An earlier presentation included local panelists talking on homeowner perspectives and business impacts. Panelists from left are Jill Olson, owner of Holiday Inn Expres; Mary Ann Marlar, co-owner with Greg Bond of Vicki's Restaurant; Kathy Anderson, Silver City Neighborhood Alliance; and Darrel Britton of Albertson's, who lost his home in the Quail Ridge Fire. Photo Courtesy of Joy Esparsen
By Mary Alice Murphy
Among the many presentations at the two-day Wildland-Urban Interface Conference being held in Silver City on Wednesday, April 8, and continuing on Thursday, April 9, New Mexico State Forestry Socorro District Forester Doug Boykin and Silver City Fire Department Chief Tim Heidrick talked about the lessons learned from the catastrophic Quail Ridge Fire on the south side of Silver City in March 2011.
"It was a classic day like today," Boykin began. "On March 7, 2011, there was a low pressure to our north, which always brings us wind. It happens every year."
He said wind gusts were recorded in the vicinity of Jack's Peak up to 65 miles per hour. "It was a classic WUI fire. We had had a decent winter and there was a lot of dry grass. It moved very quickly into an area with homes. It blew until late at night."
He said the firefighters almost got it tied off when it went into the arroyo, but a big wind gust took it over the sandy wash and up the hill.
"We learned some lessons from the fire," Boykin said.
Heidrick said the call came in at 1:30 p.m. "Local volunteer fire departments and the Silver City Fire Department arrived quickly. We knew the winds were up to 65 miles per hour. It started along Highway 90. We had Type 6s and brush trucks on scene, but by the time, we got a plan, the fire was cresting over the hill into the wash. Tyrone Volunteer Fire Department called for additional resources. We started calling in off-duty firefighters and the administrators started showing up. The (Grant) County Sheriff was involved right away. Gary Benavidez was the county fire management officer. He was called to the scene and got almost all county volunteer fire departments and municipal fire departments on scene. He was the liaison and got the Forest Service and New Mexico Forestry involved."
Boykin asked: "Is there anything we could have done differently?"
"A lot of things on our end haven't changed," Heidrick said. "We know in most areas just outside the city limits there are no fire hydrants. We are putting in fire hydrants in the Quail Ridge area."
Boykin said sometimes fighting a fire is not going to be successful, especially when the topography, winds and everything line up perfectly as they did that day.
He cited one of the problems that day was that not all the volunteer fire departments had the attack frequency, and local law enforcement did not have the frequency. "We use lots of frequency. That day we started using the interagency dispatch frequency at the Forest Service. Now every fire agency in the county has the same frequencies."
That day the staging locations were set. Law enforcement let people on and behind Ridge Road know what they were facing.
"It was the first fire we experienced that we weren't going to catch," Heidrick said. "With the wind, we couldn't use air attack. Law enforcement immediately knew what to do and what was at jeopardy. When the fire jumped the arroyo, law enforcement started to evacuate. The arroyo was still a ways from Ridge Road. We hoped we could hold it at the paved road.
"It was a huge evacuation," he continued. "We couldn't have asked for a better response from law enforcement. We notified the county manager and the city manager.
"We also learned a lesson from after the evacuation," Heidrick said. "People were sent to the conference center, after the fact. There was a lot of lost communication on where people should go. We are working on a plan. Tomorrow (at the conference), we will talk about large animal evacuation. The animal shelter the day of the fire got out information where to take small animals.
"Once the first started running toward Ridge Road, we hoped we could stop it," he said. "We watched it lay right over Ridge Road like it wasn't there. I had up to that day never seen a fire lay over a paved road. With 60-65 mile per hour gusts the wind blows fire everywhere, up hills, down hills. Some people were still evacuating after the fire had blown through."
He emphasized that homeowners should protect their homes before a fire using the Ready, Set, Go program, so they know what to take with them and how to prepare to evacuate in a very short time.
Boykin said by 6 p.m. the initial incident attack commander recognized the complexity of the incident was quickly above and beyond the capabilities of a local unit type. It turned into a Type 3 team management incident and New Mexico Forestry took the fire over.
"We developed objectives for incident management," Boykin said. "I was the incident commander. We had to set goals. Our primary goal is always to protect the firefighters and the public. The city and the county helped set objectives. The purpose of getting organized is so we can accomplish the goals. The wind lay down by midnight, which greatly helped.
"Nowadays, we also have to keep in contact with Homeland Security," he continued. "We set objectives to work with the animal shelter, the utility companies to get repairs started, and we set recovery."
