Wildfires in rural Alaska

Summers are fire season in rural Alaska, especially Interior Alaska. This summer seems especially dramatic, as the one main highway running south out of Fairbanks was closed for a few days, and thick smoke commonly roils through the hills and valleys. Several evacuations have sent rural people scrambling for places to move their families, their pets, their household goods, vehicles and equipment, livestock, and sled dogs. Entire communities are blanketed with smoke, and some with ashes, making it difficult to breathe and triggering community-wide negative health effects. On this site, the students in Rural Sociology (SOC 301, Summer 2013, University of Alaska Fairbanks) will research and sociologically analyze wildfires in Alaska. Key questions that we will address include:

1. how are people and their communities affected by wildfire?
2. what are the social mechanisms that affect fire?
3. what are the policy implications of fire?
4. are some segments of society differentially affected by wildfire, e.g. what are the impacts of race/ethnicity, gender, social class, spatiality, age, and other markers of difference?
5. how are rural and other economies affected by fire?

Maps and other indicators of the scope of the issue

According to Chris the Elder, there are a series of maps that describe the extent of the fires currently burning in rural Alaska. This is a map of the Stuart Creek 2 fire that began on June 19 (2013) and is still causing havoc in the communities in the area: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3468/ This map is updated at least daily, and sometimes hourly. Click on the link provided on the site to get an updated map and other details about the Stuart Creek 2 fire.

As of July 10, 2013, the Stuart Creek 2 fire has cost $8M to achieve only 22% containment. 85,000 are estimated to have burned in this human caused fire. 750 homes are threatened, 150 outbuildings, and at least one business are threatened. Residents are on a continued evacuation watch, which means that they have been officially advised that they must be prepared for evacuation at any time. The official order to evacuate came earlier this week, and people moved to Fairbanks and other areas to stay with friends and family, welcoming strangers, the University of Alaska Fairbanks, several transitional shelters, and the Tanana Valley Fairgrounds. The request to evacuate was lifted about a day later, and residents are in the process of moving back home.

Here is a map of wildland fires that are burning across America, thanks to Chris the Elder.
http://www.wildlandfire.com/Default.htm

Alyson found this fabulous site hosted by non other than the University of Alaska Fairbanks! Fire predictions, real-time and virtual-time maps of the smoke for the past year, and many more pieces of the puzzle.
http://smoke.arsc.edu/index.html

Here is a youtube video discovered by Amelia that details the scope of wildfires in rural Alaska and describes the steps that Alaskans can take to manage fire. Note that the perspective is an "official" one, from the Alaska state Department of Natural Resources, and therefore there is a state-friendly slant to the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPJjod4uurc

From Amelia, an infographic about the types of fires:



Social (and personal) consequences of wildfires
Tiffany interviewed a teacher who is involved in assisting people and animals dislocated by the Stuart Creek 2 fire. Here are Tiffany's questions and her respondent's answers:

1) How many people do you know personally that have been affected by this fire?
About 10, 2-3 families that I know personally.

2) What resources have you offered to them?
I have offered my home to stay in, or to camp near, to care for children or animals. I have offered to help move or store belongings.

3) How many people accepted your offer?
Zero. (Which worries me. Am I not dependable? Do I smell weird? Probably “yes,” and “yes,” but still… this is an emergency, people.) Each of the families I know also have family in Fairbanks and/or alternate housing, so I guess I don’t feel too bad.

4) Other than the resources that you have provided, what other resources have you noticed are in high demand? 

Not really many. I did notice that several families were looking to shelter at UAF, when it was offered. Just from talking to folks at the emergency animal shelter, I found out that many of the families were sheltering with relatives or friends in town because there was ample notice of the evacuation. They said help was easy to find, and it was much appreciated. **CAUSE & EFFECT?** I also helped out with the Galena flood evacuation, and Fairbanks was MUCH better prepared for the CHSR evacuation, perhaps because of the things we learned during the Galena flood. During the Galena evacuation, there was a serious need for housing, food & water and basic necessities for many families. People worked hard, but there were many challenges that I don’t think were ever completely overcome. For example, one of the big problems at that time was that Fairbanks was very HOT, and we had a hard time feeding large numbers of people and keeping food refrigerated in between meals. I know that there are still families from Galena at Willow House in Fairbanks, and there are some ongoing challenges for folks who are still essentially homeless.

