So with some fluctuation the recent fire dangers forecasts have been low.

Hearing it on the radio today, the Buildup was 9, and Spread was 2. Two! That’s an anticipated 132′ per hour if left unchecked

Connecticut DEP Fire Danger Report:
The Forest Fire Danger Level for Thursday, April 26, 2012
is LOW

Some showers Thursday afternoon, slight chance for showers overnight Saturday.

My guess is with the green up underway, unless we get a sustained week+ without showers the fire situation should be settled down for a while.

Looks like I forgot to grab last week’s drought map; here’s this weeks:

The heavy rain this past Sunday took that big bite out of Eastern CT / RI / East Central Massachusetts.

The Forest Fire Danger Level for Wednesday, April 25, 2012 is MODERATE
Moderate due to forecasted winds & lower humidity

Whether remains “showers threatening” with light rain expected on Thursday. Drier, gustier for the weekend.

Connecticut DEP Fire Danger Report:
The Forest Fire Danger Level for Tuesday, April 24, 2012
is LOW

Sunny and frequent breeze which will keep the smoke dispersed, good air quality…would’ve been a perfect day to burn off another brush pile at my place

A normal April is just under 4″ of rain, so it’s looking likely the drought situation won’t improve and our deficit may even increase by one to two inches before we enter May.

The storm cut through the center of southern New England leaving the western hills and the Cape with the least precipitation; tying back to three recent write-ups here…Willimantic near Ashford recorded 2.6″ so far, Orange, MA near Erving recorded 1.6″ so far, and Pittsfield near Lee recorded 1.1″ with the rain expected to taper off over the next few hours. A help, no doubt, but not a solution.

Connecticut DEP Fire Danger Report:
The Forest Fire Danger Level for Monday, April 23, 2012
is LOW

It does bring up an interesting question — while a shift in fire patterns due to climate change would have the most dramatic impact in the pitch pine / scrub oak communities of southeastern Massachusetts if the spectacular pine barren fires move northeast from New Jersey…if fires like this (requiring multiple day operations primarily by municipal call and volunteer firefighters) start to become common occurrence in Connecticut & Western Massachusetts it may create a strong impetus to ask the states to rebuild their own fire crews.

ERVING – Fire crews from three Franklin County departments will return to Rattlesnake Mountain this morning for a second round of hand-to-hand combat with a stubborn brush fire.

Erving Fire Chief Almon Meattey Jr. said crews from 8 towns responded to the fire when it was reported around 2 p.m. Wednesday behind 71 Old State Rd., in an area of the mountain known as Farley Ledges.

“We’re probably just going to let the ledge burn,” Meattey said, citing the remote location of the fire and the difficult terrain. Unable to reach the site with brush trucks, all-terrain vehicles or hoses, firefighters on Wednesday were forced to carry in a total of 400 gallons of water in 5-gallon “bladder-bag” backpacks.

More here.

I can’t embed the photos, but here’s links to some that I like. They ask you to register to view them:

http://fireground360.zenfolio.com/p704326682/e31d40b6e

http://fireground360.zenfolio.com/p704326682/e2222462d

http://fireground360.zenfolio.com/p704326682/e3b060827

http://fireground360.zenfolio.com/p704326682/e16fcc4c1

Lee brush fire finally extinguished

By Trevor Jones, Berkshire Eagle Staff
Posted: 04/21/2012 12:05:11 AM EDT

LEE — Firefighters finally exited October Mountain early Friday evening after working to squelch the remnants of a blaze that started Thursday afternoon and is being described as one of the town’s largest and most challenging brush fires in the past 40 years.

More than 100 emergency responders were at the scene all day Friday. They dealt with hot spots in the underbrush of a fire on October Mountain that covered up to 30 acres — the equivalent of roughly 23 football fields.

Only underground fires on the mountain’s east side were left by twilight, Lee Fire Chief

Alan Sparks said. Lee Police planned to patrol the area through the night to check for any flare-ups, and Sparks said he would return early this morning.

Twenty-eight fire crews from Massachusetts and New York were on hand Friday, as well as 22 members of the Berkshire County Sheriff’s Office. The deputies assisted with spotting and digging up smoldering areas to be doused. Smoldering areas could be found in underbrush and vegetation as deep as six inches under the surface.

