Lisa Gordon, verticalmag.com

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In aerial firefighting circles, it’s recognized that attacking wildfires after dark makes a lot of sense.

As temperatures drop after sunset, relative humidity usually increases and winds tend to die down. Together, these factors increase the odds of success for aerial crews attacking a wildland fire.

“It’s much easier to put it out then. We can make progress instead of just keeping up — and you can make a big impact when the fire is sitting down, or laying low,” Mike May, a provincial aviation specialist in the Wildfire Management Branch at Alberta Forestry and Parks, told Vertical back in June.

Reached in late August, May confirmed that the province of Alberta continues to expand a 2022 pilot program that introduced helicopter nighttime aerial firefighting to the province. In partnership with Richmond, B.C.-based Talon Helicopters, Alberta has been evaluating night vision goggle (NVG) technology for nighttime fire reconnaissance, fire suppression, and crew support/movement.

The initial test ship was Talon’s Airbus AS365 N2 Dauphin night fire attack medium helicopter, equipped with a Simplex 240-US gallon (901-liter) belly tank. That aircraft flew in 2022 and 2023, before it was joined by two more NVG-equipped helicopters for the current 2024 fire season: a Bell 212 medium from Ascent Helicopters in Parksville, B.C., and a Sikorsky S-61 heavy helicopter from Montreal-based Canadian Helicopters.

“It’s working quite well, and we are utilizing our three aircraft considerably on incidents throughout Alberta,” reported May. “Over the coming winter, we plan on assessing the program and nailing down processes and procedures, such as flight following, overnight fuelling, and proper utilization of aircraft.”

While Alberta is pleased with its night helicopter firefighting program so far, he noted the program is in its infancy, and will continue to be refined.

Next door in British Columbia, night vision technology is also being explored by the BC Wildfire Service, on both rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft.

“Since 2019, we have been trialing night vision imaging systems (NVIS), which are integrated cockpit solutions that enhance the pilot’s nighttime vision,” reported Jean Strong, an information officer with BC Wildfire Service. “We have moved NVIS out of trials and into operational function this 2024 wildfire season.”

In B.C., a rotary-wing NVIS unit consists of a contracted night vision-equipped helicopter and certified pilot, as well as a BC Wildfire officer who has been trained as an NVG observer. Strong indicated that several BC Wildfire staff were qualified as NVG observers ahead of the 2024 wildfire season, with more to be trained in the coming months.

This year, nighttime helicopter operations were concentrated on reconnaissance, detection and mapping missions to support firefighters on the ground and in the air.

“It (NVIS) will also be used to support overnight operations, including observation and relaying information on fires, such as fire behavior, movement and any threats to values, which assists crews working at night,” said Strong.

In B.C., as elsewhere, the first priority is protecting communities and frontline firefighting personnel from devastating wildfires. Strong likened night vision imaging to another tool in the wildland firefighting toolbox.

“For effective wildfire management, it takes the collaboration of trusted tools and technologies, as well as an openness to exploring and safely integrating emerging advancements,” she said.

Building resources

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (Cal Fire) began transitioning to the Sikorsky S-70i Firehawk — known within the agency as the Cal Fire Hawk — in 2020. Today, the agency operates 13 “Hawks,” all of them equipped for night operations.

“The Firehawks enabled our move to NVGs,” confirmed Linnea Edmeier, aviation communications officer with Cal Fire. “It was just this year that all eight of our 10 helicopter crews on the Firehawk platform were NVG trained.”

This past June, Cal Fire held its biggest night aerial firefighting exercise to date, with eight aircraft flying together over Lake Berryessa in Napa County. Scenarios involved NVG-enabled water drops, navigation and communication, and were designed to hone the skills of pilots and crew members.

“It was the first time we did anything on this scale for night operations,” said Edmeier. “We had agency aircraft and exclusive use contracted aircraft participating in this two-week training exercise. At the end of the last module, we closed it out early because crews went to fly on fires that night.”

She explained that aside from its night flying operations, Cal Fire has enhanced its aviation resources in recent years with the addition of the S-70i helicopters, C-130H Hercules airtankers, intelligence-collecting aircraft, exclusive use contracted aircraft, and uncrewed aerial systems. In total, Cal Fire operates a fleet of more than 60 fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, making it the largest civil aerial firefighting fleet in the world.

