California Fire News

Winter staffing in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties Posted: 11 Dec 2007 03:16 AM CST SAN ANDREAS -- Fire season has finally ended in Calaveras and Tuolumne counties, as well as the eastern edges of San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, Cal Fire announced Monday. It is the latest end to a fire season here since 1986 officials said that they officially closed the season Saturday, which ties the Dec. 8, 1986, closing. Only once in the past 60 years has the official fire season lasted longer. That was in 1958, when it did not end until New Year's Eve. The Tuolumne-Calaveras unit of Cal Fire responded to 303 vegetation fires during the 2007 season. Those fires burned 1,874 acres, causing an estimated $1.8 million in damage. The agency also responded to 344 other fires, including structures and motor vehicles, that caused more than $5 million in damage

Unmanned copter crashes, starts fire Posted: 11 Dec 2007 03:03 AM CST Boeing is testing A160 Hummingbird helicopter at SCLA for Defense Department HILLARY BORRUD Staff Writer December 10, 2007 - 3:02PM VICTORVILLE — An unmanned helicopter known as the A160 Hummingbird crashed north of Southern California Logistics Airport Monday afternoon, where Frontier Systems Inc. and Boeing have been testing the aircraft since 2002. This is the first time the Hummingbird, a 35-foot-long helicopter with a 36-foot rotor, has crashed, said Boeing Advanced Systems spokesman Robert Villanueva. No one was injured, and Boeing employees at Southern California Logistics Airport, or SCLA, are investigating the cause of the crash. "We apparently lost one of our test vehicles early this afternoon," Villanueva said. "The good news is, it's an unmanned vehicle" so there were no deaths. Boeing is developing the A160 "Unmanned Air System" under a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA, the central research and design organization of the U.S. Department of Defense, Villanueva said. The A160 was not carrying weapons when it crashed. Victorville firefighters stationed at SCLA responded to the crash at Colusa Road and Helendale Road after it was reported at 2:08 p.m. Monday, said Battalion Chief Warren Peterson of the Victorville Fire Department. A San Bernardino County Fire Department engine from Adelanto was also called in to assist. The fire had mostly burned out by the time firefighters arrived, and it covered an area about 30 feet in diameter of desert brush. One injury in the crash was a Joshua tree that seemed to have caught on fire after the Hummingbird hit it. Pieces of the Hummingbird were scattered widely around the crash site, and much of the craft appeared to have been consumed by the fire. The A160 is built in Irvine and its missions will include intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance attack, according to background material supplied by Boeing. It can fly at speeds of up to 140 knots at up to 30,000 feet, about 10,000 feet higher than conventional helicopters currently fly, according to Boeing. This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Oakland Fire hiring fiasco part 2 - Oakland Fire chief picks his own son? Posted: 10 Dec 2007 01:20 PM CST Oakland Fire chief hand picks his own son in the hiring process? OAKLAND, Calif. (CFN)-- Earlier this week, the Oakland Fire Department passed out more than 8,000 applications. Only the first 1,000 would be accepted that was only the start of this ill conceived hiring process. Some people began lining up three days ahead of time just to turn in applications for the 23 available positions. Hundreds of people spent a cold Friday night near Oakland's City Hall forming a organized line, hoping to become firefighters. Then the Oakland fire department perverted the process by hand selecting specific people out of the line resulting in a near riot! And of those few selected during the process... The Oakland Fire Chief Daniel D. Farrell's son! Applicants claimed that some minority applicants, specifically African-American and women, were hand picked over others which sems to be shown in the news videos, There also have been rumors that relatives of high-ranking City Hall officials or people with connections to the fire department were singled out to submit applications. "That's not true," said Farrell, adding that people who were chosen were in the "right place at the right time." "With the crowd pushing forward, we tried to get some people from the right side of the crowd, some from the left side of the crowd and some from the middle of the crowd. There were no defined lines," he said. Farrell admitted that one of his two sons in the lines was picked, while the other was not. "I didn't personally pick him. He was picked by someone else," he said. Many of those who came to turn in their applications were turned away, while most others were hand picked out of the line, causing unrest