Wildfire Wednesdays #149: Winter Roundup

Happy Wednesday - and happy New Year - FACNM community!

As everyone slowly returns from their holiday breaks and celebrations to the everyday work of creating fire adapted communities, we want to share a roundup of recent and interesting resources, research, and releases that are relevant to Network leaders, members, and affiliates. Today’s Wildfire Wednesday is a winter roundup of current events in fire learning and living.

We would also like to thank Gabe Kohler for the years of leadership and humor in his role as network coordinator. If you missed it, read his departing newsletter and remarks here.

This Wildfire Wednesday features:

Stay warm,
Rachel

Guidelines For Living With Fire

Fire-Resistant Landscaping

Colorado State University and the Colorado State Forest Service recently released a useful 8-page guidance document on fire resistant landscaping; while the fact sheet is geared toward CO residents, many of the tips and recommendations within are directly applicable to New Mexico and our wealth of wildland urban interface. The document goes through recommendations for vegetation and mindful landscaping in each of the home ignition zones defined in defensible space planning. Critically, it also recommends easy actions for long-term and annual maintenance.

Quick facts from the sheet:

  • Combined with structural hardening, a fire-resistant landscape can help a structure survive a wildfire.

  • A fire-resistant landscape considers both the amount and type of vegetation and the connections between vegetation and a structure.

  • Many native grasses, perennials, shrubs and trees are adapted to fire, and many require less water than commonly used non-native plants. When properly maintained, native vegetation can be used in landscaping.

  • Communities and neighbors in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) should work together to collectively reduce their risk from wildfire.

  • Maintenance should focus on keeping plants healthy and removing any accumulated debris and dead material within 30 feet of structures.

  • Certain drought-adapted plants can provide the balance between fire resistance and water conservation.

  • Landscaping needs frequent maintenance to effectively reduce wildfire risk

Read more about landscaping for fire resistance and download the full fact sheet.

Air Quality Mobile App

EPA's AirNow mobile app provides a simple interface for quickly checking current and forecast air quality information for planning daily activities and protecting your health. The app automatically displays the current AQI (Air Quality Index) for your local area or any area you wish to check, and allows you to store multiple areas for quick reference.

The app also includes the AirNow Fire and Smoke map, which the EPA produced in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. It includes the most comprehensive information about wildfire smoke and air quality. You can view the Fire and Smoke Map by tapping the smoke icon on the bottom right of the screen.

Additionally, the interactive map includes data for air quality for PM 2.5, PM 10, and ozone monitors in the United States, Canada, and Mexico. You can view the interactive map by tapping the map icon at the bottom of the screen.

Upcoming Events and Engagement Opportunities

2025 New Mexico Tribal Forest & Fire Summit
March 4-6, 2025 — Mescalero, NM

The annual New Mexico Tribal Forest & Fire Summit brings together Tribal foresters, practitioners, natural resource managers, emergency departments, and experts to center the needs, challenges, and success of Tribal forestry and fire management. Join us in 2025 for “Roots for the Future: Strengthening Indigenous-Led Conservation” to find resources and training, build capacity, and collaborate in a network that’s focused on the healthy future of Tribal lands. The Summit is free for all participants.

Post-Fire Survey

Responses requested for Hermits Peak-Calf Canyon watershed restoration plan questionnaire

The New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (DHSEM), along with its partners, are gathering data to guide the long-term watershed restoration plan in areas impacted by the 2022 Hermit's Peak/Calf Canyon (HPCC) fire and post-fire flooding.

Photo courtesy of the La Cienega Fire Department

This survey is intended to help managers identify flooding issues and/or flood-related damage in areas impacted by the fire. Those who have been impacted, live in the HPCC footprint, or work in this landscape are being asked to provide input about your watershed. The more feedback that the community provides, the better managers can understand and plan their watershed restoration efforts and prioritize areas to address.

Please submit your answers to the survey and help spread the word!

Related: the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently released a finding that additional actions are needed to address FEMA assistance challenges. Based on interviews with officials from 22 state, local, and tribal governments about their experiences with FEMA assistance, the report outlines 6 key recommendations.

