The Wooden Nutmeg

Couple articles were in Saturday’s Worcester Telegram & Gazette:

Plans shape up to deal with post-storms fire threat
Emergency traffic paths cleared

By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

State Forest Fire Warden David V. Celino checks cleared fire roads yesterday in Brimfield State Forest near the tornado blow-down area.
(T&G Staff/BRADFORD L. MINER)
» Enlarge photo
Four weather disasters in seven months — a tornado, two tropical storms and a late fall snowstorm — has left much of Central Massachusetts looking like one industrial-strength brush pile.

From main highways and back roads throughout the region still sidelined with debris to significantly larger than usual brush piles in backyards, everyone from individuals to state agencies is asking, “What do we do with it?”

And some, like David V. Celino, state forest fire warden for the Department of Conservation and Recreation, are already looking ahead to the threat represented by branches, limbs and whole trees on the ground come spring and the 2012 forest fire season.

At Brimfield State Forest, hardest hit of the DCR properties from the weather events, Mr. Celino this week checked the work done by Mayer Tree Service during the month of September, clearing roads, fire lanes, hiking trails, the day use area and the administrative complex.

Given that unusual weather contributed to an unprecedented amount of fuel on the ground, Mr. Celino said it will be weather this winter and throughout the coming spring that ultimately determines the severity and duration of the forest fire season.

He said he was pleased to see even just a dusting of snow on the ground, saying that dead vegetation on the ground will have had ample time to dry out or “cure,” by March or April, unless it’s been sitting beneath a foot or more of snow for most of the winter.

“The weather has been like a double-edged sword,” he said, citing on one hand the extraordinary amount of damage to the state’s forests, and on the other, the day-to-day wetter than usual weather throughout the fall.

“Fortunately, that has slowed the curing process for all of the fuel on the ground since the tornado,” he said.

The chief fire warden said the monthlong effort by Mayer Tree Service of Essex had improved access to any wildlands fire in the state forest for brush firetrucks and other fire apparatus, but mounting a direct attack on any fire even a hundred yards off any of the fire roads presented a tactical challenge because the better part of a thousand acres was still inaccessible.

“We’re looking at a situation where we might have to rely on an aerial attack, using helicopters, drawing from the closest water source here. Otherwise, we have a fire bulldozer that could be deployed here as well, if necessary,” he said.

According to Peter Church, director of Forest Stewardship for DCR, the tree service cleared the primary roads and unimproved fire lanes, many of the trails, the day use area and the administrative office and garage complex.

Mr. Church said while the DCR was still assessing damage to parks and forests across the state from the subsequent storms, dealing with the tornado damage at Brimfield had been a priority.

The fire warden said even with improved access, speed would be critical, mounting an initial attack, even in the more remote areas, as quickly as possible to control the spread of any fire.

Mr. Celino said many of the state forests and parks, particularly in the Holyoke Range still have blocked roads and trails from the Oct. 29 snowstorm, but that is not as critical as the tornado blow-down areas that have a five-month head start in drying over the limbs and trees brought down by the snowstorm.

“If we have an open winter, with little or no snow cover and warmer than usual temperatures will be problematic, going into brush fire season with drier than usual conditions in the forests and blow-down areas,” he said.

Given that many brush fires each spring originate as out-of-control brush pile fires, Mr. Celino’s advice to homeowners is simple: “Don’t wait.”

He said open burning season begins Jan. 15 and recommended that brush piles be covered until then with a tarp to keep them dry enough to burn.

“The first occasion after the 15th when there’s little or no wind and at least a few inches of snow on the ground, that’s when as much brush as possible should be burned. Waiting until the end of the brush burning season in April is just asking for trouble,” he said.

As a proactive measure, Mr. Celino said between now and the start of brush fire season he and his Forest Fire Control crew would be having training sessions for fire departments in Brimfield, Monson, Sturbridge and Southbridge, and other communities to the west having been hit by the tornado to provide skills in tackling a wildlands fire which would likely be more intense than an average brush fire where the amount of fuel on the ground is much less.

Mr. Church called the amount of storm damage to DCR properties as unprecedented.

Nonetheless, he said, it was immediately apparent there was a public safety component to the blocked roads, fire lanes, and trails, as well as the day use and headquarters areas that would have to be addressed.

Mr. Church said DCR’s safety concern was twofold — a brush fire in central area of the blow-down as well as any fire on the perimeter of the state property that threatened private homes.

“We started in September and cleared all the fire roads, hiking trails, the day use area and the area around the administration building.” He said the work took about a month. The second phase will consider the homes abutting the DCR boundaries and whether establishing a fire break would be necessary to address the amount of fuel on the ground. There are a number of private properties on Dearth Hill Road, that are like pockets within the park, and we’ll be doing an assessment of those sites within the next couple of months to see if more clearing is warranted.

The cost of the Brimfield forest cleanup was $140,000.

He said DCR foresters would do an assessment of the blow-down area to determine if any of it had salvage value to offset the cost to date of the cleanup.

Edward M. Lambert Jr., DCR commissioner said, “DCR is deeply committed to the rehabilitation of its forests and parks following a year of intense weather and extensive damage to these well-loved spaces.”

“That said, following the most recent storm in October, our first concern was assisting cities, towns and locals in removing dangerous downed trees and materials to clear the way for utility and emergency workers to get residents back online and safe in their homes and communities. With that work mostly complete, DCR refocused its staff, equipment and energy on reopening and rehabilitating our parks and forests,” the commissioner said.

Mr. Lambert said agency personnel, hikers and avid outdoors people, shared the public’s eagerness to get back to the parks; but as stewards, DCR had an obligation to be sure it is safe for visitors before we reopen.”

http://www.telegram.com/article/20111210/NEWS/112109881/1101/local

Group wants bids on wood cleanup

By Bradford L. Miner TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

The Massachusetts Wood Producers Association wants the state to put thousands of acres of forest damaged by the June 1 tornado, the two tropical storms and the Oct. 29 snowstorm up for salvage bid.

Jeff Poirier, president of the group representing loggers, foresters, sawmill operators, firewood dealers and landowners, has asked Richard K. Sullivan Jr., secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs, to move beyond the cleanup efforts to date that have focused on public safety.