with the obvious favoritism displayed towards certain candidates. It was suspected that factors such as hiring goals leading to race and sex selection, and favoritism might have come into play. "It seems like there were people who knew firefighters and they were more likely to be picked than someone who didn't know someone out there," applicant Eddie Grant said. Others, the lucky special few, said they were content with the selection process. "I feel like that unfair, but I got picked so I got to be honest, I'm happy about it. And I don't care anymore, cause I got picked," applicant Mohammed Ahmed said. Oakland officials denied foul play, but said they feel the process didn't go smoothly as planned. In an interview with NBC11, Oakland human resources official Jacquelyn Edwards said: "Our goal was to attempt to find some kind of way to mitigate between -- and this is kind of a life issue -- between the people that follow instructions, that do what they're asked to do�� and the people that make it up." ( Official Physco Babble?) Video proof: The hand selection of specific applicant's can be clearly seen in the various news videos including the Chief Daniel D. Farrell pointing out who got in, Including his own son! and 13 more city employee relatives...Video-1, Video-2, Photo- 3 Edwards said she did not think there was any favoritism in the process. Would-be Oakland firefighters will continue the controversial process in January In response to the critics, the city is offering a second chance to those that were turned away at the Oakland Fire Department's Training Center on Jan. 12 at 8:30 a.m. Officials said the 1,000 people selected took written tests Saturday.

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Riverside city fire department will be accepting applications Posted: 10 Dec 2007 12:55 AM CST Riverside City Fire Department Ca. hiring Firefighters The Riverside city fire dept. will be accepting applications for firefighter and fire medic, starting January of 14th 2008 until January 25th 2008. The written exam will be 2-14-08. Salary is $4547 - $6089 Paramedics receive a 15% pay differential. If you do not have a california state certified fire academy, 1 year of full time experience with a municipal fire department may substitute for the certified fire academy.

Inciweb: Sterling Wildland Fire - < 1 acre - 100% Posted: 09 Dec 2007 08:24 PM CST Sterling Wildland Fire Incident Information Announcements News Photographs Maps INCIDENT UPDATED 4 HRS. AGO This incident is 100% contained. Summary A single pine tree, already dropped to the ground, was the extent of this incident. Smoke was reported by a visitor hiking in the Circle X Ranch portion of the NRA; a Ventura County FD engine crew hiked to the site and called in a hand crew to line the fire. It was declared contained the same afternoon. A thunderstorm moved through the area on the evening of December 7/morning of December 8, and lightning may have struck the tree. If so, it adds to just a handful of naturally caused fires in the history of the Santa Monica Mountains. Thunderstorms are unusual so close to the Pacific Ocean; lightning strikes even more so. Basic Information Incident Type Wildland Fire Cause Lightning Date of Origin 12/08/2007 at 00 hrs. Location West of Malibu, California Incident Commander Not available Current Situation Total Personnel 25 Size 1 acres Percent Contained 100% Estimated Containment Date 12/08/2007 at hrs. Significant Events Not available Outlook Planned Actions The fire was lined by a Ventura County FD hand crew. Growth Potential Low Terrain Difficulty Moderate Remarks Not available Weather Current Wind Conditions Not available Current Temperature Not available Current Humidity Not available

News: Wildfire protection becomes growing business Posted: 09 Dec 2007 12:58 PM CST Retardant spray system among the efforts in use By Bruce V. Bigelow UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER Whether San Diego's recurring pattern of firestorm devastation has resulted from underfunded firefighters, inept air support or a backcountry housing boom, one thing is becoming clear. Homeowners are turning to private enterprise for protection. Earlier this year, for example, Solana Beach resident John Page paid $16,000 to have a fire-retardant spray system installed in the backyard of his four-bedroom home, which backs up against a canyon in the San Elijo preserve. "I'm not thrilled about the expense," Page says. "I wouldn't recommend this for every house." Yet, just weeks after the installation was completed, Page said his family got a Reverse 911 telephone call advising them to evacuate from the rampaging Witch Creek fire, then roaring through Rancho Bernardo. It was Oct. 22. Page turned on his new system and watched as three big-gun nozzles sprang to life, spraying a translucent fire retardant over much of his house and about 65 feet into the canyon