By the end of August, Edmeier reported that Cal Fire assets and exclusive use contracted ships had flown close to 240 night flying hours since June 16, dropping 1.8 million US gal (6.8 million L) of water. Cal Fire’s goal is to keep 95 percent of fires confined to 10 acres (40,500 square meters) or less.

She recounted a story about an initial attack NVG helicopter dropping water on fires in early July — their efforts kept the fires small and saved two communities.

“We are having success with these night flying aircraft on both initial attack and major wildland firefighting,” she confirmed. Building on that success, Cal Fire recently brought in another contracted night-capable helicopter.

Edmeier said Cal Fire will take “all the learnings from this fire season” and continue to build out its night operations firefighting program.

“It’s great building something that has found success,” she reflected. “So now, how do we sustain our success? Another thing is, we have the machines, and now we need the people.

How do we keep the people pipeline moving?”

What are some of Cal Fire’s learnings from this pivotal fire season?

Edmeier summed them up: “A lot of it is really about timing in terms of aircraft maintenance, support staff, how to incorporate a night schedule into a day schedule, and all other facets of organized firefighting. The big picture is about how to tie the command center in for flight following. We have to adjust crew hours — if they work until 2 a.m., how does that look? If we need a second crew, maybe some of the helitack bases weren’t designed for two crews. So, it’s about infrastructure and the support around it. These are all important parts of building and supporting a successful program.”

Packing a big punch

Coulson Aviation has seen another busy North American summer of aerial firefighting, including in Southern California.

The British Columbia-based company is the only private entity fighting fires with large helicopters at night, and it has been doing so since 2011.

Its rotary-wing fleet includes the Boeing CH-47 Chinook and Sikorsky S-61, as well as Sikorsky S-76 aerial intelligence aircraft.

Company president and chief operating officer Britt Coulson told Vertical in March that firefighting in general is changing.

“Today, there is no amount of money too great that you can spend on fighting the fire in the first hour. If you don’t get it out quickly, it will cost exponentially more.”

He said that is why large Type 1 helicopters and fixed-wing airtankers are so in demand — because they pack a big punch and they can deliver it fast.

Coulson Aviation’s CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift firefighting helicopter is the world’s largest helitanker. According to the company, it can onboard 3,000 US gal (11,300 L) of water in 90 seconds with its retractable snorkel, allowing for quick returns to the fire line.

“If you hit the fire hard with large assets and ground crew, your likelihood of extinguishing that fire is exponentially higher than if you use a bunch of small assets,” said Coulson.

Over the past year, Coulson Aviation has won a number of contracts, including a $16 million agreement to continue supporting Southern California’s Quick Reaction Force (QRF) throughout 2024, with an option to continue through 2025. The QRF is a wildfire combat program that supports the efforts of Los Angeles, Orange and Venture county fire departments. It operates 24/7/365 and is deployed as soon as a fire is spotted. Coulson told Vertical that 60 percent of QRF flying is done at night.

Under the contract, Coulson Aviation supplies three Chinooks, an S-76 recon helicopter, and pilot/maintenance support.

“One of our standout and high demand capabilities is our night NVG firefighting,” said Coulson. “Our strong nighttime capabilities are the wildfire battle gamechanger for the QRF.”

This past July, Coulson Aviation also announced a 10-year contract to manage, operate and maintain the entire aerial firefighting fleet of the New South Wales Rural Fire Service in Australia, totaling 11 helicopter and fixed-wing assets.

The Canadian company also works alongside the U.S. Forest Service, other Australian states, Chile and Argentina.

The U.S. Forest Service (USFS) itself currently operates two night-capable firefighting aircraft — a fixed-wing air attack platform and one Bell 205 tanked medium helicopter. Both are stationed in Lancaster, California, according to Beau Dobberstein, USFS rotor wing branch chief.

As a party to Southern California’s FIRESCOPE program (Firefighting Resources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies) and its night air operations plan, the USFS has been gaining night helicopter operations experience since 2013. Its single Bell 205 helicopter — which is exclusive to Southern California — is a contracted resource that participates in annual scenario-based training exercises with state and local government agencies. Currently, the USFS has two helicopter pilots specifically trained for night firefighting operations.

