever had before. While thickets, besieging the big trees and examining a round, reddish fruit Acknowledgment everything else on the parched for- from Fendler’s ceanothus, he saw a The article is based on a story told by H.B. est floor—including the ceanothus. “Doc” Smith of the Ecological Restoration tiny wasp emerge, one never identi- Institute in Flagstaff, AZ, on May 25, 2005, fied in Arizona before. The larval during a USDA Forest Service practitioner’s In many places, ceanothus withered wasp had lived inside the fruit, workshop on ecological restoration in away into not much of a shrub at destroying the seed, something no southwestern ponderosa pine, Cibola all. No longer stimulated by fire, National Forest, Mount Taylor Ranger one had ever suspected. District, NM. it often failed to regenerate from seeds or resprout from roots. All The tiny wasp is called a seed chal- Reference that sometimes remains today are cid (Eurytoma squamosa Bugbee). Huffman, D.W. 2002. A seed chalcid little twigs sticking out of the thick Seed chalcids spend most of their life (Eurytoma squamosa Bugbee) parasit- izes buckbrush (Ceanothus fendleri Hutch Brown, the former managing editor cycles inside the fruits they parasit- Gray) seeds in a ponderosa pine forest of Fire Management Today, is a writer/editor ize; adults soon die, but not before of Arizona. Western North American for the Chief’s Office, USDA Forest Service, breeding and laying eggs inside more Washington, DC. Naturalist. 62 (October): 474–478. n

Fire Management Today 58 All Our Past Issues Now Available on the Web

hanks to a concerted effort by funding. More than 1 year after lems such as incorrect page order. several people, all past issues their first request, funds finally Bunton, the persistent project ram- T of Fire Management Today became available for the project. rod, then scanned the few dozen (FMT) as well as the journal’s pre- missing pages out of more than decessors—Fire Control Notes, 7,000 pages scanned—and sleuthed Fire Management Notes, and Fire Briefing the Night Shift down four or five still-missing Management—are now available on Bunton and Baily managed to gath- issues for scanning. the FMT’s Website. er all but about 40 issues from the USDA Forest Service Washington After Baily retired in July 2004, “You can now view or download Office collection. Bunton pro- Melissa Frey, Fire Management all past issues, from Volume 1, vided a dozen copies from his Today’s new general manager, con- Issue 1 of Fire Control Notes on personal library. Ann Bruce at the tinued to push the project forward. up to the most recent issue of Fire Tall Timbers Research Station in Under her direction, she took the Management Today,” explains Tallahassee, FL, graciously loaned PDF files and built the Website. Delvin Bunton, systems analyst, approximately 25 issues. Sara USDA Forest Service, Ecosystem Garetz at the Pacific Southwest “We thank all those people who Management Coordination Staff, Research Station library in Vallejo, helped make the scanning possible,” Natural Resource Information CA, loaned the last 5 missing issues Bunton said. “And we hope that cur- System, Sandy, OR. in bound volumes. rent and future fire managers, students, and others will find our effort The idea to scan past issues of FMT Bunton then delivered all the worthwhile. As a former boss used evolved from discussions between issues to Lance Gilmore of NetOne- to say: ‘Remember to brief the night Bunton and April Baily, former ScanOne in Portland, OR, for the shift.’ We hope that making all of general manager, Fire Management actual scanning process. Gilmore’s this journal’s past issues available for Today, USDA Forest Service, Fire team made this difficult scanning research helps to meet that charge.” and Aviation Management, when the job possible. two were working on the journal’s 30-year index (Bunton 2000b). Hutch Bunton received three CDs with References Brown, then-managing editor of Fire individual page images, PDF files Bunton, D. R. 2000a. Creating an index that mirrors our past. Fire Management Management Today, also helped. for most volumes, and a database Today. 60(1): 27–31. that related the images to issues. Bunton, D. R. 2000b. Subject index–vol- During this indexing process, He then checked each issue for umes 31–59. Fire Management Today. despite extensive searches in sev- completeness and fixed minor prob- 60(1): 32–94. n eral university libraries and Forest Service offices, Bunton couldn’t How To Download an Issue of FMT unearth some of the journal’s early issues. As he perused these archived 1. Open your browser and go to http:// will show the folder name (labeled Save www.fs.fed.us/fire/fmt/index.html. in:). If you choose, the bottom window editions, Bunton realized that many (labeled Fire name) allows you to change problems that confront the wildland 2. Click on the link “By Volume beginning the file name. fire community today are not at 1936.” Scroll down to the issue of interest. You now have two options to save the file: 3. After you make any changes you desire, all new (Bunton 2000a). He real- click on the Save button and the PDF file ized that finding a way for current • Double click on the desired issue and will copy to your computer. fire managers and students to read open the PDF with Adobe Reader. Click on the File menu, select Save As, choose the 4. Navigate to the folder in which you these past issues of FMT seemed a directory to save the file on your PC. saved the PDF. Double click on the file worthwhile challenge. from which you want to print an article. • Or, right click on the issue. Choose Adobe Reader will open. You can now print Save Target as. A window opens to choose the entire issue, or just the pages you Bunton therefore wrote a project where to save the issue. The top window desire. proposal. Baily kept asking for the

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 59 Guidelines for Contributors