More than 3,000 feet of hose had to be hauled up the steep incline to fight the blaze, and all-terrain vehicles were used to transport firefighters to and from the remaining hot spots.

“This was probably one of the most difficult brush fires we’ve had to fight because of the terrain,” Sparks said.

More of the article here, including a bit of back-n-forth complaints that the municipal guys wanted bambi bucket drops, but the State Fire Warden said it didn’t meet the criteria to use it since the fire was accessible and there was no danger to structures — and at $5,000 per hour its use was justified.

There’s a great collection of photos by Ed Harvey at Smugmug — Day 1 and Day 2.

Some of my favorites are:

McLeod? Chainsaw? Brush gear on municipal guys? Pinch me

Given how deep into duff fires are burning this spring, I’d like to play with a McLeod myself to see how it does compared the Council Tool Rakes I’ve used to grub up stuff.

I’m sure there are folks who have caniptions about not having belted, roll-over protected seating positions. I have no problem with it — vehicles don’t spontaneously flip over and a small amount of good sense by the driver and officer can avoid any unjustified risk. If you’re getting into bumpy or steep terrain (especially side angles), loose surfaces, areas a trail might give way, or areas you can’t see woodchuck holes or the like (such as un-mowed hayfields) — tell the guys to get out and hoof it until you’re past the dangerous section. Delivering troops over roads closed to the public, quickly and without being fatigued from hiking up a trail that motor vehicles can go up easily is more likely to prevent more injuries then avoiding use of the vehicles.

Even the guys who didn’t have modern PPE are dressed appropriately for the work to be done:

Little Steep:

And one of Massachusett’s state-owned Rehab Units. The State Department of Fire Services own a number of support vehicles (Command, Haz-Mat Technical Operations, Rehab, etc) that are housed and operated in co-operation with local fire departments around the state:

As of 7pm, I’ve had 3/4″ of rain with another 2-3″ overnight and 3/4″ tomorrow expected.

I wish I had my camera with me, I saw a few spots where ponds were dramatically low today — places you wouldn’t expect low water.

The Forest Fire Danger Level for Friday, April 20, 2012
is VERY HIGH

Winds are expected under 25mph, so no fire weather watch / Red Flag today.

My good camera died at the trail head, so the photos had to be taken with my Droid phone. Of course now that I’m home and re-seated the SD card my camera is running again. *shrug*

Cars already looking small and I’ve just begun…

Much of the hike towards the fire is predominated by Hemlocks with a relatively open forest floor.

There was some damage most likely from the Halloween snow storm, but not a concerning amount.

Some recently (Halloween?) broken pines.

Vernal pools, even the large ones, are really really low for this time of the year.

Good hiking boots are a must. I couldn’t imagine trying to trundle over a narrow, rocky trail like this confined by bunkers — never mind how poorly most structural fire boots fit.

Remains of a small campfire. The spot would’ve been good for backpackers tent camping.

As we approach the fire area, the fauna transition from the deep shade of the Hemlock dominated forest to a Mountain Laurel & Oak forest, though there was a considerable size transition zone.

It was a 1700′ hike and 150′ elevation gain to east perimeter of the fire.

How very, very lucky Tolland County got — the fire burned with a low enough intensity it baked but did not burn almost all the Mountain Laurel. If conditions had been right to ignite the Mountain Laurel this thing would’ve been off to the races.

Most of the trees were burn very evenly all around. That’s a strong sign it was a slow burning fire without much wind behind. You have to look at many trees to draw a conclusion, since accumulation of fuels at the bases can skew the pattern, but generally when wind driven the flame damage will be highest on the leeward side (the trunk acts like a windbreak allowing the flames to lick up high, while on the windward side the flames are blown down and around).

The fire continued along the south side of the trail another 150′ or so further then it did on the north. Given the terrain and thickness of the brush I didn’t even consider attempting a perimeter walk once I got up there!

This point on the western boundary of the fire was another 900′ along the trail and 50′ gain in elevation from the eastern boundary.

Playing with GPS & Google Earth some more: