Anyone got a spare helicopter?

Cuesta Colorada Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo — At least six active wildfires are burning in Hidalgo, according to a report by La Silla Rota, fires that have affected hundreds of hectares and also the civilian population, including the fire that started in Nicolás Flores and has spread to Cuesta Colorada, Ixmiquilpan. From the plenary session of the local Congress, deputy Osiris Leines Medécido made a call to support fire victims.

Fires just north of Mexico City have evacuated residents and threatened towns.

Mexico fires -- Cuesta Colorada Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo north of Mexico City.
Mexico fires — Cuesta Colorada Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo north of Mexico City.

Osiris Leines Medécido talked about the fires in Hidalgo territory, and he emphasized the one that started in Nicolás Flores and has spread to  Ixmiquilpan.

Fires in the community called Cuesta Colorada Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo
Fires in the community called Cuesta Colorada Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo

“In Cuesta Colorada, people have organized themselves to be able to fight this fire, the entire population, the delegates, those who represent spas and citizens have all organized, but the intervention of the authorities at the different levels of government is required; the situation requires professionals in the subject, with the appropriate tools and instruments,” he said.

Osiris Leines extended the request of his colleague Aarón Charrez Paloma,  substitute local deputy for the District of Ixmiquilpan, to provide support for the people affected by this fire in the Mezquital Valley.

CuestaColorado Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo
facebook post about fires at Cuesta
Colorado Ixmiquilpan Hidalgo

The Associated Press reported that wildfires were burning in nearly half of Mexico’s drought-stricken states yesterday, fueled by strong winds; the National Forestry Commission reported 58 active fires in 15 states, including in protected nature reserves in Morelos, Veracruz, and Mexico states.

Strong winds and high temps have blocked the efforts of local volunteers to fight the fire
Strong winds and high temps have blocked the efforts of local volunteers to fight the fire

Mexico News Daily reported earlier this month that five residents of the town of San Lucas Quiaviní died while trying to fight a forest fire that threatened their village in the eastern section of the Central Valleys region of the state of Oaxaca, some 40 kilometers from the state capital of Oaxaca City. Villagers had tried to contain the fire but it quickly spread and the five men were overwhelmed by the fire.

In front of my father's house
“In front of my father’s house” Tuesday afternoon

State authorities were alerted as soon as the fire was spotted, but villagers say officials were slow to react.

The Oaxaca state government did not issue an emergency assistance plan until after the fatalities were reported, two days after they were alerted to the fire. By then, San Lucas Quiaviní had issued a call to neighboring municipalities to help combat the blaze.

ONLINE FORUM – The Big Burnout: Wildland Firefighters and the West


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Speakers include:

  • George Broyles, former wildland firefighter who led the Forest Service’s smoke research program between 2008 and 2014
  • Yolanda Cruz, learning hub coordinator at Santa Fe Community Foundation
  • Patrick LohmannSource New Mexico reporter and ProPublica Local Reporting Network member
  • Antonia Roybal-Mack, attorney and founder and managing partner of Roybal-Mack & Cordova PC
  • Abe Streep, journalist and author of the book Brothers on Three: A True Story of Family, Resistance and Hope on a Reservation in Montana
  • Kit Rachlis, ProPublica senior editor (moderator)

POWERFUL LESSONS FROM HOTSHOT SUPES

Here’s a piece by Mike DeGrosky that recently ran in Wildfire Magazine, reprinted here with permission.


by MICHAEL DEGROSKY

A late-summer road trip with my wife in 2023 brought us near the Smith River, Happy Camp, and Hoopa complexes in Oregon and California. Along the way, we encountered Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHCs) traveling to, from, and around these fires. There are more than 100 IHCs in the United States – highly professional, mobile, and skilled hand crews assigned to the most challenging and high-priority fires. Though organization can vary, IHCs are typically led by a superintendent who is often referred to as The Supe.