“The Commonwealth has not responded to its forest stewardship responsibility to salvage forest products or conduct meaningful forest restoration,” Mr. Poirier stated in a letter to the EEA secretary.

Mr. Poirier said the association is concerned that the state’s lack of action increases the risk of forest fires at the same time reducing potential benefits to the local economy and revenue to communities from the Forest Products Trust Fund.

“Thousands of acres of off-road, interior damage remain at a time when impacted cities and towns are most in need of the added revenue salvage operations would bring as well as the cleanup essential for tourist recreational activities,” the letter stated.

Critical of the state’s revised policies on forest management on state land, Mr. Poirier said the forest and woods products industry has been adversely affected by the combination of the poor economy and the state’s moratorium on logging properties managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation, including the Quabbin, Ware River and Wachusett watersheds.

“The Massachusetts Wood Producers Association is very concerned that as months pass by without initiating a serious forest restoration effort, the opportunity to salvage forest products economically is decreasing dramatically due to forest insects, diseases, and diminished quality of the timber,” Mr. Poirier said.

He said it was counterproductive for state agencies to pay tree service companies to remove damaged timber when the state could be making money by putting out bids and awarding contracts.

“This is a great opportunity for the public to experience and appreciate the value and skill of our forest-based economy, significantly damaged by the recent turmoil and visioning process,” Mr. Poirier said.

http://www.telegram.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20111210%2FNEWS%2F112109968%2F1101%2Flocal

…of a whole bunch of photos from this summer that I have to upload:

200 Block of Senexet Road.

Four acre fire that sounded well off the road…the call went out around midnight with temperatures dropping into the 20s. I wonder how long the officer was out there looking before he found it!

Woodstock, Muddy Brook, Bungay, Community (Thompson), West Thompson to scene; Pomfret cover Woodstock, Eastford cover Bungay, Quinebaug cover Muddy Brook.

As I watched the leaves blowing around while doing firewood that afternoon I thought it would be a decent woods fire day if only it was warmer…leaves were real dry and fluffy with a stiff wind.

ctfire-ems.com forums also reported decent fires in East Haven, Lebanon, and Canton earlier in the day.

Perhaps the most unlikely location for a fire prevention activity in the history of the U.S.:

The Scituate monitors helped thwart the Japanese attempts to bomb the United States with TNT-laden hot-air balloons. To keep track of the silent craft, the Japanese placed radio transmitters on aboard the deadly balloons. But the RID eavesdroppers heard the signals, related the information to Washington and U.S. fighter planes were promptly dispatched to destroy the balloons.

In the entire course of the war, only a few balloons penetrated the electronic screen; one landed harmlessly in Wisconsin, and others drifted off into the Canadian wilderness.

Source (archive)

During World War II, the Federal Communications Commission operated a Radio Intercept facility on Chopmist Hill (a high, broad plain) in Scituate, RI. It was considered the most effective of thirteen such stations. I remember driving through this area as a kid in the 1970s and knowing something weird was done here by the odd phone poles you could still see. I’m not sure if the trees are more mature now or the poles have been taken out, it doesn’t stand out as much today.

For a brief time this location was on a short-list of potential headquarters sites for the United Nations, since it was felt the excellent radio communications and the ability to build an airfield there would be natural complements to being the headquarters. Then the Rockefellers donated the land in the New York City and the rest as they say was history.

Groton continues to burn! Have to wonder if they have an ATV riding fire bug or something…

(Collected from internet, thanks Beaker.)

By Robert Mills, rmills@lowellsun.com
Updated: 08/30/2010 08:11:41 PM EDT

GROTON — Firefighters from 18 communities converged on Groton and Dunstable Monday evening to battle a brush fire that burned an estimated 10 to 15 acres between Chicopee Row and Martins Pond Road.

Dunstable Fire Chief Charlie Rich, coordinating efforts to battle the blaze from a command point set up on Chicopee Road, said firefighters learned of the blaze at about 3:30 p.m., but initially had a hard time locating it.

Rich said the fire was about a half-mile from the nearest street.

Firefighters accessed it from Chicopee Row and from Floyd Hill Road, a dead-end off Martins Pond Road.

As darkness fell, crews were working to create a perimeter around the fire. Rich said firefighters would be back to continue fighting it first thing in the morning.

A mobile command center and special operations vehicle from the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services joined crews at the scene.

We have a bona fide summer fire season this year.

It’s been setup by a dry spell that has had the last significant rainfall in large parts of Southern New England be on June 23rd. Around the 4th of July was spectacular warm but dry weather; then following for Monday it turned extremely hot and humid with temps breaking 100º Monday and Tuesday.

Yesterday, July 10th, some areas received heavy rain. My home, however, barely broke the 1/4″ mark:

Major fires struck in Groton, MA (two separate incidents) and Holden, MA. The Holden fire covered approximately 50 acres and was attended to from Monday (5 July) through Friday. The first Groton fire of around 12 acres was active from Monday through Wednesday, then a fire in a separate section of town was fought on Thursday and Friday. After checking the perimeter and determining the active fire on Saturday was burning with no danger of exposing improved property, and with rain imminent within a few hours, it was allowed to burn without firefighting efforts.

Fires this time of year tend not to spread fast (the Connecticut fire danger hasn’t popped above “Moderate” during this spell yet), but go deep following the roots. Run hoses out into the woods, and leave them in place for a few days even for small one or two acre fires so you can return and wet down the area each day. Grub around with tools like Pulaskis and shovels.

Southwestern Connecticut was hit hardest in this state, with some of the fires reported on the ctfire-ems.com forums being:

4 July: Middletown (South District). Initially under control 1537. 1730 it was running again and a large m/a request made. Durham Tanker, Haddam Tanker and Brush Unit’s, Westfield, Portland, Middletown, DEP to scene. Middlefield, Middletown with cover assignments to South District.

5 July: Bethany, m/a Hamden, Woodbridge, Oxford, Prospect, Beacon Falls, Seymour for coverage. Fire located 1-1/2 miles off the road; ATVs could bring FFs about half-way in then rest on foot. Hose laid to fire.

7 July: Mulch pile fire on state property, Farmington. East Farms (2 Engines), Farmington (2 Engines), Oakland Gardens (Engine), Tunxis Hose (Engine), Plainville (Coverage), State DOT for front end loader.

