A break from the brutal heat

We woke up to some much needed rain this morning in Missoula. Its been hotter than hell for what seems like the last 4 to 6 weeks. The weather Office reported that April May and June were the second driest on record. So far no real big fires in Montana. Canada on the other hand is burning up and sending smoke signals down this way, could be a message? ;-)

The temps have been in the 90s consistently for weeks. The rivers are record low and fire restrictions are pushing close to stage 2 soon. The rain feels nice.

Forest Service Chief predictions on wildfire season

Clear your brush, pack  your bags and hope you don't have asthma!

Link article

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell presented the Forest Service forecast on the upcoming 2015 fire season in testimony today before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Forest Service researchers expect 2015 to continue the trend of above average fire activity.

"Above normal wildland fire potential exists across the north central United States and above normal wildland fire potential will threaten many parts of the West this summer," said Chief Tidwell. "We anticipate another active fire year, underscoring the need to reform our wildfire funding."

The forecast indicates there is a 90 percent chance that this year's Forest Service fire suppression costs will be between $794 million and $1.657 billion, with a median estimate of $1.225 billion, potentially forcing the diversion of funding from other vital programs to support suppression operations. Any costs above the median is greater than the "10 year average" and would force the Forest Service to leverage funding from other land management programs. Diverting funds to cover the cost of wildfire suppression affects other critical Forest Service programs and services, said Tidwell, including efforts to reduce wildfire risk through mechanical thinning, prescribed fires, and other means.

Wildfire suppression costs have increased as fire seasons have grown longer and the frequency, size, and severity of wildfires has increased due to changing climatic conditions, drought, hazardous fuel buildups, insect and disease infestations, nonnative invasive species, and other factors. Funding has not kept pace with the cost of fighting fire. Over the last 10 years, adjusting for inflation, the Forest Service has spent an average of almost $1.13 billion on suppression operations annually.

The President's Fiscal Year 2016 budget includes a proposal to reform the way that wildfire suppression is funded. Aligned with the Wildfire Disaster Funding Act, these reforms are necessary to ensure the Forest Service continues to deliver the full scope of its mission.

Chief Tidwell said the Forest Service has the capability and responsibility to protect life, property, and natural resources. The responsibility to respond to wildfire is not isolated to the Forest Service. It works extensively with partners within the Department of Interior (DOI) as well as State, tribal and local firefighting organizations to support wildland fire management operations. These cooperators are essential to ensuring that every wildfire receives an appropriate, risk informed, and effective response regardless of the jurisdiction.

Within the Fiscal Year (FY) 15 appropriation for Wildland Fire Management, the Forest Service will be able to mobilize approximately 10,000 firefighters for the upcoming fire season, as well as up to 21 airtankers available for operations on exclusive use contracts, additional air tankers available through "Call When Needed" contracts, and the capability to mobilize cooperator air tankers, if available, through agreements with the State of Alaska and Canada. In coordination with the military there are also eightMobile Airborne Firefighting System-capable C-130's available to meet surge requirements, as well as an extensive fleet of more than 100 helicopters available to support operations.

The Forest Service has worked collaboratively with its partners to develop the National Cohesive Wildland Fire ManagementStrategy, of which fuel treatment is an essential component. In 2015, $32 million of the Hazardous Fuels appropriation was allocated to 50 projects in areas with a likelihood of high intensity fire within populated areas or near important watersheds for municipal water supply.

The Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program also assists in the agency's work with partners to conduct hazardous fuel treatments and ecosystem restoration that encourages economic and social sustainability, leverages local resources with national and private resources, reduces wildfire management costs, and addresses the utilization of forest restoration byproducts to offset treatment costs and benefit local economies.

The mission of the Forest Service, part U.S. Department of Agriculture, is to sustain the health, diversity and productivity of the Nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The agency manages 193 million acres of public land, provides assistance to state and private landowners, and maintains the largest forestry research organization in the world.
Tavis Campbell
IAFF Local 271
406.546.2956 : campbelltavis@gmail.com
Stepping Up: A Guide to The Ridge at Bridger Bowl

Spring time

Just as in years past, I continue to speculate and watch the fire weather forecast in the spring. Why? I don't know exactly. But I usually find myself with extra time on my hands during Spring time. I also think it's some sadistic thing that carries over from my days with the Forest Service. I only did 6 seasons with them, but it left a lasting mark. I enjoy my city fire job much more than the dirty days of the FS, but somehow I still like fighting a good old fashioned forest fire. The vagrant wandering style, camp food, monotony and some hard earned cash is sometime fun.