As we passed the hotshots going about their business, I reflected on my long association with these crews. I was a hotshot for two fire seasons, one as a crew member and one as a squad boss. I consider those two seasons to be foundational for me as a fire professional, a leader, and as a person. When I worked as a division supervisor, I was always grateful when I was assigned hotshots; an all-career experience came when I was assigned six IHCs, punching hotline overnight, over steep and rugged terrain and through the ugliest snag patch I can recall.

THE SUPE'S HANDBOOK by Angie Tom
THE SUPE’S HANDBOOK on amazon

Last year a friend gave me THE SUPE’S HANDBOOK:  Leadership Lessons from America’s Hotshot Crews, by Angie Tom. I am quite proud that I know or knew more than 20 of the people profiled in Tom’s book – firefighting colleagues, training cadre teammates, audience members and training participants, and consulting clients. (Sadly, some are no longer with us.)

I was immediately drawn in by a balanced, honest, on-point foreword by Anthony Escobar, who was the superintendent of the Kern Valley IHC and retired as the FMO for the Los Padres in California. It is worth the price of the book just to read the foreword.

Brit Rosso was the superintendent of the Arrowhead Hotshots and later retired as manager of the Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center. Included in this book are Rosso’s lessons learned from the line-of-duty death of crew member Dan Holmes. Anyone leading a fire program or an agency with a fire program should read Rosso’s account.

One night while reading this book, I cried; the author’s story of her trip to interview Paul Gleason, right at the time of his passing from cancer, brought a flood of memories. Gleason was superintendent of the Zigzag IHC on the Mt. Hood National Forest in Oregon long before retiring from the NPS; he was later an adjunct professor for the wildland fire science program at Colorado State University. Gleason’s contributions to the wildland fire service are legendary, including pioneering sawyer certification and the Lookouts, Communications, Escape routes, and Safety zones firefighter safety concept commonly known as LCES. Gleason made it cool for firefighters to be “students of fire.”

Jim Cook, who had introduced Gleason and Tom, went with her to the interview in Colorado. Cook was the superintendent of both the Arrowhead and Boise IHCs, retired as the training projects coordinator for the USFS, and served as principal architect of the NWCG leadership curriculum.

Tom’s story of her interview with Gleason reminded me that around the time of his death, I spent a powerful, emotional evening in a hotel ballroom in Santa Fe, New Mexico, with a group of his NPS  colleagues, reminiscing and processing his passing. It proved an extra intense experience because it just so happened that we were also doing the first staff ride of the Cerro Grande Fire on which Gleason was the burn boss. Some of the people present had been principal players and most were already processing some strong emotions. All these years later, I find myself hoping the people who receive the NWCG Paul Gleason Lead By Example Award have a deep and intense understanding of the fire service leader in whose memory they are honored for their own achievements – and what that means.

I had three takeaways from The Supe’s Handbook. First, I was reminded of how some really intelligent people are drawn to fire. Note I did not say “educated” people. Some people profiled in the book have or had formal post-secondary education. Others are or were self-educated. Formal higher education is not prominent in the group of hotshot supes featured in this book. However, intelligence is.

Second, whether those included overtly acknowledged it or not, they were and are passionate students of leadership, for whom the responsibilities of leadership weighed heavily; they took their leadership very seriously. The fire part seemed to come easily; their focus was on leading their people.

Third, I was reminded of how often I have seen this kind of intelligence and leadership savvy go under-recognized, under-utilized, or even dismissed – because people could not see past the big, sometimes rough and blunt personalities, educational credentials, or their own insecurities.

As a lifelong fire professional, including 20 years as a consultant to wildland fire agencies, I’ve encountered more than one senior leader who would have benefitted from some coaching and mentoring from people in this book.


Mike DeGrosky
Mike DeGrosky

Mike DeGrosky is a student of leadership, a lifelong learner, mentor and coach, sometimes writer, and recovering fire chief. He taught for the Department of Leadership Studies at Fort Hays State University for 10 years. Follow Mike on  LinkedIn.

