Angeles National Forest Fire Lookout Association Costs

THE COSTS?

After the fire... help us rebuild.

The following information is from the R5-MB-020 "Angeles National Forest Business Plan" and edited in "lay-mans terms" by ANFFLA member Charles White. A link at the bottom of the page will take you to the original report which is very good reading for a complete understanding of our Forest.

Jody Noiron (formerly Jody Cook) is the "Forest Supervisor" for the Angeles National Forest. She has a challenging job.
"The population of Los Angeles County has grown to nearly 10 million. Projections for future growth suggest the county's population could swell to nearly 13 million by 2020. The Angeles hosts over 3.5 million visitors each year, making it one of the most visited national forests in the nation. At this time, the Angeles National Forest represents 70% of the county's open space. This space experiences year-round, concentrated use by millions of people each year", says Jody.

The ANF is a land of extremes. The mountains rise up quickly from the lowlands of the Los Angeles Basin to 10,064 feet at the top of Mount San Antonio. As a result of the wide range of elevations, the forest experiences tremendous variations in climate. The lower elevations are often hot and dry throughout the summer, while the mountains remain cool throughout the year. The highest peaks are often blanketed by snow in the winter.
The ANF contains three separate wilderness areas, protecting some of the wildest and most untouched terrain in southern California. The San Gabriel and Sheep Mountain Wilderness Areas cover more than 75,000 acres, with elevations that range from 2,400 to 10,000 feet. They contain some of the most rugged land in the ANF, including deep canyons, year-round waterfalls and high mountain peaks. The Cucamonga Wilderness, co-managed with San Bernardino National Forest, offers another 13,000 acres of natural, unspoiled beauty and serves as a link between the lowlands of the Los Angeles basin and the majestic heights of the Mount San Antonio ridge.

Mountain lions and Nelson bighorn sheep roam the mountains and canyons, while California spotted owls hunt in old-growth forests. The ANF is also a haven for some of the nation's most endangered species, such as the Least Bell's vireo and the mountain yellow-legged frog.

The "Curve" fire that destroyed the "South Mount Hakwins Lookout" was followed a few days later by the "Williams Fire" a second wildland fire that swept through the San Gabriel River Ranger District, in the Angeles National Forest (ANF). The combined costs of these two fires was $51,700,000.00. Yes, $51.7 million. However... counting money can be fairly easy to measure as hard numbers, but there are "other" costs that are harder to count after the fires are out.

Air support services are critical in suppressing fires but are also very costly. Hourly flight rates for helicopters and airtankers are $1,127 per hour and $1,844 per hour respectively.
After the fire, it is harder to put a cost on the loss of the following:

Loss of recreation opportunities
Watershed damage
Degraded wildlife habitat
Loss of personal property
Loss of historic buildings and heritage sites

In 2002 fire costs for the Angles National Forest (ANF) were so high that budgets for wildfire suppression across the Forest Service were not sufficient to cover expenditures. To make up the deficit, the Forest Service withdrew remaining funding from non-fire operations to fund wildfire suppression. At the ANF this withdraw from non-fire programs totaled over $2.5 million (an additional $2.8 million was withdrawn from unspent fire management funds). As a result of these withdrawals, nonessential non-fire activities at the ANF came to a halt on July 1, 2002.

There is another way to measure cost... "People Power". When an employee is working a job full time of 40 hours a week, they are called a "Full Time Equivalent" person or "FTE" for short. In addition to the fund withdrawals, some parts of the Angeles Forest gave up employees to help support suppression activities.

A typical large fire will last two to three weeks, taking employees from their regular program duties for the duration of the fire. In total, the five non-fire functional areas gave up 11.3 FTEs to fire activities in 2002. The Facilities Operations & Maintenance group lost 4.8 FTEs in 2002; this loss was significant, particularly because the program already faced a shortfall of 55 FTEs.

Fire assets of the ANF consist of 28 fire engine companies, 6 water tenders, 5 twenty- person regular handcrews, 5 call-when-needed handcrews, 2 helicopters, 1 air tanker base, 15 fire prevention personnel, 8 dispatchers, a training center, and three Fire Lookout Towers:

Vetter Mountain Lookout (Volunteer Staffed)
Slide Peak Lookout (Volunteer Staffed)
South Mt. Hawkins Lookout (destroyed by Curve Fire)

A NOTE ABOUT FIRE...

