As I write this the Milford Flat Fire has crossed the 300,000 acre mark. Having started around 3:45 on last Friday afternoon, this means it has been burning 100, 000 acres a day. I have been following the fire season this year.
Data Point : 2007- So. Calfornia Fire Season Begins
Since that first post I did on March 11th we've seen The Largest Fire in Georgia History. It broke-out on April 16th. It was knocked down by a Tropical Storm Barry on June 2nd after having merged with two other huge fires in Florida. These fires were in swamps and wetlands. On June 22 the Florida Times Union Had this up-date :
Did we get enough rain to completely extinguish the fires?
No. The Florida wildfires in our area are all contained but some are still burning. Several areas of the Florida Bugaboo fire in Baker and Columbia counties are burning 3 to 4 feet underground and even the 6 to 7 inches of rainfall this month didn't penetrate deep enough to quench them. The Big Turnaround complex fire in Georgia is 95 percent contained but still burning.
One thing that has emerged from this fire season are the words of the people who have been fighting them, and the people who have been caught by them. Consider these accounts :
From a fire fighter at the South Lake Tahoe fire last month :
"We don't have a fire season in California any more, we burn year around now."
From the relative of one of three people killed at the North Neola Fire in Utah 11 days ago :
"It's hard to put into words," he said after touring his father's property. "It was a phenomenon, a combination of circumstances that created a cyclone that came down on them, but it was a cyclone of fire."
From HOT SPRINGS South Dakota this weekend [One dead] :
"This thing blew up because of extreme hot temperatures and the winds," said Joe Lowe, South Dakota wildland fire coordinator. "It came out of the canyon with a vengeance."
From a fire near Inyo, California this weekend :
In his 20 years working in the Inyo National Forest, Louth said he has never seen such dry conditions. Before the fire started Friday, he said he was walking outside and "the pine needles were crunching under me rather than bending and giving way to my weight."
Nancy Upham Inyo National Forest :
"Fire fighters are seeing fire behavior they have never seen before - things are just igniting with a single spark"
Last year's fire season :
In Texas, it was the deadliest fire season in recorded history, said Mary Kay Hicks, a fire prevention specialist with the Texas Forest Service. Nineteen people died and more than 2 million acres burned.
The last fire season stretched from April 2005 to September 2006.
"We were burning from border to border for over 400 days," said Les Rogers, Texas Forest Service assistant chief regional fire coordinator for the Abilene area.
Last fire season was the worst in over fifty years. Nearly 10,000,000 acres burned in wildfires with suppression costs approaching $1.85 billion. The 2006 fire season was the third record-setter in six years. Seven of the worst ten fire seasons since the 1950’s have occurred in the last 11 years.
Bush solution to the problem :
Shift more of the bill to the locals.
The largest fire season in Bush's home state's history.
How did the Bush respond to get ready for 2007 ?
National Forests Short Staffed for Fires
With Active Wildfire Fire Season Under Way, U.S. Forest Service Thin on Senior Staff
On any given day, about 40 of 271 U.S. Forest Service engines remain in firehouses rather than on patrol, idled by a shortage of supervisors.
The Climate Change Deniers and "Proud Conservatives" have ordered more fiddles, the "Good Government Conservatives" are seeking no-bid contracts.