GREATER POPULATIONS GET THE RESOURCES
Resources for fires depend on numbers of people
Record breaking heat has spawned an early fire season and at its June 16 City Council Meeting the Salmon City Council was informed about what firefighting resources are on hand locally.
Kyra Povirk, Forest Service District Ranger for the Salmon-Cobalt and Leadore districts, updated the council on current conditions, staffing, local resources and forecasts for this fire season.
She said there are four helicopters stationed at the Salmon Air Base two of which are presently on fires in Arizona and Utah. There is one helicopter in Challis and are between 37 to 40 personnel based in Salmon. There are four fire engines. One is in Leadore, one in Challis, one at the Yankee Fork and one in Mackay. The one in Leadore is staffed by Forest Service personnel stationed there and seven Ameri core interns who are training to become firefighters. There is a Wildland Fire Module at the Yankee Fork staffed by around ten people. Locally there are also two Bureau of Land Management engines.
Povirk discussed planning level assessments of potential fire conditions, inventories of equipment resources and the regional potential of fires in the Great Basin, the Southwest and in the Northern Rockies. There is a growing fire currently in Red Lodge, Montana which is unusual for this early in the season. She said there have been five fires so far on the Salmon-Challis and one is currently burning in the vicinity of Indian Creek.
Due to the strong high pressure centered over the Southwest preventing the entrance of any moisture she predicts high temperatures and the drought will continue here. With August conditions already happening in June the Forest Service is bracing for an active fire season.
Councilor Robin Phillips has been told many access roads in the forest have been blocked by downed trees and she asked if there are any plans to clear them before fire fighters need access. Povirk said they are working on it with a limited staff and thinking of sub-contracting woodcutters and/or creating ways to engage the public in the road clearing problem.
Forest Fire Management Officer for the Salmon-Challis National Forest, Fritz Cluff, presented a “Red/Green” map that shows areas of potential fire intensity and strategies which range from full fire suppression (Red) to allowing natural-role wilderness burns (Green). The Red zone encompasses the north portions of the forest, the Lemhi Range, Beaverhead Range and the huge area west of Salmon known as the Municipal Watershed. Full suppression management goes up to the point where fire fighters are put at risk and that’s where full suppression stops. He said the Southwest, as well as the entire Northwest, is awaiting the southern Monsoon rains which will free firefighting resources for other areas. The downside is that also promotes more lightning storms here.
North Fork District Ranger Ken Gebhardt explained how the risk assessment framework process works and all that is taken into account when firefighting strategies are being planned. In answer to a question from Phillips he said that ‘yes’ it ultimately depends on the decisions made by the higher-ups. If the firefighting strategies come to the level of being decided by higher authorities the larger populations rule. She also asked if there are policies as to where retardants can be dropped. He said there are, and watersheds are no drop areas.
The group’s opinion was that fire season 2021is beginning to resemble the fire season of 2003.