Comments on: Battling Smoke And Flames With Words And Images https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/ A different slant on the news. Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:25:50 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Clancy https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34287 Fri, 24 Aug 2012 17:25:50 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34287 Don, The latest Statesman article is using a pic from the inciweb site with no photo credit!
http://www.idahostatesman.com/2012/08/23/2241999/wildfire-update-backburn-operations.html

]]> By: Zippo https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34239 Wed, 22 Aug 2012 04:21:23 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34239 Flyhead, the forest service blm etc. kinda likes it because they get to have huge budgets and lots of toys. Using a chainsaw last year would have saved millions/billions this year… but that makes too much sense.

Editor: What does it mean when they say a fire is 100,000 acres? Is that the size of the burn so far or the size of the area currently on fire? They seem to use the most dramatic descriptor possible rather than just showing us the IR Landsat photos that they have. Seems to be a drama production to free up budget money for next year? What’s your view on the vague and deceptive numbers/language used to describe these fires.

]]> By: Flyhead https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34230 Tue, 21 Aug 2012 17:48:30 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34230 Why should taxpayers spend millions pay for stupid decisons by people to build their homes in a fire prone area? This is no different from the stupid decisions to build in a flood plain.

Fire is a natural part of ecosystems and supression of fires has a cost down the road. Fire supression efforts in the past have resulted in more and bigger fires today. Fires clear out the build up of forrest crud and undergrowth and release nutirents for new growth. Yellowstone Nation Park and the fires of more than a decade ago are great examples of this need for fires.

Location of homes and defensable permiter are things we all need to practice. Shake roofs and evergreens around your home are an invitation for disaster.

]]> By: Don Day https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34214 Mon, 20 Aug 2012 01:00:22 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34214 Disappointing to see such a strange critique of the media when I know local media crews have been camped out in Featherville for the past week. Dave’s assertion here that we’re seeing more images provided by public agencies may be true – but it is often replacing fire reporting that used to be just a map or a graphic (smaller and remote fires). And while a still image is used here and there, video from these sources is exceedingly rare.

Our crews are still trudging out to the fire lines to report on what is happening first hand. While it certainly isn’t the same level of heroics employed by many firefighters – these folks are working hard to inform people about imminent danger.

]]> By: Clancy https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34172 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:43:36 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34172 CS- You are right but no need to look in AZ. Idaho Dept of Lands does a great job too. I remember the Blackwell fire in 1994 (later turned into the Corral-Blackwell Complex). The fire started at the border of State and FS land. There was minimal state land burned compared to FS land. IDL alway maximizing returns had timber sales approved for this with in months.

On Topic- I think the inciweb is a great site. Provides lots of information and pictures that you might not get from the media.

]]> By: Zippo https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34171 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 20:27:04 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34171 Anonyvox: Due to poor forest management by several government agencies which can’t find their a$$ with both hands… that priceless land is going up in smoke. Oddly enough, a lot of people are making huge money off of the emergency fire management.

It pays well to waste money for a living.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/48678353

]]> By: chicago sam https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34169 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 15:32:52 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34169 If you want to see the difference between forests where fire has not been a problem and right next door a huge fire in unmanaged forests caused widespread destruction you should go to ShowLow Arizona.
The Apache land has the brush cleaned up and much of the fuel has been hauled off and made good use of. The Forest service land is a mess (what didn’t burn) with nature taking it’s natural course leading up to a huge fire every few years. Grazeing and selective logging make a lot more cents and dollors too

]]> By: Anonyvox https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34168 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 14:22:11 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34168 Twitter and Facebook have also proven very valuable tools, especially for urban interface fires. Both NIFC and the Boise BLM have Twitter accounts that people can subscribe to. Fire officials in southern California have used Twitter alerts to help with evacuations, and it’s worked well for the folks who follow those agencies.

Zippo, I’m not sure you can measure the cost of losing a particular area of public land. There are some inherent personal values that people have, whether it’s their family’s favorite campsite, or the place they planned to go hunting this fall. Then you’ve got airshed and watershed values that are invaluable. I’d love to see more logging in the woods too, but I honestly think those days are mostly over. Unless taxpayers are willing to start subsidizing more mills and timber harvests beyond what they ever did, (and I’m sure I know how that vote would go) then we cannot point to harvest as a viable fire prevention or reduction solution. I wish it were otherwise, but we need to move on from that argument.

]]> By: erico49 https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34165 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 12:15:47 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34165 I am not so sure that relying on Public Affairs Officers is as good a deal for the public as it is for the agencies. Admittedly, there isn’t likely a lot of “spin” in facts on a fire. However, law enforcement and other guvmint information folks do lots of spin. And the legacy media does little to challenge or question.

]]> By: Zippo https://boiseguardian.com/2012/08/15/battling-smoke-and-flames-with-words-and-images/#comment-34160 Thu, 16 Aug 2012 06:50:07 +0000 https://boiseguardian.com/?p=8762#comment-34160 Agree Paul, but would we need so many at such a huge cost if we just did a lot more tree harvesting? Our spending is not sustainable.

Canada is doing what we used to do before the green freaks messed up the USA.

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