Craig Interagency Dispatch Center 2007 Year-End Report

Cooperating Agencies

Bureau of Land Management United States Forest Service

National Park Service US Fish and Wildlife Service

Colorado State Forest Service Moffat, Routt, Rio Blanco, Jackson & Grand Counties

http://gacc.nifc.gov/rmcc/dispatch_centers/r2crc/

CRAIG INTERAGENCY DISPATCH CENTER 2007 YEAR END REPORT

The 2007 fire season was closer to an “average” year; the dispatch center supported approximately 750 incidents. The first wildfire of the season was a Grand County fire in April with the final fire occurring in November. The dispatch center experienced 52 multiple fire days with the most fires in one day being 29, compared to 2006 with 51 multiple fire days and 30 fires in one day. Total number of fires, all agencies this season was 336 for 6825 acres.

The dispatch center supported two type 3 incidents, and several extended attack type 4 incidents that lasted longer than the type 3 incidents and resulted in more resource order support. Mobilization of resources out of the dispatch area was steady. The dispatch center mobilized equipment, crews, and overhead within the Rocky Mountain Area as well as to the Southwest, Northern Rockies, Western Great Basin, Eastern Great Basin, and California areas for wildland fire assignments. As in years past, a type 3 helicopter was on the unit for about a month to support initial attack and severity. The dispatch center was close to being fully staffed this year; with one career seasonal Initial Attack Dispatcher position vacant. The use of “militia” and AD’s filled in during periods of high activity. Since our office was well staffed this year, we were able to reciprocate help to other offices, including Atlanta, Yuma, Durango, Winnemucca, Helena and Casper Dispatch Centers. This allowed individuals to work on Initial Attack and Aircraft Dispatcher taskbooks, as well as gain and share knowledge and experiences. 748 Incident Actions were processed this past year which included wildfire suppression, prescribed fire support, wildfire use support, all risk incidents, burned area rehabilitation, flight following for the regional bug flight, public assists, and flight requests. The dispatch center faced several challenges due to organizational and personnel changes, but the year was safe and successful.

2007 CRC Fire Statistics

Cause BLM USFS NPS FWS State/DOW Private Totals

# Ac # Ac # Ac # Ac # Ac # Ac # Ac Human 7 19 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 2240 36 305 47 2564 Unknown 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Lightning 205 1851 12 37 4 1 1 2 8 12 56 2357 286 4260 WFU 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 Totals 212 1870 15 37 6 2 1 2 9 2252 92 2662 336 6825

Totals from columns may not match totals from rows due to rounding.

BLM Fire Statistics by Unit

Cause WRD LSD KRD Totals # Ac # Ac # Ac # AC

Human 4 13 1 5 2 1 7 19 Lightning 142 167 62 1684 1 0 205 1851

WFU 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals 146 180 63 1689 3 1 212 1870

Totals from columns may not match totals from rows due to rounding.

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

Fire Acres by Cause and Agency

Human

Lightning (includesWFU)

Human 19 0 0 0 305 2240

Lightning (includes WFU) 1851 2 2 37 2357 12

BLM NPS FWS USFS PVTCRS/D

OW

0

50

100

150

200

250

Number of Fires by Agency

Human

Lightning (includesWFU)

Human 7 0 0 3 36 1

Lightning (includes WFU) 205 6 1 13 56 8

BLM NPS FWS USFS PVTCRS/D

OW

End of the Year Report – NW Colorado Fire Management Unit Fuels Management and Fire Use

Summary The Fire Management unit had a total of 336* fires that burned 6,825 acres. Of these totals, 234 fires occurred on Federal lands and burned 1911 acres, 10 fires burned on State lands for 2252 acres, and 92 fires were on county-jurisdiction lands burning 2662 acres. * All numbers include USFS fires Fuels Management The Unit treated a significant number of acres in the Fuels Management arena this year. Contract and Force account work was utilized on mechanical treatment projects and force account employees accomplished prescribed burning projects. The following table shows accomplishments for the unit throughout the year.

Unit Mech. Treatment

Rx Treatment Total Acres

Little Snake FO 648 ac 224 ac 872 ac White River FO 855 ac 335 ac 1190 ac Kremmling FO 311 ac 20 ac 331 ac Dinosaur NM 155 ac 185 ac 340 ac Arapaho FWS 0 120 ac 120 ac

Browns Park FWS 1 ac 253 ac 254 ac Unit-wide Totals 1970 ac 1137 ac 3107 ac The cheat grass control efforts on the White River Field Office continued this year. A total of 384 acres were sprayed from the air and then seeded. With the dry spring and early summer that we experienced, new growth from the seeding was not as prolific as last year, but the project continues to show promise and treatments are expected to continue in the future years.