While I am not hoping for smokey skies this summer, things are still looking a bit ominous across the West. California continues to face serious drought and lack of snow pack. As Unofficial Networks put it:  "Tahoe had one shitty season. Squaw Valley received a measly 79″ at their base this entire season. . As of today, April 23th, 2015, Lake Tahoe’s snowpack is at 0% of average. Other regions have not faired much better with Central Oregon at just 9% of average, Northern Washington’s Cascade Mountains at 6% and Utah having the statistically worst ski season in history." That is some scary shit right there. 

The spring has been nice here in Missoula. We've had some very nice weather and quite a bit of it dry. The family and I have been able to enjoy some hikes and mountain bikes rides. Make hay while the sun shines right? Will turned 3 on Easter and we celebrated with a crazy amount of candy. I ducked down to the Paradise Valley for some shed hunting with my good friends. 

Rim Fire - one of California's largest fires

Wow, impressive photography




 It's now estimated at 220,000 acres and over 5000 firefighters. Bigtime.

 Here's a great aerial view from one of the MAFFs tankers:

Packing the bags

It's beginning a little early this year, I was kinda looking forward to enjoying the rest of my vacation. Oh well, Gold Creek here I come.

1600 strikes over W. MT and Idaho

lionmerchant — Tuesday April 24, 2012

More than 1,600 lightning strikes peppered central Idaho and western Montana on Monday, prompting state officials to schedule a patrol flight to scout for new wildfires.

Initial attack crews responded to two lighting starts Monday morning, one near Florence and the other near Seeley Lake.

The drying conditions led the Missoula County Fire Protection Association to raise the fire danger to high effective today.

http://m.helenair.com/news/local/storms-bring-lightning-strikes-to-central-idaho-western-montana/article_76687a28-e816-11e2-bb55-0019bb2963f4.html?mobile_touch=true

Ruh-Oh! 2013 Fire season outlook

graphic courtesy of Missoulian

Its way to early to early to be having fires in Western Montana. Just last night a 200 acre fire erupted SE of Philipsburg, wow. Best of wishes to one of our friends that lives very close to that area. 

 

Here's to hoping we get some more spring moisture. I had also been suspecting something was a miss with the snowpack, as I looked at the Lolo Pass camera, I noticed a remarkable difference in past years snowpacks in May. Take a look below:

My 2010-11 Lolo Pass snowpack timelapse - http://vimeo.com/33911102

A less interesting snow year - http://vimeo.com/12267052

Missoulian article is here:

The coming wildfire season looks tough for most of the western United States, but western Montana firefighters are expecting an average summer on the fire line.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Interior Secretary Sally Jewell warned on Monday that national budget cuts mean 500 fewer ground personnel on fire lines this summer. They added money would be tight for preseason hazardous-fuels removal and postseason restoration work.

America Remembers

 Thanks to those that gave their lives to help better others. We won't forget.

Historical snow data

Snow is really the last thing I want to think about now. But it is interesting. The northern Rockies have had some good years this last decade. Take a look at this nerdy table below.

Fires are popping to the east of the divide in Montana. Their grass is dried out reportedly, while ours in Missoula is still deep green.

Heres to hoping the smoke never gets too thick in the valley this summer!

Click here if you are a snow nerd!

Al-Qaida infiltrates Montana

Not really, but they are threatening to burn our forests. An article in today's Missoulian gave me a couple chuckles. For some reason I don't think terrorists would want to come to Montana.

Maybe they ought to take a look at how some of the folks around here deal with the wolf situation. Bring it.

 

So it turns out this isn't the first time we seen such thing in the media about the threat of attack on our forests. The above image was printed by US Forest Service in 1943. Anybody seen any suspicious activity lately?

Rocky Mountain Wildfires Set to Intensify?

Rocky Mountain Wildfires Set to Intensify? | NewWest.Net

Thought this was interesting. Although, right now it doesn't seem as if anything could ever burn in Montana. The cold and wet continue. I was out in the woods yesterday at 6500ft doing my sawyer re-certification and guess what? We froze our asses off. It was 40 degrees and we had hats & gloves on. Lame. Bring on summer

New fire engine

Missoula Fire Department is the proud owner of a brand new spanking fire engine. We took delivery of it a few weeks ago and should be in service soon. This is the first engine MFD has with the roll up doors.

Here are specs on it if you are nerdy enough to care:

Saber Pumper New!
Delivered to: Missoula Fire Department, Montana
Delivered: August 2010
Job: 23216

Saber Chassis with a 12" Raised Roof
Cummins ISL 425hp Engine
Allison Gen IV 3000 EVS Transmission
Hose Tray on the Front Bumper
500 Gallon Poly Tank
1250 CS Single Stage Waterous Pump
Husky 12 Foam System
Pierce Hydraulic Ladder Rack
Onan Homesite 6500 Generator

Devastating Russian wildfires

Fire season in the western US seems to have been checked by regular rain/thunderstorms. Most of the nation has not seen any sizable fires yet this year, staying below Preparedness Level II thus far. The torrential downpours have been an almost daily occurrence for the last 2 weeks in Missoula. Everyone seems to comment on the mild summer we've seen so far. There hasn't even been a day that busted 100, I can dig that.

