Final destination: OSBS, Melrose, FL

How are you doing friends? Hope you are happy and ready to read a little more about my trip. This post is going to be one the more sad ones: the last burn occured, the Prescribed Fire Training Center 20-day Course has finished and it is time for goodbyes. But, let's go first with the last burns!

After leaving Lakeland, GA, we drove to Gainesville another time. Actually we weren't burning in Gainesville, but the lodging was there. Our next destination was the Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (University of Florida owned and managed) in Melrose, FL (http://ordway-swisher.ufl.edu/). Quote from their webpage: "The Ordway-Swisher Biological Station (OSBS) is a year-round field station established for the long-term study and conservation of unique ecosystems through management, research, and education. The Station is the largest facility (area-wise) that UF operates and currently comprises over 9,278 acres. OSBS is administered through the UF Institute of Food & Agricultural Science's (IFAS) Office of the Dean for Research. OSBS has a mosaic of wetlands and uplands that include sandhills, xeric hammock, upland mixed forest, swamps, marshes, clastic upland lakes, sandhill upland lakes, and marsh lakes. There is a variety of fauna which inhabit the Station including a number of state and federally listed species. Archeological sites on the Station show human presence and require more investigation. The most recent uses of the lands comprising the Station were cattle ranching and game hunting. Wildfires and prescribed burning have had a strong influence on the property".

Unafortunately the first couple days rained (14th and 15th April), so we weren't able to burn. Of course, that doesn't means that is not a burn day, because in PFTC "every day is a burn day", even though if there's no fire in the ground. We took that opportunity to take a look on the burn units, become familiar with flora (Pinus palustris, Quercus cerris, grasses) and fauna (turtles, snakes, fire hunts,...) and start writting the burning plans:

BURN UNIT 12 - (B-1a) - (no date) - OSBS, Melrose, FL
-Rain increased too much moisture in both fuels and ground, so that unit became unburnable (about 10 inches of rain in one day).


BURNI UNIT 13 - (C-10a) - 16th April 2013 - OSBS, Melrose, FL

****BRIEFING

-Size: 80,97ha (200.00ac).

-Fuel model: mainly SH4, TU3.

-Main winds: NE.

-Objectives: wildland fire hazard reduction, maintain grass cover, keeping fire regime returnability, kill 40% of Rosemary areas, renew sparse fuel areas, burn as much as possible hardwood/hammock areas, firefighters and public safety.

-Concerns: ticks, snakes, bees, turtles, snugs (few), sinkholes, power line (NE corner), fire hunts, dump (glass jars, cans,...), PVC pipes (toxic fumes), and firefighters and public safety.

-Burn boss trainee: Peter Harris.

 

****DEVELOPMENT

-Test fire was succesfuly conducted in C15 reference point.

-Team 1 built black line with BACKING FIRE and some strips from C15 to G2. Fire behavior was great so FIRB(+) decided to wide black line with STRIP HEADING FIRE in direction W-E. They also took care about sparse fuel areas and hardwood/hammock spots.

-Team 2 built black line from C15 to C14 and then to C13, burning fuels near the lake and trying to send high intensity fire to hardwood/hammock areas.

-Collaborators: 2 type 6 engines, 1 4X4 UTV, 1 6X6 UTV and six people.

-I can't specify more details about that burn because I was doing weather. I want to emphasize in that position "WX". I had never done that before and I realized how important it is and also how funny. It isn't all about putting fire in the ground. There are many factors to take in account and many important jobs to do while burning.

The responsible for doing weather and other observations is called FEMO (Fire Effects Monitor). He/she has to make weather measurements during the burn/fire and monitor fire behavior (rate of spread, flame lenght, fire effects, vegetation responde, smoke column,...). In our burns we only do weather measurements. Specifically, the following measurements should be performed: dry bulb, wet bulb, relative humidity, dead fuel moisture content (with correction), wind speed, wind direction and probability of ignition. Smoke must also be monitored.

I could write a explication about how to use weather belt kit, but I think it wouldn't be as better as the ones you can find in some guides (for example: http://www.pocketmobility.com/bonus/beltweatherkit.pdf). Basically, you measure both dry and wet bulb. Then you go to the psychometric tables and obtain the RH. With dry buld and other tables you find and correct DFMC and finally you determine de PIG. Smoke must be observed as much time as necessary, taking in account local and general winds, color, dispersion and density. All of that give us many information. Really interesting.

 ****DEBRIEFING

 -Great briefing.

-Quick execution of the plan once in the field.

-Good communication between lighters and FIRB but bad communications between both teams.

-Great job adjuscting firing techniques when weather changes.

-Jeff and Greg had to jump to the black because of a wind shift. Cloud cover changed expected weather and resulted both in many wind shifts and higher RH.

-Good job maintaining opperation's momentum.

-Efficient burn. Objectives MET.

****PHOTOS

Look at that smoke column! What's telling you? Many things!

And finally, fire warmed my neck:

BURN UNIT 14 - (G-2) - 17th, April 2013 - OSBS, Melrose, FL

****BRIEFING

-Size: 77,73ha (192.00ac).

-Fuel model: mainly SH4, TU3.

-Main winds: NE-E.

-Objectives: wildland fire hazard reduction, maintain grass cover, keeping fire regime returnability, kill 40% of Rosemary areas, kill 40% of Quercus cerris areas, renew sparse fuel areas, burn as much as possible hardwood/hammock areas, firefighters and public safety.