7 July: New Milford, under 1 acre burning along power lines. Waterwitch, Gaylordsville, Northville, Brookfield (last three for tanker & manpower), New Milford Ambulance, Roxbury Rehab Unit

11 July: Voluntown, mulch pile. Voluntown, Griswold (2 ETs), Jewett City (Engine, Ladder), plus tankers from Preston City, Lisbon, Baltic, Moosup

The first Groton fire was accessible only to ATVs, and my sources report a 20′ x 18″ trench was hand dug around the perimeter. The second fire would see the hiring and deployment of three bulldozers on Friday. Bulldozers are very, very rarely used in New England. Both Connecticut and Massachusetts own one, but the single time I know of in the last ten years that each has been used they were used primarily to build an access road to a fire deep in the woods; in Groton the dozers were used to make fire line.

Pictures from the Groton Fires sent to me:
From the 8-9 July Fire:

From the July 5-7th incident…Brookline for a UTV! (With the fire also burning in Holden taking resources from Central Mass, a task force from Metro Boston was pulled in, along with resources from District 14 (Framingham region) and Merrimack Valley)

WBZ has a real nice video on the Holden fire here. (In my archives as Holden_July_2010.mpg in case that link disappears). Holden’s press release tallied up 29 communities that had come to it’s assistance.

Mashpee, MA also had a significant fire covering 5 acres. Cape News Net has a great article here (archived copy), from which these photos were taken. Some great, great examples of Brush breakers in action:

Nice report on why British Columbia, the only province that used shelters, discontinued them when the new style shelters were issued. Archived here.

There’s only two LODD incidents I know of in southern New England due to the fire (and not exertion / medical problems). One is this 1938 burn over on Cape Cod which killed three firefighters. The other was in Rhode Island near the Connecticut line, possibly in 1942 although I still have to hunt down official documentation, which again killed three in a burn over of their truck. I don’t know if shelters would make a difference in the circumstances of these burn overs. It may be better to emphasize the Canadian / Australian model of better awareness and avoidance for the conditions in this area.

Photo essay from the Wood River Valley area: http://d90.us/wooden_nutmeg/essays/Arcadia_2010/

A really great write up of managing fire in New England Pine Barrens, archive here.

In addition to those “natural community” issues, few active firefighters have seen truly severe fire conditions in New England.

Although rainfall alone doesn’t dictate fire danger (frequency of rain is likely much more important in New England in keeping fire danger to “high” or below), the following graphs show a very sharp difference between pre-1970 and post-1970 climate. You can get more data for different regions of the New England states here.

I strongly suspect that it is not coincidence that we haven’t had a serious forest fire problem in southern New England since the early 1960s. Before, roughly, 1970 we used to experience a deep drought about every ten years. Nothing since 1970 has matched those 10 year droughts.

Also I’m still researching the frequency rain events. Rain tends to “reset” the fire danger.

Let’s assume a cycle like this; while conjecture it’s not an unreasonable cycle based on my observations over the years:
Day 1: Rain (Low danger)
Day 2: Moderate
Day 3: High
Day 4: High
Day 5: High
Day 6: High
Day 7: Very High
Day 8: Very High
Day 9: Very High
Day 10: Rain (Low)

Now add in one overnight rain:
Day 1: Rain (Low danger)
Day 2: Moderate
Day 3: High
Day 4: High
Day 5: Rain overnight (moderate)
Day 6: Moderate
Day 7: High
Day 8: High
Day 9: High
Day 10: Rain (Low)

Most people wouldn’t notice a major impact from an extra shower or two in April, but it could be having a very large impact on fire danger.

May, 1930 Fire Outbreak in the Northeast

The articles that follow are from the New London Day documenting a break out of wildfires in Connecticut and Rhode Island (as well as the rest of the northeast).

There were warning signs at the very end of April, with a large fire in Colchester, East Hampton, and Marlborough consuming 3,000 acres. Even by the standards of the day that was a fairly large fire:

A few days later Waterford had a woods fire.

This one only covered 100 acres, but something ominous was occurring:

Foreman Thomas B. Woodworth of the Quaker Hill fire department [said] some of the “new” fires broke out 1,000′ ahead of the firemen. He said that it was possible the blazes may have been started from blazing bits of dried chestnut wood.

Ok, so we’re also in the middle of the Chestnut Blight that put a very large load of dead fuels in the forests. But that aside, since the trees were dead the year before and the year after and we didn’t have these intense fires every year…they were seeing “spotting” 1,000′ ahead of the fire. In Connecticut. (This is the first documentation I’ve seen that gives a distance with what we can expect for spotting in our area in an extreme fire year).

Then all hell broke loose.

From The New London Day on May 5, 1930:

Six homes, thirty other buildings, and 3,000 acres in Westerly and Charlestown, RI that burned essentially to the sea:

250 homes in Nashua, NH are destroyed by a brush fire that turned into an urban conflagaration:

A fire in Glastonbury, later put at around 2,500 acres, would burn five miles in length from it’s origin, and at one point reach four miles wide. Being fought by 1,000 men. “Small” fires burning 60 to 150 acres destroyed buildings in Newtown & Windsor. Another 1,000 acres in Bristol. And a 2,500 more acres in New Britain / Southington / Plainville. So a 1,000 men…that’s what, a request for 40 strike teams today? And oh by the way, we have two more fires of this size within 20 miles of here, too…oh I’d love to be a fly on the wall when that request arrives at the DEMHS.

Meanwhile in Massachusetts, 1,500 acres was burning by Marlborough and 2,000 acres in Russel, two of the “20 bad and 75 minor” fires that day:

Niantic was busy trying to protect their cottages from a brush fire:

I only got the last half of this article on New London County…multiple fires in Waterford with hundreds fighting them, Gungywamp in Groton, 2,500 acres in Preston, Ledyard, and North Stonington:

On the sixth comes an article that would have folks throw a fit today:

Finally, at the risk of pulling a Ron Popeil and going, “But wait, there’s more!”

Connecticut’s first state forester, Austin Hawes, would later place the total acreage in Connecticut that burned in this first week of May, 1930 at around 25,000 acres. And they were actually kind of pleased by that — the last bad year of 1922 had seen 80,000 acres burn.

