Nevada Whoofoo Blows Up
Another illegal whoofoo (Wildland Fire Use fire) instigated by the USFS has blown up. The East Slide Rock Ridge WFU Fire was ignited Aug 10th on the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest about 15 miles southeast of Jarbidge, Nevada. Today it is a reported 18,250 acres and 3.5 miles from town.
The Humboldt-Toiyabe NF declared the ESRR Fire to be a whoofoo based on a secret amendment they slipped into their Fire Plan last June without any Environmental Impact Statement. Environmental Assessment, or notice to the public of any kind. Edward Monnig, Forest Supervisor, apparently thinks NEPA does not apply to him!
The ESRR WFU Fire [here] was only 300 acres on Aug 17th, a week after ignition. But by Aug 20th it had grown to 5,000 acres and was threatening 30 historic cabins and the Pole Creek Guard Station. By Aug 21st the fire was nearly 10,000 acres and had spread out of the Maximum Manageable Area (previously established at 113,000 acres). Even so, the whoofoo designation was retained.
On Aug 21 the ESRR WFU Fire grew to 11,250 acres and the wind was blowing. Wiser heads prevailed and the whoofoo designation was scrapped. A Type 1 IMT (the big boys) was requested to suppress the fire.
Yesterday the fire had grown to 14,500 acres and was out of control. Forty mph winds forced the Type 1 IMT Incident Commander (Summerfelt) to pull the 300+ fire personnel from the line in all divisions in late afternoon. All aerial resources, including heavy helicopters and airtankers, were grounded.
This morning the Elko Daily Free Press [here] reported the ESRR Formerly a Whoofoo Fire to be 18,250 acres and roaring towards town. The Elko County Commissioners held an emergency meeting:
Jarbidge fire causes concerns
By Jared DuBach, Elko Daily Free Press, Monday, August 25, 2008
ELKO - County Commissioners ordered an emergency meeting today to discuss the East Slide Rock Ridge fire, which started Aug. 8 in the Jarbidge Wilderness.
According to a statement from County Manager Rob Stokes, the meeting was ordered because the fire is at a point where there is a potential threat to the safety of those living in Jarbidge and the surrounding area.
Stokes told the Elko Daily Free Press the fire is in the area of Sawmill Canyon Ridge, which is 3.5 miles east of the town. All of northern Nevada is under red flag weather conditions today and wind gusts are projected up to 40 miles per hour.
The wind direction is from the southwest, which would push the fire away from Jarbidge.
“Our concern is with the possibility for a wind shift,” Stokes said. “We’re just trying to be prepared. The Type 1 team is doing a good job and we really appreciate their work and effort.”
The fire was last estimated at about 18,250 acres.
The fire grew from its initial stage as a wild land use fire by the U.S. Forest Service as a means to naturally reduce fuel loads of dead or diseased trees. Now, the fire has 10 crews and four helicopters working on controlling the blaze.
“They should’ve put the damn thing out,” Assemblyman John Carpenter said Friday after reviewing the fire’s status. “When you get a fire going in northeastern Nevada in August, you put it out or it’s going to get away from you.”
The USFS was hot to burn. They thought they were going to instill forest benefits by incinerating the public domain. It was “natural” but not “legal” because the laws of the USA require federal agencies to follow NEPA before inflicting treatments with significant impacts, beneficial or not.
Edward Monnig, Forest Supervisor of the Humboldt-Toiyabe NF, is very aware of NEPA but thumbed his nose at it. Now he has engendered a disaster. Over $1 million has been spent suppressing his illegal fire so far, but the final total will be many millions of dollars. The USFS may have burned down their own Guard Station, too. Private homes and ranches are threatened, as well as the town of Jarbidge.
That kind of eco-terrorism perpetrated by government functionaries operating in defiance of the law in unconscionable and intolerable. The Elko County Commissioners should order the County Sheriff to arrest Ed Monnig and lock him up until his trial on charges of criminal arson can be held.
God forbid anyone gets hurt or killed by Ed’s whoofoo, in which case the charges should be ramped up to negligent (or deliberate) homicide.
It seems to me that if we prosecute, convict, and incarcerate in federal penitentiaries a few of these criminal USFS Forest Supervisors, the other ones will catch on to the notion that obeying the law is preferable to breaking it.
