- The fire is out, now comes rehabilitation of the land
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By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent
A debt of gratitude is owed to the local and state firefighters who were the first to begin the battle against the Salt Creek Fire.
Brett Ostler, Juab County fire marshal, stepped up to the challenge as did the rest of the local firefighting team, said Mark Jones, Nephi City mayor.
Thanks to them, in the early hours of the fire, they were able to save homes, forest service camping facilities and summer homes as well as some city structures.
“On Tuesday, August 3, a meeting was held to discuss BAER (Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation) after the fire,” said Jones.
As fire suppression activities begin to diminish, a second important effort begins within the area affected by the wildfires, namely the rehabilitation of the effects of the fire.
On a wildfire, this consists of two separate and distinct efforts. The first rehabilitation effort is directly related to the effects of fire suppression activities. This includes rehabilitating fire lines, roads, trails, base camps, fixing fences, or any other physical feature that was damaged by efforts to put the fire out.
The second rehabilitation task is on a much larger scale than fire suppression rehabilitation. This effort examines the entire wildfire and the effects of the burn on soil, watershed and other resources as it relates to threats to life and property. Termed the Burned Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER) process, it is a comprehensive examination of the entire fire area for the effects of the fire itself.
“Now that the fire has been turned back to the state,” said Jones, “the questions have turned to what do we do now and who is responsible?”
Jones said the city is concerned that there might be mud slides which would be further damaging to needed resources.
The BAER effort uses a variety of resource experts to make an initial assessment of the effects of the fire on the soils, the watershed, the wildlife, the fish, and the vegetation in the fire area.
After the area is assessed, the BAER team proposes a set of alternative prescriptions in the form of a rehabilitation plan to local Forest Service officials to minimize the effects from the fire to resources and life and property within and directly adjacent to the fire. The prescriptions can include such activities as seeding, hay mulch, and vegetation planting that are designed specifically to meet resource objectives, such as minimizing erosion.
Also included in the plan is a monitoring plan that will examine the effectiveness of BAER treatments.
The monitoring is crucial knowledge that will be used in future BAER efforts.
The BAER team works quickly and efficiently, since their rehabilitation plan must be submitted within three days from the date the Fire is declared controlled.
Once the specific rehabilitation plan is selected and approved, a BAER implementation team is put in charge of completing all of the prescribed tasks before the first significant rainfall event of the winter.
“Our big concern has been the loss of watershed foliage,” said Jones. “We are concerned about watershed and springs.”
He said that Bradley Springs was a critical need for the city. There are 66-acres of watershed around the springs with 22 of those acres on Forest Service property and 44 included in watershed or the city and also private land.
“The city has little property ownership,” he said.
The wood/straw mulch will treat most of the problem and help control loss of watershed.
On the some forest land, pellet and straw will be used.
On Hop Creek, there has already been some flooding, said Jones.
In addition, the city lost an electrical control box near the origin of the fire by the Jim Ockey property. The box holds controls that take care of pressure and flow.
The control was temporarily repaired.
“When the control was burned all of the Bradley Spring water was going into Salt Creek instead of into the pipe but Tony Fergusson, the city electric department superintendent, was able to bypass the box,” said Jones.
The parts had to be order for the water control to be permanently repaired and they had not yet arrived.
“We will also look at Marsh Springs,” said Jones.
For years there has been discussion about whether Marsh Springs should be burned so that it could be better rehabilitated.
“Those who wished that it be burned got their wish and it did burn,” Jones said.
City residents and property owners have expressed how indebted they are to all of the firefighters, law enforcement officers and volunteers who have did their best to get the fire contained.
The fire, which began on SR 132, started on a Thursday and rapidly burned through Camperworld Campground about five miles east of Nephi.
“When Sheriff Alden Orme, Kent Park (council member) and I went to look at it on Thursday, it was a roaring fire and we thought Holiday Oaks would also be burned.”
Because the fire was burning so quickly, Type 1 and Type 2 firefighting teams were requested. Those teams arrived on Saturday and took control of the firefighting efforts, he said.
“They have firefighting down to a science,” he said.
Jones said he was included in planning meetings each morning at evening and was kept informed by the fire officials as to what was happening.
“They even brought their own meteorologist,” he said, “And everyday his predictions were almost 100 percent right.”
Saturday night, city officials became concerned because they thought parts of the city might need to be evacuated but, in reality, the fire was further away and was held at Dead Man’s turn near Marsh Spring.
He said the city hydro plant was also a concern to city officials but the plant was never threatened.
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