GFMC: Forest Fires in the United States: 6 June 2000
Forest Fires in the United States
6 June 2000
Progress in New Mexico Fire
Firefighters make progress on Monday, 5 June 2000 to contain a wildfire in New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The one week-old fire has forced the evacuation of hundreds ofpeople in the pine forest east of Santa Fe. The increase to 28,283 acres (11,445 ha) on Sunday was blamed on hot spots that popped up outside an initial containment line on the eastern side of the fire near the Gallinas watershed. On the Viveash Fire east of Santa Fe, crews also worked to create waterbars along the edges of the fire to slow water movement and prevent soil erosion. Authorities have determined that the fire was manmade and an investigationis continuing.
Another smaller fire was reported Sunday afternoon in the Magdalena Mountainswest of Socorro, about 150 miles southwest of the Viveash Fire. The fire was sparked by lightning in the past couple ofdays and consumed 80 acres (32 ha) till Sunday.
Helicopter pilot dies fighting Florida fires
A government helicopter fighting wildfires in southwest Florida crashed Sunday morning, killing the pilot. The helicopter was being flown for the Division of Forestry. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Kaibab fire 75 percent contained
In Arizona, an 11,000-acre (4,451 ha) fire in the Kaibab National Forest was about 75 percent contained Sunday. Authorities said the steep rugged terrain has made part of the fire impossible to reach, but natural barriers and fire lines now ring the fire.
Fires in Florida
Fig. 1. and 2. Several heat signatures (red) are visible from fires burning in northern Florida, as well as in the central and western areas of southern Florida. Additional fires may be obscured by clouds or have heat signatures too small to be detected by the 1 km resolution of NOAA-14.
(Source: NOAA/OSEI).
According to the Fire and Aviation Management Morning Report from the USDA Forest Service, 5 June 2000, current wildfires are burning in:
New Mexico
VIVEASH: This 25,283 acre (10,231 ha) fire is burning on the Santa Fe National Forest five miles northwest of Pecos, New Mexico. 70% of the work has been done to contain the fire. The estimated date of containment is 9 June 2000. 1,004 people are working on the fire.
Arizona:
PUMPKIN: This 12,300 acre (4,977 ha) fire is burning on the Kaibab National Forest, 25 miles northeast of Flagstaff, Arizona. The forest is extremely dry and the threat to the Kendrick Lookout Tower and historic cabins remains. 375 people are working on the fire. 75% of the work has been completed to contain this fire.
Florida:
MORRIS BRIDGE ROAD: This 600 acre (242 ha) fire is located north of Tampa, Florida in Pasco County on Florida State Division of Forestry administered land. 70% of the work has been completed to contain the fire. 10 people are working on the fire.
GREEN SWAMP COMPLEX: This 4,102 acre (1,660 ha) complex include all fires in Citrus, Sumter, Hernando, Pasco, and Lake Counties and is the jurisdiction of the Florida State Division of Forestry. There are 175 people working on these fires. All of the work has been done to contain these fires and this will be the last report unless conditions change.
Nevada:
BUCK SPRINGS: This 3,500 acre (1,416 ha) fires is burning on the Humbolt-Toiyabe National Forest in the Mt. Charleston Wilderness east of Pahrump, Nevada. Endangered species and cultural sites are threatened. 5% of the work has been completed to contain the fire. 156 people are assigned to the fire.
Colorado:
HALEY: This 1,439 acre (582 ha) fire is located 20 miles north of Nucla, CO on the Uncompahgre-Gunnison National Forest. There are 104 people working on the fire. All of the work has been completed to contain this fire and this will be the last report unless conditions change.
The Wildland Fire Update from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) for the United States on 5 June 2000 shows,
that wildland fire activity was steady during the weekend, and firefighters made good progress on small and large fires. There are currently seven large fires burning in Arizona, Florida, Nevada and New Mexico for a total of 92,633 acres (37,487 ha).
A Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation Team, along with 150 to 200 volunteers, are working near Los Alamos to help stabilize the soil in the wake of the Cerro Grande fire. Some erosion control measures proved successful after a rain storm that dumped up to a half inch of rain on Friday.
Fig. 3. Large Wildland Fires in the United States, 5 June 2000.
(National Interagency Fire Center)
The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) is a contribution of “The Fire Behavior Research Work Unit”, Missoula (Montana USA). The broad area component of the Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) generates maps of selected fire weather and fire danger components. Fire Danger (Potential) is a normalized adjective rating class across different fuel models and station locations. It is based on information provided by local station managers about the primary fuel model, fire danger index selected to reflect staffing level, and climatological class breakpoints. Low danger (class 1) is green and extreme potential (class 5) is red.
Fig. 4. and 5. Fire Danger Forecast Maps of the United States and Alaska for 5 June (observation time) and 6 June 2000 (forecast).
(Source: Fire Behavior Research Work Unit, Missoula)
The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a soil/duff drought index that ranges from 0 (no drought) to 800 (extreme drought) and is based on a soil capacity of 8 inches of water. Factors in the index are maximum daily temperature, daily precipitation, antecedent precipitation, and annual precipitation. KBDI = 0 – 200: Soil moisture and large class fuel moistures are high and do not contribute much to fire intensity. Typical of spring dormant season following winter precipitation. KBDI = 200 – 400: Typical of late spring, early growing season. Lower litter and duff layers are drying and beginning to contribute to fire intensity. KBDI = 400 – 600: Typical of late summer, early fall. Lower litter and duff layers actively contribute to fire intensity and will burn actively. KBDI = 600 – 800: Often associated with more severe drought with increased wildfire occurrence. Intense, deep burning fires with significant downwind spotting can be expected. Live fuels can also be expected to burn actively at these levels.
