Wildland Firefighters Are Risking Their Mental Health
In 2015, Danny Brown discovered his friend, Dave Ruhl's burnt corpse lying among the lava rocks after the Frog Fire erupted in Modoc National Forest in northern CA. For the past 4 years, Danny has not only battled PTSD and the effects of that traumatic day but also the BLM after they forced him into a medical retirement.Michael Hanson/HCN
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This piece was originally published in High Country News and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership.
An hour or so before dawn in late July 2015, just south of the California-Oregon border, Danny Brown turned off the highway into the Modoc National Forest and headed toward a menacing glow of flames to the west. As he drove through a labyrinth of dirt logging roads, the smoke thickened in the beams of his headlights. At 46, Brown had been a wildland firefighter with the Bureau of Land Management for 14 seasons. He was a leader, reliable and steady. Within hours, all of that would change.
Fire behavior analyst calculates the probability of embers from Mount Rushmore fireworks igniting wildfires
With a large fireworks show slated to be carried out this evening over the Mount Rushmore sculpture and the surrounding pine forest, I solicited a fire expert, a Fire Behavior Analyst, to develop a forecast to predict the danger presented by the burning embers that fall to the ground.
‘Zombie Fires’ in the Arctic Pump Out Carbon at Record Pace
Soaring temperatures that reached 38 degrees celcius in the Arctic Circle reignite wildfires.
Amazon rainforest fires sharply increased in June – raising concerns about a repeat of last year's devastation
The number of fires in the Amazon jumped 20 percent this June compared to June last year, raising concerns that the rainforest could see a repeat of last year's destructive fires.
Trump’s Contagion Road Show Heads West
Fireworks have been banned at Mt. Rushmore for 10 years due to their wildfire danger and pollution of scarce local water supplies by perchlorate — which causes endocrine and reproductive problems and is classified as a “likely human carcinogen” by the EPA. Illustrating the depth of his ignorance, Trump said “What can burn? It’s stone,” totally ignoring the surrounding dry Ponderosa pine forests that readily burn.
Arizona reels as three of the biggest wildfires in its history ravage state
For residents of Tucson in southern Arizona, the Santa Catalina Mountains in the Coronado national forest are known as a hub for hiking, mountain biking and other outdoor recreation.
San Quentin COVID-19 Outbreak Spreads To Susanville Prison, Threatens Inmate Firefighting Work Crews
SACRAMENTO (CBS SF) -- A new threat from the out-of-control COVID-19 outbreak at San Quentin State Prison, where nearly a third of the inmate population has become infected with the disease, came to light Wednesday during a state Senate hearing probing the handling of the crisis by corrections officials.
Indonesian province declares state of emergency over forest fires
JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesia's third-largest province declared a state of emergency from Wednesday after identifying more than 700 fires, as the Southeast Asian nation braces for its annual fire season.
The declaration comes as Indonesia scales back protection for some of the world's most important tropical forests. The team that identifies fires and helps put them out has seen its budget halved due to the economic impact of the coronavirus, an environment ministry official told Reuters last month.
Grand Jury: Shasta County was left at higher risk for fire due to lack of fuel management
REDDING, Calif. — The things that make the Northstate and Shasta County so beautiful are the same things that can make it more prone to fire danger. A recent Shasta County Grand Jury investigation of the Carr Fire and the conditions that led to the fire becoming explosive and destructive focused on the need for local officials and citizens to shift their focus from suppression to prevention.
How a PG&E Contractor With a Sketchy Past Made Millions After California’s Deadliest Fire
It was a last-ditch effort to save a scofflaw business. For years, the owners of Bay Area Concrete Recycling had run an unlicensed dump in the city of Hayward, California. Neighbors complained about dust blowing off a massive pile of crushed concrete. A city water pollution expert warned the runoff could be contaminating San Francisco Bay. City planners had fined the company nearly $60,000 and ordered it shut down.
