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Auburn / Leicester Brush Fire, 1 May 2006
Now that's a fire!
Although rainfall to date is about normal, thanks in many areas to a 1.5" to 6" rainfall on April 23rd, most of the time it's been dry and windy -- when rain falls, within a day or two fire conditions on the National Fire Danger Rating System are back to Class 3 (High) or Class 4(Very High) over much of the area. I had just finished up a job at the Masonic Home in Charlton, MA a little before noon and walking outside, the smell of a brush fire was distinct in the air -- not heavy, but definitely there. Looking around from their high vantage, I didn't see a loom up... By the time I walked to my truck, 33.62 on the scanner had come alive -- Southbridge Fire Alarm was notifying other dispatch centers that the District 7 West / 2 Forestry Strike Force was being activated...hmmm...I think I will head to Auburn! |
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Weather & Fire Conditions There are two primary predictions that firefighters pay attention to. First is the "Fire Danger" rating based on the 1964 National Fire Danger Rating System. This system has five classes, sometimes referred to by number (1 through 5), or by name (low, medium, high, very high, extreme). The NFDRS prediction is based on observations and expectations of fire behavior on the south side of a hill, and is based on dryness of fuel, wind speed, and humidity. The Fire Danger is issued by each state's Forest Fire Service, usually a "predicted" value in the morning between 8 and 10 am; followed by an actual observed danger rating around 2pm. The 3 levels that concern firefighting are High (fine fuels like grass in open areas or sunny slopes will spread rapidly); Very High (fires start easily; larger fuels like branches readily catch fire, some "spotting" where fires jump ahead can be expected); and Extreme where fires spread rapidly, severe spotting is expected, and overhaul needs will be extensive. The Second prediction watched each day is the National Weather Service's Red Flag Warning -- they're not directly analogous, since you could have "High" danger with Red Flag one day, but "Very High" the following day without a Red Flag. Red Flag is primarily based on the danger of a fire due to unpredictability. It requires relatively low humidity, combined with high and / or erratic winds -- conditions which could cause firefighters to become trapped by a fire that rapidly changes direction and then moves quickly. While meant for wildland fires, Red Flag is a good indicator for difficult structural firefighting, too -- my town's fire last fall that damaged three floors & the attic of an 84 unit elderly housing complex occurred when a fire sparked by improper disposal of a cigarette in the mulch of a planter was driven by the wind across the facade of the structure.. Fire Danger
I couldn't find the Fire Danger ratings for Massachusetts online for 1 May 06. Red Flag Warning RED FLAG WARNING NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 1127 AM EDT MON MAY 1 2006 CTZ002>004-MAZ002>006-008>012-026-RIZ001-012300- /O.CON.KBOX.FW.W.0010.000000T0000Z-060501T2300Z/ HARTFORD CT-TOLLAND CT-WINDHAM CT-WESTERN FRANKLIN MA- EASTERN FRANKLIN MA-NORTHERN WORCESTER MA-CENTRAL MIDDLESEX MA- WESTERN ESSEX MA-WESTERN HAMPSHIRE MA-WESTERN HAMPDEN MA- EASTERN HAMPSHIRE MA-EASTERN HAMPDEN MA-SOUTHERN WORCESTER MA- NORTHERN MIDDLESEX MA-NORTHWEST PROVIDENCE RI- 1127 AM EDT MON MAY 1 2006 ...RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING... A RED FLAG WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 7 PM EDT THIS EVENING. NORTHEAST WINDS AROUND 15 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 25 MPH ARE EXPECTED THIS AFTERNOON WITH RELATIVE HUMIDITY DROPPING TO BETWEEN 15 AND 30 PERCENT. MEASURABLE RAINFALL HAS NOT OCCURRED IN ALMOST A WEEK AND WE ARE STILL NOT IN FULL GREEN-UP. AS A RESULT...THESE CONDITIONS POSE THE POTENTIAL FOR EXPLOSIVE FIRE GROWTH. A RED FLAG WARNING MEANS THAT CRITICAL FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS ARE EITHER OCCURRING NOW...OR WILL SHORTLY. ====================================== Weather always plays a major role in wild fires. On May 1st, for Worcester: High Temperature was 60F, which was seasonable. Precipitation year-to-date was 11.64", which was about 4" below normal. More dramatically, precipitation since March 1 was nearly 6" below normal and only 1/3 of what is normally expected in the period March 1 - May 1. Winds where from the northeast, at 22mph highest wind speeds, with 32mph high gusts, and a 13.2mph average. Unusually, the lowest humidity of the day was a 0200 hrs, when it bottomed at 21%. It reached it's max of 70% at 2300 hrs as the weather system bring rain moved closer. Normally night time is when "humidity recovery" occurs, the relative humidity rises -- what we normally call "dew" or "frost" when it's enough of an increase. |