5) When volunteering at the emergency animal shelter, what types of animals do you see commonly (pets, livestock)? How many families have used the emergency animal shelter? 

I saw mostly horses and dogs. I heard there were cats, and possibly chickens. I only saw a few families at a time at the shelter, but I’d say about 50 families took advantage of the opportunity to shelter their animals there. I think it was a good way to free them up to take care of their houses, and themselves.

This concludes my interview with her, which took place over Facebook on July 9, 2013.

-------------------------

Tiffany interviewed another witness to the Stuart Creek 2 Fire. This one took place on July 10, 2013.

"1) 1) How many people do you know personally that have been affected by this fire?

I can't think of anyone specific I know that's been affected, but I know of people that live out there that I've met before - perhaps 5 to 10.

2) What resources have you offered to them? I remembered you mentioning a few shelters for animals and a place to stay for families.

 I offered my horse trailer (for towing animals and just stuff), my dad's truck to haul the trailer, and a motorhome to stay in that we have parked in our driveway. I would have helped friends, or even strangers.

3)  How many people accepted your offer?

No one took me up on my offer - I think we're lucky in that Fairbanks has more then enough people willing to help

4) Other than the resources that you have provided, what other resources have you noticed are in high demand?

Besides people and equipment to haul people's things away, I think the most needed resource was a place to store all this stuff. I heard of people opening their homes to store household items and even pets if they were able to, and the borough did a good job having places to drop off animals and large work equipment and recreational vehicles."

Which wildfires are fought, and which are not?
In Alaska, like other rural areas in America, not all wildland fires are fought. Many are left to burn, monitored or not. Why the difference? Amelia notes that part of the answer may be based on population figures, as this points out:

http://ktna.org/2013/06/24/wildfire-update/
This article from a radio station in Talkeetna gives a little bit of insight as to which fires are fought and why. Since there are 82 fires that are burning in Alaska and only 7 of those are staffed, Amelia thinks those are interesting figures to people who live out of state. Fires are only fought if they pose a direct threat to a populated area. That means over 90% of the 1 million acres that are burning are just being watched because they pose no threat to a populated area.

 

But as a sociology professor, I caution us to note that there are other sociological reasons that play into the decision about which fires to fight, and which to ignore or loosely monitor. Perhaps another student might find a resource that describes decisions that are correlated with the race/ethnicity, social class, and other social factors that shape the decisions made about fire fighting and suppression efforts.

Alyson, for example, found this site that talks about the lack of fire protection in 120 rural Alaska villages. Most of the people in rural villages here are Alaska Native.
http://www.alaskavillageinitiatives.com/shop/scripts/codered.asp

Ecological consequences of contemporary fire fighting methods

Amelia suggests this website that describes some environmental consequences of contemporary firefighting methods: http://www.fire-ecology.org/research/biscuit_suppression.html#Anchor-55458

This website, under the heading The Direct Environmental Effects of Fire Suppression, talks about some of the harm that firefighting can actually do to the environment. The chemicals used in fire suppression can cause water pollution, stimulate growth of invasive weeds, and alters the soil on which they're dropped. Here is an interesting excerpt: Fire retardants are basically 80% water, 10% fertilizer, and 10% chemical additives. At temperatures above 200 degrees Fahrenheit, the fire retardant, Phos-Chek (produced by the company, Monsanto), breaks down into toxic ammonia and phosphoric acid.[18] Another popular retardants, Fire-Trol (produced by the company, Chemonics), degrades into cyanide at levels highly toxic to aquatic species, especially frogs.[19] In still bodies of water like lakes and ponds, concentrated doses of retardant can immediately kill fish, or the nitrogen and phosphorus in retardants can lead to algae blooms that consumes oxygen and kills fish slowly over time. When dumped on the ground, the fertilizer in retardant can stimulate the growth of invasive weeds which can enter remote sites from seeds transported inadvertently by firefighters and their equipment. While most retardant is mixed and loaded at airbases, sometimes portable mixing plants are created for helicopter use, and there can be considerable spillage of both wet and dry chemicals onto soil at these sites. Finally, an undeterminable but not insignificant amount of chemical dumping occurs from oil and gasoline spilled into waterways and soil while refueling everything from helicopters, to chainsaws, to port-a-pumps.
 