below. The 315-gallon tank emptied in about 10 minutes. Then he evacuated with his wife and daughter and the family's two dogs. As it turned out, the fire never reached their home. But as he drove away that morning, Page said, "we felt confident that we had done everything we could to protect our house." Page, who has owned the 3,000-square-foot home since 1995, had also replaced his shake cedar roof and removed pine trees, huge climbing vines and other plants that were deemed too incendiary by a local fire official. Such installations have become a booming new business in recent years for companies like privately held Firebreak Spray Systems of Hood River, Ore. "As the wildfire threat grows, there will be niche markets for companies who can provide added protection for homeowners," said Carole Walker, executive director of the Rocky Mountain Insurance Information Association. "I think some people are saying, 'If I have the money to do it, why shouldn't I take matters into my own hands?' " Firebreak Spray Systems attracted a flurry of media coverage during the wildfires in October because the company also provides wealthy homeowners with "concierge-level" fire protection services. Under a contract with the AIG insurance company, Firebreak Spray Systems dispatched heavy-duty trucks to spray fire retardant around the endangered estates of AIG's wealthiest clients. The rapid response service has been included since 2005 to homeowners in 150 exclusive ZIP codes who are insured through AIG's Private Client Group. "It's about preventing loss for our policyholders," said Stan Rivera, director of wildfire protection for AIG's Private Client Group. The fire retardant is "very effective and very efficient," said Firebreak founder Jim Aamodt by telephone from his office in Oregon. The company provides its services throughout the Western United States, but Aamodt said Southern California is emerging as his biggest market. In San Diego County, Aamodt said his crews visited the homes of 90 AIG clients whose multimillion-dollar homes were threatened by the Witch fire. They sprayed 40, including a few that were just beginning to burn. No sprayed homes were lost, and 15 were saved from immolation, Aamodt said. His count included a four-bedroom ranch-style home that David and Kerry Roland built on Zumaque Street in Rancho Santa Fe about four years ago. Kerry Roland said she fully expected to lose their home while they were evacuating before the advancing firestorm. Afterward, she said a Firebreak crew returned to show her that the fire had halted exactly where they had sprayed fire retardant around the property. Even so, Roland said their house probably survived due to a combination of factors, including the fact that it was built just four years ago and had to meet more stringent fire code requirements. But such pre-emptive treatment, as Aamodt puts it, accounts for a relatively small portion of Firebreak's business. He is focused mostly on installing spray systems that range from rooftop sprinklers to big-gun sprayers to protect individual homes, community developments, ranches and farms. The fire retardant used is called Phos-Chek, the same slurry dropped by helicopters and air tankers, but without the red dye added to help pilots target their drops. The main ingredients of the milky-white retardant are ammonium phosphate and diammonium sulfate, both forms of fertilizer that form a no-burn zone until washed off by a strong rain. A typical home installation uses compressed gas to force the fire retardant slurry from a holding tank, which ranges from 120 gallons to 315 gallons, through a network of PVC piping much like an irrigation system. Beyond individual homes, Aamodt said his company has been designing "miles-long" systems capable of spraying fire retardant 100 feet or more around the boundary of housing tracts or community developments. It also sells 25-gallon portable fire retardant sprayers for do-it-yourselfers. Another entrepreneurial venture was started in San Diego by Dan Hirning following the 2003 Cedar fire, which charred some 273,000 acres. Hirning's company, Firezat, sells rolls of laminated fire-resistant foil to protect homes from wildfires. "I was looking for something that everybody can deploy," Hirning said. "The advantage with our fire wrap is that it's reusable." Hirning wrapped his Escondido home in foil during the October fires, making the ranch-style structure look like a giant baked potato. But the fires did not burn into his neighborhood. Hirning said he has been supplying foil mostly to the U.S. Forest Service, delivering roughly 400,000 square feet that crews used to wrap historic school houses, lodges and other remote buildings. Hirning said that so far he has not sold the tarpaulin-sized foil directly to homeowners out of liability concerns. But he anticipates conducting field tests of homes in Malibu and Santa Barbara over the next