Fig. 6. Keetch-Byram Drought Index Map of the United States, 5 June 2000
(Source: Fire Behavior Research Work Unit, Missoula)
For further information on the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) by Florida’s Division of Forestry / Forest Protection Bureau please refer to Keetch-Byram Drought Index Revisited: Prescribed Fire Applications.
Incident Management Situation Report (4 June 2000)
Current Situation:
New large fires were reported in the Southern Area. Initial attack activity was moderate in Florida, southern California and New Mexico, and light elsewhere. The National Interagency Coordination Center mobilized helicopters, airtankers, a lead plane, infrared aircraft, engines, meteorological equipment, crews, a Buying Team, and miscellaneous overhead. Very high to extreme fire indices were reported in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, California, Oklahoma, Texas, Colorado, Kansas, and Mississippi.
A helicopter working for Florida State Division of Forestry crashed while doing bucket work on a fire near Fort Myers, FL. The pilot did not survive. The entire fire community extends condolences to the family and friends of the pilot.
Outlook:
A fire weather watch is posted in northern, east central and west Florida for low afternoon humidities, unstable air and gusty winds.
Florida will be mostly cloudy in the north and partly cloudy in the south, with scattered afternoon thunderstorms. High temperatures will be in the mid 80’s to the mid 90’s. Winds will be west to southwest at 10 to 15 mph. Minimum relative humidities will range from 35 to 50 percent.
New Mexico and southern Colorado will be partly to mostly cloudy with scattered afternoon thunderstorms. High temperatures will be from the 70’s to near 90 degrees. Winds will be south to southwest at 10 to 20 mph with locally higher gusts. Minimum relative humidities will be 15 to 30 percent.
Southern Utah and southern Nevada will be sunny and breezy. Temperatures will range from the 80’s up to 110 in the desert areas. Winds will be west to southwest at 15 to 25 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Relative humidities will be from 5 to 15 percent.
Arizona will be partly cloudy with a slight chance of dry lightning across the far eastern portion of the state. High temperatures will be 75 to 85 degrees in the mountains and 100 to 110 degrees in the deserts. Minimum afternoon relative humidities will range between 10 to 25 percent at the higher elevations and 5 to 15 percent in the deserts.
Southern California will be sunny with high temperatures in the 60’s and 70’s along the coast, 80 to 90 in the interior, and up to 112 degrees in the deserts. Winds will be west to southwest at 10 to 15 mph. Minimum relative humidities will be 60 to 80 percent on the coast and 20 to 35 percent in the interior valleys.
Long-range, 30-day weather forecasts are predicting above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for the southern tier of states from southern California to Florida and throughout the Midwest (see 30 and 90-day forecast maps).
Tab.1. Five-Year Wildland Fire Comparison Statistics Year-to-Date for the United States (5 June 2000)
(Source: National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC)
As of 06/05/00 Number of Wildland Fires Area burnt Acres Hectars 2000 43,053 1,182,530 478,552 1999 41,879 837,843 339,063 1998 24,817 554,845 224,537 1997 28,455 456,299 184,657 1996 58,916 1,561,552 631,937
Fig. 7. 30 and 90-day temperature and precipitation forecast maps (June and June to August 2000)
(Source: National Weather Service, Boise, Idaho)
Remarks on Prescribed Burning
At this time of the year prescribed burning operations are conducted routinely.
Fire is an important natural tool for ecosystem management. It can reduce dense vegetation improving wildlife habitat and lessening the potential for large, wildfire disasters. Land managers are directed to prepare a prescribed fire/burn plan for every area of public land that can burn. Some areas require total suppression while others will benefit from a wildland fire. Those areas that will benefit from a fire can be treated by a prescribed fire.
Especially, for the moment, in the southern and southeastern regions of the United States prescribed fire activities will be carried out in the following weeks and months. In this case, fire signals on satellite images can be traced back to this kind of land management activities.
In the Prescribed Fire Position Paper of the Forest Protection Bureau by the Division of Forestry in Florida, prescribed fire activity is described as a land management application that is essential to the practice of forestry, management of wildlife, preservation of endangered plant and animal species, improvement of range conditions and reduction of wildfire damage in the wildland/urban interface areas. While there is general public and landowner concern with increased smoke, reduced air quality, and liability; the general public and landowners benefit significantly from the reduction of devastating wildfire, improved wildlife habitat and forage, preservation of endangered and threatened plant and animal species, and improved management of forest resources. The prospect of severe reductions in the utilization of this management tool is of major concern to Florida’s natural resource managers and conservationists due to the subsequent loss of derived public and private benefits. They suggest the need for legislative attention.
Another report on nation-wide prescribed burning in the U.S.A. was published in International Forest Fire News No.19 (September 1998).
A set of photographic documents on prescribed burning techniques and objectives in the Southeast can be visited in our photo archive.
