Comments for Bitterroot Valley Wildfire Response Guide

Comment on Let’s Talk Fire by 5 mistakes

5 mistakes — Sun, 11 Dec 2011 05:59:48 +0000

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Comment on Fuels Reduction by tneidhardt

tneidhardt — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 00:14:07 +0000

Chris,
You can access grant information on private property through the Bitterroot Resource and Conservation Development (RC &D) website at http://www.bitterrootfireplan.info/downloads.html. The RC&D can also give you information on personnel who can help with fuels reduction projects. Thank you for your interest in fuels reduction information. If you have any further questions, please contact us again.
Tanya

Comment on Fuels Reduction by Chris Kappes

Chris Kappes — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 18:42:10 +0000

We own property in Mineral County, South Fork
of Fish Creek. We are looking for Grant information for individual property owners to hire people to help with fuels reduction. Please e-mail us any information you may have or even a contact. Thank you!

Comment on Homeowner Responsibility by tneidhardt

tneidhardt — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 23:46:33 +0000

Emily,
Thank you for the inquiry of concern about the potential of hazardous fuels on the property where you live. If you give me a call at 821-2317 I can refer you to a forestry professional within the Missoula area who can assist you with your assessment. I look forward to talking with you in the near future.
Tanya

Comment on Homeowner Responsibility by Emily

Emily — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 21:55:26 +0000

I am a renter of a home on 40 thick, debris and ladder-fuel filled acres in the upper Rattlesnake (Sawmill Gulch). Two neighboring homes are just finishing thinning/fuels reduction projects. My landlord, who resides out of state, would like to have some sort of documentation proving that the property is, indeed, a fire hazard and should have fuels reduction done. Is there someone I can contact to do a walk-through, or a basic assessment? I have the Bitterroot RC&D forms and point system, but I don’t think my landlord would consider something I produced on my own. Any suggestions?

Comment on Homeowner Responsibility by Rick Floch - Fire Mgmt. Officer

Rick Floch - Fire Mgmt. Officer — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:40:52 +0000

Dave – I think in this situation, you just have to do what you can on your property to set a good Firewise example and continue to respecfully communicate to your neighbor your concerns and wilingness to help out. I live down near Darby and I have a very similar situation only I have about 50 feet from my home to the property boundary. I have made sure that my side of the line is firesafe – trees thinned and limbed up high, all ground debris raked and burned, and I will be wetting down my side when a wildfire threatens. Your situation brings up another concern of mine and that is where the Forest Service has not been able to set the good firewise example on the public lands we manage that are adjacent to private lands. There are often good reasons for this – lack of access, lack of funds, past detrimental resource impacts that now limit what we can do; but the difference is we the Forest Service are very interested in working with our neighbors to restore landscapes where we can. We receive annually a significant amount of hazardous fuels management funding and focus much of the work that money can buy at the wildland urban interface. I would encourage folks who have this situation and that are willing to work with us to contact their nearest Ranger Station and set up an appointment to meet with a fuels specialist from that district to see what can be done by working together; or feel free to contact me and I will get you hooked up with the right folks. Thanks for your question, Dave, and thanks for being Firewise.

Comment on Homeowner Responsibility by Dave

Dave — Sun, 23 May 2010 14:45:23 +0000

What are your thoughts about property owners who do not maintain their property? I live in a very wooded area where there is plenty of ignition within 30 feet of my home, but this unmaintained property belongs to my neighbor. I’ve offered to rake and haul the debry away, but the owner does not want me on his property.

Comment on Let’s Talk Fire by Rick Floch - Fire Mgmt Officer

Rick Floch - Fire Mgmt Officer — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 21:46:37 +0000

Ray-thanks for the comment. You are pretty much right – we have protection responsibility for all Bitterroot National Forest lands – but we also have (through a cooperative agreement with the State) protection responsibility for all State lands in the valley and some private lands. We will also respond to fires on private lands outside our protection area that we think might threaten our protection area and likewise, the volunteer fire districts will do the same thing on fires in our protection area that may threaten their area – that’s just being good neighbors!. We only have 6 engines staffed each summer and none of our firefighters are trained to do structure suppression – we mainly focus on keeping the fire from getting to the house or property. The RFD’s are trained, equipped, and very skilled in structure suppression – but they also have only a finite number of engines available at any one time. We both will do alla that we can but the reality is that folks need to always plan as if noone will be there because, depending on the size of the fire or the number of fires and homes threatened, there just might not be anyone available.

Comment on Let’s Talk Fire by Ray

Ray — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 04:17:47 +0000

Focusing specifically on USFS response during the next WUI incident, many variables have to be considered by all elements of the equation:
1. What is the projected response time to the incident and with what resources?
2. At what level is the USFS resource depletion at the time of this latest incident (staffing/engines) and their availability for a timely response or be able to disengage from an in-progress incident and respond to this new incident?
3. Depending on weather and fuel conditions, size and rate of spread of the fire, available water, possible air support and threatened high value structures, has a fire-loss triage been established to save what is savable?
4. Has concise communications been established between the Initial Attack responders and those in the USFS chain of command who will be allocating additional resources to the incident and establishing an ICS protocol?
5. Depending on geographical location of the incident and severity, how far into the evolution will command request local rural fire support?
6. Are those in the initial phases of command & control truly capable of handling a rapidly evolving
incident that is eroding into a multi-divisional quagmire?

These are just some of the open-ended questions that can be debated endlessly by the fire service and most WUI property owners who are in a state of denial relative to their fire-exposure liability. Those property owners who have invested the time, effort and money to mitigate and eliminate the potential for a catastrophic fire loss will probably survive unscathed. Those who ignored the obvious, such as drought conditions, beetle killed dead and standing conifers, combustible roof, fuel accumulations around the residence, will have the indignation of standing by while their home burns to the ground. And then they will blame the appropriate fire agency for malfeasance and cowardace.

As this whole conundrum reaches a burning pinacle, let us not overlook the reality that the USFS is only responsible for those areas within USDA public lands. So if you have a burning issue in your WUI neighborhood and a USFS fire crew shows up, consider it a bonus. In the mean time, when this fire season gets really ugly and there are multiple/expanding incidents in your part of the county, don’t expect an engine crew in your driveway when you dial 9-1-1. Suppression resources may have been exhausted and dispatch will put on a waiting list.

Comment on Let’s Talk Fire by John Doe

John Doe — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 16:08:41 +0000

Rick, thank you for your response to my questions. I, as well as other residents, am looking forward to benefiting from the completion and implementation of your guide. A planned response is always better then an unplanned reaction.