Slaugh Wall RX Wildland Fire Use The WFU program was not a big player in the Unit’s fie management program this year. Dinosaur National Monument had two small WFU’s for a total of

two acres. There were several fires managed under confinement strategies on the unit, the largest of which was slightly under 20 acres. With the

increasing levels of oil and gas development on the White River Field Office lands, the Piceance Basin area was withdrawn from WFU consideration for the

summer as was a fairly small area in Skull Creek Basin due to the urban interface situation that exists there. These exclusion areas are reviewed

each year by the Field Office and fire management staffs to determine what the proper management responses to fires that occur.

Routt National Forest Year End Report

For Fuels Management and Fire Use Summary The Routt National Forest had 17 fires in the 2007 season that burned approximately 38 acres. Of these fires, only a small fraction of acreage was on lands administered by someone other than the Forest Service (.10 acres). Fuels Management The Routt made great strides in the urban interface by participating in the development of several Community Wildfire Protection Plans (CWPP). Communities with new plans are North Routt, Stagecoach, North End, Rainbow Lakes/Westside and Wade-Tamlin. Fuels targets were met once again this year with 1,318 acres of mechanical treatment and 706 acres of prescribed fire for a total of 2,024 total treated acres with 1,628 of treated acres falling under WUI classification.

Mechanical RX Total Total Acres WUI

1,318 ac 706 ac 2024 ac 1,628 ac Fire Use Indices for most of the fire season were too extreme to consider fire use on the Routt NF. Timing, forecasted weather, fuel conditions as well as staffing shortages both locally and nationally led to the zone decision of primarily using

suppression actions during the summer campaign. One WFU was recorded towards the later part of the season when hot and dry conditions relented

somewhat but only grew to a tenth of an acre.

Tommy fire

2007 Large Fire Summary

Incident Start Cause Final Agency State

& Team Team Name Date Acreage Unit Name Type

Jack 7/14/07 L 170 BLM/Private CO-LSD Beckerman

Type 3

Mud Springs 8/14/07 H 2480 CRS CO-CRS Wheeler

Type 3

Lone Tree 8/23/07 L 3550 BLM/Private CO-LSD Stearns

Type 4

2007 Incident Action Summary

Craig Dispatch Smoke Reports

Duplicates 22

False Alarms 35

Smoke Checks 32

Wildfires 336

Smoke ChecksDuplicatesFalse AlarmsWildfires

Tommy fire

5 – Year Averages: Fires and Acres

Averages: Fires

303.2

210

227

430

336

313

0

100

200

300

400

500

2003 2004 2005 2006 Average 2007

Averages: Acres

68257497.4

13011

4106

9903

3642

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

2003 2004 2005 2006 Average 2007

CRC Resource Order Statistics

2007 Resource Orders

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

UnfilledFilled

Unfilled 20 5 8 62

Filled 103 22 54 202

Aircraft Crews Equipment Overhead

Resource Order Requests Processed

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007Orders Processed

785693

705

1330

4760

500

1000

1500

Orders Processed

Orders Processed 785 693 705 1330 476

2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

2007 Resource Order Statistics Workload By Unit

(including UTF’s and CX)

WRD LSD KRD RTF DSP BPR CRC Counties/ Totals State

Overhead 23 9 0 63 4 3 36 7 145

Crews 3 4 0 2 0 0 2 3 14

Equipment 12 4 0 13 2 2 4 3 40

Aircraft 54 17 2 13 4 0 5 10 105

Totals 92 34 2 91 10 5 47 23 304

Crew Summary

CO-CRC Filled Crew Resource Orders

9

3

1

Type 1Type 2UTF

CO-CRC Placed Crew Resource Orders

8

2

4

Type 1Type 2UTF

Yampa Valley Crew – Poe Cabin fire, ID

Historical Crew Usage within CRC Zone (Includes Local and Visiting Crews, Type 1 & 2)

Year Number of Crews

Number of Days

1995 10 40

1996 37 146

1997 1 5

1998 17 83

1999 23 Not Available

2000 71 228

2001 93 342

2002 135 1051

2003 30 85

2004 33 95

2005 4 6

2006 19 60

2007 10 20

Craig Interagency Hotshots The Craig Interagency Hotshots spent 84 days on 26 fire assignments. There were nine out-of region, seven regional and one local assignment.

Yampa Valley Interagency Type 2 Crew The Yampa Valley Interagency type 2 crew was on 3 assignments for 25 days worked. They were on one national, one interregional, and one local assignment.

Poe Cabin fire, ID

Equipment Summary 9 Engine Orders were Filled

Local Engines Sent Off District

Home Unit Engine # Ordered

To Days Assigned

CO-RTF E-617 WY-CPC 2

CO-RTF E-617 WY-CPC 1

CO-BPR E-610 UT-NUC 8

CO-RTF E-618 CO-FTC 1

CO-RTF E-617 CO-FTC 2

CO-CRD E-612 CO-SBCC 10

2007 Aircraft Summary

24

1

443

4

55

18

SEATHelicopter, T1Helicopter, T3ReconAir TacticleLoad, SmokejumpersMisc.UTF

Historical SEAT Usage 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

5 19 50 55 37 28 30 24