FIRE SEASON 2009

In case any of you were wondering why I haven't been blogging the past week let me explain. Fire season was slow to arrive but has finally made it. I have been tied up with four small fires that we managed for resource benefit (three of them have burned themselves out at 1/4 acre and the fourth is close to it at probably 50 acres) and three that we put out.

The remaining fire that we are managing is underburning in a ponderosa pine/Douglas-fir stand and is doing an exceptional job. It is burning all of the slash from an old timber sale, some of the brush that has grown up since the sale and most of the pinion and juniper (P-J) in the stand. It interesting to watch what is going on with this fire because right now the live fuel moisture is significantly different in each fuel type and the fire is burning differently in each of them.

The sage brush fuel moisture is 190% and the fire is just burning the edges where the other burning fuel dries out the brush first. The P-J fuel moisture is at 90% and the fire is burning through the crowns on about 80-85% of the trees (which is exactly what we want to do to remove the invasive species from the stands). The ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir fuel moistures are at about 150% and they are not burning unless the crown fire from a P-J preheats it to the point that it ignites. The oak brush is at 119% and the fire is consuming all of it after a period of pre-heating from fire burning in the leaf litter.

Right now this fire is progressing nicely and is very easy to manage because of these conditions. As the season progresses and things continue to dry out the management of the fire is likely to become more difficult. I am hoping that we can have a significant amount of the area burned before that happens.

I have been going up to the fire in the mid-afternoon (peak of the burning period) to observe what is going on and getting home in the late evening most days. I love doing fire but it is, for sure, hard to have one going on your own district. It takes a toll in time watching it and a toll in not being able to sleep at night because you are responsible for it and can't see what is going on out there.