By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
CEDAR CITY, Utah — A crew monitoring a wildfire in Washington County last summer waited too long to summon help, according to a review of the Mill Flat Fire made public recently by the U.S. Forest Service.
But that was just one problem in how the fire was handled.
The wildfire, sparked by lightning in a wilderness area in July 2009, crested a ridge and raced down two canyons into the residential community of New Harmony on Aug. 29. That night the fire destroyed three houses, heavily damaged three others and burned seven other outbuildings and corrals, leaving residents frustrated and angry the fire was not suppressed earlier.
Former town clerk Valene Scobel did not lose property, but was evacuated along with 150 residents that night.
“They let it burn way too long and it got out of hand,” said Scobel. “They mishandled it big time.”
The Forest Service report says fire managers acted reasonably, given their experience and training, and made public safety a priority. Lessons learned from decisions made during the fire should be used to improve future performance, it said.
But after letting the fire burn for weeks to clear out old growth, the fire crew had become “complacent.” A more aggressive containment approach should have been launched much sooner, the report said.
“Personnel new to the incident viewed the same situation with a much greater sense of urgency and recommended additional resources and more aggressive approach,” the document says. “Fire managers thought they had more time before the fire reached New Harmony.”
The fire stated in wilderness area on July 25, and was allowed to burn because it met criteria in the Forest Service’s land management plan for the area. The agency hoped the fire would eventually help re-establish aspen forests. A model projecting how much the fire could potentially spread in four weeks was completed in the early stages but was not updated after the fire grew significantly in August.
“Other fire behavior prediction tools may have shown a greater potential for the fire reaching New Harmony, but were not used,” says the review, adding that a fire behavior analyst was not assigned to the fire.
The report was also critical of the condition of a fuel break established before the fire erupted along the Forest Service boundary with New Harmony. The fuel break was not capable of stopping the fire because of its location, design and vegetation growth. Despite that, once the fire reached the two canyons into town, the inadequate fuel break was the only option to stop the blaze.
Communication between fire managers and the residents of New Harmony was another issue.
“Some state partners did not feel fully engaged in the fire’s management,” the report says. “Some [fire officials] did not speak up when they had concerns.”
Residents also expressed frustration. Some said they “were made to feel silly” by fire officials for being concerned and felt they were fed “propaganda” about the benefits of the fire.
“Community members said that the ‘Blue Springs Fire [which threatened the community three years earlier] did the same thing and [fire officials] told us that fire was OK, too. We have lost trust in the Forest Service. ‘“
Kenton Call, a spokesman for the Dixie National Forest, said lessons learned and recommendations from the review will be shared and incorporated where appropriate into fire training to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
The review team, headed by the supervisor of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest in Washington state, tracked how the fire was managed from ignition to Aug. 31, when it was taken over by a high-level fire fighting team.
D.J. Morisette and her husband lost their house and one of their cats to the fire.
She said the couple and others whose houses were lost or damaged have filed claims seeking compensation for their losses. Morisette said the claim is a precursor to filing a lawsuit against the Forest Service, a process that could take two years.
“We can’t file for lost time, emotional distress,” she said. “We just basically are going to be compensated for what we lost.”
She said the couple had no insurance. “We have to be compensated if we want to rebuild,” she said.
Call, the Forest Service spokesman, said efforts to strengthen ties with the community as recommended by the review are important to the agency.
“We want to underscore the importance of listening to the community and that they be taken seriously in the future, which could mean a collaborative approach by involving them in strategy and decision making, rather than just briefing them,” he said.
Call said the Forest Service spent $1.4 million to reseed 9,000 burned acres and spread an additional 1,500 acres with straw mulch to reduce erosion and flooding potential.
The National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) just completed a study of the snowpack on the burned area and said the soil should be able to absorb snowmelt without flooding.
But Randy Julander, snow survey supervisor with the NRCS, said flooding could still happen if the snowpack receives heavy rain.
“Any high intensity precipitation event could cause problems, but not snowmelt alone ,” he said, adding, “probability for flooding appears low.”
Time line
The 2009 Mill Flat Fire burned about 12,000 acres in Washington County, damaged several buildings in New Harmony. In the end, extinguishing the fire cost $6.5 million.
July 25 » Lightning strike starts fire in Pine Valley Wilderness Area on Dixie National Forest. Forest Service decides to let it burn to clear undergrowth and allow aspen stands to re-establish.
Aug. 15 » Fire grows to 77 acres as smoke becomes visible from communities including New Harmony and Cedar City, 20 miles to the north.
Aug. 19 » A new analysis predicting fire spread is requested, but the original analysis is deemed still valid. Fire grows to 406 acres.
Aug. 23 » Fire at 971 acres. Fire crews ordered to clear vegetation out of fuel break built in 2002 along boundary of New Harmony and national forest. Crews work one day but are reassigned to a higher priority fire.
Aug. 26 » Fire officials brief New Harmony residents. Fire crews assigned to work on clearing fuel break.
Aug. 27 » Fire reaches top of ridge above New Harmony. Helicopter begins suppression, dropping water on fire in two canyons leading to town.
Aug. 29 » Fire grows from 1,401 acres at 2 p.m. to 3,277 acres by 4:30 p.m. A new fire management team is ordered to assume command the next morning. All resources ordered to work on clearing fuel break, prepare defensive measures around structures and start evacuation. Air tankers and helicopters unable to help because of smoke and high winds. As fire front approaches fuel break at 7:30 p.m., firefighters and equipment pull back. Fire starts burning in New Harmony at 8:30 p.m. By 9 p.m. three houses are destroyed, three are damaged and seven other structures burn.
Aug. 30 » A type 3 management team, with more resources, takes command of fire that has grown to 7,641 acres. No additional structures lost, but fire burning aggressively.
Aug. 31 » A top-level type 1 incident management team assumes command of fire, which burns on national forest lands, including wilderness, for several more weeks before full containment.
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