Tagged: Wildfires

Fire fighters at the Idaho National Laboratory are preparing for an intense wildfire season. Under the U.S. Department of Energy, the INL has its own fire department.

Eric Gosswiller is the site’s fire chief. He says a lack of snowpack in eastern Idaho means his department needs to be ready for fires. But he says that’s something his department has gotten used to.

“Down here at the high desert at the INL – we kind of have the potential for significant fires every year,” says Gosswiller.

The Secretaries of Agriculture and the Interior came to Boise today to talk about the upcoming fire season.  They said above normal fire potential and less money in the budget will make for a difficult fire season in the West.
 

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack described the wildfire outlook this way:  “We’re going to be faced with a difficult fire season, make no mistake about that.”

A new study out of Oregon State University suggests that overgrazing could be helping an invasive grass to flourish. That differs from previous studies that have found grazing can better manage that plant — cheatgrass — which threatens rangeland habitat.

Firefighters continue to battle a large blaze in southern California that started last week. At its most dangerous, the wildfire threatened about 4,000 homes and has moved quickly in the dry and windy conditions.

In Idaho, the National Interagency Fire Center predicts a slightly milder – but still above average – fire season.

A new program to spray along Interstate 84 ahead of wildfire season is aimed at reducing fires and costs.

Last year, 16 fires started along I-84 between milepost 60 and 110.  Those fires burned more than 5,000 acres. The Bureau of Land Management spent more than $280,000 to fight them.  That doesn’t include what other agencies spent helping to put those fires out.

The U-S Forest Service is reversing its policy to aggressively fight all wildfires. This change was announced in a letter from Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell last month.

In May 2012, Forest Service Deputy Chief Jim Hubbard issued a "fight all fire" directive. This may be why the feds spent more than $1 billion fighting fires last year. They came in $400 million over budget.

The National Interagency Fire Center in Boise has released aviation figures for the 2012 fire season.  The numbers show that about half of the calls for air tankers to assist in fighting wildfires last summer went unfilled.