-Concerns: ticks, snakes, bees, turtles, snugs (few), sinkholes, power line (NE corner), fire hunts, dump (glass jars, cans,...) and firefighters and public safety.

-Burn boss trainee: Jeremy Bradley.

-WINDOW: 3hours 30minutes (time to accomplish the burn, determinated by Burn boss trainee).

****DEVELOPMENT

-Honestly, I don't remember how we burn this unit, hahaha. Let's guess what I would do if I were the BB(+):

-Test fire in south-west corner.

-Team 1: black line with BACKING FIRE built with a couple of strips from B34 to G13.

-Team 2: the same from B34 to G2 and then to G3. When they reach G2 Team 1 con black the whole south-western corner and burn the sparse fuels area.

-Team 1: burn the southern area with STRIP HEADING FIRE, building a solid line from G2 to G11 at the end, and cleaning the dump safely. Meanwhile Team 2 starts STRIP HEADING FIRE in G2 area, with N-S direction, and waiting Team 1 to advance as much as necessary to don't been smoked by its fire.

-Collaborators: 2 type 6 engines, 1 4X4 UTV, 1 6X6 UTV and six people.

Now, looking the GPS tracks, I have remembered that we didn't that. We do something similar but, instead of breaking the unit in two simultaneous opperations, we did strips all over the unit, with N-S direction:

****DEBRIEFING

-Perfect timing: we met timeframes' objectives. Absolutelly efficient burn.

-Good and fast decisions, with efficient use of resources.

-Need to improve in switching people assignements (breaks).

-Burning with 86% RH.

-Keep one eye in weather, always have good situational awareness. There are always things to learn.

****PHOTOS

 

BURN UNIT 15 - (G-6a, & G-6b) - 18th, April 2013 - OSBS, Melrose, FL
BURN UNIT 16 - (I-2 & I-3a) - 18th, April 2013 - OSBS, Melrose, FL

We burned both units at the simultaneously, breaking the crew in two teams.

****BRIEFING

-Size: 39,68ha (98.00ac) + 6,07ha (15.00ac) + 9,72ha (24.00ac) + 12,55ha (31.00ac).

-Fuel model: mainly SH4, TU3.

-Main winds: E-SE.

-Objectives: wildland fire hazard reduction, maintain sandhill ecology, keeping fire regime returnability, kill 40% of Rosemary areas, kill 40% of Quercus cerris areas, renew sparse fuel areas, burn as much as possible hardwood/hammock areas, firefighters and public safety.

-Concerns: ticks, snakes, bees, turtles, snugs (few), sinkholes, power line (NE corner), fire hunts, dump (glass jars, cans,...), old fences, and firefighters and public safety.

-Burn boss trainee: Peter Harris.

-WINDOW: 2hours 30minutes (time to accomplish the burn, determinated by Burn boss trainee).

****DEVELOPMENT
a) G-6 unit:
-Test fire succesfully conducted in the north east corner of the sparse fuels (close to G8).
-Team 1a: black line using BACKING FIRE and one strip from test fire to G11. At the same time two lighters firing the Rosemary patches.
-Team 2a: burning the sparse fuels area and doing black line from test fire to G8. Then one lighter from Team 1a did STRIP HEADING FIRE from the north limit to the south boundary. These lighter and Team 2a repeated the opperation in the opposite direction.
-Team 1a: STRIP HEADING FIRE for burning the whole north corner.
-Both teams: STRIP HEADING FIRE all over the whole unit, with N-S direction. Paying special attention to Rosmary and Cat-faces patches.
 b) I units:
-I wasn't there and I don't know what they exactly did.

****DEBRIEFING
-We had very intense fire behavoir. High flame lenghts and fast rates of spread. That all resulted in four spots quickly controlled (small size).
-Efficient burn, with some communications bugs.

****PHOTOS

Guess who drew the briefing's map:

 

 

 

That was the last PFTC 20-day Course's burn. Even having burned more than 500ha, I feel totally athrist of prescribed fire. The next day we all met in the PFTC facility, we close the modules, ckeck the vehicles, sharpened the tools, write our evaluations, shared our photos and ate a great food cooked by Mike D.

And that's all, my friends! PFTC 20-day Course done. Probably one of the best experiences in my life. High quality training, high quality trainers, perfect environment and awesome teammates. THANK YOU VERY MUCH EVERYBODY.

Thank you Greg, Mike, Miranda and Caroline, from PFTC, for doing that possible. Thank you for working hard finding burning opportunities and giving us the necessary knowledge and tools. I appreciate so much the opportunity you gave me accepting me in the Course, even though I wrote you late. Thank you very much.

Thank you Deb, field cordinator for your incredible skills. You are simply AWESOME. I am so glad for having been as much lucky as for meeting you in this Course. Perfect leadership, excelent firefighter skills and awesome way-of-thinking. I hope we met again, in Spain, USA or anywhere.

Thank you all guys, Jeff, Duse, Jeremy, Peter, Martha and Jesse. I am going to miss you all guys. I will never forget you. I know it is really hard, but I hope we met again; life is long and you never know what trails are you going to follow. Thank you very much. I have to say that it was hard to me to contain the tears while saying goodbye. You will be always fighting fires with me.

And, for all of you: in the next posts I will write about fire effects, sandhill flora, firing techniques, fuels, learned lessons and many other things. Hope you enjoy reading.

Thank you very much.