Eastern Washington University EWU Digital Commons Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines Smokejumper Digital Archive 4-1-2020 Smokejumper Magazine, April 2020 National Smokejumper Association Follow this and additional works at: https://dc.ewu.edu/smokejumper_mag Part of the Forest Management Commons Recommended Citation National Smokejumper Association, "Smokejumper Magazine, April 2020" (2020). Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines. 126. https://dc.ewu.edu/smokejumper_mag/126 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Smokejumper Digital Archive at EWU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Smokejumper and Static Line Magazines by an authorized administrator of EWU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The National Smokejumper Quarterly Magazine Association April 2020 Smokejumper The National Smokejumper Quarterly Magazine Save a Billion $$ A Year—The New Fire AssociationWildfire & Global Warming ............................................................January 2020 Triangle ............................75 Smoke from Wildland Fires: Impacts to Pendleton Honors Triple Nickles ...................................................Public Health ..................1825 One Year After The Camp Fire .......................................................Smokejumper Folklore: ‘You 41Know You’re Smokejumper a Smokejumper If …’ ...... 40 CONTENTS Message from Message from the President ....................................2 Fighting Fire in Tasmania ........................................5 Wildfires and Global Warming: A Continuous the President Cycle of Destruction .........................................7 Kooskia Days ........................................................10 first time the US and Australia NSA Scholarship Program Expanded— have exchanged crews during Take Advantage! .............................................10 difficult fire years. I’m sure Moose Creek Memorial ........................................11 many of you saw video footage Touching All Bases................................................12 of a crew of California fire- West Yellowstone Airtanker Base Closure..............14 Off the List ............................................................16 fighters being cheered as they Pendleton Honors the Triple Nickles.....................18 disembarked at the airport in Eric Schoenfeld Remembered...............................21 Sydney on their way to the Odds and Ends .....................................................26 firelines. Alaska Cutters .......................................................28 The magnitude of the Feeding the “Beast” with Fire, Money ...................29 situation is daunting. The North Cascades 2019 Reunion ..............................30 by Bob McKean statistics are overwhelming: 26 The Run for the Top..............................................32 (Missoula ’67) million acres burned, 5,900 National Smokejumper Reunion 2020 June 26–28, 2020 in Boise, Idaho .................39 President buildings destroyed, 29 people Sounding Off from the Editor ................................40 and one billion animals killed, One Year After the Camp Fire ................................41 It is early January and snow is and smoke pollution across the Smokejumper Keep the Flame Legacy Jump List ...42 on the nearby mountains. Port- most populated regions of the The Pink Fire ........................................................43 landers go crazy when there’s country. Recollections of Mann Gulch 70 Years Later .........44 even a rumor of snow, and it An edition of “Science Nicknames............................................................44 is predicted in the next day or Friday” on PBS devoted about Time To Get in the Door .......................................45 so. It only takes an inch or two 20 minutes to a discussion of to bring the city to a standstill. the fires in Australia (January I find it amusing after having 10, 2020). Toward the end of lived in Montana for 30 years. the program, moderator Ira In fairness, the roads in Port- Flatow asked a fire scientist land often become dangerously from University of Idaho, Dr. icy during these storms. Crystal Kolden, the following January also brought the question: SMOKEJUMPER, Issue No. 108, April 2020 ISSN 1532-6160 story of Australia which is ex- “Is Australia the canary in Smokejumper is published quarterly by: periencing its most destructive the coal mine for the rest of The National Smokejumper Association fire season in history.News- the world?” c/o 10 Judy Lane Chico, CA 95926 week ran a great story about Dr. Kolden’s response: The opinions of the writers are their own and do Michelle Moore (MSO-99) “It is! Australia is very much not necessarily reflect those of the NSA. Permis- sion to reproduce Smokejumper in any manner who missed her son’s birthday showing us what will happen must first be obtained in writing. due to the need for her to elsewhere…For those of us in NSA Website: http://www.smokejumpers.com answer the call to engage her the US, we feel like in the last Managing Editor: Chuck Sheley skills as a lead plane pilot in few years we’ve seen some pret- Associate Editor: Ed Booth Australia. ty big fires in California that Editing: K. G. Sheley I have no idea how many have been really destructive. Photo Editor: Johnny Kirkley other individuals and crews But, when we look at Australia Illustrators: Dan Veenendaal, and Eric Rajala have been dispatched to assist now, for those of us in fire sci- Layout/Printing: Larry S. Jackson, Heidelberg Graphics, www.HeidelbergGraphics.com in Australia during this crisis, ence, a lot of us see this is the Front cover: NCSB Practice Jump Composite but I am sure there are many. future for the US, as well. And Photo (Courtesy Denny Breslin) And, of course, this is not the not just in California, but in Check the NSA website 2 National Smokejumper Reunion a lot of other parts of the US. Even in places that careers were in fire management. What follows is have not necessarily seen a lot of fire because as it my take on the salient points of discussion during gets hotter and drier, we have these types of really those exchanges: unique events—really hot, dry conditions or even 1. Climate change drought—and it will facilitate fire in places we There was a clear consensus among experts have not necessarily seen a lot in the past. with whom I visited that climate change is a …No doubt these fires are connected to cli- significant factor affecting the current and fu- mate change and burning under conditions that ture wildfire situation. While I do not specifi- are unprecedented…” cally remember the topic coming up, though it This past fall, I engaged in some informal probably did, most raised the issue immediately. research about wildfires currently being experi- Former forest supervisors, career wildfire fighters, enced, factors affecting them, and what might be fire scientists all talked about climate change as done to improve the situation. I did this, in part, affecting the length of the fire season, the mois- because as your president, I wanted to broaden ture content of fuels, and intensity of fires. I also my own understanding of the topic. My journey did a brief review of literature. It was easy to find included direct discussions with three fire scien- articles from reputable scientists and scientific tists: John Bailey, PhD, Oregon State University; organizations that supported this view. All three of Tania Schoennagel, PhD, University of Colorado; the fire scientists with whom I visited expressed, and Carl Seielstad (MYC-93), PhD, University without prompting, that the changing climate was of Montana. I also visited with four former forest the driving factor of the wildfire situation as it is supervisors and several other individuals whose currently evolving. At least two specifically raised the issue of extreme weather events associated with changing climate as contributing factors to extreme fire behavior. NSA Members—Save 2. Managing Hazard Fuels/Managing Forests This Information There was also discussion about manag- Please contact the following persons directly if ing hazard fuels and/or forests with most of the you have business or questions: individuals. And, it is a central topic in the work Smokejumper magazine of Michael Rains (Smokejumper, Jan. 2019, April Articles, obits, change of address 2019, July 2019) and the NAFSR Workforce Chuck Sheley 530-893-0436/ [email protected] Capacity report that I reviewed in conjunction 10 Judy Ln. with my research. Most former forest supervisors Chico, CA 95926 were concerned about how to reduce hazard fuels Membership in forests and, with one exception, believed that John McDaniel active management in some form (a combina- 785-404-2847/ [email protected] tion of thinning, prescribed burns, control burns, 807 Eileen Ln. and/or logging) should be increased to reduce Salina, KS 67401-2878 the incidence and/or intensity of wildfires. One All else former forest supervisor did not take this position. NSA President He suggested the situation would best be resolved Bob McKean by natural means. At least that was my take on 503-762-6337/ [email protected] 14013 SE Eastridge St what he said. He further expressed skepticism that Portland OR 97236 when commercial interests were involved with “forest management,” the result would always be a Smokejumper base abbreviations: healthier, more fire-resistant forests. Anchorage .......... ANC Grangeville ........ GAC Redding