Feb. 19, 2001--
Wildfires in Florida are a graphic reminder of last summer's disastrous wildfire season. It ravaged the West and turned out to be an embarrassing wake-up call for agencies charged with protecting people and homes.
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Those agencies got the message. And this year they're gearing up, nationally and in Utah, for the biggest attack on the wildfire problem in history.
Environment Specialist John Hollenhorst has the story.
This is what firefighters call "extreme" fire behavior.
"HEADS UP GUYS! YOU GOT A BIG FIRE WHIRL COMING AT YOU."
A Flamingoes inmate hotshot team from the Utah State Prison working a big wildfire last summer west of the Great Salt Lake.
"FLAMINGOES! LET'S BACK UP AND GET INTO THE BLACK!"
VOICE OF GLENN BEAGLE/DIV. OF FORESTRY, FIRE & STATE LANDS: "AIR CURRENTS CIRCULATING, CIRCULATING AND PULLING THAT FIRE IN, FEEDING THAT FIRE WITH OXYGEN, AND YOU GET THIS FIRE CREATING A TORNADO LIKE EFFECT."
It's the kind of fire behavior that frightens firefighters, and which exploded into public consciousness last summer when Los Alamos, New Mexico was devastated by fire. Across the West, more than 5 million acres burned.
The explosive summer of 2000 was no surprise to veterans like Glenn Beagle who supervises the prison inmate hotshots.
GLENN BEAGLE/DIV. OF FORESTRY, FIRE & STATE LANDS: "WE SEE FIRES EVERY YEAR GETTING BIGGER AND MORE INTENSE AS THE YEARS GO ON."
JOHN HOLLENHORST REPORTING: "A DISASTER HAD BEEN IN THE MAKING FOR DECADES BECAUSE OF A DEEP, LONG-TERM PROBLEM: A BUILDUP OF DECAYING TIMBER, SHRUBS AND OTHER FIRE FUEL."
GLENN BEAGLE/DIV. OF FORESTRY, FIRE & STATE LANDS: "WHEN THAT FUEL BECOMES SO CONTINUOUS THAT THE FIRE CAN GET UP AND RUN AND BUILD ITS OWN MOMENTUM, YOU KNOW IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME."
Now Beagle is scrambling to hire enough people for several citizen hotshot crews.
It's because Burn Season 2000 was a wake-up call.
Congress declared War on Wildfire; $1.8 billion, 7,000 more firefighters, more trucks and planes.
As a result there's a big shortage of people. Especially experienced people. Beagle is recruiting citizen hotshots on college campuses.
GLENN BEAGLE/DIV. OF FORESTRY, FIRE & STATE LANDS: "WE'RE HITTING EVERY POSSIBLE AVENUE WE CAN."
The first priority is cutting firebreaks and reducing those fuels, clearing brush and deadwood, especially around mountain subdivisions.
That's the long-term answer. Short-term? Lots more people ready to jump into battle if there's another long, hot summer.
