Fire on the Mountain
AP: Fire crews wrestled with a huge wildfire Monday that had forced the evacuation of several small communities in central Utah, and strong winds threatened to spread the flames. Rain showers and increased humidity during the weekend had helped crews keep the nearly 29-square-mile fire from spreading.
On Monday, however, afternoon thunderstorms were expected to produce wind gusting as high as 50 mph, fire information officer Michelle Fidler said. There was already enough wind early Monday to carry smoke from the blaze 90 miles north to Salt Lake City. CONTINUED
I just finished two books on forest firefighting: Fire on the Mountain
Almost every summer it's the same thing: a huge fire breaks out, the gov'mint pours in dollars, materiel and manpower to extinguish it, and human structures get threatened or overrun. And people die, some years with more victims than others.
To note, Fire on the Mountain details the events leading up to the deaths of 9 Hotshots, 3 Smoke Jumpers and 2 Helitacks in the 1994 South Canyon Fire. One of the dead was found kneeling within sprinting distance of safety. Based on track analysis, said victim was running for his life when overcome by the blow up, and the tracks showed how he went from running, to stumbling, to finally kneeling, his face turned towards the ridge he finally knew he'd never reach. The hot gasses would've burned out his lungs, so investigators assessed death by asphyxiation was swift.
The common theme in both books is war: the fire is the enemy, the firefighting apparatus the military that rises to defend life and land, and the highest-trained firefighters practice through physical and mental regimens that make my Army training look like Kindergarten. But to quote firefighters in both books, "in the war of wilderness firefighting, no one's supposed to die."
Which makes the books that much more tragic: some die valiantly defending human property, while others fall while defending nothing but scrub. This begs a few questions:
1) Should firefighters give up their lives to protect the lives and property of those who willingly live in high fire threat environments?
2) Should firefighters risk life and limb just for the sake of thwarting a fire that threatens nothing?
3) Define nothing, then: if fire is natural, should we let it run its environmental course, or must we manage it down to the last smoldering ember?
4) And define natural: should we clean up brush, dead trees, and other organic detritus ourselves, or let nature do the job?
5) Finally, are we over or undermanaging the problem?
I don't know the answers to these questions, and I certainly don't have the professional background to address them with authority. I do know the fight between management styles was fierce in South Dakota, though, with one side wanting to protect all the vegetation in the Black Hills at all costs, and the other side wanting to go in and clear brush, selectively log, and start man-made burns.
In addition, my colleague Denver Braa (yes, that's his real name) showed me a photography collection
Regardless, my hat's off to those who volunteer to challenge these fires; but are their lives worth protecting a vacation home?
Trackposted to Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, Committees of Correspondence, DeMediacratic Nation, Big Dog's Weblog, DragonLady's World, Webloggin, The Bullwinkle Blog, The Amboy Times, Conservative Cat, Pursuing Holiness, Conservative Thoughts, third world county, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, Nuke's news and views, Blue Star Chronicles, Pirate's Cove, Republican National Convention Blog, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, and Right Voices, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
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