year. Another local business, Ambient Control Systems of El Cajon, has developed solar-powered "fire alert" sensors to be deployed as backcountry sentries. Each sensor can monitor roughly 100 acres and is capable of transmitting a warning signal before a small fire explodes into a runaway inferno. The warning can be transmitted by satellite or via an emergency radio frequency to a customer's computer or by text message to firefighters' cell phones, said Glenn Cunningham, a strategic consultant for Ambient Control Systems. "In as little as four minutes, you can have the fire alert information on an incident commander's computer screen," Cunningham said. "That includes where the fire is and its approximate direction." The privately held company began developing the sensors in 2002, after selling its irrigation control system technology the previous year, said Jonathan Luck, Ambient's founding chief executive. The company, which has six employees, recently completed its first sale of 500 sensors to a fire safe council that oversees the coastal watershed communities of Half Moon Bay and San Mateo. "What we're seeing is that it would be better to work with municipal, county and state governments," Cunningham said. Source: Article

Academy teaches use of prescribed fires Posted: 09 Dec 2007 12:16 PM CST CERRO GRANDE PEAK, N.M. --Wildland firefighters come here to the Southwest Fire Use Training Academy to learn not how to stop fires but how to start them, using prescribed burns to clean out overgrown forests and reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires. The academy gets its students at a time when the wildfire season is winding down in late autumn, when many firefighters are heading home after grueling weeks on the fire lines. "We get folks coming in that are tired from fire season," said Duane Tewa, a Bureau of Indian Affairs training specialist assigned to the academy. "But they still have the attitude and the mentality ... 'This is what I want to do, this is my job, this is what fascinates me.'" A couple dozen firefighters take courses at the academy to become certified burn bosses, qualified to help with prescribed fires and other fuel management projects around the country. The Albuquerque-based academy usually has a waiting list of wildland firefighters from across the nation. A similar program at the Prescribed Fire Training Center in Florida focuses on managing fire in the South. The program is funded by the U.S. Forest Service and other federal land management agencies. The seven-week New Mexico program, which graduated its most recent class two weeks ago, has courses on fire behavior, along with the use of GPS units and portable weather stations to plan prescribed burns. "There's all kinds of things going on in fire. Everybody's moving toward fire use and allowing fire to return to its natural role," said Jerome Macdonald, the academy's creator and program manager. "But you have to have that skill - and even experience - to be able to accomplish that," he said. Students also get an arduous hike to 10,199 feet for a lesson on what can happen when a prescribed fire goes bad. From atop Cerro Grande Peak, they can see how a prescribed burn set by Bandelier National Park officials in May 2000 raced out of control, burning thousands of acres of forest and more than 200 homes. "This is an excellent opportunity for us to learn from mistakes or things that went bad and try not to make those mistakes again," said student Mike Watson, a squad boss with the Pleasant Valley Hot Shots of Arizona. To become a master of using fire, Macdonald said, one must have a deeper understanding of fire and nature - and be prepared for teaching the public that fire is not always bad. Emily Irwin, a U.S. Forest Service regional fuels specialist, said the academy's lessons today are important because overgrown forests, unhealthy ecosystems and urban sprawl will continue to be issues. "All the values that go with land management are really riding on their shoulders," she said. The academy's courses give students a foundation so they don't have to make decisions from the hip, said Julian Affuso, the assistant fire management officer for the Smokey Bear Ranger District in southern New Mexico. "That's what it's all about, it's about preparation," he told the students during their hike at Cerro Grande. "Luck is for the unprepared." Since 2000, the acreage treated with prescribed fires has more than doubled from just over 1 million to more than 2.7 million in 2006, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho. At the same time, more natural wildfires have been allowed to burn in order to clear away dead, dry brush before it can fuel an out-of-control blaze. There is a time and place for both suppression and fire use, said David Mueller, a Bureau of Land Management fuels specialist assigned to the Boise center. "Now, it seems like using fire for certain benefits is becoming one of the top dogs in land management," Mueller said. Academy Interagency Fire Center By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN - Associated Press Writer source: SoSD- San Diego