While Dobberstein indicated current budgets do not provide for the acquisition of additional NVG-equipped aircraft, he acknowledged that the agency has generally seen an increase in the use of night aerial firefighting resources. Speaking of lessons learned in the USFS program so far, he highlighted the importance of immediately establishing and maintaining effective aerial supervision within the fire traffic area, to ensure proper aircraft separation. He also said that when the night firefighting program began, one helicopter was tasked with covering day and night shifts. However, in time, the USFS realized it would be more efficient to contract one helicopter for daytime flying and another one for exclusive night use.

“By doing so, the agency has been able to provide an increased focus on training, improve coverage, and solidify schedules for the contractor and agency crews alike,” he wrote in an email to Vertical.

Do you, or someone you know, have smokejumper specific “products” that other smokejumpers would be interested in having? The National Smokejumper Association (NSA) Reunion Committee is looking for a few select vendors who have quality “products” such as smokejumper specific art, prints, crafts, books, belt-buckles, photographs, base-specific shirts and hats, etc. to potentially sell at the National Reunion in Missoula on June 20-22, 2025.

Interested parties should make inquiries by emailing Bob McKean (mckeanbob@gmail.com). Please include the kind of product(s) you have, photos, if possible, and any other pertinent information that will help us determine what it is you have and why it would appeal to smokejumpers.”

Dear Mr. Majority Leader, Mr. Minority Leader, Mr. Majority Speaker, and Mr. Minority Leader:

The National Smokejumper Association supports the bipartisan House and Senate Federal Wildland Firefighter pay adjustment in the next Continuing Resolution or Emergency Supplemental to eliminate a federal wildland firefighters pay cliff that will have extremely adverse effects on our nation’s response to wildland fires and the financial security of those who protect our natural resources.

Today, 15,000 federal U.S. Forest Service (USDA) and Bureau of Land Management (DOI) wildland firefighters endure longer, and more dangerous wildfire seasons each year, with the loss of life and property increasing at a phenomenal rate. A major concern is the recruitment, retention, and support of these professional and highly trained wildland firefighters.

A temporary firefighter pay adjustment has expired, resulting in our federal wildland firefighters enduring a pay cut of up to 50% of base pay or $20,000. The pending legislation is a permanent and essential solution to the pay cliff problem. The House and Senate Interior 2025 Appropriations Bills include a permanent pay solution supported by Democratic and Republican Committee and Subcommittee Chairs and Ranking Members. This legislation would:

1. Permanently increase Federal wildland firefighter pay;
2. Establish a new WFF pay scale; and
3. Establish additional WFF pay supplements.

The Senate has shown its support voting for temporary pay increases by passing Continuing Resolutions since 2023 and in FY 2024 appropriations; however, the authority for these temporary pay increases will expire.

The National Smokejumper Association (NSA) is Montana-chartered 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership organization comprised of 1,400 current or former smokejumpers. Through a cadre of volunteers and partnerships, the NSA is dedicated to preserving the history and lore of smokejumping, maintaining and restoring our nation’s forest and rangeland resources, and responding to special needs of smokejumpers and their families.

We appreciate your leadership getting the Senate to pass this legislation to adequately remunerate and support wildland fire fighters who are on the front lines protecting our nation’s forests, rangelands, and adjacent properties. Our men and women wildland firefighters deserve your support for a permanent pay provision for the critical and often dangerous, high risk work they perform for our nation. Thank you for your support and leadership on behalf of our wildland fire fighters and their families.

Sincerely yours,

Michael J. Bina, President
National Smokejumper Association

Emily C. Dooley
ucdavis.edu

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Research from the University of California, Davis, is shedding light on when and where to plant tree seedlings to help restore forests after high-severity wildfires, and it has a lot to do with shrubs.

In hotter, drier areas where natural regeneration is weaker, well-timed tree planting can boost recovery by up to 200%, but the outcome also depends on competition with shrubs, a paper in the journal Forest Ecology and Management concludes.

“Generally, where there are more shrubs, the climate and soil are more hospitable for plant growth,” lead author and assistant professional researcher Derek Young said. “But what that also means is there’s more competition for trees.”

In areas where a lot of shrubs are present, it’s best to plant seedlings within a year of a wildfire to avoid competition from these woody plants. In areas with fewer shrubs, planting three years after a fire is more effective because some of these woody plants would have grown back, but not so many to consume available nutrients and water.

“Some vegetation in those really harsh sites might actually facilitate tree establishment by providing shade,” Young said.

Data-based findings

Understanding how to foster recovery is critical to restoration efforts as climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of forest fires. Land managers also must use data to help direct limited resources, said Andrew Latimer, senior author on the paper and a professor in the Department of Plant Sciences.

