About Firestorms

As regular readers know, I am always interested in learning more about weather as affects wildland firefighting and as affects the development of a wildfire. I would like to thank my friends at the NJFFS Section B10 website who a great video several days ago on firestorms. The video is part of a series called Weather Classroom by KREM 2 News, out of Spokane Washington, Meteorologist Thomas Patrick. The video that I am sharing with you is about Firestorms, based on Fire storms that burned near Spokane in October, 1991. While the wildfires he is speaking about burned in Washington and Orego, I think that his discussion is good science that can apply in areas outside of those States. Enjoy. Allow about 10 minutes to watch the video,

Direct link to video on YouTube from KREM 2 News

2021 wildfire season: IMET deployments as of August 19th

I have been thinking about the many wonderful NWS Incident Meteorologists who are currently deployed to wildfires, most but not all in the western United States, providing crucial weather forecasts for the area burned by a specific wildfire so that wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air will be alerted to upcoming weather so that they can be as safe as possible.

I contacted the US NWS IMETs recently asking them how many IMETs are currently deployed to wildfires including trainees. This is their response on Thursday evening, August 19th:

Currently we have about 30 qualified IMETs and 4 trainees out.  We have another 8 en route to incidents or to swap other IMETs out as they time out.

IMET deployments (obtained from US NWS IMETs Facebook Page on August 20th) from August 16th through August 19th include:

• Antelope Fire  burning in the Klamath National Forest near McCloud, Oregon
• McCash Fire burning in the Six Rivers National Forest near Somes Bar, California
• Caldor Fire burning in the Eldorado National Forest near Plymouth, California
• Monument Fire burning in the Trinity National Forest near Del Loma, California (2 IMETs)
• Ford Corkscrew Fire burning near Springdale, Washington
• Greenwood Fire burning in the Superior National Forest near Duluth, Minnesota
• Burnt Peak Fire burning in the Kootenai National Forest near Troy, Montana
• Bulldog Mountain Fire burning in the Colville National Forest near Colville, Washington
• Dixie Fire burning in the Lassen National Forest near Susanville, California
• Twenty Five Mile Fire burning in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest near Wenatchee, Washington
• McFarland Fire burning in the Shasta-Trinity Forest near Wildwood, California

IMETs typically are deployed for two weeks, some wildfires have two IMETs (not including IMET trainees). Thanks to all the IMETs deployed to wildfires. Thanks so much for your service during what may be challenging conditions. IMETs save lives. 

2020 wildfire season: a news report about an NWS IMET talking about an Oregon wildfire

 Thanks to my friends at the NWS Incident Meteorologist Facebook page who shared a great news report about one of their IMETs, Tom Wright. At the time this report on KEZI in Eugene Oregon aired on or about November 24th, Tom was working as an IMET on a wildfire in Oregon. Tom is a NWS Meteorologist in the NWS Medford OR Weather Forecast Office. You will be taken through a normal day in the life of an IMET. I learned a lot from this video, learning a little more about soundings and about the kestrel instrument that he uses. I am never quite sure how long a broadcast news station will keep the video and the report up on their website, but I think that this will be up for awhile. On June 23, 2021, I noticed that the video that I had embedded is no longer available, but the November 24th KEZI news report and may be found here.

2020 wildfire season: Washington (labor day weekend 2020)

 I thought, but was not sure that there was a small town in Washington State that was almost completely destroyed by a wildfire in early September. Thanks to a friend from Washington who told me that the town of Malden which I believe is in Whitman County, Washington. Most of the homes were destroyed. See these two video reports from early September. After you watch these two short videos, please read this update (dated October 9th) from NPR, 'Everything is gone': rural Washington struggles after 'blowtorch' of a wildfires.

Direct link to video 

Direct link to video

2020 wildfire season: Oregon (September 2020)

 My recent posts on the 2020 wildfire season have focused on the wildfires in California. But as most of you know from media reports, wildfires have devastated Oregon and Washington as well. Here is a fifteen minute video from the Northwest Sawyer documenting his escape from what I believe is the Riverside Fire that to date has burned 138,004 acres in the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon. I believe that this fire was first reported on September 8th. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today provides a good overview of the Oregon wildfires on September 13th, he reported that 53 structures were burned by the Riverside Fire.

Direct Link to video from Northwest Sawyer

2020 wildfire season IMET deployments (Sept 11 to Sept 24)

As the western United States is experiencing a devastating wildfire season, National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists (IMET) continue to be deployed to a large number of wildfires to give firefighters on a given incident the best possible weather forecast so that they may be safe as the work to fight wildfires and as necessary do their best to provide structure protection. Recent readers may know that I have been following the Bobcat Fire (113,986 acres) that is still burning in the Angeles National Forest near Pasadena California. I watched a couple of virtual public meetings (a day later) held be officials providing updates about the fire. In the two virtual public meetings that I watched, I heard the IMET then deployed to the fire provide an incident specific weather forecast. I had not thought about this aspect of what an IMET does. I know that they work hard to determine current and future incident specific weather conditions as well as providing briefings to firefighters. I admit that I had not thought that they would be present at briefings to brief the public. The presence of the IMET at the virtual public meeting spoke volumes to me. IMETs save lives.

Before I get to recent IMET deployments, I had the opportunity to correspond via social media with NWS meteorologists about fire weather including a representative from the NWS IMET office. I asked how many IMETs were currently deployed to wildfires. This is what they said: "Currently (September 23rd) 30 IMETs are deployed to fires. This is a record for this date. Historically, no more than 20 IMETs have been deployed on a single day past September 19th."

Here is a list of IMET deployments over the last two weeks, obtained from the National Weather Service IMET Facebook Page. Links are to the specific post about the deployment where you may find links for more information about the fire. IMET deployments are usually for two weeks. If IMETs are required at an incident beyond the two week deployment period, another IMET will rotate in. Looking at the list of deployments below, it appears that there might be more than one IMET (not including an IMET trainee) on some fires, or perhaps the deployment was shorter than two weeks. Any errors are mine.

September 11th

• Archie Creek Fire near Gilde, OR

September 13th

• Brattain Fire near Paisley, OR
• Dolan Fire near Big Sur, CA
• North Complex near Quincy, CA
• August Complex near Elk Creek, CA
• El Dorado Fire near Yucaipa, CA

September 14th

• Red Salmon Complex near Denny, CA
• Castle Fire part of the SQF Complex near Porterville, CA

September 15th

• Slater Fire near Happy Camp, CA (IMET trainee)
• Thielsen Fire near Chemult, OR
• Beachie Creek Fire near Detroit, CA

September 16th

• Cameron Peak Fire near Redfeather Lakes, CO
• Badger Fire near Oakley, ID

September 17th

• August Complex near Elk Creek, CA
• North Complex near Quincy, CA (IMET trainee)
• SQF Complex near Porterville, CA
• Creek Fire near Shaver Lake, CA (IMET trainee)

September 18th

• East Fork Fire near Hannah, UT
• Creek Fire near Shaver Lake, CA (IMET trainee)

September 19th

• El Dorado Fire near Yucaipa, CA

September 20th

• August Complex near Elk Creek, CA

September 21st

• Castle Fire part of SQF Complex near Porterville, CA
• Dolan Fire near Big Sur, CA
• Bobcat Fire near Pasadena, CA

September 22nd

• Archie Creek Fire near Gilde, OR
• Lionshead Fire near Warm Springs, OR
• Creek Fire near Shaver Lake, CA

September 24th

• Williams Fork Fire

2020 wildfire season: reflections on severe fire season in the western United States

 I have no adequate words to offer about the devastating wildfire season in parts of the western United States. I know that the wildland fire fighters on the ground and in the air are working very hard to protect you and your homes. They are stretched to the max. I am very thankful of their efforts, not just because I have some friends and family who live out west, but because I care. I care passionately. A couple of friends of mine have commented to me about the wildfires, I thank them for noticing and for their concern. and assure them that I am paying attention but there are too many for me to even to try to write about here. The tip of the iceburg is dramatized by: (1) a fire shelter deployment last Saturday (all ok) in Bozman Montana, (2) the rescue of over 200 campers by helicopters from a remote campground in the Sierra National Forest, CA, and (3) yet another fire shelter deployment, this one in Shaver Lake California where 14 firefighters deployed shelters on September 8, 1 is in critical condition and a second is in serious condition.