There are good fires, and bad fires. Fire plays a natural role in maintaining healthy forests. A controlled "prescirbed fire" helps vegetation, and keeps larger "wildfires" down by burning away excessive fuels caused by overgrowth. When used as a tool, fire management experts must be extremely careful in planning and executing a prescribed fire. Sometimes, nature caused fires like lightening strikes are utilized for controlled burns. During 1995 there were 9,974 wildfires nationwide caused by lightning and 120,045 wildfires caused by human error.
A BAD FIRE... destroys lives, property, watershed, and wildlife habitat. Wildfires are sparked from un-natural sources like discarded cigarettes, sparks from equipment, arcing powerlines, campfires, arson, and other careless human caused activities. When a wildfire ignites, these are unplanned, uncontrolled, and UNNECESSARY. The costs for wildfires are not only measured in dollars, but also in human lives. This happens much more often, and the frequency of these fires need to be reduced for the health of the forest. So... there is a balance on how to utilize fire. (This photograph is an actual abandoned campfire that was detected by an ANFFLA Fire Lookout while he was on a camping trip to Yosemite National Park. The Volunteer simply used two gallons of water to put out the embers. The people that abandoned the campfire could have done the same!)
It used to be the National Policy to surpress ALL FIRE, but the role of fire, and how we understand its useage in our forests have changed. Still, controlling fire is essential and getting FIRST ALERT to a fire is very important. This is where "Early Detection" of all fires is important.
The Fire Lookout Towers put "more eyes on the forest" and the volunteer staff reduce the costs for associated with operating the towers. For less then $2,000 per year operating costs... a single "fire start" detected by the tower operators can far outweigh all the costs associated from a fire that went undetected. Early fire detection helps protect the watershed, local comunnities, wildlife habitat, recreational opportunities, and so much more. Early fire detection aids fire managers before a fire gets to a "critical stage" and is uncontrollable. THE COST IS WORTH IT! Please help us rebuild the tower... donate here

* Source: R5-MB-020 November 2003 "Business Plan for the Angeles National Forest"

For more information, please visit our main website at: http://anffla.org

All information below this point is for review by the team during our website building...

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KEY CONTACTS

The ANFFLA is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) corporation and your gift is tax deductible to the extent of the law.

Jody Noiron (formerly Jody Cook) is the "Forest Supervisor" for the Angeles National Forest. She has a challenging job. "The population of Los Angeles County has grown to nearly 10 million. Projections for future growth suggest the county's population could swell to nearly 13 million by 2020. The Angeles hosts over 3.5 million visitors each year, making it one of the most visited national forests in the nation. At this time, the Angeles National Forest represents 70% of the county's open space. This space experiences year-round, concentrated use by millions of people each year", says Jody.
The ANF is a land of extremes. The mountains rise up quickly from the lowlands of the Los Angeles Basin to 10,064 feet at the top of Mount San Antonio. As a result of the wide range of elevations, the forest experiences tremendous variations in climate. The lower elevations are often hot and dry throughout the summer, while the mountains remain cool throughout the year. The highest peaks are often blanketed by snow in the winter. The ANF contains three separate wilderness areas, protecting some of the wildest and most untouched terrain in southern California. The San Gabriel and Sheep Mountain Wilderness Areas cover more than 75,000 acres, with elevations that range from 2,400 to 10,000 feet. They contain some of the most rugged land in the ANF, including deep canyons, year-round waterfalls and high mountain peaks. The Cucamonga Wilderness, co-managed with San Bernardino National Forest, offers another 13,000 acres of natural, unspoiled beauty and serves as a link between the lowlands of the Los Angeles basin and the majestic heights of the Mount San Antonio ridge.
Mountain lions and Nelson bighorn sheep roam the mountains and canyons, while California spotted owls hunt in old-growth forests. The ANF is also a haven for some of the nation's most endangered species, such as the Least Bell's vireo and the mountain yellow-legged frog.
The "Curve" fire that destroyed the "South Mount Hakwins Lookout" was followed a few days later by the "Williams Fire" a second wildland fire that swept through the San Gabriel River Ranger District, in the Angeles National Forest (ANF). The combined costs of these two fires was $51,700,000.00. Yes, $51.7 million. However... counting money can be fairly easy to measure as hard numbers, but there are "other" costs that are harder to count after the fires are out.
Air support services are critical in suppressing fires but are also very costly. Hourly flight rates for helicopters and airtankers are $1,127 per hour and $1,844 per hour respectively. After the fire, it is harder to put a cost on the loss of the following: Loss of recreation opportunities Watershed damage Degraded wildlife habitat Loss of personal property Loss of historic buildings and heritage sites
In 2002 fire costs for the Angles National Forest (ANF) were so high that budgets for wildfire suppression across the Forest Service were not sufficient to cover expenditures. To make up the deficit, the Forest Service withdrew remaining funding from non-fire operations to fund wildfire suppression. At the ANF this withdraw from non-fire programs totaled over $2.5 million (an additional $2.8 million was withdrawn from unspent fire management funds). As a result of these withdrawals, nonessential non-fire activities at the ANF came to a halt on July 1, 2002.
There is another way to measure cost... "People Power". When an employee is working a job full time of 40 hours a week, they are called a "Full Time Equivalent" person or "FTE" for short. In addition to the fund withdrawals, some parts of the Angeles Forest gave up employees to help support suppression activities.
A typical large fire will last two to three weeks, taking employees from their regular program duties for the duration of the fire. In total, the five non-fire functional areas gave up 11.3 FTEs to fire activities in 2002. The Facilities Operations & Maintenance group lost 4.8 FTEs in 2002; this loss was significant, particularly because the program already faced a shortfall of 55 FTEs.
Fire assets of the ANF consist of 28 fire engine companies, 6 water tenders, 5 twenty- person regular handcrews, 5 call-when-needed handcrews, 2 helicopters, 1 air tanker base, 15 fire prevention personnel, 8 dispatchers, a training center, and three Fire Lookout Towers: Vetter Mountain Lookout (Volunteer Staffed) Slide Peak Lookout (Volunteer Staffed) South Mt. Hawkins Lookout (destroyed by Curve Fire)

THE COSTS?

A NOTE ABOUT FIRE...

THE COST IS WORTH IT!

DONATE HERE