By Griffen Smith
Pathfinder 

Preparing for peak fire season, adjustments made for COVID-19

 


As Montana enters into July, the 2020 fire season is expected to put the state’s prevention and containment capabilities to the test. Not only is the current climate being compared to years like 2017 but officials are also working to present the spread of the coronavirus between firefighters and camps. 

“Fundamentally COVID is just another twist we go through when assessing our fires,” said Seeley Lake District Ranger Quinn Carver. “[The season] probably won’t be a lot different. You still don’t know where the fire will start and you don’t know what the conditions are going to be when they do start.”

The state of Montana fluctuates when it comes to dryness and heat in the state. According to Michael Richmond’s with the Northern Rockies Coordination Center Predictive services briefing June 16 with Governor Steve Bullock, hot and dry summers can increase the chance of having large fires but they also need ignition - coming from lightning or human caused points, which can be random. 

“When we look at it graphically… we see the peak seasons are the warmest seasons… but not all of the warmest summers were active. 2013 was our second hottest summer in western Montana, but it was not an issue, we just didn’t have the lightning,” Richmond said.

During seasons with high fire danger and ignition, fires quickly escape direct attack and grow into large fires. When lightning strikes do arise in these hot years, however, fires can be quite powerful. In 2017, fires burned 1.36 million acres of land in the state of Montana and included some regional fires like the Rice Ridge fire near Seeley Lake and the Lolo Peak fire south of Missoula.

While 2017 was hotter than what is predicted for 2020, Richmond’s model suggests this year will be similar to the 2017 and 2007 summers. He explained that Montana’s wet fall in 2019, paired with a mild winter and lower snowpack, first started Montana’s wildfire potential. Models also predicted June, July and August will have above average temperatures and low amounts of precipitation West of the Continental Divide, alongside low humidity.

The only difference between the years, according to Richmond, is that 2020 has had a cooler spring than previous peak fire years.

With fires comes smoke. This is a concern for people who have the coronavirus, as smoke inhalation is likely to worsen symptoms. Though the last two years have been relatively clear, Richmond said a normal fire season will likely add elevated levels of smoke into the region.

“If we have a typical summer, like 2014 or 2016, we’ll have more smoke coming in here [from fires outside the area],” Richmond said.  “We can expect a much better chance of smoke coming into west-central portions of the state than the eastern as well, but of course it matters most further west when you have valley inversions trapping everything.”

In an annual wildfire briefing June 16, Bullock discussed the different approaches for battling fires this year with state agency leaders. One idea everyone agreed on was despite the pandemic, the number one priority for the state was to contain and mitigate fires. Addressing the coronavirus as another moving part in the complex fire response system which in the past has brought thousands of firefighters together from all over the country.

Sonya Germann, administrator of the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation, Forestry division, said the state is prepared to act on fires that threaten homes and communities. However, the normal large-scale camps seen during peak fire season will look a little different to accommodate for COVID-19. The main goal is to keep fires small.

“Best way to mitigate COVID-19 exposure throughout our fire operations is to maintain our capacity to do what we do best, which is succeed on initial attack, build the capacity of our local partners and support our federal partners to do the same,” said Germann.

Lolo National Forest Fire Management Officer Colt Mortenson said Forest crews have been operating as normal. While they sent firefighters to southwestern states this spring, it was a smaller number of resources compared to previous years. 

“We took Montana fire crews to New Mexico and we wanted to take every precaution,” Mortenson said. “For instance, when you go to gas stations, [crews] are gloved and wearing masks. [They] try not to go in every time. [They] try to pay at the pump and avoid that social contact.”

The Lolo also waited until late May to send out firefighters and communicated with county health departments to try and test returning crews. In the last week, no wildlands firefighters have tested positive for COVID-19 on the Forest.

For the upcoming fire season, the Forest Service will utilize local resources first, but will rely on out-of-state resources to fight large fires. The camps, which might have hundreds, if not thousands of people in them, will look different. 

“We had to look a little outside the box,” Mortenson said. “How do we manage large camps at a time when we are supposed to be socially distant?”

Mortenson brought up two options the Forest Service can use in case of a large camp. The first was dividing what used to be one large camp into many smaller camps. Another way would be to use technology to hold meetings over the phone or Zoom and prevent interaction between many people in the camp.

He added that since Montana is yet to break into fire season, crews picked up social distancing tips from early season states like Arizona and New Mexico.

The Seeley Lake Ranger District fire crew has been operating as usual, with the exception of living conditions and firefighter interaction. They are staying at Camp Paxson, rather than in the bunkhouses at the Ranger District. This is an effort to further isolate them from exposure and limit their exposure to other District staff.

The District’s 20 firefighters spent the beginning of the season prepping campgrounds, making slash piles and clearing trails. Now they are on call seven days a week and prepping fuels units for future prescribed burns. 

Alongside the Forest Service, the DNRC and local fire volunteers are also available in western Montana, which Mortenson said is incredibly important to contain fires.

“Working with the local cooperators, we have always done that, but we also realize that during COVID we need to work even closer,” Mortenson said. 

The agencies are running through various scenarios where multiple groups respond to a fire and how they can be effective while also social distancing. One strategy would be dividing up a fire line into smaller areas for a Forest Service module to attack, while partnering agencies would address another.

Mortenson said even with the new strategies in place, there is no way of knowing how this fire season will turn out.

“I realized the easiest way to predict a fire season is to say ‘I’ll tell you how it was in October,’” said Mortenson. “Our job is to plan for the worst and hope for the best. Hopefully, it is another mild fire season.”

 

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