Washington County, RI would see some 30,000 acres burn. An article up above already mentioned the 3,000 acre fire in Westerly. North of Westerly there were two more fires that burned along the Connecticut and Rhode Island borders, in Rhode Island alone one consumed 10,000 acres and the other 12,000.

The worse of these ignited around Glasgo, CT (Griswold by the Voluntown town line) and burned all the way to Nooseneck Hill Road — today’s R.I. Route 3, or spitting distance from where I-95 crosses the state today. The proximity of the two big fires, along with the spotting that was occurring, it’s quite likely they were a single fire and/or merged along the way.

This same fire is described several times in various histories of the Yawgood Scout Reservation, such as this one:

The plateau was the place where Chief Williams and “Gus” Anthony had a dangerous encounter with the great forest fire, as described in the second edition of The Story of the Yawgoog Trails:

Chief Williams and Gus Anthony stood on this plateau on Sunday afternoon, May 3, 1930 amidst the blinding smoke and falling embers and heard the roar of the great forest fire that came sweeping down from the Beach Pond area six miles [10 kilometers] away. “The fire roared like an express train as the giant white pines exploded into flames like torches.” Chief and Gus ran for their lives back down the trail toward Rathom Lodge (Williams and Tracy).

(There may some exaggeration going on — Beach Pond is 3 miles due north of Yawgoog, maybe 4 to the far northwest corner of the pond. Or the origin was considerably behind Beach Pond, either north or west of it and Beach Pond was used simply as a convenient land mark)

From the August, 14 2005 Providence Journal:

Byline: John Kostrzewa

Aug. 14–HOPKINTON — AFTER 75 YEARS, THE GREAT FIRE’S LESSONS LIVE ON: The Great Fire of 1930 burned a terrible chapter into the history of Camp Yawgoog.

It was a tragedy and a natural disaster.

The fire destroyed all but 50 acres of the Boy Scout camp set deep in the woods of South County. The devastation drove the birds and ground animals from the blackened and desolate landscape.

The sounds of life disappeared.

While the story of the Great Fire is a dark memory from Scouting’s past, it also is a story about hope, turning disaster into triumph and rallying for a common cause.

Mostly, it’s about Scout spirit that today still burns brightly at Yawgoog.

Here’s what happened 75 years ago this summer.

The winter and spring of 1930 were among the driest on record. The lack of snowfall and rain reduced streams to trickles. The water level in Yawgoog Pond dropped several feet.

Back then, Scouting in Rhode Island was still in its infancy. Most people had never heard of Yawgoog.

But two early Scout leaders, J. Harold “Chief” Williams and H. Cushman “Gus” Anthony, envisioned the wooded area as a future summer camp for boys and began to develop the property the new organization acquired.

They cleared some land for tents and erected a mess hall and headquarters.

During the first weekend in May 1930, Williams and Anthony were leading a training session for Scout leaders at Yawgoog when the fire warden came into camp. He warned that a fire had broken out well to the west, in Connecticut, and was spreading. He told them to be on the lookout.

Williams and Anthony smelled the smoke the next morning, as soon as they poked their heads out of their tents. They sent a team of campers and local volunteers with buckets, brooms and rakes to set up firebreaks at the edge of camp.

They walked west through the campground until they saw three huge columns of smoke on the horizon.

The fire, whipped by strong winds, approached with a terrifying roar. The thick smoke overtook them. The heat seared the buttons on their shirts.

They were forced to retreat and decided the only parts of camp they might save were the main buildings.

Anthony climbed to the roof of the lodge at the camp called Three Point and sprayed the roof and walls with water from a garden hose. Other adult leaders pushed their cars into the pond to escape the embers.

The fire swept along Yawgoog Pond and through the campground. Flames surrounded them, but Williams, Anthony and the others saved the lodge.

The next morning, the fire broke out on the far side of Yawgoog Pond, across from the camp. The fire crept along the shore and then leaped to Phillips Island. The Scout leaders watched the giant pines and white birches on the island ignite like torches.

Still, it was not over. The blaze continued the third day along Wincheck Pond at the opposite end of the camp.

When the fire finally died out, Williams and Anthony hiked through what was left of Yawgoog. Tent platforms, several cabins, even the docks had been destroyed. Charred tree trunks and rubble, still-smoldering, were visible for acres.

It was Anthony who first noticed the silence that had settled over the camp. The wildlife had fled, seeking sanctuary from the fire.

Standing in the black ashes, a foot deep in places, Williams and Anthony looked out at what was left of their vision.

“It was heartbreaking,” Williams said.

But he also saw the opportunity. He saw the chance to pull together a fledgling organization of troops scattered throughout the state to work on a common goal.

The fire had been front-page news in the daily papers. With Rhode Islanders focused on the damage, Williams put out the call and began to build a network of Scouting supporters in business, industry, government and the media. They all agreed to pitch in.

“We began at once to think of reforestation,” Williams said.

Two weeks after the fire, on an early Sunday morning, 500 Scouts and leaders from 79 troops from across Rhode Island arrived at the gates to Yawgoog. Each troop was assigned a section of camp and given an initial batch of 50 seedlings purchased from a nursery in Maine.

In a single, long day, the Scouts and volunteers planted 25,000, five-year-old white pine seedlings over 250 acres.

When the Scouts finished, a light rain blessed their work.

“Mother Nature has begun to heal the blackened wounds,” Williams said.

Fourteen months later, in July 1931, judges, politicians, business executives, editors, benefactors, Scouts and adult volunteers gathered at Camp Yawgoog.

They were there to dedicate the Bucklin Memorial, the huge, stone and wood-beamed building that serves as camp headquarters. But the talk was about the trees. The softwood pines planted by the Scouts grew among the hardwoods that had sprung back to life.

Federal forestry agents said it was the single largest reforestation effort in the history of Rhode Island — a model for others to follow.

And walking through camp, they all heard the sounds of life again.

Since the Great Fire, Yawgoog has become a familiar name to Rhode Islanders and one of the premier camps in the country.

Scouting has grown, too. But there also have been more tragedies, especially this summer.

During the national jamboree last month in Virginia that attracted 40,000 Scouts, four leaders were electrocuted setting up camp. Later, 300 Scouts there suffered heat exhaustion. In a separate incident elsewhere, a Scout from Utah was struck by lightning.

