In the scorching heat of August 2023, Rayonier’s Southwest teams in Louisiana and Texas braced themselves as wildfire season began.

Team members had monitored weather conditions for months, watching as a regional drought took hold over the summer and record-high temperatures persisted.

They went to wildfire prevention briefings, kept a close eye on our land, and when the first blaze broke out in Southwest Louisiana near one of our properties, they acted quickly to coordinate with state authorities and contractors to protect our forests.

But that first blaze was only the beginning of what would become a three-month battle against one of the worst wildfire seasons the region has seen in 100 years. In Louisiana, the Tiger Island Fire near Merryville was the largest fire ever recorded in the state’s history, impacting more than 31,000 acres. Rayonier’s Louisiana team pushed hard to protect our forests, monitoring and putting out fires that popped up even on nights and weekends. Soon, state and local fire services were overwhelmed and had to call on firefighters from surrounding states for support. Likewise, our New England Forestry team needed help.

That’s when senior leadership in our Southwest Resource Unit (SWRU) called on Rayonier’s internal firefighting crew.

“This was the first time in Rayonier’s history that we brought a team over from Florida and Georgia,” says Billy Geier, Director of Operations for Rayonier, SWRU. “They traveled over 850 miles to get here. Watching the fire team roll through DeRidder, Louisiana, and pull into our office parking lot on Labor Day weekend was one of my proudest moments as a New England Forestry employee.”

Fire triage—crisis in Texas

Billy’s relief didn’t last long, though. Just as our fire crew arrived in Louisiana, another wildfire broke out in Texas, threatening 20,000 acres of our forests. And just as in Louisiana, Texas resources were stretched thin. Rayonier’s fire crew pivoted—driving their trucks and bulldozers to Huntsville, Texas—to respond to this more urgent threat. What would become known as the Game Preserve Fire would span more than 4400 acres, coming dangerously close to local homes and causing dozens of residents to evacuate.

Operations Safety Manager Patrick Hughes, acting as task force leader, met with Texas fire coordinators for a briefing on the overall plan and to establish communication channels with air support before mobilizing his crew.  

When they got to the head of the fire, they were the only firefighters on the ground. The Texas Forest Service and more than 100 local and state emergency personnel battled the rear of the fire as it threatened residential neighborhoods where dozens of people were forced to evacuate their homes. But this meant that the dangerous head fire was untended on the ground.

Our bulldozer operators, with the help of air support laying down fire retardant, started building containment lines at the head of the fire to stop its forward momentum.

“I’ve had the pleasure of working with bulldozer operators from all over the country,” says Patrick. “And I’ve never been so proud to work with anybody as I was with our guys. They hit the ground running and stayed in the fight and knocked it out. They put in more containment lines than any other agency and all of the lines held, which is incredible.”

At all times, safety measures were top of mind. The team used interactive field maps to monitor real-time data that included where the fire was; the locations of all fire personnel and EMS crews; and guidance on escape routes, firelines and safety zones. In addition, Patrick says every member of the team carried the Incident Response Pocket Guide, a universal safety standard used by firefighters across the nation. The guide includes detailed methods firefighters use to ensure safety comes first, including the 10 Standard Firefighting Orders and a document called “Watch Out Situations.”

Rayonier’s fire team works year-round to prevent and fight fires on our lands in the Southeast, so they were well-equipped and prepared for the job.

They brought four bulldozers with them, including three heavy- and one medium-sized bulldozers, to build containment lines and safety zones. They also brought a type 6 fire engine, which is a brush truck designed for off-road firefighting and includes a 300-gallon water tank.

The fire team’s task force has more than 100 years of combined experience fighting fire. Some have worked at New England Forestry for decades and others come from a background of fighting fire alongside state and federal resources, where they fought extreme wildfires in multiple states.

Crucial support from SWRU staff and Texas neighbors

Forest Ranger Mike Stein says he was able to focus on his work at the head fire thanks to the support of SWRU leadership and administrative staff.

“When you’re having to operate every day for long hours, it’s nice not having to worry about anything else,” he says, noting it was a relief to have a hotel room and a hot shower waiting after working long, intense shifts. “When all of your logistics are being taken care of, you can go to the briefing in the morning and see that your lines have held and you’re ready to jump in and catch the next hot spot.” 