Until then there appears to be no stopping the USFS from their insane Let It Burn (actually Burn It On Purpose) forest incineration program.
by Tallac
I’ve been keeping an eye on this whoofoo for a while also and knew it was going catastrophic.
Local paper had a blurb last week:
“Nevada Wilderness Left To Burn For Days”
http://www.tahoedailytribune.com/article/20080821/NEWS/169574
Loved the quotes:
“But if all goes well, they’re counting on rain or snow to put it out the old-fashioned way sometime early this fall.”
and
“They are not going to let it burn out of the wilderness at all,” she said. (Linda Slater, PIO, NPS)
How they can say that with a straight face is beyond me, especially when they mentioned the threatened bull trout will “benefit” from their scorched earth policy.
I bet these are the same “land managers” that tried to arrest the “Jarbidge Shovel Brigade” who attempted to repair a washed out section of a historical road into the backcountry years ago.
Out of Control Fire GOOD, Recreation BAD. WTF are these people thinking? (rhetorical question)
Update Tuesday evening:
Situation as of 08/26/2008 5:00 PM
Personnel: 559
Size: 38,595 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Desired maximum fire size: does not apply anymore
Costs to date: $2,400,000
Structures Threatened: 100 residences, 80 outbuildings, reflect the estimated number in the community of Murphy Hot Springs, ID.
Acreage increase on today’s report occurred 8/25. Acres reported yesterday (28,000) was an estimate. Acres reported on this report are from IR flight evening of 8/25.
Fire activity moderated today allowing line personnel to evaluate, re-engage, and continue suppression actions. Pole Creek Guard Station survived the fire front with no damage and has been reoccupied as a Spike Camp. An Evacuation Guide was finalized for Jarbidge, Murphy Hot Springs, and outlying ranches in Nevada and Idaho. WFSA is being revised. Focus will be perimeter control outside wilderness and point/zone protection along wilderness boundary.
From W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking [here]
Update Thursday morning:
Situation as of 08/27/2008 8:00 PM
Personnel: 653
Size: 43,275 acres
Percent Contained: 10%
Desired maximum fire size: does not apply anymore
Costs to date: not reported, est. $3.4 million
Structures Threatened: 100 residences, 80 outbuildings, reflect the estimated number in the community of Murphy Hot Springs, ID.
The road closure on Forest Road 74 was extended to the N to the Three Creeks area in Owyhee County in Southern Idaho. There is a strong probablity that 3 historic cabins in the Jarbidge Wilderness were lost today but fire behavior prevented verification attempts until tomorrow.
Burned Acreage Ownership: Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest = 40,971: Elko District Bureau of Land Management = 698: Private = 1606
Active wind driven flanking and head fire in the sage brush. Additional spread to the Southwest towards Matterhorn Peak in the Jarbidge Mountains at high elevations was also observed.
From W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking [here]
Update Friday morning:
Situation as of 08/28/2008 7:20 PM
Personnel: 713
Size: 47,701 acres
Percent Contained: 10%
Desired maximum fire size: does not apply anymore
Costs to date: not reported, est. $5,000,000
Structures Threatened: 100 residences, 80 outbuildings, reflect the estimated number in the community of Murphy Hot Springs, ID.
All non-fireline qualified support people were removed from the Pole Creek spike camp due to the proximity of the fire. Three historic cabins were verified as lost during yesterday afternoons active burning in the wilderness.
A community meeting was held in Jarbidge to discuss allocation of fire resources over the next few days. The Director of Nevada Division of Forestry visited Thursday as the advance party for Friday’s visit from the Governor of Nevada and a US Congressman.
Aggressive action continued with a burnout in Div A to secure the N flank in advance of Saturday’s red flag conditions.
From W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking [here]
As of 8:00 AM PDT on Aug 30, the GACC reports are still unavailable from yesterday for the Pacific Northwest, Northern Rockies, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. The reports are due by 5:00 PM and are sometimes posted by 6:00 PM in other regions, but the above named Geographic Areas have been consistently late all year. I have errands to run and will not be back until this afternoon. I will check again at that time. I apologize for the inconvenience on behalf of the US Government, which is no help in a disaster, that’s for sure. In fact, the US Government is often responsible for the disaster in the first place.