“We’re aiming to help optimize tree planting by targeting it to where it’s really needed,” Latimer said. “Doing this matters because we’re facing a reforestation backlog — limited capacity to replant and a lot of severely burned area.”

Look at past events

Researchers surveyed areas in the Sierra Nevada that were representative of a mix of climates and management strategies in California and had been replanted with conifer tree seedlings one to three years after intense wildfires. In each of the five 400-square-meter circular plots, which included replanted and non-planted areas, the team counted seedlings, shrub cover and other environmental details.

This allowed researchers to gauge how replanting affects the composition of forests and map out the best strategies across wide swaths of land that would be challenging to survey on foot.

“I think the real benefit is being able to make those predictions across a huge landscape,” Young said. “Now we have quantified the effects of certain environmental variables that allow us to make those maps.”

Latimer is experimenting to see how removing shrubs two years after a fire affects tree regeneration. Young will soon use aerial imagery and drones at wildfire sites to determine how management actions affected forests in the 40 years since the trees burned.

Quinn Sorenson, who was in Department of Plant Sciences at the time of the analysis also contributed to the research, which was funded by the Joint Fire Science Program and the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Hatch Project.

Murphy Woodhouse
Boise State Public Radio News
December 16, 2024

In recent years, knowledge about the long-term health risks of wildland firefighting has been growing. Now, a new paper – published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene – paints a detailed and troubling picture of carcinogen exposure among wildland firefighters, raising questions about how to keep these workers safe.

Researchers pored over roughly four dozen papers that assessed exposure to various carcinogens on the fireline. They identified 31 carcinogens including asbestos, volatile organic compounds like benzene and crystalline silica.

“This review provides consistent evidence that wildland firefighters are regularly exposed to multiple carcinogens at varying concentrations across most work activity and is very much in line with the determination that the International Agency for Research on Cancer made in 2022,” said Kathleen DuBose, one of the study’s authors as well as the environmental and occupational health director at the Federal Firefighter Health and Wellbeing Program.

That World Health Organization body concluded that the occupational exposure that comes from firefighting in general is “carcinogenic to humans.”

Methods and results varied between the papers analyzed, and only a few found concentrations above official occupational exposure limits (OELs) set by federal regulators or other bodies.

But DuBose said that “not hitting these occupational exposure limits … doesn’t mean that risk doesn’t exist,” adding that “we are seeing these unique exposures in the wildfire environment and we really don’t understand or know yet what they mean from a cumulative exposure standpoint.”

In the paper, the authors note that wildland fire is a uniquely arduous profession that “results in increased respiratory rates and consequently elevated exposure doses.” OELs, they write, also don’t contemplate “multi-pollutant exposures that may have additive or synergistic effects.”

DuBose said more research is needed to develop such exposure limits for wildfire, where multiple carcinogens are often present simultaneously. Her health and wellbeing program is already using the paper to inform efforts to reduce workplace risks, but she said everyone in the fire world has a part to play.

“It’s going to take all of us to start thinking about when and where there are places that each and every day we can reduce exposure,” she said.

The paper makes several recommendations, like regularly rotating fire personnel out of areas with heavy smoke and locating incident command posts in places with less smoke impact.

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

After storing carbon dioxide in frozen soil for millennia, the Arctic tundra is being transformed by frequent wildfires into an overall source of carbon to the atmosphere, which is already absorbing record levels of heat-trapping fossil fuel pollution.

The transition of the Arctic from a carbon sink to a carbon source is one of the dramatic changes in the Arctic that are documented in NOAA’s 2024 Arctic Report Card. Climatic shifts are forcing plants, wildlife and the people that depend on them to rapidly adapt to a warmer, wetter and less certain world.

“Our observations now show that the Arctic tundra, which is experiencing warming and increased wildfire, is now emitting more carbon than it stores, which will worsen climate change impacts,” said NOAA Administrator Rick Spinrad, Ph.D. “This is yet one more sign, predicted by scientists, of the consequences of inadequately reducing fossil fuel pollution.”

New research in the 2024 Arctic Report Card, contributed by 97 scientists from 11 countries, reveals record-setting observations that underlie ongoing changes emerging in the Arctic, which covers the lands and seas of the north polar region. They include:

• Continuing high air temperatures and wildfires.
• Declines of large inland caribou herds.
• Increasing precipitation, including rain-on-snow events that coat the landscape in an icy shell, making travel difficult for people and foraging challenging for wildlife.