Benefits of wildfires
http://www.alaskacenters.gov/fires-in-alaska-two.cfm

This website forwarded by Amelia lists several beneficial effects of wildfires that she claims "people don't normally think about. They're mostly about ecological benefits, but there aren't very many benefits to anything man-made [sic]."

Fire suppression elsewhere
Amelia suggested this lengthy report, from the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences here at UAF, that gives a comprehensive history of fire suppression elsewhere in America. Or as we say up here, "Outside."

http://www.uaf.edu/files/snras/B114.pdf  Wildland Fire in Alaska: A history of fire suppression and Management in the Last Frontier (2005) (64 pages). Amelia says:  

"Page 58 Table 15 lists how fires are managed differently in Alaska compared to the Lower 48
 

Appendix A Page 59-60 lists all fires from 1950 to 2005, their cause, and acreage burned (!!!)"

Two charts from Chris the Younger:

 Other consequences of fire (including morels--my favorite!) from Tiffany:

Here is another paper. This one is published by UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Science with the Agricultural Forestry Experiment Station
http://www.uaf.edu/files/snras/MP_05_07.pdf


In conjunction with the paper, there is a paper published by Tricia L. Wurtz, Amy L. Wiita, Nancy S. Weber, and David Pilz titled "Harvesting Morels After Wildfire in Alaska"




In Alaska, morels fruit in June and July most prolificaly in areas burned within the last one to three years. Morels (genus Morchella) are fungi collected from the wild and are prized in international cuisine for their earthy, smoky, nutty, or meaty flavor. Since morels have not been successfully farmed on a large scale, global demand is supported by harvest of wild mushrooms. 


The majority of morel harvesting occurs in Western United States and Canada where wildfires create ideal fruiting conditions. In the summer of 2004, more than 6.7 million acres burned in interior Alaska, with about 20% of the burned areas adjacent to roadways making them accessible to Alaskans wishing to harvest morels. 


In most cases, morels are found in the same location year after year however the yield is small in number. When a large-scale disturbance, such as timber harvest and scarification, insect infestations in the forest overstory, or wildfire, happens in the environment, morel production increases by the ton.


In high-latitude places such as Alaska, the growing seasons are short. In general the fruiting period of morels in interior Alaska are as short as 2 weeks to 4 weeks. In postfire areas, ideal weather conditions, insect activity, and soil conditions allow for more proliferative growth. In postburn areas more morels by the pound are found compared to non-burn areas.

From Alyson:

I have been finding so many great links. My favorite was from the Alaska Department of Public Safety. 
The Mitigation of Rural Fire Problems article contains the tables displaying data on rural population, fire death rates and education in the 50 states. It also discusses many initiatives set into motion by the various states in regards to fire protection in rural areas. The tables are located on pages 20-22. However, there is other information pertaining to drug use and economic status of the rural areas that may prove interesting to a sociologist. Lack of funding, transportation, and communication is the reason for sub par fire protection in rural communities. http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/MitigationRuralFireProblem.pdf
Do have any other ideas that you would like me to pursue? I can attempt to delve more deeply into the sociological reasoning. However, I have noticed that it is based largely on economic reasons. Funding a firefighting organization in a rural area and paying for the education of firefighters is quite expensive. Many of the articles that I sent you discuss the price of educating firefighters. 
http://fire.ak.blm.gov/content/training/FEMA_crosswalk_FINAL_v5_508%20(2).pdf
Here is a link detailing the educational requirements of various firefighter positions in regards to wildfires. As evidenced by this article, the various roles are extremely important in regards to communication and efficiency. I believe that Amelia interviewed her brother-in-law who stated that the crew chief would discuss plans with his supervisor and then give the firefighters orders based on his discussion with the supervisor and other crew chiefs. Much of wildfire fighting is reminiscent of war. 
 
