Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Assessment October 1, 2010 Bull Wildfire Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Assessment Summary The Bull Fire was an unwanted human caused fire first detected at about 1330 hours on July 26, 2010. The fire started in a remote area at the bottom of Bull Run Creek Canyon about 1 mile west of the North Fork Kern River. The communities of Riverkern and Kernville were soon threatened by high intensity fire spreading down the Bull Run Creek drainage and then across the Kern River Canyon. The Bull Fire was another wildfire in a long series of damaging fires that have impacted Kern River Valley area residents over several decades and could have caused more damage. Fortunately, a proactive approach to wildfire threats is being achieved. Between 2004 and 2010, the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council (KRVFSC) has received and used over $1.0 M in grants to complete hazardous fuels reduction on private property in ten projects. One of these projects was under way but near completion at the time of the Bull Fire was the Burma Road Extension Interagency Fuel Break. The Council oversees a collaboration group made up of participants from the Council, Kern County Fire Department, USDA Forest Service, and USDI Bureau of Land Management. Participants cooperate in the planning, implementation and maintenance of 33 projects under the various agencies or the Council. All of these projects are defensible space shaded fuel breaks near homes or are fuel breaks along escape routes. Shrubs and tall herbaceous plants are cut and removed, and trees are limbed up to about 6 feet. Cuttings are disposed by chipping or pile burning during winter months. The Bull Fire burned into or through shaded fuel breaks adjacent to homes on the north end of Kernville and burned entirely around the Riverkern community. The fuel breaks significantly modified fire intensity which allowed for effective control by firefighters. The fuel break on the east side of Riverkern was not staffed by firefighters and protected homes "on its own". Bull Fire – Kern and Tulare Counties – California 1 Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Assessment Location Information California Kern County Sequoia National Forest Wildfire Information Fire Number: CA-SQF-2701 Fire Name: Bull Date of Fire Start: July 26, 2010 Final Fire Size: 16,442 acres Date When Fire Entered Treatments: July 26, 2010 Treated Area Burned: 40 acres Date Fire Contained: August 9, 2010 Fuel Treatment Information and Background Between 2004 and 2010, the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council (KRVFSC) has received and used over $1.0 M in grants to complete hazardous fuels reduction on private property in ten projects. These projects included over 420 acres spread throughout the council's zone of influence that includes the Kern River Valley, Walker Basin, Kelso Valley and Kennedy Meadows. Additionally, in 2010 the Council received some $400,000 in grants for three additional hazardous fuels reduction projects on some 280 acres. One of these 2010 projects under way but near completion at the time of the Bull Fire was the Burma Road Extension Interagency Fuel Break. All of these projects are defensible space shaded fuel breaks near homes or are fuel breaks along escape routes. Shrubs and tall herbaceous plants are cut and removed, and trees are limbed up to about 6 feet. Cuttings are disposed by chipping or pile burning during winter months. The Council oversees a collaboration group made up of participants from the Council, Kern County Fire Department (KRN), USDA Forest Service – Sequoia National Forest (FS), and USDI Bureau of Land Management, Bakersfield Field Office. Participants cooperate in the planning, implementation and maintenance of 33 projects under the various agencies or the Council. There are 7 projects in the Riverkern / Kernville area, Map 2. The federal land management agencies then use allocated hazardous fuels management funds for project planning and implementation. See Appendix A and the council's website for more information - http://www.krvfiresafecouncil.org/ Riverkern Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project The Riverkern project comprises 25 acres of shaded fuel break about 100 to 400 feet wide on National Forest System Lands (NFSL) adjacent to private homes along the north and east sides of Riverkern, Map 2, Figures 1, 4, 5. The project's environmental compliance (NEPA) was completed in 1998 and most project implementation was completed in 1999. Forest Service fire crews removed brush and limbed up trees about 6 feet above ground, piled the cuttings and burned the piles during winter months. The shaded fuel break was maintained every year or every other year and was last maintained during winter 2009, Figures 2 and 3. Bull Fire – Kern and Tulare Counties – California 2 Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Assessment Kernville Hazardous Fuels Reduction Project The Kernville