California Fire News

Posted: 13 Jun 2007 06:13 PM CDT

TGU major response to a veg fire on the Dry Creek Preserve area.
Located: at 40.15N 121.54W.
Access off
Hogsback Rd.

Inskip lookout and crossed by Tomhead lookout.

Slow rate of spread

Aircraft - 1 AA and 2 AT's out of Redding over fire . AA240

California Teen Falls Off Cliff in Stunt for MySpace.com Photo | Technical rescue, High angle

Posted: 13 Jun 2007 05:28 PM CDT

Technical rescue, High angle
FULL STORY SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS

MOUNT DIABLO, CA — A 17-year-old California boy suffered serious injuries Monday night when he dropped 75 feet off a cliff while trying to stage a mock photo shoot for his MySpace Web page, the Mercury News reported.

According to his friends, the Livermore teen was creating a picture for his Myspace.com profile when he tripped over the edge of Sentinel Rock, a popular scenic site in Mt. Diablo State Park. The boy stepped outside of the handrail, slipped and ended up wedged in a crevice far below, said San Ramon Valley Fire District Battalion Chief Mike Brown. He remained conscious.

The teenager's friends flagged down park rangers, who summoned the fire department at 8:30 p.m.

It took about an hour for authorities challenged by the steep terrain and absence of moonlight to rescue the boy. They used rock-climbing equipment to reach the crevice before they put the victim, who was conscious, on a gurney that they carried a half-mile to the Live Oak campground. There, they were met by a medical helicopter that transported the boy to John Muir Medical Center in Walnut Creek, Brown said.

Witnesses said the boy appeared to be suffering from major leg injuries, said Stefanisko, who noted that neither alcohol nor drugs appear to have played a role in his fall.

About a year ago, 22-year-old Nicholas Ermak of Danville fell several hundred feet from the same rock. The college student was rushed to the hospital but died two days later from severe head injuries.

"We were real lucky on this one," Brown said. "He had some serious injuries but I think he's going to be all right."

News - Hotshots are ready

Posted: 13 Jun 2007 04:33 PM CDT

Hotshots - News:

Every morning by 7 a.m., members of the Logan Hotshot crew are doing their daily PT, Physical Training. Since they've been at the Comfort Inn in Globe, they march up the road to Round Mountain Park and hike the trails, this day in full gear which weighs 30 to 40 pounds, depending on if they're carrying a chain saw. Other days, they run the Round Mountain trails in PT sweats.

Wildland fires are seasonal, most occuring in the summer, and specially trained crews nationwide are ready when the time comes.

Dubbed Hotshots, the crews are made up of physically fit young people with a sense of adventure. Recruited from all over the United States, they undergo special training to be certified wildland firefighters. Quasi-military in organization, they're very structured, march everywhere they go, train constantly to work as a team and move as a unit.

The Globe Hotshots, assigned to the Globe Ranger District of the Tonto National Forest, were in Georgia fighting fires there. And based in Globe the last couple of weeks are members of the Logan Interagency Hotshot Crew, whose home base is Logan, Utah. A few weeks before they arrived, a Hotshot crew from Craig, Colorado was in Globe.

Scott Bushman, Superintendent of the Logan Hotshots, said that when forest fires broke out in the southeast U.S. last month, the Globe Hotshots were one of the crews available, and Hotshots travel wherever they are needed.

Who decides where they are needed?

Bushman explained that a federal agency, the National Interagency Fire Center, working with the National Incident Command in Boise, Idaho constantly monitors conditions all over the nation and deploys resources wherever they're needed. The Logan Hotshots are one of four crews pre-positioned in central Arizona in anticipation of the summer thunderstorm season.

Hotshot crews, tankers, helicopters, catering services that set up camps and feed the crews, everything that's needed in an emergency, can be sent where they're most needed.

That can involve making choices sometimes, Bushman noted. For instance, a more valuable resource like a timber forest would receive help before scrub oak. Water sheds, wildlife habitat, public utilities, structures, all are taken into consideration when allocating resources. Public safety always takes first priority, Bushman emphasized. Sometimes, the best choice is to just let the fire burn itself out, if it was a natural fire and doesn't threaten any resources. In the fire world, it's all inter-agency, Bushman said, with cooperation between the U.S. Forest Service, Park Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs and Bureau of Land Management.

Other disasters are managed by FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, because fires aren't the only things wildland fire crews work on.

Floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, any kind of emergency, can trigger a response from the National Incident Command Center. During hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Bushman says he was helping in Texas, and after the Columbia space shuttle disaster, his crew was in Texas looking for pieces of the craft. And once, five or six years ago, there was an outbreak in Nevada of New Castles Disease, a contageous poultry disease that had the potential to decimate the American poultry industry. So the National Interagency Fire Center sent an incident team there to kill and properly dispose of about a million chickens, Bushman said.

City fire departments and fire districts can also help out during the fire season, which usually lasts five or six months. Personnel cross trained in fighting structural fires as well as wild fires, can be dispatched to a wildfire. Last month, for instance, Globe Fire Department had a team at the Promontory Fire near Payson for two weeks, and another staff member just returned from south Florida where he was a team leader on a wildfire there.

Since the wildfire season only lasts five or six months, what do the young people on Hotshot crews do during the winter when they're not fighting fires? Bushman said his crews have included lots of college students, along with construction workers like seasonal carpenters, and those who like winter sports who get jobs at the ski resorts. And since they earn an average of $25,000 to $30,000 per season, some just camp on the beach in Mexico or somewhere, skuba fishing and relaxing before the next fire season.