And then, Yawgoog itself was closed for 12 days after a contagious stomach virus sickened more than 100 Scouts.

Last Sunday, after a fresh scrubbing, Yawgoog reopened. About 800 Scouts spent a great week earning merit badges, making friends, learning to live as a community and having fun.

On the same trail hiked by William and Anthony to inspect the devastation from the Great Fire, the Scouts may have seen the marker for the reforestation, or heard the story told around the campfire.

It’s a pretty good lesson for Scouts and for that matter, for all of us.

John Kostrzewa, business editor, spent last week as a volunteer at Camp Yawgoog.

To see more of the The Providence Journal, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.projo.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, The Providence Journal, R.I.

My company went mutual aid for a structure fire “through the roof” reported by a UPS driver on a long dead end road near the Brooklyn / Hampton town line. House was on the ground on arrival, so the woods fire was more interesting. You can find a full write up here.

West winds at 10mph, gusts to 20mph. Much better then the NW@20, Gusts to 40mph of the day before!

The fire grew to 3 to 5 acres in size (I didn’t GPS the perimeter), mainly because of initial concentration on the structure before engines and firefighters were put onto the woods fire. It was burning in primarily hardwood leaf litter, with a few small groves of hemlocks. Some young hemlocks did torch, and when the wind gusted even the leaf litter could produce 2′ flames.

What I like in the photo above is it shows a small spot fire. In these conditions if you wanted to successful with an indirect attack you probably needed a 3′ wide fire line to stop wind driven leaves from “rolling” across it. Leaf blowers backed up by hand tools would’ve done a heck of a job.

Slowly rotting away. The metal looks in good shape, not sure I’d trust the wood anymore!

Rhode Island stopped routinely staffing their fire towers around 1990, although some are occasionally staffed by the DEM on the worse fire danger days. Esocheag seems to get no love. This tower was erected in 1938, is 80′ high, and sits at 560′ above sea level. Photos from 2004 and 1990 can be found here. (In those pictures you’ll see a “candy cane” radio tower, that is no longer there. There is a newer tower which is un-painted and I believe shorter. It may have been erected a little further south then the radio tower in the older pictures, too.)

This tower would’ve looked down at a 30,000 acre fire a few miles to it’s north in 1942, and nine years later it would witness an 8,000 acre fire burning just to it’s south.

I do have mixed feelings on fire towers. From a romantic standpoint, I think they’re cool. From an economic standpoint, you would have to have some sharp pencils to show me that they are cost effective. There are some volunteer staffing programs around the nation (see this post), and it makes me wonder if you compromised with the State maintaining the towers and retired (but in good health) volunteers manning them the few critical weeks each year if it would be a reasonable compromise.

When Connecticut discontinued their fire towers in the 1980s they removed them, so at least we don’t have pathetic sights like watching Esocheag rot away. Massachusetts still staffs a number of their towers, with more in a “reserve” status that sees them manned occasionally. When listening to a fire in Dudley last week when the Charlton tower was closed due to lack of staff, the Patrolman from Douglas State Forest went up the Oxford tower to get a third, more accurate line since the towers in Princeton and Mendon were having difficulty pinpointing it and determining if it was a single and not multiple fires.

Burned 8,000 acres in Exeter and West Greenwich Rhode Island. I drove this area today, man…so many good photos to take of woods ready to explode once again I have to plan a day for the photos I want to take! May need to wait till next spring before “green up” for maximum effect.

Another large fire was burning in the Massachusetts / Connecticut / Rhode Island border region as well.

Those who read this blog know a central event I like researching is the complex of fires lit on April 30, 1942 by Edward LaCasse which burned some 50 square miles in Eastern, Connecticut (Sterling primarily), and Rhode Island (primarily Coventry and West Greenwich).

I just found this nifty piece from the 28 April 1942 New London Day — in addition to numerous smaller brush fires in the region that were proving difficult to extinguish due to re-kindles (see this post), there were at least two very large forest fires burning in Eastern Connecticut in the days before LaCasse’s arson spree. One in Groton consumed 1,000 acres, while another in Voluntown, ignited by accident when gasoline spilled on a hot engine, consumed 2,000 acres as well as a house and several outbuildings:

One of the best articles I’ve read on the use of prescribed fire on Cape Cod’s Pitch Pine & Scrub Oak Barrens: Bringing Back the Burn from the July 2005 issue of Northern Sky News. Archived here.

Following up on this earlier post.

Bottom line:
15 full-time Patrolmen where given layoff notices.
6 were saved for the year by funding the Federal Stimulus funds.
7 “bumped” themselves into other DCR positions (laying off junior employees in those positions).
2 were laid off.

They have a seasonal force of 54.

This is down from the early 1980s when they had, in addition to 16 Patrolmen, 53 fulltime firefighters who worked both on apparatus and towers as needed, plus 104 seasonal firefighters.

Interesting reply from this T&G Article:

Its 13 fire districts for 13 Wardens and one Chief.In those 13 fire districts they had a total of 16 fire patrolman positions to cover the whole state of Massachusetts.

Only 6 Patrolman positions was saved, 4 in the Southeast down the cape region,1-North Middlesex and 1-Hampshire County on federal grant programs for a year or two .

So actually they lost 10 fire patrolman positions not funded anymore and never could fill the 53-fulltime fire truck & tower positions that was never filled thru the many years when they became vacant from retirement,they just kept on cutting positions of about 53 fulltime fire positions gone already since the 80′s..

They also had back then 104 fire seasonal employees to man all 52 towers to fill in on days off & assisting the engine operators fighting fires ,each district had at least one fulltime tower man so in case the fire tower was needed in the late fall or winter dry season the tower position would be manned.Remember the seasonal tower positions are only staff from April to October,.That leaves out the months of November, December, January, February, March if there is no snow cover and have a dry period of no snow,warm temps,low humidity you could still have fire breaking out and it has happen before past fire history.

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And the main article:

By Brian Lee TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF
9 comments | Add a comment

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Recent significant brush fires after record rainfalls have surprised some people, a state official said.

But all the ingredients, including the aftereffects of the December 2008 ice storm, are in place for such fires, said David Celino, the state’s chief forest fire warden in the state Department of Conservation and Recreation.