News: Salaries prompt USFS exodus Posted: 09 Dec 2007 12:49 PM CST Salaries prompt USFS exodus Firefighters flee to other agencies The U.S. Forest Service might be facing a crisis, with firefighters leaving in droves for state and local firefighting jobs that offer higher salaries. USFS officials, while accustomed to losing people to other jobs in California, are alarmed at the increasing numbers of those jumping ship. "It's been going on for a large number of years, however, not at ... this rate," said Mike Dietrich, fire chief for the San Bernardino National Forest. In 2006, the 671,700-acre national forest lost 60 firefighters to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and local fire agencies, Dietrich said. The forest has about 210 permanent firefighting positions. The federal government's Forest Service leads the front-line response to fires in the San Bernardino Mountains and other national forests. The base salary for a Forest Service firefighter is about $32,000, according to the Forest Service. The CDF pays the same person almost $50,000. Minimum pay for a San Bernardino firefighter is about $60,000. The loss of federal firefighters to state and local agencies has always been a fact of life for the USFS. But the pace of departures has picked up, said Dietrich and others familiar with the situation. "It means that you will not have the federal fire-service protection you assume you have," said Casey Judd, business manager for the Federal Wildland Fire Service Association, which lobbies for federal wildland firefighters. What might the loss of federal firefighters mean in the mountains? Fires might cost more to extinguish, Judd said. Fire trucks and other firefighting equipment might have to be moved over longer distances to attack fires, meaning conflagrations could grow more quickly and pose greater dangers. Another problem for the USFS is the loss of midlevel and younger-generation firefighters who would otherwise get promoted from within, agency officials have admitted. The trend has created a kind of leadership vacuum, Dietrich said. "You may end up putting people into positions who may not have all the experience that's ideal for the situation," he said. He said last year was a "tough" one to handle as the loss of high-ranking firefighters translated into less-experienced ones fighting major fires for the Forest Service. Some firefighters interviewed even believe the Forest Service might begin shuttering stations next year in the San Bernardino National Forest, a troubling trend given recent concerns over drought conditions and huge fires that wreaked havoc throughout the region in October. Prospects for keeping firefighters don't look good. One Forest Service firefighter in the national forest who applied to work at the CDF said he is in a two-week CDF basic-training academy so he can make the jump. He estimated that 26 out of the approximately 32 people in the class are Forest Service firefighters there for the same reason. After the first of the year, Judd plans to push federal lawmakers to take up legislation to improve federal firefighters' hazard pay and provide benefits to temporary firefighters. Dietrich said other Southern California forest supervisors on the ground are aware of the retention problems and have brought them to the attention of regional and national officials. "We listen to our firefighters and we hope that we can make a difference this next year," he said. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said she is worried about the Forest Service job losses. "I have directed my staff to work with the Forest Service on a long-term solution to this problem, and to make this a top priority," she said in a statement. Feinstein might find it tough to find help. The Forest Service is seeing a decline of $64.25 million in next fiscal year's budget request from the Bush administration. Source: Article

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Forest Service Chief Dismisses Importance of Environmental Review Posted: 08 Dec 2007 11:41 AM CST Source: Yuba Net By: Sierra Club Published: Dec 7, 2007 at 08:29 In response to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling this week against Forest Service rules that had exempted logging projects from environmental review, the Forest Service Chief Gail Kimball today made statements in the Associated Press implying that the overturned rule had been necessary to protect homes in California from wildfire. The truth is that the Ninth Circuit's decision won't stop a single good project that is designed to reduce the risk of damage to communities. Appropriate, environmentally sound removal of small diameter trees and brush and prescribed