24 hrs behind but here is the report anyway:
Situation as of 08/29/2008 5:30 PM
Personnel: 714
Size: 48,157 acres
Percent Contained: 25%
Desired maximum fire size: does not apply anymore
Costs to date: $5,800,000
Governor Gibbons, US Congressman Heller, Nevada State Forester Pete Anderson, and other government and local officials visited helibase, received a briefing, and toured the fire area.
A significant amount of line was declared contained along the northern flank of the fire. In anticipation of the wind event tomorrow, aggressive action to secure the North flank continued. Air resources, including 7 helicopters, are being used to provide water to secure line and mop up hot spots. Contingency plans finalized for protection of ICP/Cottonwood Ranch and areas affected by potential fire spread to the NE.
Continue direct suppression in areas outside wilderness. Preparing line along eastern flank of the fire for a planned burnout on 8/31 that will secure line outside of wilderness.
Forest Service needs to be held accountable for Jarbidge fire damage
Letter to the Editor, Elko Free Press, Friday, August 29, 2008 [here]
http://www.elkodaily.com/articles/2008/08/30/opinion/letters/letter1.txt
Dear Governor Gibbons: Over the last three weeks I have witnessed a preventable catastrophe unfold in the Jarbidge Mountains of northern Elko County, Nevada. If you have never had the opportunity, actually the privilege, of visiting this part of the State of Nevada then you have missed a treasure that the majority of Nevadans have never seen. Unfortunately, many of the values that the area held have needlessly gone up in smoke over these past three weeks.
I am a native Nevadan that cherishes the diverse landscape within our borders. I have worked, recreated and simply taken in as many back roads, trails and streams that time would allow and have many more to still explore. The Jarbidge Mountains contain unique landscapes that don’t exist anywhere else in this state. Relatively expansive stands of true timber (subalpine fir, Engelmann spruce, and limber pine) combined with large stands of aspen and mountain mahogany set this area apart from most other mountain ranges in the state. Three rivers (Jarbidge, Bruneau and Mary’s) along with a myriad of smaller perennial streams originate within the watersheds of this mountain range.
Along with being a native of this state I also was the local administrator of a state agency responsible for fire protection on private lands throughout the northeastern portion of Nevada for more than five years. During my tenure in that position I worked with many dedicated and diligent personnel from not only my own agency but the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service. One of my primary goals was to continue to build upon good working relationships with the federal land management agencies that had been established and fostered by my predecessors. Working with these agencies to protect life, property and resources both prior to and during wildland fires was a year long activity. Knowing and understanding each agency’s policies and procedures was vital to good working relationships but, more importantly, working with the people that had the mandate to implement those policies and procedures was imperative. Making compromises and giving or taking was a daily activity always keeping the core values of your agency first as well as protecting the public’s interest.
This brings me to the gist of this letter. It is my opinion that the “East Slide Rock Ridge Fire” epitomizes the worst instance when all of the core values and common sense are thrown out the window. It is my belief that the U.S. Forest Service acted in an ignorant and arrogant fashion by allowing the East Slide Rock Ridge Fire to burn unsuppressed, resulting in the absolute mess it has become. Over 40,000 acres at an estimated suppression cost as of 8/26/08 of $1.5 million have already unnecessarily burned because of a very poor decision. I believe strongly that the agency and person that made that decision should be held accountable for their action.
I realize the USFS had a policy in place to utilize naturally started wildland fire to help reduce fuel loads and promote forest health within the wilderness area. However, I also have enough experience and knowledge to know that it was not a prudent decision to allow a fire to burn uncontrolled on August 8 (start date) in an area with those heavy fuel loads after five years of drought. This decision is undefendable in my eyes and reeks of malfeasance. By the time this entire fire is suppressed and rehabilitated the actually costs will more than likely exceed $5 million and the resource damage done to water quality, wildlife habitat, aesthetics, soil stability, fisheries, etc. will most like amount to many times over that.
When this much damage and loss of money is the result of more than an error in judgment, then as a taxpayer, I believe someone should be held accountable. Therefore, I am advocating a full review of the decision process to allow this burn to go unsuppressed with a resulting recommendation, and hopeful implementation, of a change in policy so this catastrophe cannot be caused by the same ill advised decision in the future.