I knew the area well enough -- about 4 or 5 years ago, with a much poorer camera I buffed a "large" (I think it took Auburn, Leicester, and Oxford...) on my way home from work in the same area. However, the batteries for the camera where weak and none of the photos came out acceptably. While I could smell the smoke nearly 10 miles away as the crow flies, by the time I was passing through Rochdale (about 3 miles out) the smoke was heavy enough had I been looking for a brush fire, I would have been going up driveways looking for it, convinced I was close. After leaving the village of Rochdale, the smoke wasn't as bad -- and that's consistent with my experience on large fires in the area -- the smoke will "settle" after it cools off. As we approached the vicinity, once more the smoke drifting became heavier. Massachusetts is divided into 14 Intercity Fire Mutual Aid Districts used to coordinate municipal mutual aid -- District 7 is the southern half of Worcester County. They seem to do a good job with the "District" system, and it allows them to pull in resources without stripping any single town or region. Some Stats compiled from Media Reports: Time of Alarm: 10:42 Located 150 yards into the woods, off the railroad tracks. 90% Contained by 17:30 hours 125 Acres burned 1 Structure (abandoned mansion) lost. 38 Municipal Fire Departments responded (approximately 1/8th of the municipalities in the state) 4 of 13 Districts of the Bureau of Forest Fire Control responded. 2 State Police Helicopters participated, initially 1 in an observation role, later switching to water drops; later joined by the 2nd copter. Approximately 100 gallon Bambi Bucket each. According to media reports, shortly after nightfall operations where suspended and reduced to a fire watch overnight. The following day around 7am the rain began to fall -- not a heavy rain, but half an inch at a steady pace all day extinguished the fire. Leaving hose to be humped out of the woods by rain soaked firefighters.
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That I could smell smoke certainly isn't surprising! On the map below, the Masonic Home is located at the red dot, and the approximate fire area at the green dot. With a wind out of the northeast, it was nearly a perfect line to me!
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In this closer view, the tail of the fire was located about 3500' south of the green dot -- as the field / gravel bank (brown, dull area) gives way to the greener woods:
My access was to park at the Worcester Hebrew Cemetery and hoof my way in along the railroad tracks (the black line kind of in the middle running north to south more or less). |
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The command post on the Auburn side, at the tail of the fire -- the main command post was setup on Sunrise Ave at this time, which would have been to the South and West of the head of the fire.
An engine from Millbury, with Leicester's large forestry truck in the rear.
Auburn's Tanker, with Millbury's Forestry in the foreground.
Oxford's Forestry...time for a narrower truck or a chainsaw :)
Little bit of duff (dry leaves, small branches, etc) going on the hillside
This is Mountain Laurel. First, until recent decades the fire based nature of southern New England's forests wasn't well understood. It's now realized many of the predominate species, such as Oaks, evolved in a situation of frequent, low intensity fires. In many areas, repeated suppression over the past century has created intense fire conditions as Mother Nature tries to return balance to the ecosystem. Second, we're on a south facing slope, in the springtime before "leaf out" -- without the shade of tree leaves, the sun is warming the forest floor's fuel load. In recent days to this fire, a steady wind has blow dried the top of the fuel -- in summer a fire tends to burn slower area wise, but burns deeper into the ground. This time of year, it'll move quickly on the surface but moisture below the surface floor will keep it from "burrowing" deep, eliminating organic material from the soil and following tree roots long distances. Third, the green shrubs are Mountain Laurel. And small mountain laurel at that -- this area burns frequently. We know that by observing a major clue like these compact Mountain Laurels -- without fire, either the Laurel would be spindly grasping for light underneath a mature canopy, or there would be tall (6' or higher) bushes. When the Mountain Laurel gets large like that, it starts to modify the ecology by blocking sunlight preventing species like oaks from growing from seedlings.
