More Fire Blogging
The New Harmony fire is controlled. Rep. Brad Last and I met with state, BLM, and forest service leaders to assess the damage. Only 1 structure was lost -- an out-shed that was reduced to nothing but ashes. Another house had its plastic siding melted. The condition of the structures is amazing, considering the charred earth all around them. This result speaks to several things: the houses had defensible space (no trees within 30 feet) and were smartly constructed (flame-resistant materials), the streets were wide enough to allow firefighting trucks to get into and stay by the structures (to keep them wet), there was a good water system (so that there was water to keep the houses wet), a great coordination effort between the local fire department, the county, the state, and the feds, and -- importantly -- a good chunk of luck.
In 2004, the legislature passed Rep. Buttars fire suppression bill, which effectively will require many of these elements (defensible space, flame-resistant materials, properly designed streets, and adequate water) when fully implemented. The importance of these elements becomes apparent when one considers the safety of firefighters, the increased amount of housing in forested areas, and the cost to taxpayers of protecting these structures and other infrastructure (about $2,500,000, as of yesterday, for the Washington County fires).
Two additional communities in Washington County are currently threatened (though I'm told the threat is minimal at this time) -- Winchester Hills and Diamond Valley. The fires (which I just inspected at 8 pm) are north and mostly east of the communities; this is where we want them, as the winds have been blowing to the northeast. There is an awful lot of charred ground around these communities.
Merrill Saleen is the Incident Commander for these more-southern fires. It is nice that his group (and Rowdy Muir's group up north) can set up camp in the air-conditioned middle schools; for one thing, it lets the night crews come in out of the heat during the day to get some good sleep. Also, it is nice to have real showers, flushies, and electrical outlets for the serious technological equipment they use in fighting these fires.
Talking with these very experienced wildland firefighters, one thing becomes painfully apparent: concerning fires, this summer will be horrible. A big reason we haven't lost structures is because of the enormous resources we've thrown at these fires -- lots of tankers and helicopters and top-notch hot shot crews. Whatever the Incident Commanders are asking for, they're getting. As the fire season advances to the more-heavily wooded and larger-acreage areas higher up and further north, the available resources and crews will be spread out. Commanders won't be able to snap their fingers and have tankers and crews instantly pop up. And this will present a problem, since our very wet spring has produced an incredible fuel load.
Also, though it is a bigger topic than I have time for now, this situation is the product of the sorry condition of our forests and federal lands, brought to you courtesy of . . . (stay tuned).
UPDATE (7/1/05, midnight): I just went by the command center at Snow Canyon Middle School to get a report on the Winchester/Diamond Valley fire. It is burning toward Pine Valley Mountain but is largely under control. The winds have cooperated nicely. Though it is late, some of the crews were just coming in and getting their dinner.
Yesterday, I met with several county commissioners from throughout the state and state forestry officials to discuss the fire situation. Specifically, we talked about how existing funding might match up with the fires this summer. Most likely, it won't match up and will need to be supplemented. Just 2 years ago, we had to supplement the existing budget 11 million dollars to pay for the fires from the previous summer.
The state and the feds have worked out cost allocation to a very large degree, based mostly on who owns what percentage of the affected acreage. For private ground in unincorporated county, the state has set up a fire suppression fund. Counties are assessed $.01 per acre and $.001 per dollar of assessed valuation in unincorporated areas. This generates $450K/year, which the State matches, for funding fire fighting efforts on private ground. All the counties participate, except for Salt Lake and Weber Counties.
It makes sense that Salt Lake County doesn't participate, because it doesn't have many structures in unincorporated county that would likely be threatened by a wildfire and because the county has a lot of available resources to fight a fire (i.e., all the other fire departments in the valley). The (legitimate) rub for Weber County is that the formula works against Weber by factoring in lots of assessed valuation on commercial properties that would never be threatened by wildfire. Because Weber could have a lot of structures jeopardized by wildfire, we need to get this issue worked out.
In 2004, the legislature passed Rep. Buttars fire suppression bill, which effectively will require many of these elements (defensible space, flame-resistant materials, properly designed streets, and adequate water) when fully implemented. The importance of these elements becomes apparent when one considers the safety of firefighters, the increased amount of housing in forested areas, and the cost to taxpayers of protecting these structures and other infrastructure (about $2,500,000, as of yesterday, for the Washington County fires).
Two additional communities in Washington County are currently threatened (though I'm told the threat is minimal at this time) -- Winchester Hills and Diamond Valley. The fires (which I just inspected at 8 pm) are north and mostly east of the communities; this is where we want them, as the winds have been blowing to the northeast. There is an awful lot of charred ground around these communities.
Merrill Saleen is the Incident Commander for these more-southern fires. It is nice that his group (and Rowdy Muir's group up north) can set up camp in the air-conditioned middle schools; for one thing, it lets the night crews come in out of the heat during the day to get some good sleep. Also, it is nice to have real showers, flushies, and electrical outlets for the serious technological equipment they use in fighting these fires.
Talking with these very experienced wildland firefighters, one thing becomes painfully apparent: concerning fires, this summer will be horrible. A big reason we haven't lost structures is because of the enormous resources we've thrown at these fires -- lots of tankers and helicopters and top-notch hot shot crews. Whatever the Incident Commanders are asking for, they're getting. As the fire season advances to the more-heavily wooded and larger-acreage areas higher up and further north, the available resources and crews will be spread out. Commanders won't be able to snap their fingers and have tankers and crews instantly pop up. And this will present a problem, since our very wet spring has produced an incredible fuel load.
Also, though it is a bigger topic than I have time for now, this situation is the product of the sorry condition of our forests and federal lands, brought to you courtesy of . . . (stay tuned).
UPDATE (7/1/05, midnight): I just went by the command center at Snow Canyon Middle School to get a report on the Winchester/Diamond Valley fire. It is burning toward Pine Valley Mountain but is largely under control. The winds have cooperated nicely. Though it is late, some of the crews were just coming in and getting their dinner.
Yesterday, I met with several county commissioners from throughout the state and state forestry officials to discuss the fire situation. Specifically, we talked about how existing funding might match up with the fires this summer. Most likely, it won't match up and will need to be supplemented. Just 2 years ago, we had to supplement the existing budget 11 million dollars to pay for the fires from the previous summer.
The state and the feds have worked out cost allocation to a very large degree, based mostly on who owns what percentage of the affected acreage. For private ground in unincorporated county, the state has set up a fire suppression fund. Counties are assessed $.01 per acre and $.001 per dollar of assessed valuation in unincorporated areas. This generates $450K/year, which the State matches, for funding fire fighting efforts on private ground. All the counties participate, except for Salt Lake and Weber Counties.
It makes sense that Salt Lake County doesn't participate, because it doesn't have many structures in unincorporated county that would likely be threatened by a wildfire and because the county has a lot of available resources to fight a fire (i.e., all the other fire departments in the valley). The (legitimate) rub for Weber County is that the formula works against Weber by factoring in lots of assessed valuation on commercial properties that would never be threatened by wildfire. Because Weber could have a lot of structures jeopardized by wildfire, we need to get this issue worked out.
posted by steve u. at 6/29/2005
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