Observations also reveal stark regional differences that make local and regional environmental shifts highly unpredictable for people, plants and animals.

“This year’s report demonstrates the urgent need for adaptation as climate conditions quickly change,” said Twila Moon, lead editor of the Arctic Report Card and deputy lead scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center. “Indigenous Knowledge and community-led research programs can inform successful responses to rapid Arctic changes.”

Notable findings from the 2024 Arctic Report Card

In the air

• Arctic annual surface air temperatures ranked second-warmest since 1900.
• Autumn 2023 and summer 2024 were especially warm across the Arctic, with temperatures ranking 2nd and 3rd warmest, respectively.
• An early August 2024 heatwave set all-time record daily temperatures in several northern Alaska and Canada communities.
• The last nine years are the nine warmest on record in the Arctic.
• Summer 2024 across the Arctic was the wettest on record.

In the ocean

• In September 2024, the extent of Arctic sea ice, which has a profound influence on the polar environment, was the sixth-lowest in the 45-year satellite record.
• All 18 of the lowest September minimum ice extents have occurred in the last 18 years.
• Arctic Ocean regions that were ice-free in August have been warming at a rate of 0.5 degrees F (0.3 degrees C) per decade since 1982.
• In most of the shallow seas that ring the Arctic Ocean, August mean sea surface temperatures were 3.6–7.2 degrees F (2–4 degrees C) warmer than 1991-2020 averages, while the Chukchi Sea were 1.8–7.2 degrees F (1–4 degrees C) cooler than average.
• Plankton blooms — the base of the marine food chain — continue to increase in all Arctic regions, except for the Pacific Arctic, throughout the observational record of 2003–2024. However, in 2024, lower-than-average values were dominant across much of the Arctic.
• Ice seal populations remain healthy in the Pacific Arctic, though their diets are shifting from Arctic cod to saffron cod with warming waters.

On land

• When including the impact of increased wildfire activity, the Arctic tundra region has shifted from storing carbon in the soil to becoming a carbon source to the atmosphere. Circumpolar wildfire emissions have averaged 207 million tons of carbon per year since 2003.
• The Arctic remains a consistent methane source.
• Alaskan permafrost temperatures were the second warmest on record
• Arctic migratory tundra caribou populations have declined by 65% over the last 2-3 decades. Though the generally smaller coastal herds of the western Arctic have seen some recovery over roughly the last decade, large inland caribou herds are continuing a long-term decline or remain at the lowest populations noted by Indigenous elders.
• Summer heat impacts on caribou herds are projected to magnify over the next 25-75 years, requiring shared knowledge between scientists and Indigenous communities for management strategies.
• Snow accumulation during the 2023-2024 winter was above average across both the Eurasian and North American Arctic.
• Despite above-average snow accumulation, the snow season was the shortest in 26 years over portions of central and eastern Arctic Canada. Arctic snow melt is occurring 1-2 weeks earlier than historical conditions throughout May and June.
• Greenland Ice Sheet mass loss was the lowest since 2013.
• Tundra greenness, a measure of expanding shrub cover due to warming temperatures, ranked second highest in the 25-year satellite record.

“Many of the Arctic’s vital signs that we track are either setting or flirting with record-high or record-low values nearly every year,” said Gerald (J.J.) Frost, senior scientist with Alaska Biological Research, Inc. and veteran Arctic Report Card author. “This is an indication that recent extreme years are the result of long-term, persistent changes, and not the result of variability in the climate system.”

Robin Verble, Missouri University of Science and Technology
https://theconversation.com/
Tue, December 3, 2024

As cool weather arrives and the number of U.S. wildfires declines, wildland firefighters who have spent months working in the heat and smoke are able to take a much-needed break. But for many of them, the stress of the job isn’t going away.

Continued uncertainty regarding federal pay and benefits, coupled with mental health risks and seasonal financial strain, make this a precarious time for wildland firefighters.

I study the environmental and occupational health of wildland firefighters as a professor. I’m also married to a wildland firefighter, and we have two children. His work is unpredictable and dangerous. For him and many wildland firefighters like him, the stress is compounded by the uncertainty surrounding the future of wildland firefighter pay.