project is comprised of brush reduction and shaded fuel breaks in two separate segments, Map 2, Figures 11 to 15 (the existing Riverkern project was added to the Kernville project for maintenance purposes). During 2005 the Forest Service completed environmental compliance (NEPA) for the project. The Project was described in proposals for treating hazardous fuels on National Forest System Land (NSFL) by constructing shaded fuel breaks, up to 400 feet wide on three segments, near Burma and Rio Del Loma Roads, and near Bowman / Luxton Avenues just north of the Kern Valley Airport. Forest Service staff understood the potential for strong down drainage winds in the north fork of the Kern River due to a thermal low that sets up over the desert to the east. This thermal low draws cooler, denser air from the mountainous area surrounding the Kern Canyon towards the desert mostly during afternoons. These down drainage winds could threaten homes in the Kernville area from a fire starting in the Bull Run creek drainage or north of Kernville in the Kern Canyon. Project planners modeled potential fire behavior and included the following information to the public during project scoping: "During 90th percentile fuel moisture and fire weather conditions in the Kernville area the following average fire behavior could occur in the proposed treatment areas: Rio Del Loma / Bowman / Luxton Segments • Average Fire Rate of Spread – 1.2 miles per hour • Average Flame Length – 25 feet Burma Segment • Average Fire Rate of Spread – 1.3 to 1.4 miles per hour • Average Flame Length – 25 to 27 feet" The proposed project consisted of three separate segments: • Burma Segment (about 33 acres) is located at the west end of Burma Road and is adjacent to about 8 private homes. The treatment area extends from private property boundaries onto Forest lands about 200 to 400 feet in width. • Bowman / Luxton Segment (about 24 acres) is located on the west side of Bowman Road and is adjacent to about 25 private homes. The treatment area extends from private property boundaries onto Forest lands about 100 feet, Figures 10 to 14. • Rio Del Loma Segment (about 26 acres) The project proposal included treatment on NFSL up to 400 feet wide along the west side of Rio Del Loma Road in line with potential fires driven down the Bull Run Creek drainage by down drainage winds. The following are quotes from the project decision memo: "The Rio Del Loma Segment (about 26 acres) was originally proposed to be included in this project. I have decided to remove the segment from this decision due to homeowner opposition to the project. The proposed segment is located at the north end of Burlando Road on the north side of Kernville and is adjacent to about 7 private homes." Bull Fire – Kern and Tulare Counties – California 3 Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Assessment The decision memo also stated: "The purpose of the proposed treatment is to increase defensible space on Forest land in order to reasonably protect houses located on private property close to the Forest land. Doing so will significantly reduce the risk of wildfires burning from Forest land on to private property and damaging or destroying houses and associated structures, improve public and firefighter safety, and improve protection of adjacent wildlife habitat." "There is a need to reduce the continuity and density of the fuels on Forest land adjacent to privately owned homes in Kernville. The need for a network of shaded fuel-breaks as well as the continued practice of defensible space was identified in the Kern River Valley Community Fire Safe Plan that was issued by the Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council in 2002, and by Forest Service analysis of fire hazard conditions in the area. The Kern River Valley Fire Safe Council also has endorsed the proposed project. Long-term maintenance of the fuel breaks would consist of the same activities that are used to create the fuel breaks. Therefore, expected effects over time are less than those analyzed for this project." (The effects over time diminish between treatments). Forest Service fire crews removed brush and limbed up trees about 6 feet above ground, chipped or piled the cuttings and burned the piles during winter months. The Burma segment was completed during winter 2009. A success story was prepared about the project and used for public information purposes, Appendix C. Burma Road Extension Interagency Fuel Break The Burma Extension is a 35 acre shaded fuel break project on private property divided into 3 units (north, central, south) and was first proposed for a community protection grant in 2009, a grant was received by the KRVFSC for work in 2010. The project ties into the FS Burma project, above, on 2 sides in order to extend protection to private homes further north and south, Map 2, Figures 11 to 15. The extension provides protection to some, but not all homes that would have been protected by the Forest Service Rio Del Loma project if it had been implemented.