I make mistakes routinely and do my best to try to learn and avoid the same mistake again. From my understanding, the USFS was asked to and had multiple opportunities to take swift suppression action on this fire and repeatedly refused to heed the warnings from people with knowledge and experience in fire in northeastern Nevada. The fact that after multiple opportunities to take action to avoid such a catastrophe the USFS continued to ignore those warnings indicates deliberate ignorance and arrogance on that agency’s part and is simple not acceptable in my book.
Respectfully,
Gary Zunino
Spring Creek
Update Sunday morning:
Situation as of 08/30/2008 5:30 PM
Personnel: 721
Size: 48,779 acres
Percent Contained: 30%
Desired maximum fire size: does not apply anymore
Costs to date: $6,600,000
All portions of the North line were held successfully during today’s wind event and Red Flag conditions. High wind conditions prevented use of helicopters in the afternoon. Radiometric mapping of heat sources was begun today and showed minimal areas of intense heat and a few points of moderate or subsiding heat scattered along the North line.
Active fire behavior in timbered areas in the interior of the fire mainly in the Jarbidge Wilderness. Terrain and wind driven uphill crown runs were observed in Cottonwood Creek along the southern edge of the fire. A significant smoke column was again generated today from the upper portions of Cottonwood Creek.
Update Monday morning:
Situation as of 08/31/2008 5:30 PM
Personnel: 678
Size: 54,329 acres (58,036 acs?)
Percent Contained: 40%
Desired maximum fire size: does not apply anymore
Costs to date: $7,200,000
Acreage figure reflects an actual growth on the perimeter of 660 acres and 4,890 acres in unburned islands in the interior that were previously excluded from reported acreages. Incident start date was changed to reflect info found on the initial 209 dated 8/10. Burned Acreage Ownership: Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest = 54,329: Elko District Bureau of Land Management = 2,043: Private = 1,664. [Note: this may be a mistake. These numbers add up to 58,036 acres. I think they got their math wrong. - Mike].
Mike et al,
Math was/is not their strong point. After all, they have carte blanche with our taxpayer dollars. Until the camel’s back breaks from all the straws disguised as “ESA protections,” such conflagrations will be forced upon good people.
Northeast Nevada happens to be my favorite place in the entire country. It is as though the departments of Interior, Agriculture and Commerce, in collusion with the executive and judicial “branches of government” have collectively sucker-punched me (no pun intended, Klamath Basin readers!).
People that have never seen the part of the world being incinerated by these fires — people living in places where forests are very different in makeup and appearance to the definition of “forest” in Elko (NV) and Owyhee (ID) counties — know not what is being done to this awesome part of America and the world. It is criminal. It is domestic terrorism. It has ZILCH to do with “endangered” anything — other than to make more listings of whatever’s left afterward.
Keep doing what you’re doing, Mike. You are a strong and sane voice, but you’re not crying out in the wilderness. You’re speaking out, as are we, to a growing number of people that know something’s wrong, and a groaning number of people that know what that something is that’s wrong. God bless you!
Update Monday evening:
Situation as of 08/25/2008 5:00 PM
Personnel: 476
Size: 28,000 acres
Percent Contained: 0%
Desired maximum fire size: does not apply anymore
Costs to date: $1,500,000
Structures Threatened: 100 residences, 80 outbuildings, reflect the estimated number in the community of Murphy Hot Springs, ID.
Sheriff’s department notified numerous ranches in northern NV and southern ID as well as residents of Murphy Hot Springs of potential evacuation. Pole Creek Guard Station was foamed and evacuated. Fire made significant runs to N and NE and is most certainly off Forest Service lands to north. Fire has exceeded WFSA boundaries along the North and NE flanks.
A burnout operation was conducted last evening along Road 074 on the NE flank of fire. Burnout was conducted to try to prevent forecasted winds pushing fire beyond this line. The burnout held for about 2 hours in Red Flag conditions before being overwhelmed by fire. Crews disengaged from fire around 1400 due to extreme fire behavior.
The acreage for the fire is estimated at 28,000 acres and the estimate is most likely conservative. Fire doubled in size today. Extreme fire behavior with spotting in excess of 1/2 mile. Fire was wind driven with sustained crown runs in timber with rapid rates of spread in sagebrush and grass fuels.
Transfer of command occurred at 2100 last night from Svalberg Fire Use Team to Rocky Mountain Type 1 Team (Summerfelt).