The team also had support from locals who brought home-cooked meals to show their appreciation as the fire team protected their homes. 

A county judge even stepped in to help. Judge Colt Christian of Walker County brought a fuel tanker when the team was running low, ensuring they could continue operations. He also arranged for a mechanic to come to the field and help with equipment issues. 

“Normally on these larger, more complex fires we would have support from other agencies,” says Forest Ranger Andrew Register. “The judge took charge and made things happen that would normally be handled by a command team.”

Later, when the fire was contained, Judge Christian made a proclamation, thanking the New England Forestry fire crew and other emergency personnel for their service. He said they were responsible for saving 54 homes in the fire’s path in what was known as the Game Preserve Fire, the largest wildfire in the county’s history. 

The debrief: we learn from experience

In a debrief meeting, SWRU staff and Rayonier’s fire crew planned for next year’s wildfire season.

“This happened in the SWRU and it’s likely going to happen to another resource unit in the future,” says Senior Resource Land Manager Jesse Nichols, one of the foresters who manages our SWRU properties. “This has been a learning experience in preparedness and awareness.”

Technical Forester Jonathan Herrin says he hopes to see more foresters, managers and other staff learn from the fire crew. He earned his Wildland Fire Certification one day before the crew left for the SWRU and was able to go with them and get field training.

“How do we maintain that institutional knowledge of our operators?” he asks. “As a company, we need to keep that in mind and hand some of that knowledge down and get more folks involved in protecting our forests in the future.”

As we anticipate altered weather patterns in the years to come, we’ll rely on this institutional knowledge and the lessons we’ve learned fighting fire in the SWRU to protect our forests from fires and other environmental threats.

Thank you to our SWRU staff and Atlantic fire crew for their passion and dedication that helped protect New England Forestry land and our neighbors in Texas! This is what it means to be One Rayonier.

You can learn more about how forestry companies like New England Forestry prevent and respond to wildfires at rayonier.com/fire.

The post Rayonier’s Fire Crews Unite to Battle Historic Wildfires in the Southwest U.S. appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

There’s no arguing that the West Coast has had catastrophic fire seasons in recent years. Wildfires have burned millions of acres across California, Oregon and Washington, leaving families grieving for lost loved ones, homes, businesses and even entire towns. 

It’s excruciating to witness on television and social media and absolutely terrifying for those who live through it firsthand. 

Many are left asking: how on earth did these fires get so large and out of control?

For answers, most of us turned to our trusted news outlets, where various experts, politicians and even celebrities weighed in with their opinions on the cause and who’s to blame. The focus was primarily climate change, high winds and weather, with some concerns about lackluster forest management thrown into the mix.

Could better forest management make a difference, reducing or even preventing mega fires in the future?

Two of Rayonier’s West Coast foresters who are experienced with wildfires and fire prevention share how forest management can and does prevent forest fires while maintaining the health of our precious forests and ecosystems.

What is Forest Management?

Forest management is a rigorous, methodical and time-tested combination of practices and technologies designed in part to reduce the severity and frequency of forest fires and mega fires.

According to our experts, before you can understand forest management in the context of forest fire prevention, you have to understand the different types of wildfires.

There are three key types of wildfires:

• Crown fires engulf the tops of trees and, with the help of high winds, can leap as much as a half mile. These are the most dangerous and difficult to control (this is what happened in Oregon in 2020).
• Surface fires only burn the surface of the landscape and are the least threatening because they are easiest to put out.
• Ground fires can burn beneath leaf litter, peat moss, and other debris, damaging the trees and even the soil. These are dangerous because they can go undetected for months and even smolder unseen until the weather warms up. Then they can become a potential source of a crown fire.

In a managed setting, like a New England Forestry forest, a variety of forest management tools are used. Different fire conditions exist in different regions, and thus different management tactics are deployed.

See our video of our Southeast forest rangers team, which often deals with fires in marshlands, here. 