In 2021, Congress approved a temporary retention bonus of US$20,000 a year or 50% of the firefighter’s base pay, whichever amount was smaller. However, wildland firefighters are still waiting for that raise to be codified three years later.

This means that thousands of families are living in a constant state of financial insecurity across the country. If that pay raise expires, many firefighters will lose large percentages of their income. For many, these aren’t high-paying jobs. The starting pay is as low as $15 per hour.

The federal continuing resolution that has been keeping the government operational – and the pay increase temporarily in place – is set to expire on Dec. 20, 2024. Congress is likely to extend it one more time. But if the new budget Congress eventually passes fails to address wildland firefighter pay, firefighters face a major financial setback.

With seasonal contracts wrapping up, many wildland firefighters are at a crossroads.

Surveys reflect mental and physical health strain
In 2022 and 2023, my research team and I conducted national-scale surveys of wildland firefighters and the dispatchers who work with them. We wanted to understand how the high health risk factors, work-life balance and morale affect their well-being and future in the field.

Working in wildland firefighting is an unpredictable and often emotionally challenging job. Wildland firefighters work in tight-knit crews that depend on one another for physical safety, and they are the front-line defense for homes and communities threatened by fire. On average, about 17 U.S. wildland firefighters are killed in the line of duty each year.

Wildland firefighters and wildland fire dispatchers report widespread struggles with mental health, including high rates of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal thoughts or ideations.

One in three wildland fire dispatchers said they had had suicidal thoughts or ideations, and half know a wildland firefighter who has died by suicide.

Pay policies encourage overwork, risky choices
The federal wildland fire system also incentivizes overworking and risky behaviors that put firefighters at greater risk of physical harm.

With starting pay so low, many wildland firefighters end up working an average of over 600 hours of overtime annually to pay their bills. This is the equivalent of working 15 additional 40-hour weeks per year.

A typical wildland fire deployment lasts 14 consecutive days, averaging 16 hours per day. Often, they sleep in rugged conditions, in tents and on the ground.

Further, there is incentive pay for working in hazardous conditions. This means that, as a deployment progresses, wildland firefighters are working more dangerous jobs, more hours and are increasingly physically and mentally exhausted, leaving them vulnerable to costly errors that could impede their safety.

Our studies have found that 67% of wildland firefighters have been injured or had an illness related to their work. Smoke inhalation, living in close quarters and the daily physical stress can all create health risks. Additionally, over three-quarters of the respondents report unsafe working conditions, ranging from substandard housing to equipment failures to violent interpersonal interactions.

These issues need long-term proactive solutions, but currently few exist. The U.S. Forest Service offers mental health counseling, but until 2023, temporary seasonal employees, including over one-third of wildland firefighters, weren’t eligible for federal health benefits.

Federal hiring system adds more stress
A career in wildland firefighting can be a tough sell – long hours, months away from home, grueling physical labor, health and safety hazards, and low starting pay.

Surveys of wildland firefighters’ spouses and partners found high levels of family conflict and poor work-life balance. Most wildland firefighters said that they were unable to attend important family and life events during fire season, and most wildland fire dispatchers reported that they did not spend adequate time outdoors or with family.

Wildland firefighters said that they love the challenge of the job, and they felt like their work makes a difference. Crews must rely on one another for their safety, and this builds deep bonds and loyalty to their organization.

Given the need for more firefighters and the intense demands of the job, it may come as a surprise that one of the top obstacles wildland firefighters report facing is successfully navigating the gauntlet of federal hiring.

Many federal firefighters are temporary seasonal employees, so they need to reapply for positions every year. Even for full-time employees, career progression frequently requires moving among different positions or locations to accumulate experience necessary for promotions.

Stories of monthslong delays in start dates are not uncommon: One firefighter we spoke with had received a job offer in November but did not start the position until May of the following year. At no point during this six- to seven-month window did he have a clear indication of when he would start and was consistently told it would be “soon.” This job paid approximately $38,000 per year.

What Congress can do to retain firefighters
My husband loves his job. He is proud of the work he does and the difference he makes by protecting lives and communities from wildfires. However, the risks to his health and well-being, the low pay and the pervasive stressful uncertainty of the future of the profession mean that exploring alternatives is a necessity.

Over the past three years, 45% of the U.S. Forest Service’s wildland firefighting workforce has quit, something my research team sounded the warning bell on in 2022. That loss of experience matters.