More from Alyson:
I will still write summaries about the multiple articles I found on fire protection, but I would also like to do a bit of analysis. I found that rural Alaska has one of the highest death rates, 20.5%, in rural areas in the United States, greater than the national average. I would like to analyze is the reason for the high fire death rate and how it pertains to wildfires. The high fire death rate is indicative of a lack of fire protection resources that would be useful in the protection against and prevention of wildfires.  Project Code Red, a fire protection initiative in Alaska, requires that firefighters only obtain level 1 firefighter education leaving some education to be desired. Project Code Red is the first stepping stone in dura fire protection making fire protection less expensive and more accessible to rural areas. Hopefully, better rural firefighting methods can be researched and applied to reduce fire danger and property damage. 
Another issue faced in rural areas is a lack of volunteers. Funding is limited in rural areas. As a result, such locations are almost entirely dependent on volunteers. Nowadays, society mandates that youths pursue further education. Many of the youths in rural areas leave their homes to pursue better paying jobs and further their education. Further education can be beneficial as since some youths return home better educated and are prepared to contribute to the community. However, as youths pursue further education, many areas are left without young people to volunteer as firefighters.  Also, the subsistence lifestyle led affects the availability of volunteers. Many residents will spend their time hunting for food which eliminates their ability to volunteer. 
Fire Science education needs to be more readily available in rural areas. According to the the Rural Fire Protection Analysis from the Alaska Department of Public Safety, a more solid firefighting organization needs to be established in rural communities. By creating a formal organization, a firefighter will be a more honored and respected career. Also, communication between separate divisions of the organization would be simplified by consolidating resources and personnel. Communication channels would be better established between the state and the organization than the current informal practices. Better fire education would also help eliminate human initiated fires as residents would become more knowledgeable of fire prevention practices. As a result, one source of wildfires would be greatly decreased and the number human injuries and deaths from fires would decrease. 
Better educated firefighters in rural areas and a formal firefighting organization would improve cost-effectiveness of firefighting in rural areas and increase the number of firefighters available to combat wildfires in Alaska. Rural areas would benefit from a reduced fire death rate and a smaller number of fires (residential, outdoors, etc) with better education.  


 http://www.dps.state.ak.us/fire/teb/docs/RuralFireProtectionAnalysis.pdf --- Formal firefighting organizations in Alaska need to be established to increase public safety and help combat fires. 
http://www.usfa.fema.gov/downloads/pdf/publications/MitigationRuralFireProblem.pdf------Fire protection in rural areas is a nationwide dilemma. In rural Alaska, issues such as lack of transportation, supplies and trained volunteers are prevalent. Project Code Red is working to mitigate this issue and make fire protection more accessible to rural areas economically and otherwise. According to FEMA in Mitigation of the Rural Fire Problem, rural Alaska has one the largest fire death rates in the country at 20.5 %. 
http://www.na.fs.fed.us/fire/cwpp/research_reports/changing_role.pdf----- Throughout the US, the population is expanding its grasp on the land. Firefighters in rural areas are becoming more important as a result. Those who live on the edge of the wilderness are the first line of defense against wildfires. They have some ability to limit the burn radius of the fire if caught in a reasonable amount of time.

From Amelia:
Huffington Post article from last week http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/05/climate-change-wildfires_n_3550397.html

The article states two dozen forest fires are burning in the Western US. We know that 4 times that are burning in Alaska, so perhaps they are only counting manned fires. But it links climate change predictions of more forest fires to the percieved realities of more forest fires. 


http://www.johnmuirproject.org/documents/Hanson%20White%20Paper%2029Jan10%20Final.pdf


This PH.D thesis by Chad Hanson  debunks the myth of the "catastrophic forest fire". The preface is an excellent introduction to forest policy (thinning, etc) over the past decades. From the preface, it describes high-intensity fires as necessary to creating snag forest habitat.  "Snag forest habitat is alive, and vibrant. It is colorful, and rich with varied sounds, given the sheer density of wildlife activity. It is the most rare, endangered, and ecologically important forest habitat in western U.S. forests, and the stand-transforming fires that create this habitat are not damaging the forest ecosystem. Rather, they are advancing ecological restoration. There is nothing “catastrophic” about wildland fire in these forests, 
especially where stand-transforming fire effects occur, creating snag forest habitat. 


What is tragic, however, is the burning of homes in rural, forested areas. Our focus and our resources must be 
redirected to ensure protection of homes, rather than conducting pointless and destructive “fuels reduction” and 
“forest health” logging projects in remote forested areas based upon an outdated and unscientific management 
paradigm – a paradigm that financially benefits the timber industry and the budgets of land management 
agencies, but further deprives conifer forest ecosystems of the habitat features they need most to support 
imperiled species."


The Fire Adapted Communities infographic is from the website http://fireadapted.com/ that includes videos on how to protect your home, and how to get a community plan for fire adaptation together. Primarily a resource for the more-populated lower 48, but it does include Alaska.
 
Thanks to Amelia for this info graphic: