Opinion: Questioning logic of controlled burn
Publisher’s note: This letter was sent to the U.S. Forest Service office and then to Lake Tahoe News on Nov. 18.
I’m not sure who to direct this comment to, and although I did not lose my home in the Angora fire, it started 4 streets up from us and we were evacuated for 3 days. Last night driving home, with the gusty winds and seeing the whole hillside on fire was like a nightmare being awake. (expected to conduct operations on a total of approximately 40 acres near Mule Deer Circle)
How can these fires remain under control under these windy conditions? There is no control over Mother Nature. Did anyone actually check the weather?
I don’t think that the timing, planning and weather conditions were thought out very well with this set of “controlled” burns.
I really hope that nothing happens. I work with a number of people that did lose their homes and I know that they are afraid every time you burn over there. It would be tragic for anything else to happen after they have lost everything once and are re-building their lives, in their new homes.
This is just my opinion.
Terrified,
Sierra Soleta, South Lake Tahoe
We responded to Ms. Soleta with the following email earlier this afternoon, Friday, November 18, 2011:
Dear Ms. Soleta,
I want to thank you for taking the time to write us with your concerns about the prescribed fire operations in the Angora area yesterday. I completely understand that for you and others who went through the Angora fire, seeing fire near your neighborhoods again, particularly on a windy day, is very upsetting, and I’m sorry for that.
Unlike a wildfire, where we are at an extreme disadvantage in responding to an unplanned situation, prescribed fire operations are carefully planned and implemented. At least some wind is desirable for prescribed fire operations, because it carries smoke away from the neighborhoods.
I want to reassure you that our staff check weather conditions repeatedly before beginning prescribed fire operations and make sure that they have the firefighters and other resources in place to manage the prescribed fire. The safety of our communities and our firefighters is always our top priority.
In fact, the reason that we are conducting prescribed fire operations in the Angora fire area is to reduce the risk of another high intensity wildfire near your community. The piles that we burned are from forest thinning that our crews conducted on more than 440 acres. By removing the dead trees and burning them, we are reducing the fuel that could feed a future wildfire.
Again, I am sorry this has caused you anxiety, and I encourage you to let me or Lisa Herron know if you have more questions.
Best regards,
Cheva Heck
Public Affairs Officer
Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit
U.S. Forest Service
Given that the few thousand acres around those pile burns, burned wildly a few years ago, I would say the risk of another destructive fire caused by the pile burns is pretty low. There isn’t a crown to burn.
Anyone who would play with matches with winds of over 100 mph is an IDIOT!!! You guys at the forest service act like you know it all but its been more than one fire gotten out of control you’ve started in CA over the last few years. Angora is questionable but Gardner Mtn was viewed by quite a few neighbors as the forest service tried a back burn that almost burned down the neighborhood. Over at Yosemite another one got away from you guys as well. Why don’t you admit it Heck – you really don’t know a whole lot about mother nature. Citizens don’t trust the Forest Service – and with a good, many reasons. So your little comment here really doesn’t make sense except to confirm your uppity behaviour.
At the top of Cold Creek Trail there are at least 100 burn piles stacked and ready to burn. Mixed in these burn piles are 20″ logs that could be taken home and burned in fireplaces. There are uncut logs on the ground. All of these are just just next to the Power Line that runs behind the homes on top of Cold Creek Trail. There are 3 access points where a person could drive in and pick up these logs off the burn piles.
So I ask:
1. Can citizens come up and gleen this good firewood off the burn piles?
2. Why can’t the conservancy come up with chippers and chip the slash? It is all very accessable just off Cold Creek Trail or Cold Creek Court. This of course would reduce the amount of smoke in the basin as there would be less to burn.
Years ago the City Parks and Rec Dept had a program call Senior Gleeners where seniors could come in a pick up this free wood.
I think with forest service supervision these piles could disappear in a weekend.
Over all the FS and other agencies are doing a great job in cleaning up and managing our forest since Angora.
Aloha
This isn’t the first time that land agencies have made what seems like genuinely poor decisions on when to implement controlled burns. A few years ago, around Christmas, I recall a burn that got out of hand at D. L. Bliss SP one evening. It was a very windy day with a approaching storm. From the HWY 89 you could see a entire tree, all the way to the top flaming red with sparks falling in all directions. Luckily, SP personnel were able to keep this situation from turning into a disaster, but burning during conditions of high winds is bad news no matter where it occurs. Maybe the TFFT needs to seriously take a second look at their controlled burn procedures and make the needed changes to the protocol.
I asked about gleaning wood from the slash piles last year and was told that once the piles are formed it is illegal to take the wood from them. What a total waste of good wood! Some of us seniors would love to have some of this extra wood and would be willing to get it ourselves.
To Mr. Wright, the answer to your first question is yes. Individuals may collect wood from slash piles provided they first obtain a personal use permit from the Forest Service, they stay on forest roads and do not drive behind closed gates, and they restack the pile so it is burnable after the rounds have been removed.
Tahoehuskies, maybe the burning is being done really well and it is up to the community to learn more about it. A tree burning in the woods is hardly out of control. What you are describing sounds normal. I live right by the burn in Angora and I thought it went great. The piles burned completely, there are some nice holes burned in the white thorn. It looks great. I kept hearing people talk about “out of control” but thats not what I see from my back window. I saw a very nice pile burning job. And yes, that is literally my back yard.