burning will sail through environmental review and will not delay the right kind of community protection work. Inappropriate, environmentally destructive logging far removed from communities under the facade of "fuels reduction" does nothing to mitigate fire risk - it only lines the coffers of the timber industry and devastates wildlife habitat and watersheds. It should not be exempt from environmental review. Environmental review and public participation are vital to make sure our communities are safe. In 2003, the Forest Service issued a sweeping nationwide policy exempting from environmental review any logging project less than 1000 acres that was in the so-called "urban/wildland interface." Sierra Club has supported many projects adjacent to communities that are focused on brush removal and prescribed fire. The Bush administration has instead prioritized logging thousands of acres, in many cases far from inhabited areas, without any public input and without any assessment of potential environmental harm. One example is management of the El Dorado National Forest--rather than permitting very small projects that truly would not have significant impacts, the Forest Service planned project after project, many adjacent to one another, of around 980 acres in order to exempt them from environmental analysis. Most were not focused on brush removal and prescribed burns as the article states, but on logging large trees. To allow such exemptions wherever they wanted, the Forest Service cynically decided that large percentages, in some cases nearly all, of the national forests were "wildland/urban interface." Sierra Club and Sierra Forest Legacy (formerly named Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign) filed a suit in October 2004 challenging the Bush Administration's "Healthy Forest Initiative" rule that eliminated a 30-year-old Forest Service practice of analyzing the environmental effects of timber sales up to 1,000 acres and prescribed burns up to 4,500 acres before allowing such projects to proceed. This week's ruling from the Ninth Circuit said the U.S. Forest Service erred because it: Exempted from the National Environmental Policy Act a huge class of logging classified as "fuels reduction" first, and then later gathered the environmental impact data; Failed to assess the cumulative effects of logging 1.2 million acres per year nationwide; Failed to assess highly controversial and uncertain risks of impacts; and Failed to put more specific constraints on what can be logged. Related article: Source Sierra Club Victory in Ninth Circuit Deals Blow to Bush Administration's So-Called "Healthy Forests" Initiative Court Rules That Administration Cannot Ignore Environmental Laws to Log Forests San Francisco, California--In the case of Sierra Club v. Bosworth, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. Forest Service erred when it conducted logging projects nationwide without prior analysis of their effects on the environment. Sierra Club and Sierra Forest Legacy (formerly named Sierra Nevada Forest Protection Campaign) filed the suit in October 2004 challenging the Bush Administration's "Healthy Forest Initiative" rule that eliminated a 30-year-old Forest Service practice of analyzing the environmental effects of timber sales up to 1,000 acres and prescribed burns up to 4,500 acres before allowing such projects to proceed. Today's ruling from the Ninth Circuit said the U.S. Forest Service erred because it: · Exempted from the National Environmental Policy Act a huge class of logging classified as "fuels reduction" first, and then later gathered the environmental impact data · Failed to assess the cumulative effects of logging 1.2 million acres per year nationwide · Failed to assess highly controversial and uncertain risks of impacts · Failed to put more specific constraints on what can be logged Statement of Eric Huber, Senior Staff Attorney, Sierra Club "This victory is a blow to the Bush Administration's cynical "Healthy Forests" initiative and will help protect millions of acres of national forest each year from destructive and unnecessary logging projects. This ruling will help ensure that vast swaths of our national forests are not logged without environmental reviews under the guise of forest management or fuel suppression. The Sierra Club supports forest management practices that actually seek to protect communities and our precious wild forests and minimize the risk of wildfires, but this case is just one more example of the Bush administration's disastrous overreach on environmental issues. The courts have once again had to tell the administration that it simply cannot ignore laws--environmental and otherwise--simply because it finds them inconvenient." Statement of Craig Thomas, Executive Director of Sierra Forest Legacy "In California, since the adoption of the Bush Administration rule, we have witnessed the gross abuse