Jesusita Fire command facing enviromental lawsuit

Sunday, December 20, 2009

Jesusita Fire command facing enviromental lawsuit

Tanker 22 making a drop on day 4
Photo Credit: Paul Wellman - Santa Barbra Independent

Though the flames of the Jesusita Fire burned out long ago, the firefighting agencies who battled it are now under attack again, this time by an environmental group that claims the use of airplane-dropped fire retardant killed dozens of endangered steelhead trout.

Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics (FSEEE) — an environmental nonprofit focused on protecting whistle-blowers and pushing reform of the Forest Service's land use policy — filed a notice with the U.S. Department of Commerce on December 16 that it plans to file suit against the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. FSEEE maintains that the two fire protection agencies used a toxic flame retardant material that killed endangered steelhead trout during the Jesusita Fire last May.

In accordance with the Endangered Species Act, FSEEE must wait 60 days before it can file a lawsuit. "That is to give the Department of Commerce an opportunity to do what this lawsuit would do, and that is enforce the Endangered Species Act," said Andy Stahl, FSEEE's executive director. "This lawsuit goes forward only if the government chooses not to enforce this law."

It all started a few days after the Jesusita Fire had torn through the area around Robert Bjorklund's land along upper Maria Ygnacio Creek. Having found a number of dead steelhead trout in the creek that runs through his property, he called for help.

In a report on his investigation of the creek on May 11, 2009 — the creek was by then a milky color — Mark Capelli, a recovery coordinator from the National Marine Fisheries Service, said that he observed 30 dead steelhead. Stahl said that in a follow-up on that investigation, a UCSB ecology professor recorded ammonia level in the water 100 times higher than normal.

A spokesperson from the Santa Barbara County Fire Department said that although County Fire works with Cal Fire and other agencies during wildland fire suppression efforts, the county itself does not use flame retardant.

Source: Santa Barbra Independent - Article Link

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How fires get their names

Every year in California thousands of wildfires start throughout the state. In most cases, the dispatch center sending the initial resources to a wildland fire will designate a name for the fire, but the first on scene engine or fire official can also name the incident. Fires are usually named for the area in which they start – a geographical location, local landmark, street, lake, mountain, peak, etc. Quickly naming the fire provides responding fire resources with an additional locater, and allows fire officials to track and prioritize incidents by name. For example during the Southern California Fire Siege of 2003, the largest wildland fire in California history, the Cedar Fire in San Diego County, was named after the Cedar Creek Falls area where it started. The destructive Old Fire, which burned during the same time period in San Bernardino County, was named after the road along which it started - Old Waterman Canyon Road.

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Sunday, December 20, 2009