Siberian Forest Fires Increase Fivefold in Week Since Record High Temperature
The number of fires in the vast north Asian region of Siberia increased fivefold this week, according to the Russian forest fire aerial protection service, as temperatures in the Arctic continued higher than normal in the latest sign of the ongoing climate crisis.
Bighorn Fire: Questions raised about effectiveness of flame retardant used against wildfires
“That was an amazing amount of retardant, a phenomenal amount,” Ingalsbee said of the 358,000 gallons. “This sure smells like a retardant bombing boondoggle.”
Hands on the land, heart in community: Returning cultural fires
It was a California Summer. I was working in a plant nursery tucked into the Cascade Mountain Range—blue mountains in the distance and rivers and creeks to splash in.
But I couldn't clearly see my hand outstretched in front of me. It's the smoke. Like almost every summer of my childhood, a wildfire raged in a nearby forest.
Looking back, what was most disturbing was not the smoke or the thick layer of ash on my car after work, it was how normal this was. Evacuations and high severity forest fires are an almost annual occurrence. California's forest fire problem now routinely makes international news as entire cities are destroyed.
Now more than ever California forest fires have become synonymous with death, destruction, and long-term economic depression.
Senators Machin, Udall introduce firefighter protections bill during COVID-19 pandemic
A new bill introduced by U.S. Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Tom Udall (D-NM), ranking members of the Committee of Energy and Natural Resources and Appropriations Subcommittee on Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies respectively, proposes to test and ensure workers’ compensation coverage for federal firefighters working during COVID-19.
As a Virus Does, so Too a Fire
For months now, plans have been made and remade for how best to respond to wildfires within the pandemic. The effort has been herculean: national plans, regional plans, unit plans, down to the individual fire crew. Plans that reengineer how we’ve performed routine business for decades. Plans that change how to sustain the life and health of dozens, or thousands, of firefighters who are otherwise all working on one collective mission. It is a reflection of the very best attributes of this workforce’s skill set. But a key element of the U.S. wildfire service’s plan to fight fires in the midst of the pandemic could end up injecting even more uncertainty and risk into the equation.
COVID-19 prompts new fire strategies: Officials aim to put blazes out quickly rather than burning off undergrowth
Marshall said COVID-19 has prompted a new statewide strategy aimed at extinguishing wildfires as soon as possible.
“In the past, we’d let some fires burn and let them burn out some of the undergrowth if it wasn’t threatening structures and try and clear out some of that to help reduce the long-term fire danger,” Marshall said. “This year, that’s not going to be the case. There’s going to be a really aggressive effort to put out fires early on.”
Guest View: The definition of insanity
It's become a trite but true saying the definition of insanity is doing the same acts over and over yet expecting different results. This is definitely the case with timber industry lobbyists stridently arguing for increased logging and firefighting on public lands.
Protestors Decry Logging Planned Near Springfield
“It’s a really nice piece of public land, close to Springfield, close to Eugene. And so we’re out here and we’re just asking that Seneca not clear-cut our public lands.”
Cowen says the group dispersed after about 45 minutes. They'd planned to be there for about an hour. The BLM says the logging would not increase fire risks to the area. A Seneca spokesperson, Casey Roscoe, says the protestors are spreading falsehoods. She says the project is not a clear-cut and that a fuel specialist who analysed the project says it does not increase fire risk
Firefighters train for wildland fire season
With summer on the way, Colorado Springs firefighters are gearing up for another wildland fire season.
Friday 27 training recruits from the current fire academy and five firefighters from the previous academy were out doing some hands-on training.
Cerro Grande Fire remains burned into New Mexico's memory 20 years later
“They didn’t have enough people,” said Tom Ribe of Santa Fe, author of the 2010 book Inferno by Committee, which recounts the Cerro Grande Fire with a critical eye. “They needed to have two or three times the people on the prescribed fire from Day One.” Those overseeing the fire were in a hurry to get it done, which led to errors in judgment, said Ribe, a longtime public lands advocate.