“It does take the public by surprise, especially when we have open burning through May 1,” Mr. Celino said. “People, coming off the rains with historical flooding, look at the idea of having a fire threat as not there, when in fact it’s easy to get escape fires with this kind of a weather pattern.”

Among the incidents was last week’s 350-acre brushfire on Tekoa Mountain in the western Massachusetts town of Russell. State officials put together a 20-person crew out of the DCR to contain it within two days, Mr. Celino said.

In Central Massachusetts, there was an estimated 55-acre brush fire in Dudley Tuesday. It was in a heavily wooded area between Hayden Pond and Corbin and Baker Pond roads near the Charlton and Oxford lines.

It took about six hours and firefighters from six surrounding towns and the DCR to extinguish the fire, according to Dudley Fire Capt. David J. Konieczny, whose department walked the area Wednesday to make sure it was completely out.

Earlier this month there was a six-acre brush fire on the south scenic face of Mount Pisgah Conservation Area Trail in Northboro.

According to Mr. Celino, in many cases the ice storm increased the volume of tree limbs and branches on the ground, particularly in central and northern Worcester County, into Hampshire and Franklin counties and central and northern Berkshire County at elevations higher than 1,000 feet.

A year later the fuels on the ground have cured in the affected areas, creating the problem, he said.

After a year of curing, and with the recent rains, the area has seen fine fuels such as leaf litter, sticks and twigs become main carriers for some fires, he said.

The rainfalls were followed by dry air from the Arctic region. The low humidity and dew points can essentially dry out in less than a day the light surface fuels, Mr. Celino said.

Add to it southerly warm and dry winds and it makes for high fire danger, he said.

Capt. Konieczny of Dudley said he was impressed that the fire was first seen from a DCR fire observation tower in Princeton, quite a distance from a tower in Charlton that was not staffed at the time.

Mr. Celino said there was good visibility that day.

“The Dudley fire was a great example of how we were able to make the best of what we have,” he said. “The towers were able to locate that fire and then we were able to put state resources on the fire to help get containment.”

However, staffing levels in the towers concern Northboro Fire Chief David M. Durgin, who said he believed it played a factor in the Mount Pisgah fire. He said fire towers in Princeton and Sudbury were not staffed at the time, so they couldn’t see it.

“That’s why the fire ended up being as large as it was, six acres, and no early notification,” he said.

In October, Chief Durgin wrote his local legislators stating his concern about potential DCR staffing levels as a result of budget cuts.

“It’s a case where the state is saving money, but the cities and towns, even if someone had been put in those two towers on overtime that day, it would have been cheaper than the ultimate costs of the number of towns I had to bring in mutual aid to extinguish that fire,” he said.

Mr. Celino said the tower program is his agency’s top priority.

“We know that it’s valuable to the fire service, getting early detection, and so even though we did go through part of a staff reduction plan, we realized that the tower program is a priority,” he said.

Its seasonal roster reflected that concern, as seasonal workers were brought in earlier than usual this year, he said.

There are more than 40 fire towers statewide. Most are staffed by seasonal workers, Mr. Celino said. The agency is employing 54 seasonal workers throughout the state through the first week of October.

During high fire danger days the state can staff about 22 towers, depending on what the shifts are, he said.

“If we can get anywhere from 17 to 22 of those towers up, and those are our key towers, they provide us pretty good coverage across the state,” Mr. Celino said.

The DCR has 13 district fire wardens and six patrolmen who work with towns during fire season, as well as with the seasonal workers, he said.

Last October, 15 patrolmen received layoff notices but only two were laid off. Six jobs were saved with federal stimulus money, and seven went elsewhere in the agency through bargaining rights, Mr. Celino said.

State Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, said his office has been in touch with the state office of Energy and Environmental Affairs and the DCR. They were told that the federal stimulus money that was allotted at the beginning of this season will last for two seasons to keep the towers manned.

“The challenge for the forest fire issue is what happens when the federal stimulus money goes away?” the senator said, adding he hoped that things would get better as the economy improves.

Because some forest fires along the Route 2 corridor are caused by train sparks, he said he would be “more than happy to go after the railroads” for liability.

“If Joe Six-Pack threw a cigarette they’d be going after him, that’s for sure,” Mr. Brewer said.

Patricia A. Correia, fire warden in northern Worcester County, was at a three-acre brush fire Wednesday at Bearsden Conservation Area in Athol. She said its cause was most likely the railroad that runs through the conservation area.

As other posts in the search talk about the 50 square mile fire that was centered on Sterling, CT and Coventry, RI…let’s take a look from the New London Day as to conditions in the region south of that fire that week.

The fires in that area began on Thursday, April 30th, 1942.

One common theme in these newsclippings is re-kindles of fires.

These clippings were found through this query: http://www.google.com/archivesearch?q=brush+fire+source:%22The+Day%22 (You can further define it by date ranges).

April 28th:

May 1st, mentioning Westerly firefighters who the morning after their own 350 acre fire left to help in Coventry:

May 2nd:

May 4th. That a “state pumper” came out of Lebanon is interesting. There aren’t currently any large DEP facilities in Lebanon. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen another reference to a fairly high up (or top) State Fire Warden living in Lebanon though.

May 4th. This is a different fire from the large Westerly fire mentioned above! If I have the timeline correct, the first article refers to a 350 acre fire between White Rock Road & Boon Bridge Road on Thursday, April 30th. This is north of downtown Westerly, by the Pawcatuck River. This article is for 300 acres off Shore Road, which today is Old Route 1 east of Watch Hill (I assume this is the road referred to in the article), on Saturday, May 1st. Over one square mile in two days…plus they had sent help to the large fire to the north!

From the New London Day, 19 April 1980:

Fort Shantok is no longer a state park — it was transferred to the Mohegans in 1996, following their federal recognition in 1994, and is adjacent to today’s Mohegan Sun casino. The Mohegans have a long history of friendly relations with colonial and later state authorities; in 1645 Uncas was beseiged at Fort Shantok by a force of Narragansetts until a relief force led by Thomas Leffingwell arrived.

South End Fire Department, in Old Lyme, also no longer exists. They were shutdown by their town, who took possession of the town owned station and apparatus. The department was left with the rescue truck they held title to, which was later sold to Eastford, and as part of that deal my company (Mortlake) purchased the Hurst tool and its gas-powered pump as a backup unit.

The Springfield Republican has this nice photo essay up on the ’99 and ’01 Tekoa Mountain fires.

Added to the ’93 and ’10 fires, this mountain sure burns often!

Here’s the photos, from 1999 unless otherwise noted:



Connecticut Army National Guard flying a bambi bucket. I knew New York & Massachusetts Guard units would fly buckets, I hadn’t heard of Connecticut doing so before.











From the funeral of Deputy Chief John Murphy who died at the 1999 Fire.

From the 2001 fire.

From the 2001 fire.

As reported in this post on CTFire-Ems.com:

Plymouth 4/12/10
The DEP has been fighting a forest fire in a section of the Mattatuck State Forest all day today. It is located north of Greystone Rd. and east of Todd Hollow Rd. The fire was actually discovered late Sunday night, but because of darkness, access issues, and rough terrain, it was decided to wait until daylight before sending crews in. Access to the area was by foot only. This will most likely be the largest fire yet in CT this season. It looks to be around 100 acers so far. There was intense fire activity in the afternoon with wind gusts carrying the fire over several fire lines and some 10′-15′ flame heights.

And a later update:

DEP had a line around the fire and was out of the woods by nightfall last night, so there wasn’t a need to activate the Wildfire Crew. Though there was talk on Monday afternoon of bringing in a helicopter and fire crew if we couldn’t get it. It dosent show it on the google map, but Todd Hollow Rd runs south all the way down to the Train Tracks near Greystone Rd. So that was our line to the west, and the tracks were eastern line. A hand line was cut over the top from Greystone to Todd Hollow through heavy mountain laurel at some spots 5″-6″ in diameter. The DEP had 16 firefighters on scene Monday Using 3 saws and 4 leaf blowers and hand tools. There were about 10people on scene today checking the line (it held) and burning out a small section near Todd Hollow Rd. So far it looks to be around 140 acers. Will post some pics later

You can see the extensive, low green of the Mountain Laurel thicket described above in the aerial photo from Google Maps. I kind of like this winter time images better then summer ones for looking at wildfire locations.

Judging from the flat ground, and the aerial photo, I’d assume the first picture was taken in the flats by Todd Hollow Road. That is a decent size grove of fairly big white pines. Those are generally found in hollows — first because they’re protected against high winds, and second because of the moisture available by the streams.

The forecast for Sunday & Monday called for winds out of the north and northwest, which would’ve had them blowing down that hollow, while the fire naturally would want to burn uphill. Along with a difficult to access location, very understandable the size this grew too!

This is a different section of the forest, actually quite a bit of distance as well as a river and Route 8, from my hike back in 2008 that is in this photo essay.

From the Waterbury Republican American on 4/14:

One of the larger brush fires in Terryville Fire Chief Mark Sekorski’s memory is out after burning 137 acres in Mattatuck State Forest since Sunday.

The fire, in a remote area just feet off the “blue trail” hiking trail, “is on the top scale as far as brush fires go,” Sekorski said. About 25 Terryville firefighters and 23 state park rangers responded to the fire Sunday after a 7:58 p.m. call, but found it too dark to do anything in the steep, rough terrain. The closest homes, off Greystone Road, were in no real danger, Sekorski said. The wind was on their side, blowing away from the homes.

The same winds brought the smoky smell of dried, burning brush a few miles south, into downtown Waterbury. Several residents there called the fire department concerned, police said Monday.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation.

It is my understanding from non-media accounts that the first containment line being constructed through the mountain laurel along the north side of the fire was over run, with the (second hand) report that one DEP employee stated it was the first time in 20 years he has had to run for safety on a fire in Connecticut.

Russell along with Bureau of Forest Fire Control and mutual aid are battling a hundred acre fire in steep terrain:

RUSSELL – A Massachusetts Army National Guard helicopter has joined efforts Monday to put out a wind-fueled brush fire that has been burning on Tekoa Mountain for several days.

Tekoa Mountain, steep and remote, is often hit by brush fires, especially this time of year when conditions can get extremely dry. A fire on the mountain in 1995 burned 587 acres. An even larger fire there four years later blackened more than 1,200 acres.

Russell Deputy Fire Chief John E. Murphy, 64, died of a apparent heart attack while fighting that April 1999 fire.

From MassLive, archived here. The video I have saved as tekoa_2010_video1.flv.

There are some nice night time shots from Sunday evening at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snO6Xgnu3u0, which I have saved as tekoa_2010_video2.flv.

The Exploring Western Massachusetts blog has a nice post on Tekoa with some good pictures of the terrain being faced (and pitch pines!).

4/14 Update:
Fire consumed 320 acres:

By George Graham, The Republican
April 14, 2010, 10:42AM

RUSSELL – A small plume of smoke wafted up from Tekoa Mountain Wednesday morning as firefighting operations against a large-scale brush fire that burned here for about four days wound down.

Russell Fire Chief Michael Morrissey said late Wednesday morning that the fire, which burned over 320 acres, is under control and confined to a small area across the Westfield River from the Jacob’s Ladder rest area on Route 20.

A group of about 20 firefighters, down from about 75 Tuesday, were at the scene Wednesday fighting hot spots, Morrissey said.

A firefighting command center, set up at the Jacob’s Ladder rest stop been closed down.

Elsewhere, firefighters in Granville said Tuesday they believe they have extinguished a smaller fire that burned up to 45 acres on Sodom Mountain.

In Russell, town firefighters worked with crews from Westfield, Agawam, Holyoke, West Springfield, Montgomery, Easthampton, Northampton, Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee and the state Department of Conservation and Recreation Bureau of Fire Control.

In all, a total of 75 firefighters and a helicopter apiece provided by state police and the Massachusetts Army National Guard battled the fire that cut a zigzag patterned trail of flames across Tekoa Mountain.

About 15 firefighters from Granville, Tolland and Southwick fought the Sodom Mountain fire until about 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Granville Fire Chief James Meadows could not be immediately reached for comment.