of discretion and ramp-up of logging with limited environmental review that we feared. Logging without environmental safeguards damages our forests and the public's trust in Forest Service management." Forest Service sued over fire management plans Related article: source ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- An environmental group sued the U.S. Forest Service on Wednesday, claiming the agency's fire management plans for certain forests in the Southwest are inadequate and produced without enough public input. Forest Guardians accused the agency of developing fire plans for a pair of forests in New Mexico and two others in Arizona without studying the potential impact on the environment as required by the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act. The group filed its lawsuit in federal court in Phoenix. It wants the court to order the Forest Service to open its plans to public and scientific review. "The system is broken as it is and it's not working," said Bryan Bird, public lands director for Santa Fe-based Forest Guardians. "... We need to get out our pencils and erasers and work at it." Art Morrison, a spokesman for the Forest Service's regional office in Albuquerque, said Wednesday he had not seen the lawsuit and could not comment. But he noted that any time individual forests develop management plans federal laws are followed and the public is given a chance to comment. Specifically, the suit targets fire management plans for the Carson and Lincoln forests in New Mexico and the Apache-Sitgreaves and Tonto forests in Arizona. However, Forest Guardians believes the agency failed to consider NEPA and the ESA in other cases, as well. Bird said the fire plans -- which spell out how and where prescribed and natural fires can be used -- should be reviewed and updated each year. He contends that's not happening. He also complains that the plans call for putting out fires even when letting them burn would be better for the landscape and for the agency's budget. "The Apache-Sitgreaves, Tonto, Carson and Lincoln national forests require suppression of all non-prescribed, human-caused fires," the lawsuit reads. "The (fire management plans) also restrict the Forest Service's authority to use naturally ignited wildfires to accomplish management goals by limiting wildland fire use to certain wilderness areas and fire management units that make up a small fraction of the forests." Forest officials have said that a central priority for the agency's Southwestern Region is restoring fire to its natural role. But they have acknowledged that meeting that goal requires a delicate consideration of both the environment and the need to protect people, property and natural resources. Emily Irwin, the region's fuels specialist, said in a previous interview that some areas in the Southwest have greater potential to use fire as a management tool because the risk to nearby communities isn't as great. But other areas are becoming more populated, and the values at risk make fire a difficult option. "It's really the right prescription at the right time at the right scale," she said. "It's understanding a strategic plan and then knowing tactically where those treatments fit in. It's the big picture." While Forest Service policy recognizes that fire is essential to western ecosystems, Bird calls it "just lip service." He contends that the Forest Service still suppresses nearly all fires. "If these same fires were allowed to burn, they could economically control fuels leading to greater safety for communities and firefighters as well as healthier forests as a whole," he said. Regional officials have said that more forests are beginning to use fire to their advantage. For example, the Tonto and the Coconino forests in Arizona for the first time this year allowed a wildfire to burn and clear out dead and dry vegetation, Irwin said. Overall, she said, the Southwest region conducts fuel treatments on about a quarter-million acres each year and most of that is done with fire. The region covers more than 22 million acres in New Mexico and Arizona. Morrison added that many forests in the region are in the process of reviewing their fire management plans. He said they are following in the footsteps of the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico, which has had a successful fire use program for decades. But Forest Guardians argues that more needs to be done so fires like those in Southern California and a recent blaze just south of Albuquerque that burned several thousands acres and three homes can be avoided. "It's a really good time for the Forest Service to take a really hard look at how they manage fire in the Southwest," Bird said. On the Net: Forest Guardians: http://www.fguardians.org U.S. Forest Service Southwestern Region: http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/

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