Wildfires have increased in size and severity in recent decades and there are more new homes and other buildings in fire-prone areas. The Federal Emergency Management Agency provided over $3.8 billion in wildfire-related assistance in FY 2019-2023. That paid for work such as debris removal and utility repairs but left many gaps in coverage. Challenges with accessing FEMA assistance include delayed help with post-fire erosion control work that could reduce future damages, confusing rules and complex paperwork, and more. Read the full GAO report here.

Winter Pile Burns

The Santa Fe Canyon Preserve pile burn is set to take place on a 12-acre parcel of land owned by The Nature Conservancy once conditions are right. This winter slash pile burn, led by Sam Berry of the Forest Stewards Guild, will complete a 2024 project to reduce wildfire fuels east of the city of Santa Fe. Organizers only made the decision to proceed after months of community meetings and a successful pile burn last winter.

Phase I of the Santa Fe Canyon Preserve pile burn happened without incident in early 2024. Qualified crews lit previously built piles of thinning slash along both slopes and drainages within the preserve and patrolled the area for months afterward to ensure that there were no problems with the fire reigniting or escaping.

“Will Joy, prescribed fire specialist for The Nature Conservancy, said the area, outside the Randall Davey Audubon Center and Sanctuary, is overgrown. The goal, he said, is to reduce fuel for catastrophic wildfires and improve forest health. ‘Healthy forests lend themselves to better water quality, being at the lower end of the Santa Fe watershed,’ Joy said.”

Read more about the Preserve Prescribed Burn, and other prescribed fire news from around the state capitol, in this article from the Santa Fe New Mexican.

In the News

The Growth of Fast Fires

Several recent articles from The San Franciso Chronicle and UC Merced Newsroom have focused on an aspect of fire which, while not often explicitly stated, has played out over and over in the news: a rapid increase in the rate of spread of wildfires as the climate has become hotter and drier over the past two decades. A study published in the journal Science, led by University of Colorado - Boulder, UC Merced, and UCLA scientists, finds a nearly fourfold increase in wildfire growth rates in California since 2001. The research highlights a critical gap in hazard preparedness across the United States: National-level fire risk assessments do not account for fire speed or describe how people and communities can better protect against rapid fire growth events.

Between 2001 and 2020, wildfire growth rates increased by 249% across the Western U.S. — defined as a group of 11 Western states — and 398% in California alone. The fastest fires identified in the study were in grassland-dominated ecosystems, which are abundant throughout California. Sixteen of the 20 fastest-growing fires across the continental U.S. during the study period burned in primarily grassland ecosystems.

This figure from the study, the fastest-growing and most destructive fires in the US (2001 to 2020), illustrates the frequency and intensity of rapid fire growth across the west, especially the Pacific states.

Prior research has found California wildfires are getting larger, but the study authors conclude that speed dictates the severity of fire destruction. Fast-growing fires - defined as wildfires that burn more than 4,003 acres per day - were responsible for nearly 90% of fire-related damages despite being relatively rare in the United States. These “fast fires", which thrust embers into the air ahead of rapidly advancing flames, can ignite homes before emergency responders can intervene. The study shows these fires are getting faster in the Western U.S., increasing the risk for millions of people. "We've been transfixed by so-called megafires because of their massive size, but it turns out that the most destructive fires are ones that grow so fast they can't be stopped," said Professor Crystal Kolden, director of the UC Merced Fire Resilience Center and a co-author of the study. "Fast fires are the ones that destroy homes and lives." (UC Merced, October 28, 2024)

Although scientists don’t yet know if California weather is becoming windier, statewide fall temperatures have increased on average by about 3.1 degrees since 1896, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. This provides greater opportunity for downslope winds to overlap on dry grasses and produce explosive growth rates. Fire risk tends to be further amplified following heat waves and during drought conditions.

Photo courtesy of the City of Santa Monica

Many home insurance companies have pulled out of California for fear of being overwhelmed by claims following damaging wildfires. Several wildfire-prone cities across the state have banned or are considering banning vegetation within 5 feet of homes to reduce fire risk.

The takeaway? These fast fires are causing the majority of home losses and fatalities, highlighting how important it is to increase mitigation activities that we know are effective, such as defensible space and home hardening.