According to official sources the Dixie Fire in California (USA) has been burning since 14 July, across Plumas National Forest, Lassen National Forest, Lassen Volcanic National Park and five counties. It merged with the Fly Fire and as of 5 September had reached a burnt area of 360,000 hectares with 3,820 personnel deployed1. Fuel moistures are ‘historically low’ with light winds and relative humidity falling to 10% in the afternoons1.
The fire is currently reported as burning within containment lines1, but fire practitioner and commentator Zeke Lunder posted a report2 on 31 August about a backburn that escaped (they call it ‘firing’). He writes “we put four miles of extra fire on the ground, doubled the potential head of the fire and gave it a one-day head start going into a two-day wind event“2. He puts it down to the urge to “Do something! Do anything!” but “when the conditions set us up for failure“2.
Lunder includes a balanced discussion of backburning and the issues around ‘firing’ in risky conditions, even when they are successful. He also asks:
“Why are we still focused on containment, when it’s clear that parts of this fire are beyond our control? We are resorting to desperate measures that increase the negative outcomes of the fire, wearing out the firefighters we’ll need later when our escaped burns are knocking on back doors…”2
IBG Comment
- IBG analysis shows the sort of situation reported by The Lookout occurred a number of times in our own Black Summer fires (see IBG report “Reducing the costs and Impacts of bushfires“ for examples).
- Large backburns during drought conditions require thorough planning and preparation and well-resourced implementation plans. Not doing a backburn that has a high risk of escape can be an appropriate strategy. This option may reduce the overall impact of fire.
- On the recommendation of a NSW Bushfire Inquiry after the 2019-2020 fires, the NSW Rural Fire Service adopted a new Operational Protocol for Backburning in February 2021. The previous version dated from 2006. However the new protocol was not based on rigorous analysis of successful and unsuccessful backburns. IBG regards the new OP as an important step forward but with several shortcomings, and look forward to its application in the field and its ongoing improvement.
- The US InciWeb site is a fine example of how detailed information about fire events can be provided to assist the community . The site is “an interagency all-risk incident information management system” and was set up to 1) Provide the public a single source of incident related information and 2) Provide a standardized reporting tool for the Public Affairs community3.
Independent Bushfire Group 