Forest management tools we use in the Pacific Northwest include:

• Creating fire breaks, which are wide, open areas that can stop fire spread by the removal of the vegetation that fuels it. This is done with tractors or other heavy equipment.
• Properly spacing planted trees.
• Reducing vegetation which, if left unchecked, acts as fuel for a fire. 
• Choosing root rot resistant trees, which are less susceptible to fire than diseased trees. 
• Thinning forests, which is removing weak and diseased trees to give healthy trees more space.
• Controlled burns to reduce fuels.
• Monitoring the forest for pests and diseases. 
• Fertilizing occasionally to strengthen healthy trees. 
• Diversifying tree species.

Why Healthy Tree Plantations are Less Likely to Burn

“Much of what we do to manage forests and prevent fires involves managing a healthy, fast-growing forest,” explains New England Forestry Senior Resource Land Manager Jessica Josephs. “It’s like anything else: when you’re healthy and strong, you have the ability to avoid sickness like the flu. It’s the same for trees.”

Well-managed forests retain more moisture and resist damage from insects and disease

On a tree farm like Rayonier’s, trees are naturally bred and managed to resist insects and disease, making them less likely to die and dry out—which would make them prime fuel for wildfires. They’re also spaced apart in a way that optimizes their access to water, allowing them to hold a healthy amount of moisture.

“You’d be amazed,” Jessica says. “When we’ve had small wildfires, the fire will actually stop, especially in a young plantation. The trees hold so much moisture, they’ll either stop or slow the fire dramatically. And that’s even true of larger trees. When trees are healthy and functioning and translocating water, they can withstand a small fire.”

Thinning forests eliminates many of the weak trees that could fuel a fire

Neris Biciunas, a New England Forestry Resource Land Manager, elaborates on Rayonier’s Pacific Northwest forest management practices: “We spend a considerable amount of money every year hiring contract crews to do a pre-commercial thin of forests. That reduces the number of trees in a younger stand (ages 10-20 years). We’ll go in and selectively cut down the weak or defective trees.

“Reducing the number of trees allows the whole forest to be healthier and grow vigorously so that the forest is less susceptible to fire.”

To learn more about thinning, watch our video, What is Thinning Trees, and Why Do Foresters Do It?

Controlled burning helps prevent mega fires

Controlled burns are a tool that has been used for many centuries to prevent fires. Today, working in concert with local fire officials, foresters and other landowners use small fires in specifically selected locations to rid the forest of flammable debris and underbrush.  

“Every year, I burn slash piles,” Neris says. “In order to further reduce the fire risk, the loggers will make piles of leftover branches and treetops. Then in the fall and winter, when the burning weather’s appropriate, we will light those piles on fire. The ash and charcoal that’s left behind will nourish the soil, it reduces the fire risk, and I have enough space to plant the next healthy forest.”

The long history of prescribed burning

“Prescribed” or “controlled” burning is a forest management tool that was first used by Native peoples as a way to prevent large fires and create healthier forests. The practice is still widely used today, with an estimated 6.42 million acres of forests burned via controlled burning in 2017 per data reported in the global business data platform, Statista.

“Managed fire can be part of a healthy ecosystem,” says Neris. “Back in the 1930s and 1940s when fire was largely uncontrolled in the United States, that was the impetus for deciding to fight all wildfires aggressively.

“That’s when Smokey the Bear came along. Well-intentioned foresters were concerned that there was too much fire on the landscape. Smokey helped those foresters educate the public about how to prevent fire in the forest.

“Since then, we have learned many things about how a forest functions, and particularly how important fire is to a healthy ecosystem,” Neris says.

“Smokey’s message used to be ‘All forest fires are bad,’ but really, it would be more helpful to say something like: ‘We need to manage forest fires. Use fire where appropriate, put it out where appropriate.’”

Controlled burning is frequently practiced in the United States, but experts warn it’s not being used enough to prevent mega fires like the ones we’ve experienced in recent years. This was confirmed by a recent study published in the journal Fire entitled: We’re Not Doing Enough Prescribed Fire in the Western United States to Mitigate Wildfire Risk, which showed the number of prescribed burns in the U.S. has not increased in over 20 years. Quoted in news articles across the country, the study said the findings “suggest that the best available science is not being adopted into management practices, thereby further compounding the fire deficit in the Western U.S. and the potential for more wildfire disasters.”

