|
Wildland Fire Mitigation Operations
The goal of the Rocky Mountain Fire District's Mitigation Crew is to provide rapid and effective initial structural and wildland fire suppression, emergency medical service, and reduce wild fire exposure to the citizens and their property through mitigation techniques, in the Flagstaff Mountain area.
Rocky Mountain Fire, in conjunction with the Colorado State Forest Service and Boulder County Land Use Department, have conducted studies on each home in the Flagstaff area. Each home was analyzed for its ability to resist ignition from a wildfire. Elements such as design, construction material, topographic relationship, and fuels around the home all went into a comprehensive study identifying each home's needs during a wildfire event. Additionally, every acre of wildland was surveyed and mapped to determine specific composition, forest litter orientation, and total volume of forest floor residue. This information helps us understand wildfire spread potential and fire intensity. We have determined a lessened ability to control destructive, unnatural high intensity wildfires. This has hampered our ability to defend the ever-increasing number of people wanting to live within a fire prone and fire dependent ecosystem (Known as wildland urban interface).
RMF decided to address this issue by hiring a mitigation crew to perform various duties. The Mitigation Crew, a State Forester, and the property owner, develop together a plan to mitigate the homes of wildfire hazards. The plan involves the evaluation of the home and its construction characteristics relative to the adjoining fuels, forest health, and topography. Once the plan is written and agreed upon, the trees to be removed are marked and mechanically thinned. The rest of the trees lower limbs are removed and the cut fuels are removed. This project meets two key goals, the education of the property owner about the realities of living in a fire prone area and the mitigation effort to increase the homes ability to resist fire.
The District has taken additional steps in the management of wild land fires. These steps include the design and manufacturing of many of our wild land engines. These engines are specifically outfitted with standard equipment designed to effectively attack a wild fire or, set up to defend structures threatened by an approaching fire. We have also increased our training in the wild land arena. Many of our firefighters have taken progressive classes ranging from basic wild land firefighting and wild fire behavior to helicopter operations and beyond. This training has helped Rocky Mountain Fire better understand wild fire, our abilities and limitations. This helps us to make decisions based in science and current conditions to increase residents and firefighter safety during a wild fire event.
For more information on Wildfire mitigation please contact or
email: Quinn Macleod (qmacleod@rockymountainfire.org)
Overall Website
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/pubnatr.html
Wildfire in Colorado
http://csfs.colostate.edu/wildfire.htm#suppression
Defensible Space and Wildfire Mitigation
http://csfs.colostate.edu/protecthomeandforest.htm#cofw
www.firewise.org
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/RUFireWise/3_defensiblespace.pdf
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/fire/construction_booklet.pdf
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/PUBS/natres/06302.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06303.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06304.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06305.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06306.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06310.html
Post-Fire Issues
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06307.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06308.html
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/natres/06309.html
Mountain Pine Beetle
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/iandd/insects/Bark%20Beetles%20Brochure.pdf
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/iandd/insects/MPB.pdf
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/iandd/insects/mpbsolar.pdf
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/iandd/insects/preventive_spraying_mpb2.pdf
Ips Beetle
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/iandd/insects/Ips.pdf
Dwarf Mistletoe
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/iandd/diseases/DMT.pdf
General Tree Diagnosis
http://csfs.colostate.edu/library/pdfs/iandd/tree_disorder_diagnosing.pdf
|