Editorial Policy Release Authorizations. Non-Federal Style. Authors are responsible for using Fire Management Today (FMT) is an Government authors and coauthors must wildland fire terminology that conforms international quarterly magazine for the sign a release to allow their work to be in to the latest standards set by the National wildland fire community. FMT welcomes the public domain and on the World Wide Wildfire Coordinating Group under the unsolicited manuscripts from readers on Web. In addition, all photos that are not the National Interagency Incident Management any subject related to fire management. property of the Federal Government require System. FMT uses the spelling, capitalization, Because space is a consideration, long a written release by the photographer. The hyphenation, and other styles recommended manuscripts might be abridged by the editor, author and photo release forms are available in the United States Government Printing subject to approval by the author; FMT does from General Manager Melissa Frey. Office Style Manual, as required by the U.S. print short pieces of interest to readers. Department of Agriculture. Authors should Logo. Authors who are affiliated should use the U.S. system of weight and measure, Submission Guidelines submit a camera-ready logo for their with equivalent values in the metric system. Your manuscript may be hand-written, agency, institution, or organization. typed, or word-processed, and you may Try to keep titles concise and descriptive; submit it either by e-mail or by mail Electronic files. You may submit your subheadings and bulleted material are useful to one of the following addresses: manuscript either by mail or by e-mail. If you and help readability. As a general rule of clear are mailing a word-processed manuscript, writing, use the active voice (e.g., write, “Fire General manager: submit it on a 3-1/2 inch, IBM-compatible managers know…” and not, “It is known…”). USDA Forest Service disk. Please label all disks carefully with Provide spellouts for all abbreviations. Consult Attn: Melissa Frey, F&AM Staff name(s) of file(s) and system(s) used. Submit recent issues (at http://www.fs.fed.us/fire/fmt/ Mail Stop 1107, 1400 Independence Avenue, SW electronic text files, whether by e-mail or on index.html) for placement of the author’s name, Washington, DC 20250-1107 a disk, in one of these formats: WordPerfect title, agency affiliation, and location, as well as tel. 202-205-0955, fax 202-205-1401 5.1 for DOS; WordPerfect 7.0 or earlier for for style of paragraph headings and references. e-mail: [email protected] Windows 95; Microsoft Word 6.0 or earlier for Windows 95; Rich Text format; or ASCII. Tables. Tables should be logical and Managing editor: understandable without reading the text. USDA Forest Service Do not embed illustrations (such as photos, Include tables at the end of the manuscript. Attn: Paul Keller maps, charts, and graphs) in the electronic file P.O. Box 361 for the manuscript. We will accept digital images Photos and Illustrations. Clearly label all (overnight express mail: 70220 E Hwy 26) if the image was shot at the highest resolution photos and illustrations (figure 1, 2, 3, etc.; Rhododendron, OR 97049 using a camera with at least 2.5 megapixels or if photograph A, B, C, etc.). At the end of the tel. 503-622-4861, fax 503-622-3056 the image was scanned at 300 lines per inch or manuscript, include clear, thorough figure e-mail: [email protected] equivalent with a minimum output size of 5 × and photo captions labeled in the same way 7 inches. Submit each illustration in a standard as the corresponding material (figure 1, 2, Author Information. Include the complete interchange format such as EPS, TIFF, or JPEG, 3; photograph A, B, C; etc.). Captions should name(s), title(s), affiliation(s), and address(es) accompanied by a high-resolution (preferably make photos and illustrations understandable of the author(s), as well as telephone and fax laser) printout. For charts and graphs, include without reading the text. For photos, indicate numbers and e-mail information. If the same the raw data needed to reconstruct them. the name and affiliation of the photographer or a similar manuscript is being submitted and the year the photo was taken. elsewhere, include that information also.

Fire Management Today 60 Websites on Fire* Bushfire Cooperative Research Government, aims to: Centers Program The organization’s research • Develop an internationally Australia’s Bushfire (wildfire) program focuses on five renowned center of excellence Cooperative Research Centers interrelated wildland fire research to lead and coordinate bushfire (CRC) program is developing a activity areas: research in Australia, range of research products that collectively aim to enhance the • Provide a research framework • Safe Prevention, Preparation, management of wildfire risk to that will improve the and Suppression; communities in economically and effectiveness of bushfire • Management of Fire in the ecologically sustainable ways. management agencies, and Landscape; • Increase the self-sufficiency of The Bushfire CRC, established • Community Self-Sufficiency for communities in managing the under Australia’s Commonwealth Fire Safety; risks from bushfires. * Occasionally, Fire Management Today briefly describes Websites brought to our attention by the • Protection of People and wildland fire community. Readers should not construe Perusing this organization’s Property; and the description of these sites as in any way exhaus- tive or as an official endorsement by the USDA Forest informative, user-friendly Website • Education, Training, and Service. To have a Website described, contact the man- provides knowledgeable insights aging editor, Paul Keller, at 503-622-4861, pkeller@ Communication. fs.fed.us (e-mail). into state of wildland fire research occurring today “Down Under.” Found at www.bushfirecrc.com.

New Photo Contest Procedures

New timelines and guidelines are being developed for the next Fire

Management Today photo contest. These will be announced in a future

issue of FMT.

Volume 66 • No. 3 • Summer 2006 61