Retaining experienced firefighters amid longer and worsening fire seasons will require policymakers to improve health care, pay and the organizational structure itself, including how firefighters are hired and retained. Yet, the federal government continues to delay taking action, leaving our nation’s fire-prone communities and wildland firefighters in a precarious and uncertain position.

The Physics arXiv Blog
https://www.discovermagazine.com

—

In April 2022, forestry workers started a small number of fires in the Santa Fe National Forest near a remote mountain called Hermit’s Peak. The plan, part of a nationwide program of controlled burns, was to thin out the dense pine woodlands to reduce the risk of a bigger, uncontrolled burn later.

The team was aware of the two ways that wildfires usually spread. The first is via direct contact with nearby trees and grass, which is relatively easy to predict. But the second is much harder. Known as spotting, it involves burning embers, or firebrands, being blown away from the main conflagration and triggering secondary blazes further away.

An important part of the team’s plan was to place spotters downwind of the controlled burn so that they could immediately extinguish any unwanted blazes.

Out of Control

But the team significantly underestimated the distance that embers could travel, and the fire quickly spread out of control. Within days it became the largest wildfire in New Mexico’s history, destroying hundreds of homes and displacing residents over an area of 341,471 acres, about the size of greater Los Angeles.

That raises an important question. Theoretical studies suggest that firebrands should travel a few hundred meters downwind before they land. And yet firefighters have long observed spotting at distances greater than one kilometer. Why so much further than theoretical studies suggest?

Now they have an answer thanks to the work of Mohammed Farazmand, a mathematician at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, who has modelled the way that burning pieces of ember interact with the wind. He says that the heat from fires can set up travelling waves in the atmosphere. Firebrands can then “surf” on these waves further than anyone had thought possible. “This delays the firebrand’s landing, making extreme spotting distances possible,” says Farazmand.

Wildfires are well known to create complex patterns of wind when hot, rising air interacts with cooler air in the atmosphere. One way to model this flow is as a uniform movement of air. But a more complex scenario is that the fires create travelling waves in the atmosphere in which the air moves up and down at various frequencies as it travels horizontally.

Farazmand modelled both types of movement to see how they affected the transport of firebrands. His model assumed that firebrands initially have a random motion as they are buffeted by the turbulence of the fire.

His model suggests that if the wind is uniform, these embers can travel several hundred meters at a rate that depends on the wind speed, before gravity pulls them to the ground.

Fire Surfing

But things change dramatically if the wind forms even a small travelling wave. In this case, any ember that happens to match the speed of the wave can be picked up and begins to surf. It can then travel significantly further, even if the travelling wave has the same horizontal velocity as the uniform wind speed.

“We show that traveling waves, with reasonable wind speeds, can significantly increase the landing distance,” says Farazmand. “The traveling wave can lead to spotting distances which exceed one kilometer.”

That’s a useful conclusion that will help to inform the way controlled burns are policed in future. The message is simple: spot fires can start at least a kilometer downwind from the main burn. That kind of distance will significantly increase the size of the area that needs to be patrolled and the number of people required to do it .

But if it prevents the kind of runaway conflagration that hit New Mexico in 2022, the price will be worth paying.

By Dirk VanderHart (OPB)
Nov. 26, 2024

State agencies say they don’t have enough money to pay for a fire season that burned almost 2 million acres. Lawmakers will step in to help next month.

Oregon legislators will meet for a brief special session next month to approve emergency spending to cover bills for this year’s unprecedented wildfire season.

Gov. Tina Kotek announced Tuesday she will call a session on Dec. 12 in order for lawmakers to send $218 million to state agencies grappling with the costs of fires that touched a record 1.9 million acres.

“The unprecedented 2024 wildfire season required all of us to work together to protect life, land, and property, and that spirit of cooperation must continue,” Kotek said in a statement. “I am grateful to legislative leaders for coming to consensus that our best course of action is to ensure the state’s fire season costs are addressed and bills paid by the end of the calendar year.”

Five people with knowledge of the talks confirmed Tuesday morning that legislative caucuses met Monday to discuss the possibility of calling a session. Lawmakers are already due to be in Salem from Dec. 10-12 for interim committee hearings.

The move comes after the Oregon State Treasury recently rejected a $60 million loan request from the Oregon Department of Forestry to help cover unfunded wildfire costs that top $133 million, a development first reported by Willamette Week.

