Jocko Lakes Fire, Seeley Lake, August 2007.
A woodshed in Seeley Lake located next to a home. If a fire came through, embers could get into the wood shed and ignite it. Because it is so close to a structure, the possibility of that igniting from the radiant heat of the woodshed is very high.
Open burning is officially underway for the 2017 spring season. It's important for you to know the local burning seasons and what you can burn.
With the exception of small cooking or recreational fires, every fire ignited in Missoula County, including those on public lands, require a Burn Permit. If you want to burn yard waste (leaves, grass, branches) or manage vegetation (agriculture or forested property), you can burn outdoors in the spring with a General Outdoor Burn Permit available March 1 – Aug. 31.
To prevent your burn from spreading fire to surrounding vegetation and structures, think like a firefighter and take every precaution. Knowing what and how to burn is as important as getting a Burn Permit and activating it online or by phone the day that you burn.
All General Outdoor Burns must begin after 9 a.m. and be fully extinguished by 4 p.m., unless your local fire department has granted an extension. Remember, if your fire gets out of control, you will be liable for fire suppression costs as well as any damage your fire causes to the surrounding community.
I feel like every year we beat this same drum rewording the same paragraph but I have to ask myself, "Is it really sinking in to my audience?" Why do we have "open burning season?" Does my audience understand that our county has open burning to allow the public to help lower the ignitability of their home and surrounding vegetation, which could turn into wildfire fuel? Are people actually taking the necessary precautions when it comes to living in wildfire prone areas? Have they learned from all of these examples just from this past year? Did they see the fire behavior in Fort McMurray on the first of May last spring? May 1st folks.... Fire seasons are starting earlier and lasting longer. I'm not here to convince you of global warming I'm just stating the facts.
Aug. 3 marks the 10 year anniversary of the Jocko Lakes Fire that threatened the community of Seeley Lake. It's amazing how easy it is to forget how close we were to losing our town. I'll never forget the eerie feeling of seeing Seeley left abandoned; people literally dropped what they were doing, grabbed what they could and left for a safer place.
Remember the National Guard shut down Highway 83 on the north and south ends and they only allowed restricted access? This went on for weeks, until the Type 1 incident management team could contain and control the Jocko Lakes Fire.
Every time I drive through "the burn" I remember watching the fire erratically consume everything in its path and with the thought that we're going to need a lot more help to slow this fire down.
Now almost 10 years later, "the burn" is very much full of life. The grasses are waist high and the regeneration of larch, lodgepole pine and ponderosa pine cover the landscape. It'll take several more years for the area to look like it once did but it serves as a good reminder that fire is a natural occurrence in our ecosystem.
A good question for fire professionals like myself when it comes to these community fire threats is simply this, did we prepare these communities for the worst? How many examples do people need to be shown to help them understand the many different ways low intensity fire (flying embers) can burn down your home? Do they know that 90 percent of the time flame fronts don't burn down homes? Do people understand the message that we live in fire prone areas and that it is their responsibility to help their home have the best chance of surviving a wildfire?
I attached a picture of a Seeley Lake locals' woodpile that is far too close to his home. (Yes he gave me permission to use the picture and to use it as an example). He refused to move his woodpile in the summer because "it's too much work."
Say we have a huge wildfire where thousands of embers land in that woodpile, the whole pile along with its attached structure went up in flames and the continual radiant heat off of that burning structure burned his home down. Maybe "too much work" might just cost him his home someday...
My first summer at my prevention job I was assigned to deliver a "Ready, Set, Go" message to the Lolo Creek complex at an After Action Review they were holding at the community center. The only people that showed up were angry home owners that lost their homes and wanted to know why the fire departments didn't save their home, or why the helicopter that was in the area left and didn't perform bucket drops around their houses.
I can't tell a community enough that you just can't depend on resources to save you or your home from wildfire. Wildfire alone is unstoppable and unpredictable in most circumstances. Resources are stretched thin as it is when fire season is in full swing during the months of July and August. Volunteer and rural fire departments account for probably .01 percent of the community therefore they are highly outnumbered from homes to fire personnel. The best thing you can do is to call me or your local fire department to have one of us come out and perform a home visit so we can assess and discuss the potential hazards you have around your home that could potentially cause your home to burn to the ground.
Please take the time to familiarize yourself with wildfire and also participate in your local community wildfire preparedness week. These events typically take place at the Seeley Lake Fire Department. Give me a call at 406-542-4321. I'd be happy to help you in starting your journey to effectively living with wildfire.
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