Wildfire

WILL VIGILANT FOREST FIRE PREVENTION BURN NORTHERN MICHIGAN?

Aug. 12, 2016

 

Northern Michigan’s success in preventing forest fires worries wildfire fighter and expert Jed Jaworski. We’ve done so well keeping our forests intact, he said, we’ve created a situation where wildfires could emerge as the region’s greatest threat.

Counterintuitive? On the surface, maybe. But dig a little deeper into the symbiosis of the forest environment, where all elements coexist to create a balanced ecosystem: When you remove fire from that ecosystem, the forest grows up without a natural immunity to it. Sooner or later, and spurred by hotter and drier summers, Jaworski believes that lack of immunity could make northern Michigan’s lush forests a potential tinder box – one ready to explode.

FIRE-TEMPERED FORESTS

Fire is supposed to be a naturally occurring part of the cycle of the life of a forest, Jaworski said. Prior to European settlement, fire regularly swept through Michigan’s forests, cleaned the ground of debris and culled struggling trees.

Native American tribes used fire to sculpt their environment. Fire got rid of infestations. It enriched the soil. This made healthy trees stronger and immunized them to the threat of fire by heat-treating their trunks and stripping them of lower branches.

The effect was a "fire-tempering" of the forest that made it stronger and better prepared the next time a fire swept through, Jaworski said.

But development and fire suppression in northern Michigan has broken that natural cycle, creating forests that are unprepared for what’s in store when conditions line up to spark a massive, potentially uncontrollable blaze.

Jaworski, who trained in a federal firefighting program in the early 1990s and has fought wildfires in the West, said that during his time fighting forest fires, something did not sit right with him.

"I became very interested in not only the history and the technical aspects of firefighting, but culturally, it became very obvious after a couple of years – something’s not quite right here," he said. "We’re spending millions and millions of dollars on this problem, and yet the problem continues to get worse."

Jaworski has taken his concerns on the road. The Elberta resident recently oversaw a forest-fire protection plan enacted in Manistee County. Next, he intends to help Benzie County establish its own plan. The timing, Jaworski believes, is critical.

A GROWING THREAT

isn’t the looming, ominous threat in northern lower Michigan that it is in California, but Jaworski says conditions are heading in that direction.

"Certainly in my lifetime, statistically, the number of large, uncontainable fires is increasing in Michigan. And just about anybody who works in Great Lakes wildfire, they’ll tell you: It’s just a matter of time until we get into a drought phase, even if it’s just a a few weeks. That’s all it’s going to take," he said. "We’ve seen it in a lot of fires in recent years in Michigan, and it’s just by good fortune that most of these fires have happened in largely uninhabited areas."

He ticks off notable fires that have struck the pine forests in the state in recent years – jack pine that burned near Roscommon, wildfire out of control south of Grayling, hemlock forest fire in the eastern Upper Peninsula– all were large fires that for a time swept uncontrollably across the land. Thanks to their location, none encroached on population centers but engulfed only isolated hunting cabins and wildlife.

"We came very close in 2004, with a fire near Grayling," he said. "That fire marched into the south end of town. Same with the Meridian Boundary Fire in 2010 – that was only the time of day [that the fire occurred], basically, that saved the town of Roscommon."

Luck of timing and remote locations are hardly something to rely on, however. There are scores of forests throughout northern Michigan that are vulnerable, that are near developed areas, and that are loaded with 75 or 100 years worth of fuel on the forest floor that could feed a devastating blaze.

"All we need is that period of low humidity, high winds, hot weather with no rain, and we’re going to be in trouble," he said.

Paul Gerhart, a registered forester from Honor who sometimes works with Jaworski, agrees that the conditions of the region’s forests today are ripe for fire – especially in areas rich with pine and oak.

Jack pine at the center of the state is especially fire-prone; it is a species that evolved to propagate through fire. But Jaworksi said there are plenty of danger areas across northern Michigan, including the shores of Lake Michigan, where countless cottages and homes are nestled among thick stands of pine and oak.

WILDFIRE PREPAREDNESS

The solution, obviously, isn’t to firetemper forests by allowing wildfires to run amok.

Jaworski believes there are steps than we can take to improve the fire resilience of forests and make our homes and other structures safer.

"Is there any recognition in local zoning here, in building codes and requirements?" he asked. "No. You can build your house in a red pine or a jack pine stand in Grand Traverse County, and there’s nothing in the local building codes or township ordinances that even make mention to a homeowner that, "˜Hey, you’re building in a fire-prone area. You’re building in a fuel type that’s going to make your house largely indefensible.

Are you aware of this?’" The lack of awareness is slowly changing as information becomes available to property owners. Crawford and Manistee counties, for example, have drafted wildfire preparedness plans which provide information.

Those plans include surveys of land and questions property owners need to ask about the resources available to fight fires: Where are the danger zones? Where are the fire departments? What roads will the resident have to use to reach a property? Is there water available? Will the water get cut off if the fire takes out power lines? How close is a house to tree stands or brush?

Jaworski suggested, too, that structures can be designed to resist fire. For example, shorter eaves and fire-resistant building materials make buildings less flammable; landscaping can either invite or repel fire.

"A fire-wise home doesn’t have to be a concrete bunker," Jaworski said. "It actually doesn’t take much of a modification from a traditional home design to allow that home to resist fire long enough so that a fire department doesn’t have to dedicate two men and a fire engine in order for that home to survive even a few moments of exposure to a wildfire."

