Agenda

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ARF- 6145

2. B.

Work Session

Meeting Date:	06/30/2020
Submitted For:	Michael O'Driscoll	Submitted By:	Josh Beck, EM/PHEP Manager
Department:	Health & Emergency Management

Information

Request/Subject

Update on the Bush Fire, Burn Scar, and Potential Post-Fire Flood and Erosion

Background Information

While many Arizona wildfires cause minimal damage to the land and pose few threats to the land or people downstream, some fires cause damage that requires special efforts to prevent problems afterwards. Loss of vegetation exposes soil to erosion; water runoff may increase and cause flooding; sediments may also move downstream and damage houses or fill reservoirs putting endangered species and community water supplies at risk.

After a fire, our first priority in Emergency Management is emergency stabilization in order to prevent further damage to life, property or natural resources on Gila County lands. The stabilization work begins before the fire is out and may continue for up to a year. The longer-term rehabilitation effort to repair damage caused by the fire begins after the fire is out and continues for several years. Rehabilitation focuses on the lands unlikely to recover naturally from wildland fire damage.

The Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program is designed to address these emergency situations through its key goals of protecting life, property, and critical natural and cultural resources. The objective of the BAER program is to determine the need for and to prescribe and implement emergency treatments on Federal Lands to minimize threats to life or property resulting from the effects of a fire or to stabilize and prevent unacceptable degradation to natural and cultural resources.

BAER teams are staffed by specially trained professionals: hydrologists, soil scientists, engineers, biologists, vegetation specialists, archeologists, and others who rapidly evaluate the burned area and prescribe emergency stabilization treatments. A BAER assessment usually begins before the wildfire has been fully contained.

In most cases, only a portion of the burned area is actually treated. Severely burned areas, very steep slopes, places where water runoff will be excessive, fragile slopes above roads, trails, campgrounds, and other valuable facilities are focus areas. The treatments must be installed as soon as possible, generally before the next damaging storm. Time is critical if treatments are to be effective.

There are a variety of emergency stabilization techniques that the BAER team might recommend. Reseeding of ground cover with quick-growing or native species, mulching with straw or chipped wood are some common hill slope stabilization techniques used. The team also assesses the need to modify road and trail drainage mechanisms by installing debris traps, modifying or removing culverts to allow drainage to flow freely, adding additional drainage dips, and constructing emergency spillways to keep roads and bridges from washing out during floods.

Evaluation

Provide information to address the situational update for the Bush Fire, the burn scar produced, and the potential for post fire flooding and erosion.

Conclusion

N/A

Recommendation

N/A

Suggested Motion

Information/Discussion regarding the Bush Fire, burn scar, and potential post-fire flood and erosion. (Michael O'Driscoll)

Attachments
No file(s) attached.