A mostly unremarkable fire season here this year — after having a snow pack exceeding 3′ this winter (and hundreds if not thousands of building collapses in Connecticut), and fairly regular spring rains. It’s April 5th and I’m still finding pockets of snow on the ground in my town.

Last week Kent, CT lost a fire engine at a grass fire when the transmission hung up between road and pump.

CT Fire Danger: Very High

RED FLAG

URGENT – FIRE WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
411 AM EDT WED APR 7 2010

CTZ002>004-MAZ002>019-026-RIZ001-002-071615-
/O.UPG.KBOX.FW.A.0001.100407T1500Z-100407T2200Z/
/O.NEW.KBOX.FW.W.0001.100407T1500Z-100407T2200Z/
HARTFORD CT-TOLLAND CT-WINDHAM CT-WESTERN FRANKLIN MA-
EASTERN FRANKLIN MA-NORTHERN WORCESTER MA-CENTRAL MIDDLESEX MA-
WESTERN ESSEX MA-EASTERN ESSEX MA-WESTERN HAMPSHIRE MA-
WESTERN HAMPDEN MA-EASTERN HAMPSHIRE MA-EASTERN HAMPDEN MA-
SOUTHERN WORCESTER MA-WESTERN NORFOLK MA-SOUTHEAST MIDDLESEX MA-
SUFFOLK MA-EASTERN NORFOLK MA-NORTHERN BRISTOL MA-
WESTERN PLYMOUTH MA-EASTERN PLYMOUTH MA-NORTHERN MIDDLESEX MA-
NORTHWEST PROVIDENCE RI-SOUTHEAST PROVIDENCE RI-
411 AM EDT WED APR 7 2010

…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 6 PM EDT
THIS EVENING…

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN TAUNTON HAS ISSUED A RED FLAG
WARNING…WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 6 PM EDT
THIS EVENING. THE FIRE WEATHER WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT.

THIS WARNING IS FOR MUCH OF MASSACHUSETTS…NORTHERN CONNECTICUT…AND
NORTHWEST RHODE ISLAND.

THERE WILL BE AN ENHANCED RISK OF FIRE SPREAD ACROSS THE WARNING
AREA LATE THIS MORNING AND AFTERNOON. SOUTHWEST WINDS ARE EXPECTED
TO INCREASE WITH FREQUENT GUSTS AROUND 25 MPH. IN ADDITION…MINIMUM
AFTERNOON RELATIVE HUMIDITIES ARE EXPECTED TO DROP TO BETWEEN 25 AND
30 PERCENT AS TEMPERATURES RISE INTO THE MID 80S.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS…

A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS
ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW…OR WILL SHORTLY. A COMBINATION OF
STRONG WINDS…LOW RELATIVE HUMIDITY…AND WARM TEMPERATURES WILL
CREATE EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH POTENTIAL.

FIRE WEATHER PLANNING FORECAST FOR SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA
404 AM EDT WED APR 7 2010

…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 6 PM EDT
THIS EVENING…

.DISCUSSION…
WARM AND DRY CONDITIONS COMBINED WITH GUSTY SOUTHWEST WINDS WILL
RESULT IN RED FLAG CONDITIONS WITH MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITIES OF 25
TO 30 PERCENT. A BACKDOOR FRONT WILL BRING EASTERLY WINDS AND COOLER
CONDITIONS THURSDAY WITH HIGHER RELATIVE HUMIDITIES BETWEEN 40 TO 60
PERCENT.

OUTLOOK…FRIDAY THROUGH TUESDAY…

A PERIOD OF SHOWERS AND SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS IS EXPECTED FRIDAY
AS A COLD FRONT MOVES THROUGH. COOL AND DRY WEATHER IS EXPECTED FOR
THE WEEKEND WITH GUSTY WESTERLY WINDS AND MINIMUM RELATIVE HUMIDITIES
OF 25 T0 35 PERCENT.

CTZ004-080815-
WINDHAM CT-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF…ASHFORD…PLAINFIELD…PUTNAM…
WILLIMANTIC
404 AM EDT WED APR 7 2010

…RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM THIS MORNING TO 6 PM EDT
THIS EVENING…

TODAY TONIGHT THU

CLOUD COVER MCLEAR MCLEAR PCLDY
PRECIP TYPE NONE NONE NONE
CHANCE PRECIP (%) 0 0 10
TEMP /24H TREND/ 84 (+14) 53 (+5) 80
RH % /24H TREND/ 28 (-7) 96 (-4) 42
20FT WND AM /MPH/ SW 5 G20 LGT/VAR
20FT WND PM /MPH/ SW 11 G21 SW 5 G17 SE 7
PRECIP AMOUNT 0.00 0.00 0.00
PRECIP DURATION
PRECIP BEGIN
PRECIP END
MIXING HGT /FT-AGL/ 3720 70 4900
TRANSPORT WND /KTS/ W 25 SW 9 SW 15
VENT RATE /KT-FT/ 93000 630 73500
CWR 0 0 0
LAL NO TSTMS NO TSTMS NO TSTMS
HAINES INDEX 5 5 4

REMARKS…NONE.