Those conversations got me thinking that I wanted to take time today to acknowledge these devastating wildfires and to offer my profound thanks to all of our wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air. Thank-you from the bottom of my heart. Stay safe. You are spending time away from your families and loved ones during a pandemic no less. Your sacrifice is appreciated. Know that I care.

One picture is worth a thousand words and to that end, I offer the photographic essay by the Capital Weather Gang of the Washington Post on September 9th.

I close with a couple of videos, the first one is raw footage of homes burning near Bear Creek California, while the video is of one fire it represents the situation in many towns across the west as wildfires threaten homes and businesses. The second video is about wildfires burning in Oregon and Washington. I offer these videos as an act of prayer for all those affected by this devastating wildfire season and the wildland firefighters in the air, on the ground, and their support teams. I will remember.

Direct link to video

Direct link to video

IMETs in action: July 23 2018

Wildfire activity is on the increase in the United States, according to the National Interagency Fire Center the national (wildfire) preparedness level was raised to four (on a five point scale) as I write this blog post. National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists, aka IMETS, are always busy during wildfire season, this one being no exception. They are perhaps, a little busier with the national preparedness level being four.

Among recent IMET deployments, with links to fire information from Inciweb where available, are:

• NWS Western Region Headquarters IMET deployed to the Sugar Pine Fire (near Prospect Oregon) on July 19th, current fire information from Inciweb at 886 acres burned, containment unknown.
• NWS Ohio River Forecast Center IMET trainee deployed to Sugar Pine Fire (near Prospect Oregon on July 21st.
• NWS Burlington VT IMET deployed to Lake Christine Fire (near Basalt Colorado) on July 20th, current fire information from Inciweb at 11,459 acres at 32 percent containment.
• NWS Portland OR IMET deployed to Timber Crater Fire (near Chemult Oregon).
• NWS Hanford California IMET deployed to Horse Creek Fire (near Mineral King, California) on July 22nd, current fire information from Inciweb at 30 acres with no containment
• NWS Elko Nevada IMET deployed to Owyhee Fire (near Owyhee, Nevada) on July 22nd, current fire information from Inciweb at 5,082 acres at 10 percent containment.

IMETs save lives. Stay safe everyone, and thanks to the wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air along with their support teams for working to keep us safe from wildfires.

Lockheed P2-V tanker in action (cockpit view) over Moses Lake WA (2016)

I shared a video from Bob Webb of a Lockheed P2-V tanker in action late last spring, May 5th to be precise. Here is another video from Bob Webb, this time shot from the cockpit of a P2-V tanker working the South Ward Fire near Moses Lake Washington in 2016. I love this video for the great footage, 12 minutes) shot from the cockpit, giving me a rare view from the cockpit of an air tanker flying a fire. Not the same as being there in person, but as close as I will ever get. Great footage!

As many of you may know, the 2017 wildfire season is the last season that Neptune Aviation's Lockheed P2-V tankers flew. The tankers were retired at the end of the season, see my October 2nd post. I understand that a couple of Neptune's P2-V Neptune's were brought out of retirement to help with the October 2017 northern California wildfires

Some of you may be interested in yet another of Bob's videos that Bill Gabbert shared on Fire Aviation in April 2017. I'd recommend watching that video as well.


Direct link to video from Bob Webb

A little about Washington State wildfire resources

I continue to write about State level wildfire resources in states where I have spent some time this summer. In early June I traveled to the west coast visiting Washington in the Pacific Northwest and then southern California.

