10 Ways that the Climate Crisis, Wildfires and Militarism are Intertwined
The war on wildland fire is simply an extension of our country’s extreme militarism – a place where veterans of foreign wars, wanna-be cops, and other conservative-minded men, mostly, can assemble, bond, and wrap themselves in a narrative of strength, heroism and sacrifice. There is a place for men and women to suppress fires near homes and vulnerable infrastructure. However, claiming glorious victory when fires are easiest to suppress, go out on their own, or when a break in the weather moderates conditions is disingenuous.
We Need Progressive Fire Management in Southern Oregon
This is a proposal for fire management changes in Southwestern Oregon.
Oregon Governor Wildfire Response Council - A Lost Opportunity
This post concentrates on the work of the Fire Suppression Committee of the Governor's Wildfire Response Council (WRC), relying on draft policy recommendations issued on September 16, 2019
Spotlight: FUSEE Board Members
Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology would like to welcome its two newest Board Members, Bill Tripp and Taro Pusina.
World on Fire
It's no wonder that we live in a society rife with depression, adolescent suicide, mass shootings, and opioid addiction. One might think that all this despair was driven solely by economic distress and hopelessness - the inability to even get one rung up on the ladder to prosperity, but I believe that there are deep feedback loops connecting humans and the natural world.
Overton’s Window Opens
The FUSEE street team, Madeline Cowen and myself, have been hard at work here in the north of Scotland, at the venerable Findhorn Foundation intentional spiritual community. We are here for the Climate Change and Consciousness conference, and we are a bit more than halfway through. Record-breaking Earth Day temperatures were followed immediately by a twelve square mile wildfire, threatening a nearby wind farm. A pall of smoke hung over Findhorn on Tuesday, and fire was on everyone’s mind, if not their lips. Our mission, aside from adding our voice to the chorus, was to bring more balance to the discussion of wildfires, as nearly every presenter used the language or visuals of wildfire destruction in their presentations to paint the dystopian future of runaway climate change.
Make America Rake Again
Approaching the holidays, phantoms of fairy tales danced through my head in my dreams at night. Though sometimes those dreams turned to horror with the faces of Sonny Purdue and Ryan Zinke attached to crazy meth-addicted hillbilly caricatures, sort of like the characters of Squidbillies. And of course, they were just part of the zany Trump clown car teetering from one crisis to another, spilling blood, hydraulic fluid, and incompetent agency heads all the way down the hill behind the wreckage. I reflected back on the 2018 fire season, still ongoing back in California…
CWCG Shuffles Federal Incident Management Teams (IMTs) for 2019
The California Wildland Fire Coordinating Group (CWCG) is the interagency body in California that helps arrange and manage agreements, develop standards and stand-up eleven IMTs each fire season to manage increasingly deadly and destructive wildfires.
Stephen Pyne on Recent California Wildfires
Stephen Pyne, a FUSEE collaborator and ally, as well as distinguished fire historian, was joined last Friday by Alexandra von Meier, and urban electrical grid specialist, to discuss the devastation witnessed during the past two seasons of California wildfires and how this might be avoided in the future. Their discussion was moderated by Ira Flatow, on Science Friday, a radio show heard on public radio stations across the country and distributed by WNYC Studios.
Fire, Smoke and Inversions Explained
Video recorded on the Hirz Fire, FUSEE Board Member, Mike Beasley, along with the Incident Meteorologist and Air Resource Advisor describe the nature and importance of inversions.
Firefighter Safety Begins at Home
After a long shift on the line, coming back to basecamp exhausted and needing to take care of one’s basic needs of food and hygiene before catching a few hours of precious sleep—who would even be thinking about potential threats to one’s personal safety inside firecamp!
Cat Scratch Fever
The Mendocino Complex has taken its place in the record books–but probably not for long–as the largest wildfire in California state history. While the River Fire is 100% contained at this time, it is possible that the Ranch Fire may eventually burn over a majority of entire Mendocino National Forest before it stops its advance.
One thing that leaps out with a casual glance at the current fire map is the extensive use of dozers in primary and contingency firelines. Several of these dozerlines a.k.a. “catlines” come right up to and possibly encroach into the Snow Mountain Wilderness. In fact, the California Regional Forester gave permission for dozers to enter the wilderness with the blessing of the Mendocino Forest Supervisor.
Other Than Full Suppression
This essay was written in response to a recent post at Wildfire Today: Wildfire News and Opinion, titled, “Are we experiencing a “new normal” of wildland fire behavior?”
FUSEE Releases New Instructional Guide for Citizens to Access Wildfire Information Online
Firefighters United for Safety, Ethics, and Ecology (FUSEE) released their new report, FireWatch: A Citizen's Guide to Wildfire Suppression Monitoring, that provides easy step-by-step instructions for accessing a number of different internet sites that track wildfires.
Ferguson Fire: Hoping for Yosemite's Road Less Trammeled
There are real concerns for the safety of the community of Yosemite West located just outside the Park, but that is where efforts to prepare structures for fire’s arrival should be focused. As to the ranger compound in Wawona, the Park’s fire staff have been preparing that community for a wildfire like the Ferguson Fire for many years, using a combination of prescribed burning and wildland fire use. The same goes for the giant Sequoias in the Mariposa Grove, trees that were in decline due to past fire exclusion but are now reviving with new generations of sequoias thanks to the Park Service reintroducing fire in the groves.
The IC’s decision to stop the Ferguson Fire along the Wawona Road is not about fear or hatred of fire–that is a media generated meme constructed for public consumption. Rather, it is about hubris, the need control Wild Nature, to show her who is the real (fire) boss.
Nation Moves to Wildfire Planning Level 5 while Cohen & Russiagate Dominate Headlines
The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) moved National Planning Level to 5 today, while the Nation’s capitol and the mainstream media continue focus on the Game of Thrones atmosphere surrounding the Trump administration.
Carr Fire Takes Aim at Redding
Climate chaos strikes, again, this time deep into the heart of Redding, California, the regional hub and commercial center for Northern California. The Carr Fire started near the cross of Hwy. 299 and the Carr Powerhouse Road on Monday, July 23rd.
Your guy-on-the-street, HunterX, is here with exclusive photos and sources from the firefight going on now in Shasta County. The fire was very active the first couple of days, but was restricted to the mountains west of Whiskeytown Lake.
Ferguson Fire: Yosemite's Proving Ground for Ecological Fire Use
The Ferguson Fire has been burning for nearly two weeks and has captured most of the attention of the national news media. Tragically, one firefighter was killed on the second day of the fire when the bulldozer he was operating rolled down a steep slope. Miraculously, no homes have been lost as of July 25th. The Ferguson is going to burn a large area over a long time.
History never repeats itself but it rhymes: Rim Fire redux
The year was 1961. President Robert F. Kennedy was President of the United States. The Central Valley Project had been built and the growing San Joaquin Valley agribusiness gave way to traditional ranchland in the oak savanna of the Sierra foothills southwest of Yosemite National Park. The Harlow Fire started on July 10th. The following day it exploded, burning over 20,000 acres in two hours, vaporizing the communities of Ahwahnee and Nipinnawasee, and killing an elderly couple. Supposedly, that run on the Harlow Fire was one of the fastest ever recorded. The communities would never recover.