Ok, where will we make our stand?
Mountain Laurel cooking off. You'll hear it start to "boil" and snap shortly before it lights off...if you're in a large grove and upwind, time to hustle. If you're in the woods and hear a "train"...run quickly away since that's typically evergreens that are "crowing" with fire up in the needles of the tree.
Here comes the Calvary! Or, at least as close as we're going to get.
More Mountain Laurel cooking off.
More Mountain Laurel cooking off.
Roasted Mountain Laurel anyone?
At least the good news is when all the fuel burns up, the fire goes out on it's own...
Sturbridge's Forestry has worked in as far as their comfortable going -- need to leave yourself some room to work, so you're not caught if the wind suddenly shifts and pushes the fire at you.
Makes you wonder, with the higher Mountain Laurel here, if this isn't the first time a fire has been stopped here.
We're turning, we're turning...
This is going to be a long, long afternoon...
The crew led in with about 800' of 1.5" hose from the railroad tracks. Here they are putting a "Gated Wye" on the hose which will allow them to distribute it to multiple hoselines, as well as Sturbridge's Forestry.
Spencer Firefighters laying out hose along the woods road. They're using standard, structural 1.5" hose
A Sturbridge Firefighter follows the Spencer guys. He's laying out a smaller hoseline -- called an "Inch and an Eight Massachusetts Forestry Hose" -- it's 1-1/8" in diameter. It's one of the local variations seen in firefighting tools, especially for wildlands. If I recall correctly, it is a lightweight but lined hose which allows it to flow more water than an unlined hose does, as well as be used from "booster" reels -- however, many areas like Connecticut use unlined hose since it leaks, reducing the chance of the fire burning through the line.
More hose layout...
Start the pump!
Getting ready to start working the fire.
More pressure please...
A remarkably small amount of water will knock down a fire -- the work comes in "overhaul." Overhauling a forest fire requires building fire lines, raking over leaves, overturning logs, and digging up roots where embers may still be located. Without overhauling or "mopping up" a forest fire, these sparks can ignite an new blaze later -- or most dangerously, behind a crew burning their hose line and causing it to burst! Large fires like this often require chainsaws, since dead, punky trees will often start to smolder near their tops and will give off sparks for days.
The firefighters in the woods in these photos came from included one Leicester Officer, an Oxford Firefighter, and the rest from Sturbridge and Spencer. Here Sturbridge Firefighters add more hoseline having knocked down the fire near the woods road -- their mission will be to extinguish the fire's flank for roughly 500' both east and west of the woods road.
Putting wet stuff on red stuff...
Doing the Smokey Bear...Spencer guys stamp out a small spot fire that had re-ignited behind Sturbridge's crew -- this is the kind of fire that can result in a burned hoseline.
Backing line out of the woods, so they can wet down the area again so they don't have another rekindle behind them.
Coming out of the woods.
With the Sturbridge crew having a good handle on the flank, the 1-1/2" line isn't needed as a backup to protect their Forestry anymore. Spencer firefighters start to re-locate the line so they can work the upper parts of the flank towards the head on top of hill -- the chainsaw work removes minor branches that create eye hazards, tripping hazards, and otherwise are a pain to work around.
One of Spencer's Forestry trucks parked in a relative clearing in the Forest. On a fire like this, they're simply mules to bring the hose and hand tools up closer to the fire -- trucks this size typically carry 150 to 200 gallons, far too little for a fire of this size!
Another Spencer Forestry with Oxford's Forestry in front.
Nice pic of Sturbridge's Forestry.
Spencer Firefighters leading into the woods with the 1.5" line.
Ok boys, this is where we have to starting walking up a steep slope...
A wider view -- you can see the flank burning on top of this ridge -- fires burn downhill slower than uphill, so there's time to get the lines in place. If the situation was reversed, and these firefighters where uphill and upwind, they'd be hustling a lot faster (if even in that dangerous location at all!).
Back to the Forestries, grab a ton of 1-1/8" forestry hose. I'm not sure how long a length of 1-1/8" typically is...looks to me like they're each carrying about 300' of hose.
Getting ready to layout the forestry hose. The Spencer guys will work southward from where the Sturbridge firefighters are.
So, how do you supply them with water?
Oxford Chief Wilson speaking with his pump operator; a crew from one of the Brookfields walking up.