Over the years that I have been writing this blog I have known of many wildfires in Washington and have a great deal of respect for their State wildfire agency, the Wildfire Division of the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (WDNR). The WDNR is very competent, working hard to keep their residents as safe as they can from wildfire danger. They do this with the following resources:

DNR Wildfire is the state's largest on-call fire department, with more than 1,300 employees trained and available to fight fires as needed. This includes more than 800 permanent DNR employees, 500 seasonal employees, about 117 wildland fire engines, eight helicopters and six single engine air tankers, which are under contract with DNR.

Additionally, the Department of Corrections works with DNR on a voluntary Correctional Camps Program that provides job training for approximately 300 inmates while meeting the state’s need for more wildland firefighters and firefighting support. Corrections crew members are able to earn minimal funds while providing cost-efficient support. (obtained from http://www.dnr.wa.gov/FightingFire on August 29, 2017)

I learned a little about their helitack program on the WDNR Aviation page, their eight UN-1H helicopters are equipped with buckets to drop water/foam on fires. In addition, they fly helitack crews to remote locations to provide initial attack on wildfires. More information about the helitack program is available on the WDNR Aviation page, and you will want to visit the WDNR flicker page for some photographs. For those of you who are interested in fire aviation, here is a link to a short history of the WDNR helitack program.

Finally, the WDNR has a nice page of wildfire information, including a map, with links for more information on current wildfires.

Next up: reflections on CAL FIRE.

IMETs on wildfires burning in the western USA

IMETs are working several wildfires currently burning in the western USA, including but not limited to wildfires listed below. If you click on the day of the week in the Facebook posts below you will see the date of the post. Acreage and containment information is current as of 10AM EDT on July 17th. What you see when you click on the link for each fire may differ depending on when you are accessing this page.

Draw Fire (Nevada): 26,872 acres, 70% containment




Rooster Combs Fire (Nevada): 218,380 acres, 71% containment



Brooklyn Fire (Arizona): 32,804 acres, 100% containment 



Tongue River Complex (Montana): 28,957 acres, 80% containment



Whittier Fire (California): 13,199 acres,  52% containment

More on wildfires burning in the western USA

On July 10th, I wrote about two of the wildfires burning in California (Alamo and Whittier). When I read the New York Times yesterday, I saw two articles (with pictures) about the wildfires burning out west: one article on the wildfires burning in California and the other article on wildfires burning in the Western USA and Canada (with pictures). Wildfires in Arizona, Montana, Nevada and British Columbia Canada to name a few. Here are some of the wildfires currently burning in each area at various stages of containment (acreage and containment information as of July 12th at 2:45 PM EDT).

Arizona
Frye Fire (48,443 acres, 88% containment)
Hilltop Fire (33,826 acres, 75% containment)
Brooklyn Fire (32,804 acres, 85% containment)

Montana
Tongue River Complex (28,684 acres, 55% containment)
Blue Ridge Complex (3,000 acres, no containment)
July Fire (11,174 acres, 70% containment)

Nevada
Roosters Comb (120,000 acres, 15% containment)
Draw Fire (25,249 acres, 60% containment)
Tabor Flats Fire (25,000 acres, 95% containment)

British Columbia, Canada
Gustafsen wildfire (5,000 hectares, estimated or 12, 355 acres, no containment)
Hanceville Fires (10,000 hectares, estimated or 24,711 acres, no containment)
150 Mile House Fire (2,600 hectares, estimated or 6,425 acres, 50% containment)

If you are interested in more photos of the recent wildfires, check out The Weather Channel online as they have 126 photos of the recent wildfires in an article dated July 11th.

Thanks to the ground and air crews and their support staffs for all you are doing to keep us safe. Stay safe!

Video of type 2 crew working 2015 Goodell Fire/Upper Skagit Complex (OR)

Here is another great video from Steve Konrad of a Tom Fery type 2 crew working the Goodell Fire/Upper Skagit Complex wildfires. I always enjoy Steve's videos. He has a way of letting me as a viewer can a small glimpse of what a type 2 hand crew does on a wildfire. I always learn something and I hope you do as well. Allow about ten minutes to watch the video. I have oodles of respect for all who work wildland fires, whether they be on the ground or in the air. Stay safe out there.


