News.bytesNews.bytes Extra, issue 321

Fire and Ice

Snowshoes and Nomex seem like an unlikely combination of tools for a firefighter, but that's exactly what well-equipped crew members are wearing these days in the BLM's Eagle Lake Field Office.

Fuels crews are venturing into the snow-covered Eagle Lake Basin to complete pile burning projects, taking advantage of the calm between winter storms and the fire safety provided by snow cover.  The crews are setting ablaze more than 700 piles of limbs and debris created in last year's spring and summer fuels reduction projects.  The fuels projects, consisting primarily of juniper reduction, are designed to reduce wildfire danger for communities in the Eagle Lake Basin and to improve land health by improving the diversity of plants. (text continues below)

Crew member Pat Farris straps on snow shoes at the side of the road
Above: Crew member Pat Farris straps on his snow shoes as he prepares for a day of burning.

Below: A slash pile blazes away as fuels crew member Craig Wilson touches a drip torch to an unburned pile.
Crew member Craig Wilson touches a drip torch to an unburned slash pile, as another pile burns nearby

Karl Todd, a BLM fire prevention and mitigation specialist, shows the results of winter burning:  a cleanly burned slash pile.
Crew member Karl Todd stands over a cleanly burned slash pile

Fuels crew members said they will continue the pile burning project for the next several weeks, working across a three-mile-long project area.

- J. Fontana, 2/08
- Photos by Ed Merrill, fuels specialist for the BLM's Eagle Lake Field Office.


BLM California News.bytes, issue 321