Fire season adds staff, cuts weeds

Two topics included in this report are the impacts that a wildland fire season has on the Anderson Fire Protection District and our current weed abatement program.

Each year, just prior to the wildland fire season, all paid staff as well as volunteers must meet minimum state-required safety training.

During the summer months, usually June through September, it becomes very hot with low humidity. Our crews are dispatched to wildland fires almost daily. As a result, between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m., we increase staffing from two firefighters to three firefighters on an engine.

Since our district can staff only one engine at a time, during the wildland fire season, we are required to staff a smaller, wildland interface engine equipped with both wildland and structure fire-fighting equipment.

This engine is not the preferred size for structure fires as it has less equipment and its water tank carries only 500 gallons. The larger structure engines carry a minimum of 750 gallons of water.

Another impact on a district our size is the continual dispatching of our water tender. Per an automatic aid agreement, our water tender responds to nearly all wildland fires in the South County.

Unfortunately, our current water tender is very difficult to operate and only a few personnel are qualified to do so.

For many years, the Anderson Fire Protection District has strongly enforced a weed abatement program to remove flammable vegetation.

In most areas, this simply requires mowing or removing dry and dead grasses. Tall, dry grass causes rapid spread of fires, thus causing firefighters to work harder to extinguish fires while using more water on thicker fuels.

Mowed grass on fire burns at a slower rate with less intensity. This allows firefighters to move quickly and use less water. Many times, a fire burning in a mowed area will burn up to a trail or concrete footing and go out.

The district also requires larger brush piles and dead trees to be removed. As with grasses, brush piles and dead trees that catch on fire will burn quickly and with high intensity.

Brush piles and dead trees also have a tendency to send sparks into the air causing multiple spot fires.

When mowing dead grasses, good judgment should apply. Do not mow on windy days. Mowing should be done before 10 a.m. To explain, at night, the humidity goes up. As the day gets hotter, the humidity goes down. With low humidity, a single spark from a lawn mower blade striking a rock can start dead grass on fire.

Many locations in our district already have been mowed and I would like to thank everyone for their efforts to keep our community safe.

Anyone with questions or comments should contact Anderson Fire Chief Andy Nichols via phone at 378-6699 or send him an e-mail to anichols@andersonfire.org