Direct link to video

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response: more maps & reflections

I have been writing about the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response of late. I know that there are stabilization treatments ongoing at the Soda Fire burn area that I have not written about. Should you so desire, these treatments along with a time schedule are described in the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization And Rehabilitation (ES&R) Plan. I'll post some other links a little later where you might find updates. I am hoping that this post is not my last post on the subject, but this may be my last post for awhile. With winter coming on, if it hasn’t already arrived at the Soda Fire burn area, I’m not sure how much more active emergency stabilization and rehabilitation treatments that they can do this winter. But what do I know? Perhaps there are things that they can do in the winter. Time will tell.

In the meantime, I will keep reading some of the documents that I talked about last week as well as doing my best to keep my eyes out for media reports and report back here.

I don’t know about you, but I have learned a lot about the lands that were burned in the Soda Fire as well as the all important Burned Area Emergency Response. I have grown to appreciate the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem. And of course, there is that magnificent bird, the sage grouse. Through the documents that are available (see the link above), the various photos and videos, and media reports, this little corner of a sagebrush-steppe ecosystem has come alive. I know that the ecosystem is hurting after the fire and I am very glad to know something about the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response Plan that will be ongoing for the next five years. 

I am delighted that there have been a lot of media attention on the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response as well as good information available through the Bureau of Land Management. As I write this the Facebook page is updated at least every few days with photos and links to local media reports.

• BLM Idaho Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation
• Soda Fire 2015 -- Facebook
• Soda Fire November 10th Drill Seeding photos & Videos on Flickr

I have been promising to focus a little on some of the Soda Fire ES&R maps available to the public that may be found here. Each map is about 18 MB and is in a pdf file. I love maps and is this case it gives me an idea of what areas are being treated. I was especially interested in two maps which I downloaded and converted to smaller graphic files (jpeg) that I am sharing here. These are the map showing all vegetation treatments and 2015 drill seeding that I referred to on November 30th and December 2nd. The images below are not high resolution, if you want higher resolution files you will want to go the links in the preceding sentence and download them.

Obtained on December 2, 2015 from BLM Idaho -- https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/mapset_view.do?projectId=52963&currentPageId=68942&documentId=64055

Obtained on December 2, 2015 from BLM Idaho -- https://eplanning.blm.gov/epl-front-office/eplanning/mapset_view.do?projectId=52963&currentPageId=68942&documentId=64060

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response: Drill Seeding

On November 30th I wrote about the challenges that invasive weeds pose after the loss of so much natural vegetation such as sagebrush that burned in the recent Soda Fire. If my understanding is correct, there may already be some established invasive weeds such as medusahead and cheatgrass. The concern here is how to prevent invasive weeds such as cheatgrass and medusahead from spreading to the sagebrush-steepe ecosystem that was burned in the Soda Fire. 

The BLM has recently begun to the crucial phase of emergency stabilization. The Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ES&R) Plan encompasses treatments for many threats, one of which is the threat posed by invasive weeds.  The treatment that I will discuss here involves seeding perennial grasses to prevent invasive weeds from taking over. Seeding will be done on the ground by drill seeding as well as aerial seeding from aircraft. Timing is crucial, the hope is that the perennial grass seeding that is being done this fall and early winter will germinate in the spring and thus prevent the invasive weeds from taking over. Perennial Grasses also make for good sage grouse habitat. Follow along as I share a few sources with you on the drill seeding treatment component of the Soda Fire ES&R. I don’t want to leave out aerial seeding operations which I understand are also going on, but I have no videos at the moment about the aerial seeding operations. If my understanding is correct, drill and aerial seeding will be going on for a total of five years including this year.

In the video from BLM Idaho that I am embedding below you will be introduced to the use of what are known as rangeland drills to begin to stabilize the burned areas to both stabilize the soil and prevent invasive weeds. As I understand it, the rangeland drills that the BLM is using are standard rangeland drills used in farming that are modified for use in this habitat. Rangeland drills prepare the land for seeding as well as spreading seed at appropriate depth.

