My previous diary explored a portion of Washington’s North Star fire. By personally visiting the area where the fire’s progress was stopped, I was able to establish that the fuel treatment zones created by the Forest Service clearly aided fire crews in their suppression efforts. In addition, the fuel treatments allowed large blocks of trees to survive the fire largely unscathed.
In order to demonstrate that this was no freak, random-chance event, I also went into the Tunk Block fire when it was reasonably safe to enter. This diary chronicles my trip there on September 30.
For those who want to follow along, geographically speaking, the route begins about 15 miles east of Tonasket, at the intersection of Aeneas Valley Road and Peony Creek Road. The latter road gives access to homes in the area, as well as the National Forest land where the fire burned. A few miles to the south is 6,053-foot Tunk Mountain, the peak from which the Tunk Block fire got its name.
The Forest Service designation for the road is 3010. I followed it to the intersection with Road 3015, and then traveled west until I left the Okanogan National Forest.
All images are in lightbox mode; click on image for better detail.
My route through the burn area is shown in yellow, superimposed on fire map.
While the fires were burning at their fiercest, nightly flights were made over the fire whenever conditions allowed. Infrared-sensing instruments could pick up the heat sources and rank them by severity. This information would be combined with infrared satellite data to create a heat map. It's easy to see the value of these maps, whether you are a firefighter, or a citizen wondering how far the fire has progressed.
August 28 heat map of portion of Tunk Block fire.
Shortly after crossing the cattle guard that marked the boundary between private land and Forest Service holdings, I encountered a large area where the forest had been thinned to give each tree a generous living space. A controlled burn, conducted during the cool season, removed most of the pine needles and other fuels that had accumulated on the ground for decades.
Fuel treatment area, just outside of Tunk Block fire.
Across the road, in an untreated patch of woods, the tightly-packed trees were under stress from heat and drought. Defoliating insects (possibly spruce budworms) were eating the green needles. Defoliators usually do not kill trees right away. A strong tree can ward off the attack and grow a new set of needles. Weak trees are subject to repeated attacks which eventually result in mortality.
Defoliating insects are attacking this stand of dense timber.
Before long, a patch of younger trees came into view. It was partially fenced, hinting that it had extra value. Sure enough, a roadside sign identified the place as a seed orchard, where genetically superior trees are propagated.
Peony Creek seed orchard.
Explanation of the seed orchard at Peony Creek.
At the edge of the seed orchard, I saw the first evidence of the Tunk Block fire. This was also a fuel treatment area. Fire crews had taken advantage of the sparse fuels to set a backfire, thus protecting the orchard whose seeds might be used to reforest nearby lands.
Fire nearly reached the seed orchard.
Across the road stood this large ponderosa pine. I took out my forestry instruments, and measured the height and diameter. Based on the known age of a smaller tree that I discuss later in this story, I'd estimate this handsome tree to be 300 or 400 years old. With all the nearby ladder fuels removed, it survived the wildfire easily.
Ponderosa pine in treatment area, 45 inches in diameter, 121 feet tall.
A major forest fire represents a logistical challenge of the highest order. Local firefighters are overwhelmed by the fire's size. Outside crews arrive on short notice, and must immediately navigate a landscape that is constantly changing as the fire grows. Think about what firefighters need to know:
• Road system, including which roads are passable and which ones are closed.
• Location of the fire boundary and fire breaks
• Topography – hills, valleys, lakes, and streams.
• Safety zones – locations such as irrigated fields where they can go if the fire closes in on them.
• Staging areas for equipment and supplies, known as Drop Points.
• Helicopter landing spots (called helispots), plus the streams and lakes where they can get water.
An important part of the firefighting infrastructure is the mapping department. Every night, the above information is updated. New maps are printed and distributed to the fire crews. In order to make sense of all the critical locations, each Drop Point and Helispot is given a number. As I drove down Road 3010, I came upon Drop Point 157 and Helispot 40 (see the fire map at the beginning of this diary). Handmade signs on a metal fence post confirmed the location.
Drop point and helispot for fire crews
Location signs used by fire crews.
When a fire is described as contained, that does not mean that it's completely out. Stumps might burn for months as the fire creeps along the root system. Flames lick at unburned patches of ground cover. Surrounded by a wide band of already-burned land, these fires had nowhere to go and were being allowed to creep along.
Looking at a broader area, burned and unburned patches intermingle. Now that the long, hot days of August are behind us, there is virtually no danger of the fire doing any serious damage at this point.
Within the fuel treatment areas, pine seedlings are sometimes undamaged:
Up to this point, it might be hard to imagine that this part of the Okanogan National Forest had been visited by a highly destructive fire. But my route has taken me through a large fuel treatment zone which had tamed the flames, enabling fire crews to make a successful stand. Upon reaching the junction with Road 3015, I began to see the other side of the story. On the south side of the road, there had been no recent logging. Trees of all sizes had grown in close proximity, creating the ladder fuels that lead to crown fires. Note that stumps are visible in some of the pictures, but none are recent. In the dry forests, stumps might persist for decades before finally rotting away.
Remember that big ponderosa pine near the seed orchard that survived the fire? It was 121 feet tall. By coincidence, the Douglas-fir in the center of the picture below was exactly the same height. Flames reached all the way to the top, incinerating nearly every needle on the tree within seconds.
On the ground, there was no living plant material whatsoever. Even the large logs had been reduced to a handful of cinders.
Another large tree caught my attention. It was a ponderosa pine, 25 inches in diameter and 112 feet tall. Although some of the nearby trees were almost as tall, the slick bark indicated that it was older than its neighbors.
Increment core, showing annual growth rings.
Curious about the age of the tree, I used a device called an increment borer to retrieve a core sample. I discovered that the tree was 210 years old. It had taken root while Jefferson was president, and while Lewis and Clark explored the West. It had survived numerous wildfires during the era of frequent fire. But now, crowded by neighbors of varying sizes, it was vulnerable as never before. After more than two centuries, it had become the victim of a crown fire.
Meanwhile, across the road, a mere 300 feet away in the fuel treatment zone, a pine of similar age survived with only a few scorched needles and some charred bark.
Aided by fuel treatment, this patriarch can stand for another century or two.
If there were ever a place to demonstrate the positive effect of active forest management in the face of a major fire, this is the place. One side of the road suffered nearly 100% mortality. The other side, the managed side, boasts nearly 100% survival. It's night and day, or black and green if you will.
Everything I saw beyond that point was anticlimatic. Still, there were many lessons down the road, which I will condense into a few pictures. First, the fire-calming effect of fuel reduction can be so complete that an entire stand of young trees can survive when the megafire approaches. It won't always happen, but the odds are greatly increased by active management.
Here is another example of trees on one side of the road thriving, while their neighbors on the other side perished.
This is a very recent harvest-plus-controlled-burn area. The very best trees were left, widely spaced, as seed sources. Undergrowth was removed, and a controlled burn was done. The summer's fire merely reinforced the effect of the first burn. Within a few years, the ground is likely to be covered with seedlings of native species.
As I exited Forest Service land, I encountered a stretch of road where several large trees had fallen. Fire had entered old burn scars, expanding them until the trees could no longer stand. Crews had recently reopened the road. This is one of the major hazards following a forest fire. If you go into a burn zone, be alert and stay safe!
Now that I have visited parts of two megafire zones, I am absolutely convinced of the value of preemptive fire management. When we remove the bulk of the fuels on our own terms, a forest fire can no longer burn freely across the landscape. We can stop it sooner, and keep plenty of green, healthy trees within the burn zone.