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Fire
Fire is a natural part of Oregon's forests, but dense overgrown forests paired with hotter and drier summers has increased the need for additional mitigation up front to help create more resilient landscapes that give firefighters, loggers, foresters and other fire personnel a chance to contain a blaze during an incident. Active forest management allows for fuels mitigation through logging, small tree removal, mastication, pruning, prescribed fire and mowing. This removes fuel and helps to change fire behavior which allows firefighters to actively engage a fire through direct attack. Quick Forest and Fire Facts
Sean Naumes | We the Forest Profile
Agricultural production was devastated by massive wildfires in 2018 and 2020 in part due to ineffective fuels reduction, risk averse forest management and regulatory barriers. Naumes Inc., a third generation fruit producer, saw their employee housing burnt to ash, while smoke taint ruined their harvest, causing a massive loss of revenue. The fact is, producers cannot control smoke taint, the absorption of harmful compounds through ripening fruits that ruin crops engulfed in smoke. The only solution is to try and lessen the frequency of wildfires where they are likely to occur. That means doing the necessary work out in the woods and close to home with equal emphasis and investment by the state and our federal land management agencies. Visit We The ForestFire Resources
2020 Legislative Session - Senate Bill 762
During the 2020 legislative session, AOL helped pass one of the largest investments by the state in wildfire mitigation. SB 762 made many changes to Oregon law to address wildfires. Of note, a new statewide wildfire risk map has been created which also includes new areas in Oregon designated as wildland-urban interface (WUI). Where areas of high and extreme risk overlap with the WUI, new regulations are in place focused on the need for defensible space, land-use changes and changes to the building code. Other investments are in landscape resiliency, an Oregon Conservation Corps, suppression assets and community risk reduction. 2020 Labor Day Fires – Economic Impacts to Oregon’s Forest Sector report
The Labor Day 2020 windstorm resulted in five simultaneous “megafires”– fires greater than 100,000 acres in size – in Oregon, as well as 12 other fires ranging from 112 to 50,951 acres. All these fires either started or blew up on Sept. 7 and 8, 2020, and in a matter of days more than 1 million acres burned. In light of 2020’s historic fire season, the Oregon Forest Resources Institute (OFRI) commissioned a study examining how the Oregon forest sector was affected. National Wildfire Suppression Association
The National Wildfire Suppression Association (NWSA), is a trade association comprised of private professional wildland firefighting resources. They help to dispatch those resources to emergency situations when needed. However, NWSA, also represents these interests all year long in collaborative efforts with state and federal forestry and fire agencies as well. Their members also perform all kinds of preventative services that can have a positive effect on the wildfire season by decreasing fuel loading and manipulating fire behavior. USFS 2021 Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Monitoring Dashboard
This dashboard displays the field monitoring results from evaluating the effectiveness of active vegetation management treatments on National Forest System lands that intersected with large fires in 2021. The effort, led by the FS regional fuels coordinators and wildland fire modules, had a wide base of support from staff from across all program areas as well as from interagency partners. Fire Basics
Fires need fuel, oxygen and a heat source to ignite. This is referred to as the fire tringle . In the forest, typically fuel and oxygen are abundant and when a heat source is added under the right conditions, a fire is bound to build. The main sources of heat in Oregon come from two sources, unregulated human activity and lighting. Unregulated human activity can include things like chains dragging on the highway, campfires, fireworks and mowing. On the other hand, lightning is caused by weather. In Oregon we have a campaign called "Keep Oregon Green" which aims to reduce human caused fires through education. The only other component of the fire triangle that we can manipulate is fuel. Professional foresters and operators do this every day when they actively manage Oregon's forests. Without this active management, forests continue to grow and add to the fuel build up in the woods. Active management also allows forestry professionals to leverage the value of logs in order to maintain roads. Maintained roads allow critical resources to access wildfires when they occur.
In order to determine how a fire will behave, fire professionals use the fire behavior triangle. It indicates that the type of fuel, the topography and the weather are the most important factors in determining how a fire will spread and where a fire will spread. Topography remains constant on the forest, but weather is checked frequently to make new determinations during fire incidents. Fuels are the only component of the fire behavior triangle that can be augmented prior to a wildfire. This is again why active forest management is key to success during wildfire season. Some may ask, "Does forest management mitigate or increase wildfire risk?" Fire Intensity vs Fire Severity
Wildfire intensity typically decreases in the long term after forest management tools are applied to the landscape. Land managers then take steps to address short-term fire severity risks that might result from the treatment. Fire professionals utilize the terms fire “intensity” and fire “severity” to describe different aspects of wildfires. There are key distinctions between these two similar sounding terms which can explain how firefighters are able to suppress wildfires safely and effectively. Fire intensity describes the amount of energy/heat released through combustion. Fire severity describes the extent to which those fuels are consumed. The point is forest management and slash disposal provide managers the ability to reduce short-term fire risk from management activities while maximizing long-term wildfire resilience. The long-term fire benefit of forest management come in the form of fewer trees (less fuel), more space between competing vegetation, better forest resilience and resistance to fire events, and safer access for firefighters. To address the short-term increase in potential fire severity, firefighters develop plans to address increased small fuels caused by logging. This may include removing all of the limbs of the trees at the landing instead of in the woods (whole tree logging), creating small piles of limbs in the woods to be burned at a later date (pile and burn), or scattering them across the forest floor to decompose naturally (lop and scatter). When focusing on reducing wildfire risks to people and communities, we should be focusing on wildfire intensity because it’s the indicator for how safely and effectively a fire can be contained and eventually extinguished. When fire intensity is low, the radiant heat of the fire is lower which allows for a more direct attack of the fire, thus fire intensity, driven by fire behavior, is what dictates firefighting strategies, not fire severity. Fire behavior can be described through the fire behavior triangle and consists of fuel, topography, and weather. A change in one of these elements can cause rapid growth or reduction in fire intensity. For example, a 100 year old forest may burn at low “severity” but at high “intensity” where a relatively small proportion of trees are consumed by fire, but an incredibly high amount of heat is emitted. This type of fire would be very hard to contain, can cause spot fires far away, and requires indirect attack through fire line creation and back burning. If this type of fire pushes into a recently harvested forest covered by slash or young saplings may burn at high “severity” but with low “intensity” – and thus would be safer and have more effective suppression. Some have confused these terms – oftentimes purposely – to promote a political agenda opposing any form of forest management. These attempts are dangerous and don’t provide the public with thoughtful and meaningful information about forest management and wildfire risks. The truth is forest management has tradeoffs. Obtaining long term benefits can cause short term risks, but forest mangers and firefighters work together to mitigate those risks. Thankfully, wildfire intensity is reduced which increases the ability for firefighters to fight wildfires safely and effectively. Loggers and Other Contractors are Fire Fighting Heroes Firefighters are not just 20-person handcrews, hotshots and smokejumpers. They are also loggers, ranchers, road builders and much more.
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