Direct link to video from BLM Idaho on Youtube

BLM Idaho has a nice Flickr page with photos and a few short videos showing rangeland drills working on November 10th in the Soda Fire burn area.

On November 10th, at least two Idaho broadcast media outlets ran stories on reseeding areas burned in the Soda Fire, 7-KTVB and KIVI-TV6. I am never certain how long these links will be available, so if you are arriving at this post sometime later and these links are dead you will know why.  In the story from kivi-tv6 story and video from Kivi on drill seeding (video embedded below) Robert Bennett, a range technician for the BLM says:

When an area becomes dominated by invasive annuals, it does tend to burn more often. They are very fire prone.

And Cindy Fritz, a natural resource specialist for the BLM speaks about the Fall 2015 the drill seeding operations which are laying out perennial grasses in the burned area:

We’re putting them out this late in the year which is ideal. We want them to go through the winter and when they wake up and germinate in the spring, they are in perfect conditions.

Fritz goes on to speak to the fact that it will take 15 to 20 years to get back to the conditions that existed before the Soda Fire.

Here us a nice story with video from KIVI-TV6 about the BLM's emergency stabilization post Soda Fire.

In a report (with video) on drill seeding from 7KTVB,  Robert Bennet spaces about the threats to the sage grouse and how these threats are being addressed by the ES&R:

The two biggest threats for sage grouse are increase fire return and invasive annual grasses, which play into your fire return interval. So putting desirable plants out here to compete with invasive annuals will send this on a trajectory toward improved sage grouse habitat, or recovering the safe grouse habitat.

In addition to the sources that I have linked to above, you might also enjoy BLM Idaho's page devoted to the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation and the 2015 Soda Fire Facebook Page (with pictures and comments about the Soda Fire ES&R efforts this fall.

I do hope to write more about the Soda Fire Burned Area Emergency Response this coming Friday, December 4th. Stay tuned. 

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response: challenges ahead & invasive weeds

The Soda Fire burned tens of thousands of acres of sagebrush. Sagebrush is the habitat for the Sage Grouse, see my November 27th article to learn more about the Sage Grouse and U.S. Department of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell's secretarial order 3336 -- Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration. Invasive plants (or weeds) pose a very real challenge to the post-fire recovery. With the loss of so much sagebrush from the Soda Fire, if nothing is done, the loss of so much sagebrush could give invasive weeds a foothold before the sagebrush and other natural vegetation have a chance to grow back. The Sage Grouse, a magnificent bird, needs sagebrush. Among the treatments under the Soda Fire ESR Plan are treatments aimed at preventing invasive weeds such as cheatgrass and medusahead from taking over.

In the video below, you will learn a little about more about the challenges facing the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation. This will be the first test of secretarial order 3336.


Direct link to video from Idaho Statesmen on Youtube

The second video is also from the Idaho Statesmen and you will listen to learn a little about the strategy for protecting and restoring the sagebrush steepe environment from invasive weeds, go here to watch the video.

Here are a few more articles on the Soda Fire ES&R from last August and the visit of BLM Director Neil Kornze:

• Idaho Statesmen, August 17th, rehab starting before fire contained
• Idaho Statesmen, Letters from the West, Neil Kornze visit, August 27, 2015
• KBOI news 2, August 26th, Neil Kornze visit
• Idaho Statesmen, September 22nd, Sage Grouse decision, Fish & Wildlife Service decision that Sage Grouse can survive without endangered species status.

The BLM has a nice webpage on the 2015 Soda Fire Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation that may be found here, with links to more documents and maps (See the article that I wrote on November 25th for a short discussion on some of these documents. I'll be referring to some of the maps in later articles.

Here is a map that I obtained from the  Soda Post-Fire Rehabilitation Inciweb maps page on November 19, 2015. According to the description on the Soda Post-Fire Rehabilitation Inciweb maps page, this is a"Fire map showing Sage Grouse habitat posted on August 22, 2015 at 7:44 PM."