State Farm quits another 72,000 California homes

State Farm Insurance will discontinue coverage for 72,000 houses and apartments in California this summer. California’s largest insurer, which is based in Illinois, cites soaring costs, the increasing risk of wildfires and other catastrophes, and outdated regulations for its refusal to renew  policies on 30,000 houses and 42,000 apartments, according to CBS News.

“State Farm General takes seriously our responsibility to maintain adequate claims-paying capacity for our customers and to comply with applicable financial solvency laws,” the company announced. “It is necessary to take these actions now.” California’s insurance commissioner has undertaken a yearlong overhaul of home insurance regulations aimed at calming the state’s imploding market by giving insurers more latitude to raise premiums while extracting commitments from them to extend coverage in fire-risk areas.  The California Department of Insurance said State Farm will have to answer questions from regulators about this decision.

2018 Carr Fire -- USFS photo by Brenna Jones
2018 Carr Fire — USFS photo by Brenna Jones

MyMotherlode reported that State Farm said it will work with Governor Gavin Newsom and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara to develop reforms that better align insurance rates with risk. Levi Sumagaysay with CalMatters.org explains that many California homeowners are just now  discovering that their policies are being canceled — and hundreds of thousands of others are stuck with a pricey option of last resort — and for them Commissioner Lara’s efforts to fix the market can’t come soon enough.

Lara has introduced two main regulations, with more to follow. The first, unveiled last month, will streamline rate reviews. State law gives the Insurance Department the power to approve or deny insurers’ requests to raise premiums. Insurance companies complain the process holds up requested increases caused by rising climate-change risks and inflation.

The second regulation will let insurers use catastrophe modeling — which combines historical data with projected risk and losses — along with other factors when setting their premiums. California is the last state to allow this catastrophe modeling.

“We’re undertaking the state’s largest insurance reform,” Lara said earlier this month. “We can no longer look solely to the past to guide us to the future.”

This new round of cancellations accounts for just 2 percent of State Farm’s policies in the state, and the company did not indicate which regions are hit hardest, nor its criteria for selecting non-renewals.

We reported last August that several major insurance companies had stopped accepting California homeowners for new policies because of growing wildfire risks. As the number of fires in the state increases and other factors escalate, insurance companies worry about the risk — and the expense.

Residents in high-risk fire areas or hurricane regions need homeowners’ insurance — and lenders require it. No insurance, no home loan. More people are moving into the interface, costing insurance companies too much to repair and replace houses while battling inflation, said Janet Ruiz with the Insurance Information Institute. Two insurance giants withdrew from California’s home insurance marketplace, explaining that increasing wildfire risk and soaring construction costs have resulted in their decisions to stop writing new policies in the state. “We take seriously our responsibility to manage risk,” State Farm said. “It’s necessary to take these actions now to improve the company’s financial strength.”

FIRE history, northern Great Lakes

In the northwest portion of Lake Superior is a chunk of land of about 132,000 acres that is both a geographic novelty and an International Biosphere Reserve. The Isle Royale National Park is 56 miles off Michigan’s shore and 18 miles from Minnesota’s mainland. Congress designated the 50-mile-long island as a national park in 1931, but even before that it was apparent the island’s boreal forests had a close history with fire.

2021 Horne Fire

“Official fire record keeping began in 1847, when the first General Land Office survey of Isle Royale was conducted,” according to the park’s website. “These records show 31 fires between 1847 and 1898. Data suggests fire was more frequent and/or severe in the boreal forest of the island’s northeast end, compared with the northern hardwoods of the southwest end.”

The island’s dense concentration of high-flammability trees, e.g. balsam fir, black spruce, and jack pine, heightened the risk of wildfires igniting when lightning struck. A zoologist in 1931 recognized the important role fire played in the island’s unique ecosystem, but his ideas were discarded in favor of the system-wide preference toward fire suppression.

flammable species on Isle Royale
Flammable species on Isle Royale

“In planning for improvements and facilities on Isle Royale, the National Park Service consulted with University of Michigan Zoologist Adolph Murie,” the park said. “Murie visited Isle Royale in June 1935 and recommended that no new trails be cleared by the CCC and all efforts be made to ‘guard against any sort of development which will reduce space or increase travel.’ He also recommended that forest fires be allowed to occur on Isle Royale, but this idea was rejected, and instead, an aggressive anti-forest-fire point of view was adopted.”

