Wildland Fire
This is the first part of a two part series on the science of fire brought to you by our partners at Utah Tech University and the Southern Utah Science Cafe. This discussion was captured live early in 2022 in St. George, UT and pertains to the impacts of wildfires on the land and its inhabitants. Panel members include Greg Melton (Utah Tech University Department of Earth, Energy, and Environmental Science), Mike Schijf (Biologist, Washington County Habitat Conservation Plan), and Jason Whipple (Director, Washington County Emergency Services).
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Interview Transcript - Wildland Fire, Pt. 1
Science Cafe: Can you each share a little bit about your background with wildfire science?
Greg Melton: So I’m actually going to tell a little story about an experience. I was deployed to a wildfire in Colorado, at a really high elevation, above 10,000 feet in South Park. So there we are 2000 feet, we’re up in the mountains, and there was a wildfire. And every day, around mid afternoon, we always had this thunderstorm cell move into our area. The safety guys would pull us off the line and wait for the storm to pass because we don’t want people out in the trees when there’s lightning. And the winds get super erratic and it’s not a super safe situation. One particular day we got pulled off and we sat there and watched this huge storm cell come rolling in. And right as it came over the top of the wildfire, the air convection that was coming off of that wildfire tipped the whole cell on its side and created a tornado, which is unheard of at 10,000 feet. In the mountains, that’s almost impossible. So there we were, sitting in our trucks watching a wildfire, huge hailstones coming down on us, and this tornado comes down in the middle of the wildfire. So that was fun.
Mike Schijf: It’s gonna be tough to top that. But the reason I was invited today was to talk about some of the effects that we’ve seen from wildfires on our Mojave Desert. As a biologist for the Washington County Habitat Conservation Plan, I help manage the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve. A huge challenge for us is trying to figure out how to best deal with the aftermath of these fires that are often fueled by invasive grasses such as cheatgrass. Habitat loss is the number one threat facing the desert tortoise. And in our area more specifically, it has been that threat of wildfire.
Jason Whipple: Yeah, I can’t top any of that. In our jobs, the science portion of it is a really big driving force. I’ve been mostly on the side where we’re going to run in and we’re going to put the fire out, and we don’t care what it takes to put the fire out. It’s a little bit of a shift in our thinking when we start looking at the science behind it, and looking at the cause and effect of the fire and our suppression activities. Those are all things that we take into account, and a lot of my job is taking all of those elements and bringing them together so we can help to rehabilitate the land, and still put out the fire in a way that’s healthy.
Science Cafe: How do we deal with invasive grasses?
Schijf: It’s really a challenge, especially depending on the timing of winter precipitation. Some years it’s just a carpet of cheatgrass out there. The Mojave Desert 100 years ago didn’t have to contend with these huge fires sweeping through the landscape. We are starting to put more herbicide on the ground to reduce that heavy fuel load. One thing that my department funded was going out on some of the utility right of ways in the reserve to put down herbicide on either side of them to use as fire breaks. If they don’t completely halt the spread of a fire approaching those roads, hopefully they give firefighters more time to get there. One of the things with those invasive grasses is that they’re incredibly resilient. And so those invasive grasses are probably still able to come back in many cases from wildfires, but a lot of the native shrubs are not able to come back as effectively.
Science Cafe: Is it always good to report a fire? Is there a point where it’s like big enough, I could assume somebody else reported it?
Whipple: it’s always good to report a fire. If they’re getting multiple reports, they may be a little bit short with you on the phone, but always report the fire. If you suspect that there’s a problem, then call it in, and fire will go out there and check it out. We had barbecues called in, but there’s also been times when people didn’t know their backyard was on fire, or that their barbecue was actually out of control. If you have a doubt, and you want to knock on the door, that’s one thing, but don’t hesitate to report any of that; if you see smoke, make the call.