"2015_08_22-19.44.49.188-CDT" obtained on November 19, 2015 from http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/maps/4546/

I am still working on the remaining articles in this series, so stay tuned. I'll be posting the next article in this series on December 2nd. 

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response - Intro (3 of 3)

My final post in my three-part introduction to the Soda Fire (2015) Burned Area Emergency Response concerns Secretarial Order 3336. A friend told me about Secretarial Order 3336 that applies to the ES&R treatments. Not knowing much other than it applies to the ES&R at the Soda Fire, I did a quick internet search. Fortunately, the first link that I came was a news release on the main NIFC page. I don’t know how to link to this, fortunately, the summary on the implementation of Secretarial Order 3336 — Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management and Restoration should still be on the main page. This is what NIFC has to say about Secretarial Order 3336:

This Implementation Plan (“Plan”) is the roadmap to accomplish the objectives of Secretarial Order 336 — Rangeland Fire Prevention, Management, and Restoration (“Order’) signed by Secretary Jewell on January 5, 2015. The plan provides a short background describing the importance of the sagebrush-steppe ecosystem and why the Order was issued.

Go here  for more information where you will see a discussion of the importance of the sage-steppe rangeland ecosystem as a breeding habit for the sage-grouse. One of the habitats for the sage-grouse is the area that was burned in the 2015 Soda Fire. As I understand it, one of the objectives of the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization & Rehabilitation (ES&R) treatments referred to in the Soda Fire ES&R planning document is to restore the grasses and vegetation that the sage-grouse depends on.

I found more information for you on conserving the Sage-Grouse Habitat that may be found on this webpage from the BLM. Finally, I have never seen a Sage-Grouse, I enjoyed the two videos that I am embedding below and I hope that you do as well.

Direct link to video by Bob Wick, BLM

Direct link to video from BLM National

Next week I will continue with writing about the Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response by writing about some of the ES&R treatments.

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response - Intro (2 of 3)

My introduction to the Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response has morphed into three parts. (Part 1 may be found here) Next week I will write more about some of the treatments and activities that are included in the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (Soda Fire ES&R). But first, I am going to spend a little time in this article giving a brief description of the Soda Fire ES&R planning document and a couple of documents tied into Federal and State regulations (discussed below). I will be referring to these documents in later articles so it is appropriate to provide this brief introduction. I will be posting my final introductory article (part 3) on November 27th on Secretarial Order 3336.

Before I go any further, for those of you who might want to bypass my brief description of the documents I discuss below and get right to learning more about the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation, please go to the Idaho BLM page on the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation and/or the Soda Fire (2015) Facebook Page (should be available to public without a Facebook account).

One of the many pieces of Federal and State Legislation and Regulations that those who prepared the Soda Fire ESR Plan (released on September 30, 2015) had to consider and be in compliance with is the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). See the Soda Fire ESR Final Decision (p. 4-5) for a full listing of Federal and State legislation and regulations as well as Land Use Plans that the Soda Fire ESR Plan conforms with.

NEPA and the various types of documents that NEPA requires are somewhat complicated. In searching for a simple explanation of NEPA, I came upon a nice webpage from the Colorado Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that briefly describes how the BLM uses NEPA. They refer to the Colorado BLM but I believe that their description applies to the Idaho and Oregon BLM:

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) assures that the BLM (and other federal agencies) will consider the impact of an action on the human environment before decisions are made and the action is taken. It requires that NEPA documents concentrate on issues that are significant to the action in question. The NEPA process is intended to help public officials make better decisions based on an understanding of environmental consequences, and take actions that protect, restore, and enhance the human environment.

When an activity or action is proposed on BLM administered public lands in Colorado, we conduct an interdisciplinary review of the environmental effects of the proposal so that the relevant environmental information is available to citizens and public officials. (obtained on November 24, 2015 from the Colorado Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

In regards to NEPA and the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation, I believe that the other activity or action referred to above is the the Soda Fire ES&R planning document.

