Smoke shrouds Murphy Dome from prescribed burn
Published Saturday, September 27, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS — A large plume of smoke west of Fairbanks attracted the attention of some residents on Friday, several of whom called the state Division of Forestry to inquire from where it was coming.
The source was a prescribed burn on Cache Creek Road near the base of Murphy Dome, part of an effort by state forestry officials to burn as many as 1,500 acres worth of black spruce that was cut last year to create fire breaks near residential areas on the outskirts of Fairbanks.
The prescribed burn is part of a cooperative $1.7 million effort between the Fairbanks North Star Borough and state Division of Forestry called the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which identifies populated areas within the borough that are at highest risk for wildfire.
“Part of the fuel treatment was to burn all the downed fuels to get rid of fire risk,” Robert Schmoll, fire management officer for state forestry in Fairbanks, said. “When you burn the piles, it burns down and gets rid of a lot of that tundra mat and provides a good mineral seed bed for hardwood regeneration.”
Firefighters began burning 40 acres worth of debris piles in Cache Creek, off Murphy Dome Road, earlier this week. Schmoll is hoping to ignite another 200 acres that were cut in the form of a 300-foot wide fire break on the north side of Murphy Dome Road next week.
“It’s all windrowed and handpiled,” Schmoll said of the debris.
The state also is hoping to burn about 200 acres on Old Ridge Trail, off the Old Nenana Highway, as well as more than 1,200 acres in the Little Chena River drainage, five to eight miles north of Chena Hot Springs Road, though Schmoll said firefighters will be lucky to get to that area this year.
The borough received two federal fuel mitigation earmarks — $986,000 in 2005 and $788,000 in 2006 — to help fireproof Fairbanks following the record-setting wildfire season of 2004, in which more than 6 million acres burned and the 500,000-acre Boundary Fire north of Fairbanks crept close to town and had local residents feeling the heat.
The borough contracted with the Division of Forestry to identify “zones of concern” based on geographic features (i.e. elevation), the presence of high risk fuels (i.e. black spruce) and the proximity to populated areas.
“We go out and pick the sites, do the layout, contract out the shearblading and then go in and burn afterwards,” Schmoll said.
This is a good time of year to burn because there is good smoke dispersion, and the threat of a wildfire spreading is minimal, Schmoll said.
“We burned last year for almost a month, and people didn’t even know it was going on,” Schmoll said. “The piles burn down in couple hours and most of smoke is gone by the time people get home (from work).”
A total of about 500 acres was burned last year, and Schmoll said he would be happy to get that much burned again this fall.
“Our main goal is to get everything done on Old Murphy Dome Road, Cache Creek and Old Ridge Road,” Schmoll said.
The borough recently received another smaller grant for $150,000 that is pending assembly approval, borough emergency operations manager David Gibbs said. That money will be used for more shearblading and more wildfire risk assessment.
“There’s a lot of areas still yet to be done,” Gibbs said.
Community Discussion
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Dried firewood! Wish there had been an effort to use the fuel as a heat source for homes this winter. Sure the trees may be small in diameter, but fuel is fuel.
Might be a good time to encourage local production of wood pellets, and use of the cleaner burning pellet stoves.
1948-- Don't be silly if the government burns wood it is controlled. If you burn the wood for heat, it emits particulates.
2.6 MILLION DOLLARS to a Washington ADVISORY Firm to STUDY the cause of Particulate Problem here. 1.7 MILLION DOLLARS to CREATE THE PROBLEM with MORE DOLLARS,$150,000 To study how to Prepare for next PARTICULATE CREATION. A Cord of Firewood is at $250 dollars now. Perhaps the Fairbanks North Star Borough and state Division of Forestry called the Community Wildfire Protection Plan, which identifies populated areas within the borough that are at highest risk for wildfire, Could put the Dollars to better use by Getting ADVICE from LOCAL USERS OF THE FIRE WOOD to create a Central location where the same users could purchase processed Fire Wood with which they could do a PRESCRIBED BURN CONTROLED by their Wood Stoves, thus preventing uncontroled wild fires and HEAT their Homes as well.
By having the trees cut to pickup length it would make it possible for the average working family to have the time to cut it to the length they need at home without the hassel of finding a location to cut standing trees and getting the necessary equipment to do so as prescribed by the permit process. This would prevent damage to the land and control access to cutting area. Pehaps The Land fill Property could be the location so the unusable slash would be also controled
IT'S a WIN WIN SOLUTION
Why did they have to burn the wood. It is understandable that WOOD burns, yet to provide this burnable wood to families for heat is good. That is so much wood just wasted.
They could have cut it, piled it, and to have the public needing wood for winter pick it up. Or, have the public pick it up limiting them bundles to burn for fire wood.
Instead the BRIGHT idea was to JUST burn it, get this, we paid them to do this too, with our tax dollars.
Besides after all the wood or brush given away then THE STATE could burn whats left over for replenishing the forest.
seven51-
Please take a moment to understand a temperature inversion... which does not cause air quality problems in September.
Everyone else griping about the Borough not making it easy for you to collect firewood-
It's the end of September. It snowed this morning. If you don't have your firewood by now, you're really not that serious about heating your home with wood. Why in the world do you expect the Borough to provide fuel to heat your homes (I suspect people are hoping for more handouts)? Why do you expect them to take on the liability of a bunch of yahoos (defined as those who wait until the end of September to collect firewood) heading out with poorly tuned, dull chainsaws?
If you're looking for firewood that doesn't cost you a lot of money, you must know that you'll need to invest some time and hard work.
More than half of that "wood" is no larger than your wrist at the base. It's pretty much trash and unless pelletized, nearly worthless for heating your home. Not to mention the creosote problems you would have in your stovepipe if you used it.
just a way of life, here in Fort Yukon. Pay $6.50 for a gallon of heating fuel or get a cord of wood (if you own the pick-up) for eight gallons of gas at 7.76 a gallon. Do what you have to do. Be honest about it, you will feel a little warmer if you have to work for it. P.S. don't burn green wood.
As a resident in the area that is enduring the burning, I say emphatically that the Borough is wrong to be doing this kind of work without letting residents know in advance. My land borders the burn area. The smoke we have had to put up with this week is more than mere inconvenience. It was choking thick, and very scary. When we first saw the plume of smoke just behind our house, I was sure our home was on fire. Did the Borough notify neighbors in advance that they plan to raze acres of trees and then burn it in big piles? No. We found out a few months ago about the burn only when one of us flagged down a Forestry truck to ask what the heck was going on with all of the equipment they were dragging in. Which, by the way, put huge ruts into the road that we, the residents, have to pay to maintain. I am not a forest expert, so I don't know if controlled burning is the best approach to community wildfire control or not. But I do think that the Borough needs to keep residents informed about what the Borough is doing in our neighborhoods, like burning down our forests. Surely neighbors who are affected by the burns should have some say in when, how, or if it's done!
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