The Wooden Nutmeg

I found some interesting statements, below, in the 2005, “Rhode Island Forest Resources Management Plan,” archived here.

On changes to the forest:

As previously stated, forest cover in Rhode Island increased starting in the early 1800’s as abandoned farms reverted to forest. Continued farm abandonment, repeated clearing of forests for fuel, as well as forest fires kept a variety of age classes dispersed through Rhode Island’s landscape through the 1950’s. Since then, Rhode Island’s forest has matured, with 51 percent now in saw timber size class according to the most recent forest survey. The lack of young forest impacts species that need the unique nesting and feeding habitat that these early successional areas provide

And on preparedness:

13. Does RI have sufficient manpower, money, and resources to prevent or cope with a major forest fire?

The general consensus is that RI does not have the manpower, money, or resources to prevent or cope with a major forest fire.

Some observed problems are:

A. There is not enough manpower and it is perhaps not young enough for forest fire fighting within the rural volunteer fire companies.
B. There is insufficient training.
C. There are not enough vehicles and equipment.
D. Access roads into forests have been gated and allowed to become overgrown and inaccessible.
E. Due to insufficient manpower and funds, fire towers are no longer maintained and manned, except the very few remaining, during the most extreme fire danger periods.
F. There are more homes in or near forestlands and that increases the danger of fire and presents a higher risk of residential property damage, human injury, and loss of life.
G. There is a buildup of fuels on the ground and not all deep woods areas have water holes to supplement tanker trucks.

Some recommended solutions are:

A. More financial, technical, and material support, recruiting, training and equipping of rural
volunteer fire companies from town, State, and federal governments.
B. Development and distribution of a Comprehensive Mutual Aid Plan between volunteer and full-time fire departments, between towns, the State, including the RI National Guard, other states, and federal agencies. Chief David Shaw, of the Pascoag Fire Department, believes that the State Fire Chiefs Association is developing such a statewide plan that, in addition to fire, covers Emergency Medical Services and Hazardous Materials Response.
C. Providing manpower and resources for adequate resource management of private and State forestlands, and perhaps supervised, selective, timbering that could provide funds for forest management, clear fuel buildups, maintain water holes, and clear fire access roads into forests.
D. Creative ideas to keep fire towers open are to lease space on them to cell phone companies to hang their antennas and maintain them, or to rent the towers as overnight camp sights to hikers/campers.
E. Promote the passage of strict forest fire prevention laws, post them throughout forests, and enforce them.
F. Provide major forest fire prevention education, as in the “Smokey Bear” program in schools, through literature distribution, as part of general forestry education seminars, and through the media.
G. Encourage all persons, when traveling near or through forestlands, to carry cell phones and
report any evidence of forest fires immediately.

Many fire ponds were constructed during the Great Depression to provide a ready source of water to fight fires.

Created to ease the financial strains of the Great Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps, or CCC, employed over 3,000,000 young men* between 1933-1942.  The 21 camps in Connecticut provided barrack-style food and housing along with a small monthly stiped.  The men worked o a variety of conservation projects including forest road construction, recreation area development and fire suppression.

A system of fire ponds, each holding a minimum of 7500 gallons of water, served as the main water source for fire suppression in the state forests.  This particular fire pond was probably built by enrollees from Camp Connor in Stafford Springs circa 1936.   The goal of building one pond per 100 acres on state land and one pond per 200 acres on private land was curtailed by the onset of WWII and the closing of the CCC camps.  By 1941, the CCC had completed 404 water holes in the 80,000 acres of state forest and 269 holes on private land.

This fire pond, restored to the original conditionin 2001, illustrates one of several designs utilized by the CCC.

…

Many unrestored fire ponds can discovered along forest roads throughout Shenipsit and Nipmuck State Forest.

From this sign:

Sign at the Mountain Laurel Sanctuary, Nipmuck State Forest, Union, CT

This is the pond it refers to:

Fire pond at Mountain Laurel Sanctuary, Nipmuck State Forest, Union, CT

This is another style of pond:

Fire Pond in Natchaug State Forest, Hampton, CT

My observation is these ponds would have been most useful during the spring fire season, filled by snow melt and spring rains.  In a normal summer today these are dry by mid-summer, and thus not available in the summer and fall fire seasons during a drought.  I doubt this would have been any different seventy years ago.

They would have been useful for filling Indian tanks, as well as portable pumps and hose.

Today forestry agencies around the U.S. continue to improve rural water supplies, often under the auspices of the U.S. Forest Service’s Rural Community Fire Protection cooperative program they administer.

RI Rural Community Fire Protection Program
RC&D [Resource Conservation & Development] partnered with the DEM- Division of Forest Environment to provide rural communities with fire protection assistance. In 2006 RC&D designed, produced, and
distributed 200 Dry Hydrant Guidance Manuals to local fire departments, held four workshops across the state on the program and received 19 applications for dry hydrants from six rural fire departments. When installed these hydrants will improve fire protection for an estimated 13,000 residents of these communities.

Rhode Island Resource Conservation & Development 2006 Annual Report

These static water supplies are considerably larger then the old hand dug fire ponds of the CCC, designed to support both wildland and structural fire protection.  This is a representative dry hydrant installation:

[Photo of the Hampton hydrant will go here, once I find it...]

There is a couple ways to estimate coverage for the old water holes.

One is we can assume a square grid with perfectly even distribution.  100 acres would be approximately 2,000 feet square.  From the center of that square to a side would be 1,000′ while reaching a corner would take 1,400′.

Another is to use a circle centered on the water hole.  A circle 1,200′ in radius would cover approximately 100 acres, while a circle 1,650′ in radius would cover approximately 200′ acres.

* For perspective, the U.S. population in 1940 was 134 Million, of which 5.6 Million were males between the age of 20 and 24.  A proportionately sized program today would employ some 7 Million men, with about 2 Million in active service at any given time.