The Brookfield crew...sorry, I forgot if it was East, West, or North Brookfield firefighters :)
Looking north up the tracks.
CSX had sent a representative out to the scene as a liaison to coordinate with commanders the safe passage of their trains.
My truck in the foreground, loom up in the background. I kind of wish I had taken a "before" picture -- the loom up would've been near (or off) the left hand side of the photo!
Stuck in detoured traffic, I first thought the sirens I heard was more "incoming" units when a Leicester engine went by -- another brush fire reported in a different part of town!d
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The abandoned Wright Mansion (founders of Wright Wire) was destroyed -- it was located on a 1/2 mile long driveway off Leicester Street, with a rotted bridge that precluded easy vehicle access. Fire also crossed Leicester Street. A total of 125 acres was estimated to have burned. Meanwhile, adjacent Worcester had a 4 Alarm fire spread to 5 residences around 1600 hours! Days like this, the wind is not our friend...I don't think it ever is in firefighting. After circling the fire after leaving where I took the photos, I wasn't able to get into any other "good" areas as the police had secured a good perimeter by this point. But I stopped at the Auburn Post Office to take this video of their flag: Sorry I'm not a good video editor! But it gives you an indication of the steady, stiff Northeast wind -- which by this point would pause for short breaks before blowing again.
Recent Fire Activity in New England...
Saturday saw increased fire activity -- Attawaugan (Town of Killingly, CT) arrived to find 3 acres burning and an exposed barn. Fire went to 5 acres and destroyed the structure. All 6 Killingly departments, as well as East Putnam, Pomfret, State Forestry, and I believe units from Rhode Island where involved. Sunday saw several fairly large fires by Southern New England standards -- especially given the location of several near mid-size cities. Naugatuck, CT lost 42 acres on -- initial fire was 2 acres and nearly contained when water ran short and the fire took off. Bristol, CT lost 30 acres -- and evacuated a trailer park that was threatened. A 20 acre fire adjacent to a reservoir started Sunday in Holyoke, and remained burning 24 hours later. Even communities more use to fires saw fairly big wildfires -- Union, CT had mutual aid from Ashford, Staffordville, as well as special calls to the Tolland County Wildfire Strike Team, County Support Unit (Service 119), and Willington Hill for ATVs to control a seven acre forest fire off of Skopec Road (probably within Nipmuc State Forest). Numerous departments where called to Spencer to assist with the control of an 8 acre forest fire in that town. Monday started off with Very High fire danger ratings. A fire in Milton by the Blue Hills Observatory had burned over 75 acres -- normally that would've been good enough to lead on the evening news, without the wildfire in Leicester or the four alarm blaze in Worcester! Quincy, MA was also reported to have had a 100 acre forest fire. With 2 State Police helicopters being used on the Auburn fire for bambi bucket drops, a National Guard helicopter provided water drops in Quincy! While there was about 1/2" of rain during Tuesday and Wednesday, by Sunday the 7th fire conditions where starting to get tinder again. In Meriden, CT a fire along a "Trap Rock Ridge" started along a hiking trail. While near several mid-size city, and half a mile or less from a major highway..access required crews to go in with backpack pumps, rakes, and brooms along a 2-1/2 mile trail to reach the 10 acre fire in brush and dead hemlocks while firefighters on a parallel ridge spotted for water drops by the CSP Trooper-1 Helicopter. |
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This topographic map gives you a sense of the fairly steep terrain -- about as steep as you'll find in Southern New England outside of the Berkshires. The map is taken from the 1949 Worcester South Quadrangle map (old, non-copyrighted topographic maps are available at http://docs.unh.edu/nhtopos/nhtopos.htm).
Using eye-ball measurements, I'm seeing slopes hitting 65% in parts of the fire, and possibly around 45% on the approach to the mansion that burned. Combined with reports that the officer at the mansion reported a 20' wall of flames, and assuming the hillside had Mountain Laurel or similar brush that's quite believable. (I'm planning to get up in there around mid-May to do a "field survey" including verifying the slopes). (See more info on the pic below). The terrain does tell a lot of the story -- it's slow for people to climb slopes like that, fires move quickly up slopes like that especially when they line up to take advantage of the wind, and especially if they're covered with brush no sane fire officer would put his guys ahead of the fire in those conditions. While Southern New England forest fires are usually attacked head-first in order to limit their overall size...this is a classic situation where that is not possible. Indeed, for comparison -- although shorter in length -- both of these grades are similar to Mann Gulch and Storm King Mountain which are famous western fires that are the only ones to have seen the deaths of Smoke Jumpers by fire in history, and among the deadliest overall. I'm not sure the exact slope on Mann Gulch until I dig up my copy of Norm Maclean's "Young Men & Fire", however having recently read his son John Maclean's "Fire on the Mountain" about Storm King, most of the fatalities (12 of 14) occurred on a 55% slope they where retreating over. They where similar slopes, however.