.FORECAST FOR DAYS 3 THROUGH 7…
.THURSDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF SHOWERS. LOWS IN
THE UPPER 40S. SOUTHEAST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.FRIDAY…SHOWERS WITH A CHANCE OF THUNDERSTORMS. HIGHS IN THE LOWER
60S. SOUTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.FRIDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN SHOWERS. LOWS IN
THE MID 30S. WEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.SATURDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS IN THE MID 50S. WEST WINDS 15 TO
20 MPH.
.SATURDAY NIGHT AND SUNDAY…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE MID 30S.
HIGHS IN THE LOWER 60S. WEST WINDS 10 TO 15 MPH.
.SUNDAY NIGHT AND MONDAY…PARTLY CLOUDY. LOWS IN THE MID 30S. HIGHS
IN THE UPPER 50S. NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO 10 MPH.
.MONDAY NIGHT…MOSTLY CLEAR. LOWS IN THE MID 30S. NORTHWEST WINDS
5 TO 10 MPH.
.TUESDAY…MOSTLY SUNNY. HIGHS AROUND 60. NORTHWEST WINDS 5 TO
10 MPH.

Indian New England Before the Mayflower

The author, Howard Russell, also wrote the authoritative history of agriculture in New England, a book I own and have thoroughly enjoyed reading over the years.

An article in the Cape Cod Times:

By Karen Jeffrey
Cape Cod Times
May 31, 2010

That smoke getting in your eyes, your hair and your homes today is coming from Canada, according to the National Weather Service.

Police and fire departments across the Cape are reporting numerous calls from people reporting the smell of smoke, and in some cases, seeing smoke drift across their property this morning.

However, the fires producing the smoke are not local, they are riding air currents down from our neighbor to the north – Canada.

Northwest winds are bringing smoke into Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont from wildfires that are burning in Canada, according to the National Weather Service.

People with respiratory problems were being advised to limit their outdoor activities.

According Canadian press reports there are more than 50 forest fires burning in the in Quebec, including eight that are out of control.

About 1,200 firefighters, including some from Maine, New Brunswick, New Hampshire and western Canada are working to put them out. Canadian newspapers report that Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources reports 73 active forest fires today, mostly north of Toronto. The province rates the forest fire danger “extreme” and has declared a restricted zone in the northeastern part of the province to reduce the danger of human-caused fire.

The weather service says the northwest winds are expected shift to the southwest on this afternoon and end the smoky conditions.

According Canadian press reports there are more than 50 forest fires burning in the in Quebec, including eight that are out of control.

And this was from the National Weather Service:

THE VERMONT AGENCY OF NATURAL RESOURCES IN COORDINATION WITH THE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE HAS ISSUED AN AIR QUALITY ACTION DAY FOR
ALL OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN VERMONT. AN AIR QUALITY ACTION DAY
MEANS THAT PARTICULATE CONCENTRATIONS WITHIN THE REGION MAY
APPROACH OR EXCEED UNHEALTHY STANDARDS.

DENSE SMOKE FROM LARGE WILDLAND FOREST FIRES ACROSS CENTRAL QUEBEC
HAS DRIFTED ATOP THE REGION TODAY WITH VISIBILITIES LOCALLY AS
LOW AS 1 MILE BEING REPORTED.

It drifted in Brooklyn around 5:30 or so. Kind of funky seeing smoke everywhere you looked!

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.

Checking the DCR’s website today, they are hiring seasonal tower operators in at least Carver and Sandwich, and a seasonal “fire laborer” in Leominister.

Mass. fire officials fuming over wildland staffing cuts
October 22nd, 2009

BOSTON — Fire officials are fuming that high-paid pals of Gov. Deval Patrick have kept their cushy Department of Conservation posts while the agency is axing more than half of the state’s 30 forest firefighters.

The layoff of 17 forest firefighters will leave just one per county and means the state’s 42 fire towers — perches used to spot flare-ups — will go unmanned, officials said.

“It’s going to be a big hit to public safety,” said Trevor Augustino, vice-president of the American Federation of State, County and Municpal Employees Local 2948, which represents the forest firefighters. “They’re cutting with an ax, not a scalpel.”

The Herald reported yesterday that the DCR terminated 91 workers, but kept Patrick’s campaign manager’s sister, Patty Vantine, and two other managers she hired. The three make a combined $251,000 annually.

DCR spokeswoman Lisa Capone said 57 of the terminations were voluntary while 34 were pinkslipped. Of those 91, seven were managers. “Those percentages reflect the proportion of union vs. management throughout the agency,” she said.

