Local Forest Service numbers decrease
SANDERS COUNTY – With fire season in full swing, the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District is experiencing a lull in their numbers, with many forest service officials out of the area fighting wildfires or returning to college.
“At one point eleven folks were down at the Lolo Complex fire,” said Forest Service Ranger Randy Hojem.
Although numbers vary each day, on Monday the local forest service had twelve people on between Plains and Thompson Falls. Typically during the summer months there are closer to 20 personnel available in case a fire breaks out.
Hojem explained every morning a call goes out to each of the different districts to help determine what staffing numbers are like throughout the area.
“We figure out how to provide help for each other based on that,” said Hojem. “We’ve always been successful in bringing in resources from outside of the area on a temporary basis to give us a few hands.”
Even with low numbers, Hojem feels they have everything under control as of now.
“I feel pretty good that we have things covered right now as long as we don’t get a severe burst of lightning or human caused fires,” said Hojem.
On Monday, fire supervisor for the Plains’ DNRC unit Calvin Minemyer said the county was rated at a lightning activity level of four until at least Wednesday, Aug. 28, indicating that there is a pretty good chance of lightning in the area.
If the fire situation worsened and a fire started, Hojem ensured the forest service would do whatever they could to get more personnel in the area.
“We’d be pulling them from wherever we could get them, looking at neighbors in Trout Creek and the Cabinet District. We’d be placing orders through dispatch to bring in whatever the need is whether its aircrafts or crews,” said Hojem.
The initial attack of a wildfire always takes the highest priority over an ongoing incident because agencies want to ensure the fire does not explode during the primary stages.
Pulling help from different areas depends on the availability of personnel.
“We have a pretty quick response of getting the needed resources in,” said Hojem, stating the time frame of getting a response is more dependant on fire behavior and fire weather during the initial stages of a fire.
“If the weather and the fire conditions are behaving, we could get enough resources and people pretty quick. If the weather is hot and dry and windy, then its much more difficult to get resources on time,” said Hojem.
Hojem stated that getting aircrafts on an emergency fire as quickly as possible is helpful in holding a fire in check until they are able to get more personnel on the ground, whether that be a helicopter with a water bucket or a SEAT plane with fire retardant.
With the high fire danger, both the DNRC and the Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District responded to fires over the weekend.
The DNRC responded to a fire in the Big Thompson River area, sizing at a tenth of an acre on Monday. Minemyer said the fire should be on patrol by the end of Monday.
As for the forest service, Hojem stated that crews responded to a fire in the Siegel Creek area on Sunday and one in Thompson Falls on Monday morning. Ten personnel were fighting the fire on Siegel Creek and Hojem stated the forest service was maintaining control of the fire, partly thanks to the help of a tender, or a big water truck, that helped establish a hose lay, transporting water to the fire.
“Usually if we can get water around a fire then we are pretty successful at hanging on to it,” said Hojem.
Personnel may stay on the fire in Siegel Creek, which was less than two acres, for a few days to monitor fire activity and ensure that all hot spots were out.
The fire in Thompson Falls was a single tree fire that was caused by a lightning strike. Hojem believed the fire would be put out by the end of the day on Monday.