Fires scorch Texas & Oklahoma, but also reach as far north as Maine
Firefighters Randy Scoggin (left) and Keith Whitlatch, from the LaBelle/Steffenville Mo. Fire District, work the flank of a brush fire north of LaBelle this spring. Midwest firefighters stayed busy during winter and spring as dry, windy conditions led to frequent wildfires.(Photo Paul M. Ross, Jr.) |
While fire activity in the South dwarfed that of the Eastern area, both regions saw active fire seasons. In Texas and Oklahoma, enormous blazes burned giant swaths of land, while in New York and New England, fire activity remained steady but was limited to small burns.
Southern Area
Unlike last year, tropical storms did not impact the South in 2006, and wildland firefighters returned to fighting fires instead of floods and fallen trees. When responders in the Lone Star and Sooner states look back on active fire years, 2006 will be burned in their minds for the foreseeable future. Texas and Oklahoma experienced some of the most active fire seasons in recorded history, keeping local, state and federal firefighters on the go from the first minute of 2006.
Through late October in the Southern Area, which stretches from Texas to the Virginia shore, firefighters fought more than 44,000 natural cover fires that burned nearly 2.5 million acres. These totals represent more than double the number of 2005 fires and more than six times the acreage burned last year.
An outbreak of major wildfires that began in the arid plains and rolling hills of Texas in December 2005 carried into winter and spring, requiring exhaustive months of work for firefighters. Texas Forest Service (TFS) spokesperson Traci Weaver says a statewide campaign to reduce human-caused wildfires was effective, but Mother Nature created new starts frequently. "Our efforts at getting people not to burn debris during high fire danger have been mostly successful," she says. "But the high winds kept blowing down power lines in remote areas, which in turn started those running grass and brush fires."
In a late September news release, the TFS announced an end to a fire "season" it had tracked since Jan. 1, 2005. Essentially, the TFS said it felt conditions were continuously conducive to wildfire activity for more than 18 straight months. Officials called it the worst fire season on record.
During that period, more than 4,000 responders and 500 pieces of firefighting equipment from across the United States assisted Texas’ wildfire attack. Since Jan. 1, 2005, the TFS has responded to 4,456 fires that burned 1,601,405 acres. That is over and above the 24,685 fires and 658,835 acres that were reported to TFS’ online fire reporting system by participating local fire departments during this time period.
"The local fire departments are the first responders to wildland fires in Texas," says Mark Stanford, chief of fire operations for the TFS. "However, if they determine that their capacity to control the fire is exceeded, they request suppression assistance from us. We are called on to manage the situation and fight these fires alongside the local firefighters."
For 2006 alone, officials tracked more than 2,600 wildfires affecting nearly 1.5 million acres. The TFS said 19 wildfire-related fatalities occurred since November 2005. Lone Star residents lost 734 homes and 1,320 outbuildings at an estimated $628 million loss to the citizens of the state.
In the last scheduled interagency conference call, Bobby Young, TFS associate director and state fire chief, thanked the out-of-state personnel for their help and commended the local and TFS firefighters and personnel who have made the sacrifices during the past 18 months to protect the state. "You have put your lives on hold, and you have sacrificed time with your families to do your jobs," he said. "I know your efforts are appreciated by the executive team of Texas Forest Service, as well as the citizens of Texas."
Heavy fall rains in many portions of the Lone Star State helped improve drought indices, putting vegetation fire activity on hold until winter drying occurs. TFS and local firefighters also assisted in several high-water rescues during widespread flooding in eastern Texas during October.
Oklahoma was hard-hit by ’06 wildfires as well. Through late October, the state experienced approximately 3,200 blazes, blackening nearly 320,000 acres.
And in the Sunshine State, summer rainfall brought welcome relief for Florida firefighters facing conditions some likened to the 1998 record season. Nearly 4,100 fires burned over 190,000 acres.
Not to be forgotten in the face of this intense 2006 activity is the Southern Area’s active prescribed fire program. Fire managers in various states treated nearly 1.8 million acres during prescribed burns and more than 3,800 acres in wildland "fire-use" fires. These totals represent nearly 500,000 acres more than last year’s prescribed fire operations, in spite of the nearly nonstop suppression operations seen during the first half of 2006.
Eastern Area
In the Eastern area, large fires gravitated toward Minnesota and Michigan. In the first 10 months of the season, more than 13,000 wildfires blackened 139,000 acres of wildlands.
The 31,000-acre Cavity Lake Fire burned in and adjacent to northern Minnesota’s fuel-laden Boundary Waters Canoe Area. Although the fire started in the volatile blowndown timber from a 1999 windstorm, firefighters managed to keep the blaze in check. An extensive system of structure protection sprinklers along the nearby Gunflint Trail serves as contingency protection for fires like this one.
In mid-September, Minnesota crews chased more fires. Superior Helitack Foreman Rob Heavirland had been assigned to the large Derby Fire in Montana, but returned quickly to the Land o’ Lakes to assist with the late-summer East Zone Complex on the Superior National Forest. Before containment, fires in this complex burned almost 6,000 acres.
The mid-spring Hughes Lake Fire in Michigan covered 5,800 acres. "It was basically a wind-driven fire that really moved," says U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Helitack Foreman Jim Edge. "Defensible space was very evident on this one. From the air you could see how the fire was redirected around several homes due to green grass and sparse fuels. It really illustrated the flammability of jack pine."
Tom Parent from the Northeast Interagency Coordination Center in Maine reports steady fire activity in the New England states and New York. "The Northeast had a fairly active year, but avoided large fires. Our firefighters kept the largest incidents to around 100 acres," he says. Many Western and Southern firefighters may not be aware of the expansive woodlands covering much of New England; Maine itself is 90 percent forested, and keeping blazes small is vital.
The area operates under the Northeast Compact, a mutual-aid agreement that includes multiple agencies as well as three Canadian provinces—Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. Local, state and federal agencies train frequently to fight fires together, according to Parent. In late June and early July, U.S. fire crews and the Northeast Compact Incident Management Team (IMT) traveled to Quebec to assist in Canadian fire suppression ops. Local responders assisted with firefighting efforts nationally as well; 21 crews and 370 individual resources traveled on U.S. mutual-aid assignments in 2006, including a Maine Forest Service IMT, which helped fight the Sharps Ridge Fire in Oregon.
"Good reporting and good initial attack, combined with excellent interagency cooperation, let us make responses as seamless as possible. That’s how we get it done in this region," Parent says. Through late October, 4,400 fires burned approximately 15,000 acres in the northeastern states.
Missouri responders found themselves on the go for the first few months of the year, chasing wildfires and conducting prescribed burns. Missouri’s aerial-ignition program has grown in recent years. This year, USFS and National Park Service (NPS) officials requested aerial ops for seven burns—two 3,000-acre events and several ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 acres. "One [prescribed] burn was on the Wilson Creek Battlefield National Park in Springfield," Edge says. "This was the first aerial-ignition burn for the NPS [in Missouri], and it was a success."
Paul M. Ross, Jr. is a firefighter/EMT/helitack squad leader and professional writer with 15 years of experience in both Western U.S. wildland firefighting and urban fire-rescue. He lives in St. Louis, Mo., where he is a firefighter/EMT for the Eureka Fire Protection District. Contact him at prossjr@yahoo.com or visit www.moyercreek.com for more information.