Isle Royale map

Officials would soon come to regret dismissing Murie’s ideas. Park historians describe the summer of 1936 as hot and dry. Hundreds of CCC enrollees arrived at the heavily logged and mined island to establish the park. On July 25, a fire started near the Consolidated Paper Company and, while a cause was never determined, the “Fire of 1936” would have the most profound effect on the natural and human history of Isle Royale compared with any other historical event.

Around 200 CCC members and loggers tried in vain to fight the fire as it grew from 200 to 5,000 acres over 10 days. The fire was reported as contained on August 4, but two spot fires that had ignited on August 2 would become much larger problems. By August 18, the three fires burned 27,000 acres before they were officially declared out after heavy rainfall.

Multiple factors contributed to the high number of acres burned in the fire, park historians said. The island’s ground was, at the time, mostly covered in highly flammable mosses. In-fighting between the park system and CCC members, including a short CCC strike when tobacco supplies ran out, likely made matters worse.

SEAT on the Horne FireThe island wouldn’t see significant wildfires again until the 2021 Horne Fire and the 2022 Mount Franklin Fire, which burned 335 acres and 6 acres respectively. In the fires’ wake, scientists and researchers hope to use the burned areas to learn more about the dynamics between fire and the island’s life.

“The area may look different, but wildfire is an agent of necessary change,” the park said. “At the site of the Horne Fire, Isle Royale ecologists now have a living laboratory, and these researchers can begin to study the relationships between fire, living things, and an island environment.”

 

::: more about fire ecology research on the island :::

 

 

Yellowstone’s first superintendent: Imprison anyone who doesn’t extinguish their campfire

Iconic views of YellowstoneThis month marks Yellowstone’s 152nd anniversary since it was designated as the world’s first national park.

Stories about the land the park exists on, located at the convergence of the Great Plains, Great Basin, and Columbia Plateau, were originally seen as tall tales because they were too fantastical to be true, according to park nonprofit Yellowstone Forever. Eventually, however, formal expeditions verified that the land was indeed covered in multicolored hot springs and spouting geysers, paving the way for the area’s federal protection and park designation.

The people who originally pushed Congress to protect the area were crafting their own tall tale, unbeknownst to themselves. The park’s first leaders told Congress that the park could be protected and run without any funding from the federal government. That idea was soon disproven.

Yellowstone’s first superintendent, Nathaniel Langford, was unpaid, and he and others quickly saw how the lack of funding made protecting the park’s wildlife and natural resources extremely difficult.

Essex County Herald, Vermont. September 02, 1920
Essex County Herald, Vermont. September 02, 1920

Langford’s first annual park report to the federal government was filled with stories of squatters, poachers, and vandals creating problems throughout the area.

“A few months before … creating the park, several persons had located upon land at some of the points of greatest interest, with a view to establish squatter’s right of preemption,” Langford’s report said. “The reality of the land should be held alone by the Government, and be subject to such rules and regulations as may, from time to time, be adopted by the Department of the Interior.”

Langford’s report also marked a step toward the first national park’s first fire policy.

“It is especially recommended that a law be passed, punishing, by fine and imprisonment, all persons who leave any fire they may have made, for convenience or otherwise, unextinguished,” the report said. “Nothing less than a stringent law punishing negligence and carelessness can save the extensive pine timber fields of the park from destruction.”

The policy would soon become a reality not just for the park but for the nation as a whole. U.S. law mandates that anyone who starts a fire on federal lands and doesn’t extinguish it could face imprisonment for up to six months (on USFS lands) and no more than 12 months if on BLM lands.