Orange Fire Chief Dennis Annear, president of the Massachusetts Forest Fire Council, said the cuts have “destroyed” an effective service that’s been around for 100 years. Annear said the DCR jakes are crucial in rural western Massachusetts where they often lead under-trained volunteers into dangerous blazes.

“We use these individuals to lead a crew,” Annear said. “Some departments don’t have the right protective gear to go out in the woods and they definitely don’t have that expertise.”

Annear said the cuts are particularly painful since the DCR has been aggressively promoting tourism at state parks.

“Tourism is great but somebody’s got to pay to treat these people or go rescue them in the woods,” he said.

Capone said the DCR is “maintaining our commitment to public safety.”

Copyright 2009 Boston Herald Inc.

By Dave Wedge
The Boston Herald

I also found this in the November 11, 2009 DCR Stewardship Council minutes:

Patti Vantine, Director of Administration and Finance informed the Council on/of the following matters:

The magnitude of the current (2010) operating 9c cut was between 4-8%, however the final
requirement for DCR is 5.2%.

Cuts have been saved by mandatory management furlough up to nine days, an unspecific cut,
and an earmark that was removed.

Voluntary layoff and retirements are being wrapped up, and involuntary layoffs are nearing the
end of the bumping process.

A final projection number will be tallied once the full bumping/retirement process is complete.

Our state revenue has slightly increased for October.
o DCR was able to maintain six firefighters, one Warden in each district.
o The overall budget for DCR is $78,348,984 after the 9c budget cuts.
o Environmental Police has taken a $1.5m cut.

(DCR also transferred many of their parkway and bridge assets from the “Emerald Necklace” system around Boston to the newly formed MassDOT … I wonder how that factored into budget cuts if at all? Later on in the minutes it reported 55 DCR employees transferred to MassDOT, but that DCR would still provide snow control for the current budget year.)

A January, 2010 presentation noted that the DCR had seen it’s operating budget cut by 23% from FY2009 to mid-year FY2010. In 18 months it had lost 171 full time positions, including 54 to voluntary layoff / retirements, 37 unfilled positions eliminated, and 29 layoffs.

At the 8 second mark events occur quickly — you hear a comment about “getting dark,” then the camera has a partial white out (I assume from rapid fire growth), then the still photographer observes they have fire to their left.  Press reports have stated, per Nova Scotia Forestry, the fire spread hit speeds of 36 meters per minute.  That’s 107 chains per hour, 1.3 miles per hour, or 118′ per minute.  In Connecticut spread rates over 30 chains per hour are considered Very High fire danger days, and over 40 are Extreme.

The above video is  reminiscent to me of this video taken in the New Jersey pine barrens on 16 May 2007 when several New Jersey Forest Fire Service vehicles were involved in a near miss:

I have the above videos archived in case they disappear from YouTube, under videos.

Those videos help fill in the mental picture when you see photos like this one from Cape Cod, which has forests like the pine barrens of New Jersey:

Forest fire on Cape Cod, from Capecodfd.com

Or this AP photograph of an October, 1947 fire crossing Route 1 in Arundel, Maine:

October, 1947 Arundel, ME

When the fire is in the crown like this they can not be fought.  In general the tactic is to leave these to burn and concentrate on handling the fire later when it has left the crown and is just burning the surface and brush, as these boys from Bates College are headed to do in ’47:

Boys from Bates headed to fight fire

At Bates, nearly 300 male students, volunteered for firefighting duty. A state disaster committee dispatched the volunteers to help fight the fires in towns like Bowdoinham, Kennebunk, Cornish and Richmond. Meanwhile, female students conducted watches on campus and at Thorncrag, raked leaves away from residence halls, and collected clothing donations for the Red Cross.

Clicking on the Bates photo will bring you to a page which recounts the tale.  In case it disappears I’ve archived off a couple of the tales here.

Even the brush breakers of southeastern Massachusetts aren’t intended to attack these crown fires directly, but instead to allow them to rapidly access deep into the woods to control the fire while it’s still in the brush and not a crown fire.

Fire storms like those pictured above are not survivable to those caught in the open.  In parts of the U.S. the “fire shelter,” an aluminized tent carried on your belt is common.  Australians tend to use their fire apparatus as shelters, specially equipping them with blinds to keep out the radiant heat from the cab and misting systems to wet the outside of the truck. A flame front like that is also survivable in a properly prepared home, which it doesn’t look like the Halifax homes were, when the occupants are prepared after the flame front has passed to come out and extinguish spot fires around their property.

There was some moderately active fires in the region yesterday.

East Putnam, CT went mutual aid to West Glocester, RI for a brush fire, and later East Putnam fought a brush fire around dusk off of I-395 that required mutual aid from Putnam, Community, and Thompson Hill.