But over in Russia, the conditions have been quite the opposite. --

Moscow health authorities announced Monday that the number of deaths per day in the Russian capital had nearly doubled to 700 as the city and most of central Russia entered the seventh week of a heat wave. High temperatures, hovering around 100 degrees on some days, have destroyed 30 percent of the nation's grain crops and triggered massive fires in forests and peat bogs that alone have killed more than 50 people and devastated dozens of villages. - From the Seattle Times article



Another article on Russian smokejumpers

Rockies wildfire prediction

Yep its yet another post related to fire season and its predictions. Just like always only time will tell. We've started to see the nice warm days and some winds. The lower elevations grasses are curing quickly and we've seen our fair share of lightning already. There have been two stumps that tried to burn, lightning strikes I assume, one up near the M and one up Patty Canyon (several weeks ago)

The below highlights were taken from an article over on NewWest.net

• Average fire season throughout the Northern Rockies.
• Below normal potential fire in northern Idaho, far western Wyoming, and western Montana through mid-July due to a cool, wet spring that has shortened the fire season at high altitudes.
• At low elevations, fire fuel is above normal and should burn out by late July.
• La Niña will likely lead to a higher frequency of lightening in the Northern Rockies for the summer.
• Best predictions indicate a short, active fire season in August and September across the Rocky Mountain West that will likely diminish from late September to early October.

Some visual stimulation to go along

Station fire timelapse - southern california burning

Some very impressive time lapse photograpy of the Station Fire in Southern California from Brandon Riza, check out http://www.brandonriza.com/.

And tragically, from the Billings Examiner:

Fire officials announced yesterday that the Station fire, currently burning in Angeles National Forest, claimed the lives of two firefighters Sunday afternoon. The deaths occurred when the firemen's vehicle ran off the edge of a mountain road while they were working to control the intense flames near Mt Gleason. Deputy Fire Chief Mike Bryant made the announcement after the families were notified.

These were the first two deaths caused by the fire; several civilians were previously injured after failing to evacuate from their homes near the fire.

Meanwhile, the fire continued to rage through Sunday night and Monday morning consuming more than 85,000 acres of land. With only 5% containment, the fire is expected to continue growing in all directions. Estimates for full containment have now been pushed back to September 15th......

While the Station fire rages in the Angeles National Forest, a second fire erupted in the San Bernadino National Forest. Dubbed the Oak Glen fire, the blaze started Sunday afternoon and quickly expanded to burn close to 1,000 acres by Monday morning. Starting in the hills just south of Oak Glen Road, the fire's potential to expand even more is great given the terrain and continued hot weather across Southern California.

Deep Draw fire

I was up on the Deep Draw fire driving a water tender for 8 days. Turned out to be not a whole lot of fire action, but the scenery was pretty nice. A few pics from the last 2 weeks:

Mt. Sentinel burns in Missoula

*Images from www.newwest.net
Last Wednesday I was hanging out at home when a friend called and asked if I was on the fire. "What fire?" I asked as I ran out side to see what he was talking about. Holy crap! Fire was racing up the side of the "M" with grey smoke pouring off the top of Sentinel.

Turns out, 2 boys (7 and 8 years old) were playing with a lighter burning phone books at the base of the hill. I would have put money on it that it was a firework, but unfortunately not. Those two little boys are going to be a lot of trouble w/ their parents.

I was still on light duty with the old knee, I sat a watched the action from town. I kept a watchful eye in between batters at McCormick Field as I kept score and drank a beer.

The fire ended up being about 360 acres and mostly burned grass and brush. Although the fire got into the timber, fuel moistures were still high enough that all the trees escaped unscathed.

Here's a great video that Firewater Films put together of the action

Some old school fire pictures

I dunno, maybe it was the heat. We had three 90 degrees days this weekend, way to hot for this time of year. Apparently summer thinks its time to turn on the heat. Anyway, the 80 deg. living room pushed me into the basement, trying to escape the heat. I found my old fire album and scanned some pictures. Kinda cool looking at them. Enjoy.

The photos are from 1993, 1994, 1996, 1998, 1999. Some the areas I remember going - All over Nevada, the Big Bar Complex, the Idaho City Complex, Corral-Payette Complex, McCall, Sesech