About 50 or 60 years ago, rural areas were sparsely populated, and a small volunteer fire department could save the farmhouse next to a hayfield on fire. Today, there’d be a dozen homes in the way of the grass fire, and firefighters would have to decide which homes to save and which ones to sacrifice, Jaworski said. Typically, they’ll sacrifice the ones most prone to fire – usually those with dangerous landscaping and stacks of logs piled up next to the walls.

"But everybody is paying the same amount in taxes for fire protection, so after the fire, the people who didn’t get a fire truck in their driveway, despite the fact that they’re paying taxes for it, their next call is going to be to their county commissioner saying, "˜How come my neighbor got a fire truck and I didn’t?’" he said. "That’s when it becomes a political problem."

PRESCRIBED BURNS AND SLEEPING BEAR

A decade ago, after years of discussion, Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore drafted a fire management plan that calls for prescribed burns to mimic forest fires in order to fire-temper the park’s forests.

Jaworski worries that prescribed burns have not happened in the park because of neighbors’ opposition.

Tom Ulrich, deputy superintendent at Sleeping Bear, said local opposition isn’t the reason the prescribed burns have not been conducted; it comes down to the amount of preparation a controlled fire requires. The park’s staff is not yet trained to safely manage the efforts, he said, but notes there are plans to get funding and resources that would enable the park to conduct some prescribed burns, perhaps next year or in 2018.

Ulrich anticipates that, at that point, some neighbors will likely raise concerns, but he said those controlled fires would happen far away from populated areas.

Meanwhile, to prevent a disaster and protect park neighbors if an unexpected fire breaks out in the near future, Ulrich said park staff have conducted mechanical thinning, and they’ve burned brush in piles as a means to create fire buffer zones between the park and its neighbors.

The park’s fire management plans also allows for natural prescribed burns on the Manitou Islands – in other words, if a lightening strike sparks a blaze, under some circumstances they will let the fire burn naturally. That’s only happened one time, on North Manitou, but the fire barely spread, Ulrich said.

As for whether a history of suppressing fire has made Sleeping Bear’s forests more susceptible to fire, Ulrich isn’t sure. He said he is interested in learning more about it. Much of Sleeping Bear is hardwood forest, which is less flammable than pine.

"It certainly is possible that there is a natural fuel buildup – I don’t know," Ulrich said. "I’m not a fire scientist."

PREPARATIONS IN MANISTEE

Mike Cederholm, assistant chief for the Arcadia Fire Department, said there are developments and residences across his region that are located in areas at high risk of fire.

Often, that’s because people who own a northern Michigan cottage in the woods really want that cottage to be in the woods. People are reluctant to remove trees close to their cabin.

"There are some huge areas that are really high risk areas in our community," Cederholm said. "Everybody wants to save the trees. You can’t tell the homeowner what to do with their property. You can only give them advice. It’s kind of like smoking – you can’t stop them."

Cederholm agrees that conditions are ripe for devastating fires in northern Michigan, especially if we experience hotter, dryer summers.

"Look at the history – it’s been over 100 years or so since there’s been something major here," he said. "You look: There are a lot of unburned fuels out there."

Lieutenant Ken Falk, Manistee County emergency manager, said the Manistee Community Wildfire Protection Plan drafted by Jaworski is a great resource for property owners.

"It gives us an idea of where the high risk areas are in Manistee County, and it gives us an idea of how to mitigate those," Falk said.

It all comes down to whether property owners want to use the information, he said.

"If people are using it and finding out how to make their houses more fire resistant, I think it will help," Falk said.

For example, there is a cottage built on the end of a two-track leading to Lake Michigan that is in a fire-prone area. The problem is, a tanker wouldn’t be able to reach the home because there is no place at the end of the road to turn around. Now the owners know they’ve got to clear some space.

"They don’t want to tell people what to do on their property," Falk said. "They’re just trying to tell them that the trees next to your house, once they catch fire, it’s going to be hard to keep that fire from your house."

HOW TO START A FIRE

Gerhart agrees that prescribed fires are a tool that could be used much more frequently in northern Michigan to improve the ecology of forests and make them more fire resistant.

Prescribed fires tend to be controversial because they involve setting a forest fire.

Jaworski said neighbors should want prescribed burns because they are safer than wildfire.

"That tends to not be the case in most places. People are like, "˜Oh, gosh, no,’" Jaworski said. But prescribed fires, he said, happen under the safest conditions and under strict supervision – the opposite circumstances of a wildfire.

Gerhart used to work on prescribed burns with the National Forest Service, and he worked on one with Jaworski in the Arcadia marsh when the Grand Traverse Regional Land Conservancy sought to eradicate a phragmites outbreak in 2013.

Prescribed fires, perhaps the most radical regime to inure northern Michigan to wildfire, are part art, part science, he said. Going into a forest with the intention of setting it on fire takes a lot of training and a lot of preparation.

Gerhart said first, the team must be assured temperature, humidity, wind speed and direction are ideal for a controlled burn.

They survey the forest and remove woody debris that might catch and burn hot and long; they want a fire that will pass through the forest quickly and only burn leaves and brush on its way. They push leaves away from logs and trees to make sure the fire can’t grow up into the trees.

They use drip torches filled with a mixture of gasoline and diesel fuel to feed the fire.

Everyone has a backpack full of water, and there is a tanker truck on standby, Gerhart said. Some of the prescription fire tenders maintain fire lines on each side of the fire to make sure flames don’t spread outside of the designated area.

Surprisingly, the person with the drip torch stands in front of the fire and the prevailing wind, pushing the fire slowly into the wind. That’s why prescription fires are only set on days when the wind will be below five or so miles per hour.

The fire tender doesn’t want the fire blown back at them.

"That’s why you always want to have an escape route – you know your escape route, and you have a safety zone," Gerhart said.