As a bonus find, the Russell Fire Department has a great wildland SOP posted on their website (actually, all the SOPs I looked at I liked — clear, concise, no BS, gave everything relevant without micro-managing or trying to address every conceivable situation):

WILDFIRE INCIDENT RESPONSE GUIDE
6.01 PURPOSE
To establish guidelines that will provide the incident
commander and personnel with a safe and effective way of
handling fires involving forest, brush and/or ground cover.
6.02 PROCEDURE
A. Upon arrival a report on conditions.
l. Determine actual location of fire (including size).
Use topographic maps or GPS for precise location.
2. Direction and characteristic of fire travel.
3. Type of fuel burning (light grass, heavy bush).
4. Exposures.
5. Action being taken by first arriving unit.
B. Request additional equipment.
C. Determine plan of action based on priorities and resources
available.
6.03 SAFETY
A. All members shall wear necessary protective clothing in
accordance with the hazard.
B. The use of a personnel accountability system will be
required and maintained by the incident commander or his/her
designee
C. Safety rules for operating vehicles “off road”.
l. Have a means of escape should your position be over
run.
2. Avoid commitment of units on narrow roads in heavy
brush areas.
3. It is not uncommon for heavy vehicles to become stuck
off road.
4. Before taking a unit “off road”, you must know
location and direction of fire travel.
D. Post a guard when advancing and manning lines in brush
areas. Some things to be especially cautious of are:
l. Spot fires below your crew and frequent spot fires.
2. Aircraft making retardant drops.
3. Heavy equipment working above your crew, i.e. falling
rocks, etc.
4. Changes in wind velocity and direction.
E. A means for escape shall be made known to all fire
personnel working in brush areas. Stay close to the burned
areas.
F. All personnel should know the location and direction of
travel of fire head(s).
G. Attempt to not allow fire personnel to become exhausted.
Provide rest periods. Frequency will be dependent upon topography and weather conditions.
H. Be alert to the possibility of downed electrical wires;
there may be energized fences as a result.
I. Do not go downhill to attack a fire.
6.04 CONTROL
A. Base all actions and strategies on current and expected
behavior of fire.
B. Structural protection and life safety take priority over
extinguishment of brush.
C. If offensive attack (direct attack) is indicated, choose
an anchor point and hit the head of the fire, if possible.
If that is not possible, establish an anchor point and
start on the flanks and work toward the head.
D. If the fire is a large, hot, fast moving one, then a direct
attack may not be possible. In such cases, an indirect
and/or parallel attack may be utilized by cutting a fire
line a distance ahead of the fire (or utilizing natural
fire breaks, such as highways) to halt the progress of the
fire.
l. This may require writing off losses (structures, etc.)
in the path of fire.
2. Indirect attack is commonly used in conjunction with
fire retardant drops and back-firing techniques.
E. Different methods of attack may be used simultaneously
according to the situation.
F. If assigned structural protection, keep hose lays flexible
enough to be able to quickly break away in the event of
being over run.
H. If additional resources are needed the Massachusetts
Bureau of Fire Control District 11 should be contacted. They have added supplies of hand tools, back pack pumps, tractors. The request for a county task force may be made through dispatch. The incident commander must provide the numbers for equipment type and personnel needed.

6.05 COMMAND
A. Fires requiring the coordination of two (2) units or more,
should have the Incident Command System put into effect.
B. Establish a Command Post
C. The Incident Commander has responsibility for the entire
operation. He also has responsibility for assigning (on
as “as needed” basis) the following positions during brush
fire operations:
l. Operations
2. Support
3. Sectors/Division.
4. Liaison positions between various agencies.
E. Radio communications should ensure the IC has the ability
To communicate with all functions and also the ability to
provide working crews with emergency information.

I never realized how extensive the pitch pine / scrub oak community is along the Connecticut and Rhode Island border, particularly in Coventry and West Greenwich along the state line. This area is probably around 10 square miles. As this was a major portion of the May, 1942 fires one can imagine the fire spread that would have occurred in such an isolated area. An old rail line runs roughly along the northern side of this pitch pine forest; as the arsonist was a railroad section foreman we’re left to wonder at this time how much that played a roll. Also interesting is why this area is still pitch pine — was it always? Why is the Connecticut side more mature? Was it better attention on the Connecticut side towards re-planting with white pines and more active fire suppression post 1942? Is it simply a difference in soils?

From a firefighting perspective, the difficulties posed by acre after acre of this:

Compared to more typical New England mixed forests:

Is fairly dramatic.

In the latter case, it is relatively easy to construct control lines even if occasional obstacles must be bypassed. A crew using a backpack leaf blower could build quite a bit of line quickly, reinforcing it with a burn out to the body of the main fire.

In the former, in the pitch pine with a thick story of underbrush (probably blueberry or huckleberry; I’ll have to re-visit the area this summer when the leaves are out to tell for sure)…building control lines away from the fire will be much, much more difficult. Backpack blowers are out, at best Council fire rakes might help. With the higher flame heights from brush compared to hardwood leaf litter a wider line is probably needed as well as making a burn out a more risky tactic to try.

Except along established control lines such as roads, it would seem the best tactic is the hot and dirty work of directly attacking the fire along the flanks, hopefully with a hoseline! Lacking that, then with indian tanks and hand tools while making slow progress compared to simple leaf litter, despite having a fire that is burning hotter, higher, and faster to deal with.

West Greenwich saw a continuous decline in population from 2,054 in 1790, to only 367 in 1920.

By 1940 the population had increased to 526. Still very small for it’s 51.3 square miles!

The border between West Greenwich and Coventry, west to the Connecticut border, is a large area of pitch pine and scrub oak. One thing I need to research more is why — is there a change in soil by Connecticut, as well as north and south, that favors more mature forests? Or is this purely a function of repeated fires keeping the pitch pine ecosystem dominant?

Nice article from the Vineyard Gazette on prescribed burns on the Vineyard. Archived here.

This included mentions of some major historical fires:
May 12, 1916: 20 square miles, blamed for extinction of the heath hen.
1926: 10 square miles for the year
1927: 10 square miles for the year
1929: 4 square miles for the year

I have a lot of photos to parse through from this fire yesterday:

http://www.d90.us/fire/7_April_2010_467_Providence_Pike_Hampton/index.html

Fire came in as a smoke investigation in our district, it was finally located approximately a mile southeast of the calling party, a half mile off the road with no access by heavy vehicles due to recent very heavy rains that have the ground saturated in low spots.