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Gunbarrel efforts will benefit future fire management
By Carole Cloudwalker
This document was published online on Monday, October 06, 2008
A tale of two forest fires that began on the same hot and windy July day illustrates the benefits of a new national firefighting philosophy, a Shoshone Forest spokesman said.
Last week, Shoshone Forest North Zone Fire Management Officer Clint Dawson compared the Gunbarrel Fire on the North Fork of the Shoshone River to Montana's Cascade Fire six miles west of Red Lodge, Mont., on the Custer Forest.
Both blazes began on the same day, July 26, during the same weather event that swept through the area.
But in the case of the Gunbarrel Fire, which primarily roared through the North Absaroka Wilderness in a forest heavily impacted by diseased and beetle-killed trees, advance preparation work was done to protect structures.
The result was, that while the Shoshone experienced the largest “wildland use” blaze in the history of the Rocky Mountain Region, it was less costly to battle, per acre, than a nearby fire many times smaller.
Dawson said advance work was not done in the area burned by the Cascade Fire, which threatened the Red Lodge Mountain ski hill; some residents even feared for the downwind town of Red Lodge itself.
The Cascade Fire claimed more than 10,100 acres and cost about $8.4 million to fight.
By comparison, the Gunbarrel Fire, recently mapped at 68,149 acres and has cost about $11.2 million, Dawson said last week.
He said the Gunbarrel Fire still is not out, but it is considered 90 percent contained
“It will be 100 percent later this month,” Dawson said.
The Gunbarrel Fire grew by about 15 acres during recent dry, sunny weather, primarily charring timber near Trout and Robber's Root creeks. But the blaze has remained completely on Shoshone Forest land, mostly within the wilderness.
The suppression cost difference between Gunbarrel and Cascade, Dawson said, lies in the way the Shoshone opted to handle fires this summer, even before any began.
The Gunbarrel Fire started with two lightning strikes putting up smoke on the North Fork. The smoke was reported at about 1 p.m. July 26.
Red flag-velocity winds whipped the initial fire putting up that smoke into a 100-acre blaze in less than three hours, Dawson said.
Consulting a prearranged checklist of events that would trigger firefighting activity, forest officials in Cody and Denver determined that there was little they could do anyhow, and that the fire near Gunbarrel Creek was burning in an area where it appeared to threaten no human life or property.
So they let it burn. That decision in the big picture has created a better than 100-square-mile future fire break that will last for generations, Dawson said.
“Future fire north of the highway (US 14-16-20) won't be an issue in our lifetime,” he said. He conceded that the south side of the North Fork corridor is another matter entirely, and fire there is inevitable, given the number of dead trees along its steep, narrow slopes.
It was not as though there was anything the forest could have done differently on July 26, because of the fire's backcountry location and the weather conditions that were driving it, Dawson said.
“The fire kind of dictated how we were going to deal with it,” he said.
One variable that the Shoshone could control, however, was the advance preparation crews had put into protecting cabins and lodges along the North Fork.
According to the Forest Service's “Fuel Treatment Effectiveness Report” on the Gunbarrel Fire, planning for this mitigation was begun in 2005, when Shoshone officials decided to treat 16,345 acres on the North Fork.
“Beetle infestation, drought, fire suppression and the advanced succession stages of the forest” had resulted in tree mortality of up to 90 percent, the report indicated, setting the stage for problems.
Then on this past Aug. 3, the Gunbarrel Fire moved through and near areas of “special use structures.”
But previous mitigation, such as making sure gutters were cleared and removing small, low branches from trees and bushes near property to create “defensible space,” not only increased firefighter safety, but reduced suppression costs, minimized resource damage and accomplished forest objectives.
“If we can't mitigate something, we don't call it a fire use fire,” Dawson said.
“Looking back on this fire, we didn't lose any private property, except a doghouse,” he added.
Despite the controversial loss of Sweetwater Lodge, which was owned by the forest itself following settlement of an approximately $1.3 million lawsuit filed by Jeff Mummery, “the fire was a great success in that we didn't lose any private property, and there were no major injuries to firefighters,” Dawson said.
Touring Moss and Aspen Creeks with reporters last week, Dawson illustrated how advance work and strong structure protection saved property.
“Had we not done the work, we would have lost everything,” particularly on Moss Creek, he said, pointing to a spot where charred trees were a foot away from a garage and also close to two cabins.
“We are learning,” Dawson added.
At Sweetwater, which he regrets losing, “We did not want to have people injured,” he said, adding that one more day of preparation - work that was scheduled to take place the very day the drainage blew up in a fire storm - likely could have saved the lodge.
“I'm glad now that we didn't go back there” because of the danger and the lack of a rapid escape route (due to washouts and faulty bridges), Dawson said.
Aside from protecting private property, one of the biggest benefits of the Gunbarrel Fire was building stronger relationships with community leaders and local agency members, Dawson added.
“We built good working relationships with some of out partners,” including the Park County Sheriff's Office, Homeland Security, the Mobile Animal Rescue Evacuation Team (MERET) and the Red Cross.
“This fire brought out the best in the agencies,” he said, adding that one of the successes of the Gunbarrel Fire lies in “the way we managed it.”
“That is how fires will be managed in the future,” he added.
(Carole Cloudwalker can be reached at carole@codyenterprise.com.)
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