BY WILL SPYRISON
We began using solid-terrain models to help fight forest fires back in 1999. Cut from high-density foam, these 3-D models show topography in great detail and in full color. These solid models have many advantages over flat maps. People immediately “get” the features of the terrain: scale, distance, points of view, and sightlines are easy to distinguish, even for those who don’t know how to read a topographical map.
We obtained our first model while we were fighting a huge California wildfire. Lightning had started the Kirk South Fire in the Los Padres National Forest, in Monterey County, California, September 8, 1999. Twenty days later, the fire was still uncontained and had spread over 20,000 acres. We had been using maps to illustrate our tactical plans during team briefing sessions. But our suppression tactics weren’t working, and what we accomplished one day was undone the next when the fire burned over the fire lines.
The Incident Overhead Management Team agreed we needed to find a way to more precisely identify where and when we could obtain control of this monster fire. In addition, we needed to communicate this information better. Incident Management Teams are used to manage large-scale incidents such as large fires or other disasters. Made up of the Command Staff, Operations Section, Planning Section, Logistics Section, and Finance Section, their job is to establish strategy and tactics and manage logistical support to firefighters.
We contacted Lawrence Faulkner and Mark Fisher at Solid Terrain Modeling (STM) in Fillmore, California. They had developed a technology to produce precise solid-terrain models using satellite data and computer-controlled cutting machines. We explained our situation and asked how quickly they could produce a model of the general fire area for our fire-team situation unit. They began the model immediately, and we had it in a couple of days.
 Photo by Doug Campbell. |
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As soon as we received the model, our display processor (who actually draws our maps based on information gathered by field observers) drew the fire perimeter, the helispots, and proposed fireline staging areas on the model’s surface. As the fire progressed, he constantly updated the fire perimeter.
Then, as the fire burned over the terrain, the operations section chief (OSC) developed and implemented a plan to map strategy and tactics. The fire behavior analyst (FBAN) completed the fire behavior predictions, including rate of spread, intensity, and line source, to assess where the fire perimeter will be at specific times in the future. This information was given to firefighters at our operational briefings (which generally took place twice a day) and was inserted into the Incident Action Plans (IAP), given out at each operational briefing. The models were also used in the briefing to visually show firefighters the current fire situation and the predicted future fire runs.
The OSC and FBAN used the model to plan their attack. They mapped locations where they had the best chances to get an upper hand on the fire, and they marked the places where the fire grew out of control. The team members then studied the model and communicated what they learned to our firefighters.
The model made a huge difference in tactical planning and in communicating our plans to all concerned. In fact, we had another model made (that covered a larger area than the actual Kirk fire) to help with long-range fire run projections.
Since the Kirk fire, when other difficult fires have occurred, we have obtained models and used them to plan strategies and tactics. For example, there is a model of the December 1999 Ranch Fire area, which occurred in the Los Padres National Forest, Ventura County, and was very difficult to contain because of 70-mph northeast winds and steep, rugged terrain. The model is currently on display at the Ventura County Fire Department headquarters.
Another model includes the area where the Foothill Fire burned. This fire began in December 2000 in the Hopper Mountain National Refuge in Ventura County.
Other models ordered were the Dillon and Pony Peak areas (Klamath National Forest), the South Canyon area (Glenwood Springs, Colorado), and the Calabasas area (Los Angeles County, California). The South Canyon model is a fire fatality site where 14 firefighters perished—and the Calabasas model includes an area where eight firefighters were burned, one critically.
Recently, we used the models to teach the Campbell Prediction System at the Wyoming State Fire Academy in Riverton. Our purpose was to train fire personnel in this very logical approach to predict fire behavior based on the fire’s signatures—where and how a fire will burn. We found the models to be very helpful in communicating this information.
The Campbell Prediction System is a textbook (and course) that was first published in 1991. Two additional publications have been issued since. The work was inspired by Doug Campbell’s experiences as a hotshot superintendent, many close shaves, and the realization that most burnover accidents were predictable but were not being predicted.
The Campbell Prediction System focuses on the causes of changes in fire behavior. The author analyzes historical burnover situations and offers a method for predicting and avoiding dangerous fire behavior changes. Firefighters learn a logical method of reasoning that enables them to understand wildland fire behavior, predict variations, and act on their predictions before these variations occur. More than 3,500 firefighters have taken the short course. Many municipal and wildland fire departments throughout the United States, Canada, and Spain have adopted the course and require training in the Campbell Prediction System for their personnel.
The models used to teach the Campbell Prediction System were also used to train interregional hotshot crews, including the Redding Inter-Regional Hotshot Crew, and at the north Zone Training Center and Vandenberg Training Center, Region 5 of the U.S. Forest Service, which encompasses all national forests in California. The hotshot crew’s members come from all over the United States to train together and gain valuable firefighting skills.
The solid-terrain models are extremely useful to us and our local fire departments that also fight wildland fires. For example, the Ventura County Fire Department often uses the models for presuppression and prescribed fire burns to visually show prescribed fires in the planning and implementation phases. We have received positive comments from everyone who has worked with the models.
WILL SPYRISON is a battalion chief with U.S. Forest Service South Division, Ojai Battalion, Los Padres National Forest in California. He began his Forest Service firefighting career in 1977 with the Fulton Hotshots in the Sequoia National Forest in 1977 and served with the Ojai Hotshots from 1979 to 1982 in the Tahoe, Los Padres, and Sequoia National Forests. He served as an engine captain for eight years at the Temescal Fire Station in Los Padres National Forest. In 1995, he was promoted to battalion chief with the Ojai Battalion in the Los Padres National Forest and at the same time began teaching the Campbell Prediction System (CPS) course at the Region 5 training centers.