The Legislature’s Joint Emergency Board is the usual vehicle for approving emergency spending in between sessions. But the board doesn’t have enough money at its disposal to cover the costs faced by firefighting agencies like the forestry department and Oregon State Fire Marshal.

“As we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, we need to make good on our commitments and pay our bills so that the contractors who fought fires in Oregon can be made whole,” House Speaker Julie Fahey, D-Eugene, said in a statement.

Lawmakers are able to call themselves into session with a majority vote in both chambers. More typically, emergency sessions are called by the governor.

Special sessions can be dicey affairs in Oregon. Unlike normal sessions, they don’t come with built-in constitutional guardrails requiring lawmakers to adjourn at any specific point, and there is always suspicion Democrats could use their majorities to bring forward bills Republicans oppose.

There appeared to be agreement among at least a segment of legislative Republicans Tuesday that a narrowly-tailored session to address the state’s wildfire bills is possible — as long as it stops there.

“Republicans welcome the opportunity to solve this problem by ensuring the people who work to protect Oregon communities during wildfire season are paid for their service,” House Minority Leader Christine Drazan, R-Canby, said in a statement.

While lawmakers in both parties have been discussing the possible logistics of a session, Drazan said in a release she first heard of Kotek’s decision via media reports. “We are glad to hear she is willing to allow the legislature to work cooperatively to fix her insolvent agency’s problems, for the first time in the press,” said Drazan, who has had a chilly relationship with Kotek since they served in the House together. “Evidently, the Governor will be communicating via press release rather than a phone call.”

Lawmakers have known for months they would have to take action to address the soaring costs of the wildfire season, but hadn’t appeared to consider a special session necessary.

During a meeting in September, as the legislative Emergency Board approved additional funding for both the Department of Forestry and State Fire Marshal, lawmakers were told both agencies would be back for additional money in December. The plan then, it seemed, was to use money the committee had at its disposal from an allotted emergency fund and a variety of “special purpose appropriations” it can tap.

The question of how Oregon should fund its response to wildfire — both in terms of preventing major fires and putting them out when they arise — promises to be a focus during next year’s legislative session. And it was clearly on lawmakers’ minds during the September hearing.

“It’s time that we actually rethink, or at least perhaps modernize, the way in which we anticipate costs for mega-sized disasters,” state Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth, said, suggesting lawmakers give agencies enough money to more proactively tackle fires. “We are now in an era where fires and emergencies are going to get bigger every year.”

State Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane, said he’d heard from a wildfire contractor in his sprawling eastern Oregon district who was still owed more than $1 million from the state.

“They called me yesterday. They don’t have enough money to pay payroll,” Owens said during the September meeting. “They’re going to have to go get a loan in order to pay their employees because [the Oregon Dept. of Forestry] is delayed.”

According to the governor’s office, this year’s wildfire season destroyed at least 42 homes and more than 100 other structures. Kotek declared a state of emergency in July because of the fires.

The Legislature’s six-month regular session starts in January.

LEWISTON TRIBUNE
Nov 16, 2024

KAMIAH — The U.S. Forest Service firefighter who was struck by a tree in August continues his recovery and rehabilitation in Colorado.

In a news release issued Thursday, Justin “Riley” Shaw’s parents said their son recently had cranioplasty surgery at Swedish Medical Hospital in Denver. The surgery went smoothly, and he continues a “marathon of therapies” at Craig Hospital.

Shaw, who is from Boise, was seriously injured while working as an assistant foreman of the Salmon River Ranger District fire crew when he was hit by a snag shortly after he and others arrived at the Coffee Can Saddle Fire near Riggins on Aug. 10.

“Oftentimes with a traumatic brain injury, it could take up to two years to recover,” said Joe and Dawn Shaw. “Justin is working hard every day; pushing himself to improve his balance, speech, gross motor skills, swallowing, and daily tasks. Despite his physical challenges he still has his personality, humor, character, and dedication to work hard that makes him Justin.”

The Shaws said they are grateful to everyone who has donated to the GoFundMe campaign, and the support of the Eric Marsh Foundation and the JW Memorial Foundation.

“Since this is such a long journey, please keep Justin and his family in your prayers and feel free to send encouraging letters. They uplift both him and his family,” the news release said.

His mailing address is Justin Shaw, 6282 Vale Drive, Highlands, Colo., 80130, and his email is justinshawrecovery@gmail.com. Letters or cards can also be sent on his behalf to the Slate Creek Ranger Station in White Bird.