While the City of Redding, Ca., burned, we followed the dramatic stories and pictures coming out of the front lines of the initial firefight. We watched as helicopters and planes dropped water and retardant over swaths of burning forest, and harrowing near-miss accounts made front page headlines. Yet, weeks after the start of the Mendocino Complex fire, even at 98 percent containment, more than 500 firefighters and support personnel remained assigned to the area. The Mendocino Complex includes the Ranch and River fires, which burned 460,000 acres of California forest.
Chances for rain were bleak, winds were steady, temperatures were high and humidity levels were low – just the explosive range a wildfire loves and feeds on – when this latest outbreak took hold in a fire season that is quickly becoming a 24/7/365 regularity.
In an effort to understand the ongoing firefight, I interviewed Captain Jim Mackensen, retired from the Cosumnes, Ca., Fire Department. As part of federal forestry deployments since May, 2018, he has been deployed 79 days to eight wildfires in Colorado and California. I spoke to Captain Mackensen after he returned from his first assignment to the Mendocino Complex.
Responsibilities vary as firefighters are deployed to fires with unique names like Burrow, Chateau, Lake Christina, Holy, Hirz and North. When we spoke, Mackensen was anticipating redeployment to the Ranch fire portion of the Mendocino Complex.
Wildfires: Continuing the fight
Most of the firefight that’s left involves long and arduous hikes in dangerous territory – typically only reachable by airdrop or on foot. Mackensen told me that remaining 2 percent was likely comprised of stumps and crevices in difficult to access areas, with little chance of expansion. In addition to putting out the remaining flames, the Mendocino Complex fire line needs to be repaired – 600 miles of manufactured forestry fire breaks have to be cleaned up in the Forestry termed process of “suppression repair.” In a straight line, that’s about the equivalent of a path from Mendocino, Ca., to Salt Lake City, Utah.
As the dozers create the fire lines to stop and contain fires, the downed materials are stacked on either side of the line. Those stacks and the freshly disturbed ground create runoff challenges, which, if left as is, will alter the direction of runoff damage and pollution downhill, creating further unnatural destabilization to areas previously untouched. It’s easy to imagine the domino effect of changes cascading down the hills and valleys eventually into communities distant from the protection lines.
Forestry teams are currently using excavators and bulldozers, pulling brush, timber and rocks back across the path. Left to decompose, the brush recovers the land, which helps prevent runoff and blocks the new road paths from illegal vehicular access. Teams dig or mound “water bars” where needed to divert runoff in as natural a path as what would have been possible before the fire lines were cut.
The repair process also involves identifying and dropping at risk or hazard trees – those dead, dying or perilously hanging limbs and trees that could potentially harm crews still on the ground. These crews also repair fences, culvert pipes and bridges that may have been damaged during fire line development. On larger, more extensive fires, Forestry will send a Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team in to assess the ecologic repair needs. From soil and water sampling to reseeding or planting, the BAER team of ecologists, hydrologists and others recommend what special efforts may be necessary to prevent further problems after the fire.
In most fires, suppression repair is a two- or three-day process. When I spoke to Mackensen, the Mendocino Complex was in its third week of repair, with at least another week to go. The BAER team will likely stay on the ground at the Mendocino Complex for weeks. Suppression repair is generally completed by Forestry personnel, allowing local firefighters to return to their communities.
Unsung heroes of wildfire recovery
This “season” has been a tumultuous one for our fire service. While the Ranch fire alone has racked up over $196 million in costs so far, the Carr fire will likely be the most expensive because of that fire’s extensive and expensive interface into the Redding community. The Delta fire had one of the biggest time challenges, requiring over 3,500 at risk trees be cut down before busy Interstate 5 could be reopened.
Line of duty deaths highlighted the anguish and desperation many communities felt as the fires burned in earnest. Yet Forestry teams continue to cycle in and out for 14-day assignments away from home, leaving spouses and children to carry on during these extended deployments. These are some of the unsung heroes Mackensen made a point to thank – they are glue that helps hold the support network together.
These folks are tired, they’ve had more than enough, and yet they press on. Let’s hope they get a break, because we know whether it’s a fire, earthquake, hurricane, tornado, or flood, “it” is coming again, and our resources will be stretched thin.