What does Bushman do all winter? Married with family, he lives in Logan. He's been an employee of the U.S. Forest Service for 35 years and says he spends lots of time teaching classes, taking classes, program development and attending many meetings and conferences planning for the next fire season.

Photo: Wild Land fire picture Elk in river

Posted: 13 Jun 2007 04:07 PM CDT

LiveDigital: Fire pictures:

Famous wild land forest fire picture Elk Bath...Great wallpaper for PC or Phone
View Original Size No copyright government photo

Elk Bath: Photographer is now known to be John McColgan, FBAN on Joe Stam's Type 1 Alaska IIMT. He took the photo on August 6, 2000 at the East fork of the Bitterroot River where it crosses under Hwy 93 near Sula MT.

USFS Anza fire station closed

Posted: 13 Jun 2007 02:50 PM CDT

USFS Anza fire station closed:

By J.P. Crumrine, Assistant Editor

The U.S. Forest Service (FS) announced last week that Station 53 in Anza would close.

"I'm working on some alternatives and this may only be a temporary situation," said FS San Jacinto Ranger District Fire Chief Norm Walker. During this period, the Kenworthy unit (engine 52) will spend mornings and afternoons in Anza.

During this time of year, fires are more likely to start in Anza than Garner Valley. If lightning strikes are expected, they normally occur in Garner Valley and the engine will remain at station 52, according to Walker.

Regardless of the length of time for the station closure, its cause was the loss of staff. Separately, the engine chief and crew were offered positions with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).

While state and local agencies typically offer higher salaries to experienced FS firefighters, the confluence of several other events, such as prosecution of a Forest Service crew boss in Washington, have created strong incentives for those interested in seeking a career change.

The accompanying table compares the salary of a fire or engine captain for the FS with other local and State agencies. This difference is not unusually greater this year.

Although the national and regional offices continue to argue that staffing and station closures are at normal levels, the data suggests an alarming trend.

Locally, one of seven stations is now closed. In the region, more than 10 percent of the 3,600 fire positions are vacant despite efforts since winter to accelerate firefighter hiring.

"Although funding exists to meet normal staffing levels, there are still 485 job vacancies in the region's fire organization," wrote Matt Mathes, FS regional information officer. "These vacancies mean that currently 75 percent of the region's engines are staffed and two type 2 initial attack crews have leadership vacancies."

In addition, compared to the 2005 fire season, there are fewer type 1 crews and fewer engines in the whole region. Of the 485 vacant fire positions, Walker said he has 11 career vacancies in the San Jacinto district.

For 2008, the FS is actually reducing the number of firefighters available nationwide.

CAL FIRE has added 35 new staff to the Riverside county unit just this spring according to Public Information Officer Capt. Julie Hutchinson.

The Riverside CAL FIRE unit is requesting nearly 70 more positions for 2008. Several of these will be battalion chiefs, according to Howard Windsor, deputy fire chief.

Some of the growth is related to population growth and physical expansion of the county, but some is also related to policy recommendations. For example, CAL FIRE hopes to have two chiefs for each battalion next year.

"This will provide direct supervision on a daily basis," Windsor advocated.

The FS's attrition is not simply due to personnel losses to CAL FIRE. Local agencies have also been able to take advantage of a deteriorating morale in the FS. The loss of five colleagues in the Esperanza Fire created a lingering gloom among the men in green.

In December, the U.S. Attorney's Spokane, Wash., office finally decided to press criminal charges against Ellreese Daniels, a FS crew boss, for his actions and decisions in the Thirty-mile fire in July 2001 in which four firefighters died. The Department of Agriculture's Office of Inspector General had made the recommendation for criminal charges several years ago following their own investigation of the deaths

This sparked a downward spiral in agency morale that is accelerating. In January, the International Association of Wildland Fire conducted an online survey of federal firefighters and 8 percent were more willing to retire of transfer because of the prosecutions. Twenty-three percent indicated they would refuse incident commander assignments.

National and regional officials are now encouraging field staff to purchase private liability insurance.

The Esperanza Accident Report was not salve on the service's wounds. Engine Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser is indirectly accused of losing situational awareness during the horrific conflagration and with issuing confusing orders and guidance.

This spring the Angeles Forest Fire Chief resigned unexpectedly. His deputy is approaching retirement. So a nearby forest will soon have both top fire jobs vacant. This neighboring forest is in a very high fire risk situation and also has several stations closed.

According to Stanton Florea, Angeles National Forest fire public information officer, the vacancies within that forest are significant, too.

At this point, the Forest Service must endure staff losses, try to fill vacant positions, and then train new hires. This will take time and money for the FS to return, if possible, to a position of once more being whole.

Locally, the San Jacinto Ranger District is fully staffed for fire, except for Anza. The helicopter arrived June 1 and the Vista Grande Hotshots are available.

"A lot of departments have to deal with the baby boom retirements, now," Walker said, knowing that meant loss of experience and talent. Whether for the reasons of retirement or transfer, firefighters are leaving the FS as though escaping an out of control fire.

Tracy Firefighters report very short fuels during training

Posted: 13 Jun 2007 02:43 PM CDT

Tracy Press:

Grass gone mild

You might think a dry winter would mean an ultra-dangerous wildfire season in the Central Valley. But what firefighters discovered as they practiced dousing grass fires next to Tracy's airport Tuesday is that not much rain means there's not much grass. And that could very well mean fewer and smaller grass fires when the summer heat turns scorching."