The first step in preparing the ES&R planning document is that an Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation (ES&R) team (aka the Soda Fire Interdisciplinary Team) started field work on or about August 20th. Recall that the Soda Fire was contained on August 23rd. The ES&R team did five days of field work, finishing on or about August 25, 2015. See these two news releases for more information:

• Soda Fire ES&R field work begins 
• Soda Fire ES&R field work ends

Public participation is an important part of this process. According to the news releases on the Inciweb Soda Fire Post Rehab news release page the ES&R team met with various members of the public including but not limited to Ranchers and other private landowners, the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes, and representatives of nearby State and Local agencies. The Soda Fire ESR Plan was released on September 30, 2015 (see below).

Note, the Inciweb Soda Fire Post Rehab page is still available as I write this, but is no longer being updated.

If you go to the document page for the Soda Fire ESR/BAER Plan there are three documents listed as of November 25, 2015. I will be referring to some or all of these documents in later documents.

• Soda Fire ESR Plan (released September 30, 2015) The ESR plan outlines costs and treatments under the Soda Fire ES&R Plan for Oregon and Idaho.
• Soda Fire ESR Plan Determination of NEPA Adequacy (DNA) (released October 19, 2015) "documents that previously prepared NEPA documents adequately describe the environmental consequences of a newly proposed action" (obtained on November 24, 2015 from http://www.blm.gov/co/st/en/BLM_Information/nepa/definitions.html#documentation_of_nepa_adequacy. In our case, I believe that the newly proposed action is the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Plan.
• Soda Fire ESR Final Decision (released October 19, 2015). This is a notice of the BLM Manager’s Final Decision regarding the Soda Fire Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Plan. That is, the Boise ID BLM District  and the Vale OR District determined that the an Environmental Impact Statement is not required (see this NEPA definition page from the Colorado BLM for a very brief defintion of an Environmental Impact Statement). Both Managers say: "With completion of DOI-BLM-ID-B030-2015-0016-DNA, I have determined that implementing proposed Soda Fire ESR treatments identified in this decision would have similar or the same effects as described in the NEPA documents identified above and does not constitute as a major Federal action that will not adversely impact the human environment.  Therefore the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement is not required" (Soda Fire ESR Final Decision, p. 6 and p 21).

Soda Fire (2015): Burned Area Emergency Response - Intro (1 of 3)

The Soda Fire, probably caused by lightning on or about August 10th of this year, burned 279,144 acres before it was controlled on August 25th. The fire was declared "out" on September 9th. See the Inciweb page for the Soda Fire and the Soda Fire 2015 Facebook Page for more information. If you are arriving on this page some time after I first posted this article, I am not quite sure how long either the Inciweb page for the 2015 Soda Fire or the Soda Fire 2015 Facebook page, probably for several months.

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today did a great job reporting on the Soda Fire in this post (scroll to bottom for earliest information) and he shared a video of a fire whirl shot by Graig Fluer on August 17th.

Here is some footage of the Soda Fire shot on August 20th


Direct link to video

And a 48 hour time lapse of the fire (August 12th to August 14th)


Direct link to video

Shortly after the fire was contained planning begain for the burned area emergency response. I'll be writing a couple of articles on the plans for the emergency stabilization and rehabilitation of the burned area starting on November 20th. In the meantime, if you want to see my earlier posts on Burned Area Emergency Response, go to this link (posts tagged BAER).

Before leaving, here is some aerial footage of the burned area shot on August 18th.


Direct link to video

Fish and Wildlife Officer works very small wildfire in WA

I saw a nice Youtube Video uploaded from Animal Planet about the difference that one Fish and Wildlife Officer made by discovering, reporting, and working on a very small wildfire in Washington State. The Fish and Wildlife Officer that you see in the video is Officer Tyler Bahrenburg. I don't know anything more about the small wildfire discussed in the video. Hopefully the engine and crew that arrived and any additional groundpounders that arrived later were about to contain and control the widlfire while it was still small.

direct link to video on Youtube from Animal Planet

I’d like to thank my friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page who shared this video on October 9th on their Fire Videos of the Week Page (videos change weekly).