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7636


Date: August 17, 2012 at 18:59:26
From: sheila, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Fire expert blasts Lassen Nat'l Park officials for letting blaze grow

URL: http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_21336281/fire-expert-blasts-lassen-officials-letting-blaze-grow


the whole truth is that the US forest service, NPS, all have a "scorched earth" policy that has cost American citizens dearly with loss of property, life, and so much more. I'll have alot to say about this subject.

By Joe Szydlowski — Redding Record Searchlightchicoer.com
Posted: 08/17/2012 08:46:03 AM PDT


A former Shasta-Trinity National Forest supervisor and fire expert blasted the National Park Service on Thursday for allowing the Reading Fire to smolder for more than a week, feeding on overgrowth, before it exploded into an inferno that so far has decimated 42.5 square miles.
"I can't believe they went ahead with letting a fire burn for the ecosystem's benefit in a season that, for the entire nation, is record dry," said Steve Fitch, a retired Shasta-Trinity National Forest supervisor, fire behavior expert and national firefighting teacher. "That fire is creating its own weather. It's extreme temperatures there. ... They probably nuked 10 percent or 15 percent (of the land)."

Fitch retired from the Forest Service in 1995 to work as an adviser on natural resources to the state Assembly until 2003.

His comments came as the blaze raged across 27,163 acres and grew another 4 acres overnight. The fire remains only 28 percent contained and 1,068 firefighters in the park braced for a weekend that could bring strong winds and thunderstorms.

Park officials allowed the fire in Lassen Volcanic National Park to burn overgrowth after lightning sparked it July 23. Initially, officials didn't issue any acknowledgments of the fire. After smoke plumes became visible above the park, the park service announced it was treating the fire as a prescribed burn.

But on Aug. 6, the fire exploded from 200 acres to 1,300 acres.

It has charred about 16,000 acres in the park and about 9,000 acres of Lassen National Forest, prompting closures of Highway 89 and large swaths of land by the two federal agencies.
Fitch said all signs should have pointed to immediately stopping the fire.



READ the full story in the Redding Record Searchlight






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[7637] [7639] [7659] [7663] [7642]


7637


Date: August 17, 2012 at 21:37:05
From: kay.so.or, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: Fire expert blasts Lassen Nat'l Park officials for letting blaze...


idiots seem to be running all the shows these days...I have been told by those who know that the massive fire here just before we moved here was handled so poorly and they acutally created the fire to be huge by their poor judgments!....we can't even trust that the agencies know what the heck they are doing!


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[7639] [7659] [7663] [7642]


7639


Date: August 17, 2012 at 22:01:12
From: sheila, [DNS_Address]
Subject: they make more $$ of salvage logging than putting it out: Bisquit fire

URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biscuit_Fire


is a great example of what's wrong with the US efforts to put out fires before they spread to endanger life and property. Here's an example from 2002, the Bisquit fire which was one of the most mismanaged fires ever - for the purpose of selling salvage lumber.
OPB's Oregon Field Guide revisited this area in the past year and discovered the massive damage there hadn't recovered at all, that's how horrid that fire was but....there's $$ to be made:


The Biscuit Fire was a wildfire that took place in 2002 that burned nearly 500,000 acres (2,000 km˛) in the Siskiyou National Forest in southern Oregon and northern California, in the Western United States.

Post-wildfireSince the fire, the United States Forest Service has been trying to log most of the severely burnt area, despite ecologists' concerns about the Port Orford Cedar, which is threatened from a root fungus that is most commonly spread on car tires and shoes. This will be the largest recorded timber sale in U.S. history, and a landmark case setting the future for all fires in national forests. The cost of salvage logging far outweighed the proceeds from sales (-$1.9 million).

In 2006, a research paper on the effects of post-wildfire salvage logging caused a controversy within the forest sciences community.


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[7659] [7663] [7642]


7659


Date: August 19, 2012 at 21:30:08
From: Polly,AZ, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Arizona 2002 Fire


It turned out that our 2002 fire that reduced 465,000 acres in the NE part of AZ was reduced to "ash" - nothing to salvage, BUT they did find that an "out of work Hot Shot" started the fire. I would hope that isn't the case in CA, nor unemployed construction workers to build new homes. Desperate times can create desperate events.


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[7663]


7663


Date: August 20, 2012 at 10:30:49
From: sheila, [DNS_Address]
Subject: 900 lightning strikes Saturday (Ca fires)


just read that and believe it since I was watching the weather go from there through Oregon. It also started some fires here as well.
Yes I've heard stories about out of work guys starting fires too. So sad!


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7642


Date: August 18, 2012 at 13:56:40
From: kay.so.or, [DNS_Address]
Subject: Re: they make more $$ of salvage logging than putting it out: Bisquit...


thanks for the info Sheila....so sad and we have to look at that here and know it didn't have to be that way....


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