Swamp Creek burn goes according to plan
<p>The prescribed burn that took place at Swamp Creek was taken on in an effort to help reduce underbrush and to help enhance wildlife.</p>
PLAINS – The Plains/Thompson Falls Ranger District ignited Swamp Creek last week as part of their fuel reduction and wildlife enhancement projects.
Ranger Randy Hojem said the area had been logged two years ago and the ranger district was igniting the slash that was left over from the logging efforts as well as trying to kill some of the underbrush in the area.
The burn had many citizens concerned but Hojem explained the burn went smoothly and the ranger district had no issues with it.
“Right now people are pretty concerned because there’s still potential for wildfires,” said Hojem explaining one recently lit up in the Missoula area. “That’s where a lot of people are concerned because they are fighting (a fire) there and we’re lighting one here.”
Typically the forest service conducts burns in both the spring and fall until a season ending event stops the burn season.
Like every burn, there is always a level of unpredictability that comes along with it and before each decision to light up, the risks are weighed heavily before the first spark is set.
As the thick smoke billowed out of the drainage, about 200 acres were carefully burned.
On Tuesday afternoon, Hojem said the crew had about another hour of ignition and then the burn project would be complete.
With an 80 percent chance of rain that following night, the ranger district took advantage of the wet weather coming in.
The crew of 12 people was on the fire until after dark to ensure enough moisture fell in the area and that everything was put out.
The veterans used a common method used in many prescribed burns called the strip head method. Personnel on the fire lit narrow strips and let it burn out before then lighting another slip.
“They are not lighting on the bottom and letting (the fire) run up. They just keep working it down slope, letting some of the heat burn out of it before they light the next strip,” explained Hojem.
The trick to the method is keeping the fire at a good temperature – a place where it is not emitting too much heat but still has enough heat for the fire to burn.
With fall quickly coming upon us, the ranger district plans a handful of other burns, although, Hojem said the Swamp Creek area was the one located closest to town.
The Ranger district plans to burn in the Fish Trap area as well as Finley Flats and on Eddy Mountain – a fire that will be visible to the community of Thompson Falls.
“We’ll burn until we get shut down from a true season ending event,” said Hojem, explaining that typically the end all event happens due to rainfall.
The season ending event usually occurs when enough moisture is in the air to change the weather patterns. At this time, more moisture comes from the northwest and Canada.
Even after the end all event, the Ranger District burns some slash piles into the winter – when the cooler weather and the snow allows the piles to burn unattended and without a worry.
“They generate a lot of heat so we’ll go in and light those with snow on top of them and then it will melt the snow and it will burn up,” said Hojem.
Although, Hojem said he understands why people are concerned he said the risk of igniting a forest fire is weighed out before the decision to burn is made.
“I certainly understand why people get concerned. It’s putting a little smoke in their backyard and we haven’t had any all summer,” said Hojem. “We’re in a fire ecosystem. We are going to have fires either on Mother Nature’s terms or we can do some of them on our terms.”