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KNF gears up for fire season

Last spring and summer catastrophic wildfires plagued the nation. And one hit very close to home — the Pumpkin Center Fire on Kendrick Mountain, ignited by lightning, charred 14,700 acres.

In last year’s wake, federal fire management funding is on the rise. Former President Clinton signed legislation allotting $1.9 billion for fire prevention and recovery.

As a result, Kaibab National Forest South Zone staff is already hiring additional personnel to get a jump on fire management well before the fire season gets rolling.

“I have just hired or am in the process of hiring six additional permanent position firefighters,” said Larry Anderson, Kaibab National Forest’s South Zone fire management officer. “I plan to hire an additional 10 seasonal firefighters over last year, which will bring this year’s numbers up to 50 permanent and seasonal positions.”

KNF’s South Zone encompasses both the Tusayan and Williams Ranger Districts.

“I hope to have the bulk of the hiring done by April 23, a month earlier than usual to have the seasonal workforce on ahead of the fire crunch season,” he said.

Throughout Region 3, which takes in Arizona and New Mexico, Anderson said the Forest Service hired 120-125 permanent firefighters the week of Dec. 11.

“This year I’m going to be able to hire folks to fill all the positions our fire management analysis says we should have hired to obtain maximum efficiency level (MEL),” he said. “For the last 10-15 years we have been funded at 45-80 percent MEL.”

In terms of the annual budget, Anderson anticipates the South Zone will see a 90-95 percent increase over last year’s level, which was funded at $1,348,000.

Fuels management

“The second aspect of this year’s funding will be an increase to fuels management dollars, which includes prescribed underburning and removal of both standing trees and down and dead woody debris,” he said. “Our goal is to remove flammable fuel sources, which makes it harder for fire to get started and grow.

“Also if we do have a fire started, the hope is it will run into fuel modified areas, where fire intensities are lower and our firefighters can be successful in extinguishing the fire.”

Anderson underscored the hazard of overgrown forests.

“Of particular note, a lot of folks don’t realize standing green trees, close together, are the most significant factor in leading to rapid fire spread,” he said. “As crowns of trees begin to catch fire we can’t put firefighters ahead of the fire and can’t aggressively fight it.

“The fire starts moving from tree top to tree top in the air. At the same time the fire is throwing out numerous tree-top debris out ahead starting new fires, leapfrogging itself.”

Diminishing the number of standing trees discourages crown fires.

“By reducing vertical fuels, the fire has to drop out of the tree tops onto the ground which will give fire personnel a better chance at being successful at stopping the fire,” he said.

Anderson used Kendrick Moun-tain as a prime example.

“Historically, prescribed burning and fuels maintenance have not been able to keep up on the Kendrick Mountain area,” he said. “We had an unnatural fuels condition including standing vegetation and dead and down debris.

“We went into the fire season much drier than normal due to lack of rain and winter snowfall.”

Anderson said the Pumpkin Fire was the biggest fire the South Zone has experienced burning 4,599 acres of KNF, 39,018 acres of Coconino National Forest and 240 acres of private land.

When the fire hit a previously logged portion on the northeast side of the mountain it slowed down.

“The fire made a hard run consuming most the trees until it reached that area,” he said. “At that point, the fire dropped back down on the ground and even though it burned through that area, it left almost no tree mortality, because the intensity was so reduced.”

Anderson said similar overgrown conditions exist on Bill Williams and Sitgreaves Mountains as well as the San Francisco Peaks.

Urban interface

Anderson said wildland urban interface (WUI) will be a factor in fuels reduction.

“Part of the whole process is WUI areas, where Forest Service land has private property intermixed,” he said. “Several years ago the Williams Ranger District did an analysis on private property or potential private property such as campgrounds because of the urban interface.

“We looked at lands in private ownership whether they had homes or not and electronic sites for radio stations, TV broadcaster and cell phone sites.”

(See related chart above which shows WUI projects planned for 2001.)

Anderson underscored fuel reduction efforts benefit the forest as well as provides a safer environment for the private residents.

“A nice benefit is in many areas with a reduced number of trees, the forest is healthier due to less competition,” he said. “Reduction goes hand-in-hand with forest health as well as developing a less severe fire situation.”

Support personnel

“In order to meet some of our fuels modification targets, we need to hire more support personnel such as biologists, silvaculturists (tree specialists) land management planning specialists, fire information specialists, archeologists and forestry technicians,” Anderson said. “On the support side for the South Zone, I’ll be filling eight or nine positions.”

Anyone interested in seeking employment can drop by the Williams Ranger District office at Camp Clover, 742 S. Clover Road. The phone number is 635-5600.

The Forest Service also has job information on a toll-free line: 877-813-3476 and on its website: www.fs.fed.us/fsjobs.


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