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Aren't the satellite maps cool? This one from Google Maps let me locate the woods road! Also, I had no idea how close we where to the mansion that was destroyed. Now, one can make an educated guess on the fire behavior. With a steady northeast wind, the fire would've gone over the top of one ridge and slowly burned down the steep ravine (the dark green / heavy brush & shadowed area). I have no idea if "spot fires" was an issue, but I believe it was doubtful since similar conditions where I was locater were not causing spots. Once reaching the bottom, the wind would've been stronger no longer blocked as much by the ridge, and the only two things that run faster uphill than down are bears and fire -- the hot air from the fire below helping dry out and heat the fuel load in advance of the main fire. From the photos, the fuel load was similar if not greater to the area I was taking the pictures.
There is another interesting lesson to reinforce from the aerial photo. The "traditional" (how I first learned anyways back in the 1980s) for setting up a crew to fight a fire deep in the upland hardwoods of New England like these is a crew of six. On the hike in, everyone carries a 5 gallon backpack pump ("Indian Tank"), with two carrying "Rakes" (a/k/a Council Tool -- a cutting / raking tool using sickle mower teeth as it's teeth), two with "Brooms" (heavy bamboo brooms), one with a shovel, and one with a standard axe. On arrival at where they'll go to work, the crew drops four of the backpack pumps, the shovel, and the axe as a "tool cache." The crew generally works from the black (the already burned area) along the edge of the fire. The lead backpack pump firefighter starts to walk along the fire line, quickly knocking down the fire. He's followed by the 2nd backpack pump firefighter who handles any remaining flames or embers -- he may also work back on the line when summoned by another firefighter. Following the backpack pumps are the two rakers, who drag a rough line and pull heavy bits of wood back into the black -- paying special attention to cut light brush like briars, or bypassing the large obstacles to make a fireline a few feet away from the black. The two brooms follow, sweeping and remaining leaves and other "fines" back into/towards the black. Always move stuff towards the black so you don't breach your own fireline. If there was no stream convenient to refill from, the backpack pump firefighters replace their empty backpacks from the tool cache as needed. The shovel and axe are available for special challenges -- a punky tree spitting sparks that needs to be chopped down being the primary one. A crew setup like this...wouldn't have been able to control, or only control at the cost of an excessive amount of work and danger, the fire in the Mountain Laurel patches. Without a couple chainsaws along with operators who know how to cut brush and lots of personel to haul cut brush, you're not making a manual fire break through it, besides it's dangerous in many conditions. A traditional six-person crew however could've fought a fire like this too far in for hoselines to be practical by working around the Mountain Laurel spots -- attacking the fire in the "brown" areas in the pic above where it's just forest floor duff they're setup to handle. Let the Laurel burn itself, make your lines around the patches already involved. Perhaps even a small backfire to speed up the burning of the patch once the line is built so you're not waiting as long for it to burn itself off. Of course, the availability of helicopters today help make water attack in remote areas more practical. Helicopters dropping water only came to New England in the late 1990s (Massachusetts State Police began using a Bambi Bucket in 1999; the National Guard a couple years earlier. This application was part of the justification for the Connecticut State Police helicopter which first went into service in 2001. You may also see a situation that the hand crews make lines where they can (the duff is fairly safe overall), bypassing more dangerous areas until hoselines can be stretched in; or hose & pumps hiked in to utilize a stream or pond. Bypassing areas in this region is more dangerous to hose crews, who risk a burn through of their hoseline while working more volatile fuel areas then hand crews handle. It's interesting to note -- especially visible in the larger photo of the area near the top of this site -- the amount of Mountain Laurel that is up on top of the hill West and South of the mansion -- it's understandle why so many resources ended up being called in to help control the fire once it entered those large, dangerous patches that required direct hose work. |