He asked who has the authority to call for an evacuation.
Heidrick said law enforcement usually takes the lead.
Randy Villa, county fire management officer, said the emergency manager and the incident commander must be part of the team effort.
"A team effort requires communication," Boykin said. "Evacuees will be emotional. One of the smartest things we did was when local clergy came in to offer their help. We engaged them to deal with the emotions of the evacuees."
He noted that special needs would arise. "For two nights, we had the area closed off. Residents know how to get in the back way, so we have to have security. We have to respect that the residents are leaving their homes, and we have to have a handle on security. Many of the people that afternoon were at work. They didn't have their medications. They left their pets at home. Sometimes we need to address hazard materials containment."
"I would like to see Type 3 incident commanders talk to local leaders to get them involved in getting the information out," Boykin said. "One of the biggest lessons we learned was on how to do re-population and re-entry to their homes.
"The second day, we had a public meeting at the conference center," Boykin continued. "People wanted information. We said we would have it by 3 or 4 o'clock. They were back at 3. We had to let people know who had lost homes."
Gabriel Partido of the Forest Service said: "You were competing with social media, and there were lots of different stories going around."
"We lost 13 homes," Heidrick said. "To get the information was hard, because we couldn't see address signs. I knew where Darrel Britton lived and telling him that night that he had lost his home was really hard.
"It was also hard to tell people: 'No, you can't go back in. It's a safety issue,'" Heidrick said. "How do we deal with that?"
"At 3 p.m., we read off the addresses of the homes lost," Boykin said. "Then we led them around to another area for counseling. Most everyone handled it well. Two mornings later, we let in only the residents. We kept the press out as long as possible. Everything went according to plan.
"Governor (Susanna) Martinez came down the next day," he reported. "We had to convene a team on how to deal with the governor's visit. We were able to orchestrate it so people could talk with her.
"We made order out of uncertainty," Boykin said. "We set the tone for the press to make sure they got the right message across."
He said a public document, the incident action plan, was developed with public funds.
"We lost 13 homes, and 47 outbuildings were damaged or destroyed, but no lives were lost," Boykin said. "That is ultimately what the goal is."
To an audience question, Jeff Fell, SCFD assistant fire chief, replied a few small pets and one horse were lost in the fire.
Heidrick said 90 bundles of tires, which were to be used for erosion control, took three days to deal with getting the fire put out.
Villa said he thought one thing that was learned was that "we have had everything here-incident commander, evacuation, dignitaries-everything has been addressed."
An audience member asked if the incident softened people's opinion on defensible space, to which Boykin replied: "Yes."
A woman asked if there were a designated single person to video and share the information. "Every person now has video on their smartphones."
Harlan Vincent, Ruidoso city manager, asked about Reverse 911.
"It is called Code Red here, but people have to sign up for it," Heidrick said. "It has improved notification significantly. But we need to get the information out for people to sign up for it on all their phones and devices."
A representative from Dispatch said only about 1,500 in the area have signed up for Code Red.
An audience member said the conference center was used for the evacuees. "What happens when this building is under construction? Do you have a plan?"
Villa said the town's Recreation Center is one option. "We have worked with the schools, too, so yes, we have a plan."
"It's important that when we order a mandatory evacuation, people can't go back," Villa said.
"Since there were pets lost, is it realistic to put up signs that a pet is inside?" an audience member asked.
Partido said: "Yes. With the Skates Fire, when people evacuated they had signs about pets, and other people would make sure the animals had food and water."
Carol Pickering of the Tyrone VFD suggested that local leaders need to be part of the discussion, not just elected officials. "Put a sign on the door, if animals are inside. And put up a sign that you have left the home, so law enforcement doesn't have to look in every house."
"And keep reminding people to sign up for Code Red," she said.
Heidrick answered a question about the availability of water that a fighting a fire like Quail Ridge did not require using fire hydrants, except maybe to refill a tank. "On a wildfire, we tie our hands with hydrants. In this case, the wind was the problem. Water wasn't a problem. Three VFDs had 24,000 gallons of water to put on the fire."
Boykin reiterated that weather and topography lined up for the Quail Ridge Fire. "We need to be prepared for it again."
The WUI Conference continues on Thursday with concurrent sessions set for 8:10 a.m., 9:35 a.m. and 11 a.m. The afternoon will feature lunch and a meteorologist presentation, building community capacity at 1:15, communities at risk success stories at 2:15 and community award presentation, wrap-up and evaluation at 3:15, before adjournment at 4 p.m.