Oxford, MA had a fire on a trail behind the Orchard Hill apartments that used mutual aid from Leicester as well as Massachusett’s Bureau of Forest Fire Control.  I’ve driven that trail before…I was truly dumbfounded when this trail brought me to the rear of this affordable housing complex!

Milford, MA returned to the area that burned Tuesday, this time only 1-1/2 acres burnt.  This video from the Milford Daily News is interesting for showing the steep, stone strewn hillside.  This is worth it’s own post in the future, because I can’t imagine any effective tactic other then using hoselines.  Using hand tools to construct a line is near impossible because of the small openings between rocks, while clambering over the normally lose surface when wearing a backpack pump is inviting a twisted ankle.

CT Fire Danger:
High

CTZ004-010815-
WINDHAM CT-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...ASHFORD...PLAINFIELD...PUTNAM...
WILLIMANTIC
402 AM EDT THU APR 30 2009

...RED FLAG WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 2 PM THIS AFTERNOON TO 7 PM EDT
THIS EVENING...

                      TODAY        TONIGHT      FRI

CLOUD COVER           MCLEAR       MCLDY        MCLDY
PRECIP TYPE           NONE         SHOWERS      SHOWERS
CHANCE PRECIP (%)     0            80           70
TEMP /24H TREND/      65 (-1)      51 (+12)     69
RH % /24H TREND/      22 (+8)      86 (-14)     66
20FT WND AM /MPH/     LGT/VAR                   SW 10 G28
20FT WND PM /MPH/     S  9 G19     S  8 G20     SW 13 G27
PRECIP AMOUNT         0.00         0.11         0.33
PRECIP DURATION                    7            9
PRECIP BEGIN                       8 PM         CONTINUING
PRECIP END                         CONTINUING   CONTINUING
MIXING HGT /FT-AGL/   4710         70           1890
TRANSPORT WND /KTS/   S 17         S 19         SW 23
VENT RATE /KT-FT/     80070        1330         43470
CWR                   0            80           100
LAL                   NO TSTMS     NO TSTMS     NO TSTMS
HAINES INDEX          5            3            2

When I wrote a pandemic flu pre-plan for my FD, ran it through public health folks for their thoughts, their immediate response was “good plan, but most important, emphasize handwashing!”. Something not everyone is real good at in fire camp.

It was just last night I was randomly looking through some photos from Life and saw this from the 1961 Big Basin Fire, handwashing in a fire camp:

Washing up at the 1961 Big Basin Fire

And if you think safety slogans are new…

Work Safely at the 1961 Big Basin Fire

Edward LaCasse, a thirty year old railroad section foreman and volunteer firefighter from Plainfield, was in the woods of Sterling, Coventry and neighboring towns setting them on fire. As a section foreman he was responsible as part of his routine maintenance duties for keeping railroad right of ways clear of brush and to help organize the suppression of fires along them when a coal fired locomotives threw a spark. According to my parents, he also worked as a lookout in the fire tower on Ekonk Hill. He was someone who knew very well when and where to set forest fires for maximum impact.

These woods were primed to burn, beyond the normal yearly variations of weather that made the spring of ’42 on the dry side. Three and a half years earlier the ’38 Hurricane had hit these woods hard. Three and half years is long enough for sticks the width of a thumb up to the size of shattered tree trunks to have become extremely dry, but not long enough for them to rot.  Stacks of salvaged timber were scattered around the countryside, but there was not enough men or markets to have cleaned up all the woods.  That was laborious work in those years when the chainsaw had not yet replaced the axe and cross-cut saw, and when only trucks small by today’s standards still competed with teams of horses and oxen for supremacy as being the prime movers in the woods.

Over the next week some fifty square miles of eastern Connecticut and particularly western Rhode Island burned, despite the efforts of thousands of men from both states and the help of Mother Nature to control them.

Thirty five years later some of my favorite childhood memories are from driving through these woods with my parents.  Sometimes my dad would recall his experience as a 20 year old farm boy from Plainfield helping on the fire line, although he didn’t provide much detail in keeping with the manner of his generation.  As an eight year old in the back seat of our yellow Scout II bouncing down those dirt roads listening to the story, while imaging the woodlands around us, it certainly ignited my life long interest in forest fires and probably was the start of my interest in the fire service in general.

Maybe one day I will turn my research and opinions into a book, maybe not. I’m not sure such a niche product as the history of forest fires and control in southern New England it would attract much interest from a publisher. But for now I will use this blog to organize and share my notes. I’ve chosen the name, “The Wooden Nutmeg” for this blog as a nod to the mimeographed newsletter of that name published in the years before World War II and distributed to Connecticut Forest Fire Wardens and others interested in our forest fires.

Matt Kivela
Brooklyn, Conn.