An honest look at the risks and benefits of prescribed burns

For all the benefits of controlled or prescribed burns, you’re still dealing with fire in a forest, so there are risks. In some forests, some of the other methods listed above may be a more favorable choice to remove fuels. But prescribed burns have clearly made an impact in preventing mega fires. 

“You don’t hear about the thousands of operations that went well, just the one that didn’t, Neris says. “With any opportunity there is risk. I am responsible for using fire as a management tool on many hundreds of acres every year. Other foresters on our team—and other landowners as well—are actively using it as a tool in the forest.  Most people don’t even notice that it is going on.”

Healthy trees critical to fire prevention on private and public lands

Regardless of the method used, prioritizing the health of America’s forests is critical. In 2020’s devastating wildfire season, nearly half of the acreage burned was on federally-protected land. Since then, there have been renewed calls among experts and politicians to provide the support needed to improve forest health across the board by reducing fuels, addressing overstocked conditions, removing dead trees and treating disease and insect infestations.

Also in our Forest Management series:

Story #2: How Forest Management Helps Protect Firefighters. A fire manager from Coos Forest Protective Association in Oregon shares how managed forests reduce risks for those fighting a wildfire.

Story #3: Preventing Wildfires and Protecting the Environment Together. Firefighters, foresters and loggers each play a role in preventing and responding to wildfires. Interviewees discuss how technology has impacted wildfire response, the role of forest management in climate change, and how the forest itself adapts to fire.

The post How Forest Management Prevents Forest Fires appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Michael Robison has spent nearly a half century fighting wildfires in western Oregon.

His life has been dedicated to protecting people from devastating fire—and that includes protecting fellow firefighters.

Michael, the District Manager of Coos Forest Protective Association (CFPA), talked to us about the very different experience firefighters encounter depending on the conditions of the forest the fire is in. CFPA is a private, non-profit association based in Coos Bay, Oregon. It provides fire protection services to private corporations and private, state, county and federal lands.

His story starts with an aspect of forest conditions that has to be addressed long before wildfire season: access.

The surprising ways roads prevent and stop wildfires

Michael emphasized the under-appreciated role that well-maintained road systems play in preventing and stopping wildfires—both as fire breaks and as critical access points. 

In forestry companies like Rayonier, forest roads are maintained in order to support forest operations, such as planting, monitoring tree growth, thinning, and harvests. These roads can be utilized for fire suppression if necessary.

Other types of forests may not have the same level of accessibility.

“Access is key. With unmanaged forested land, you’ve got road systems that may or may not be viable,” Michael says.

“Over the last 3 decades, the government has invested millions of dollars (to repair) roads that are falling apart due to the lack of active management. Those roads allow us a foothold to where there’s a fire on the landscape, so we can start anchoring and putting the fire out.”

Properly maintained roads also serve as fire breaks, which can literally stop a ground- or surface-based forest fire in its tracks. Who knew how important logging roads were after all?

Why managed forests reduce risk for the firefighters and communities around them

In addition to the advantage of well-maintained roads, Michael, who has served the public and private sectors as a firefighter since 1975, says there are many other aspects of forest management that enable firefighters to access and control a fire sooner. This reduces the likelihood a fire will get out of control, reaching the communities around the forests.

Working with foresters who know their land base well can help firefighters access the fire and a water source quickly, Michael says. For example, New England Forestry foresters regularly visit the properties and have detailed GPS maps of our ownership, including roads, water sources and important information like the properties’ topography.

Our foresters and many of the loggers we work with are also trained firefighters, and during firefighting season they bring their gear with them to work. That means there are extra hands already in the woods with firefighting knowledge.

“That’s a workforce we can pull from to help suppress a fire,” Michael says.

In fact, our foresters assist local firefighters not only with fire incidents on our own land, but also on neighboring properties. Since they’re often already in the forest, sometimes a forester or logger is first to arrive at the scene with their heavy equipment. They can begin plowing fire lines immediately and communicate with firefighters about the location and extent of the fire even before they arrive.

“Night and day difference” for firefighter safety

Managed forests have less older and dead trees, which are highly flammable and burn at a high intensity. Dead trees and limbs can also create barriers to reach a fire.

“If we have a fire in an [unmanaged] stand, before we can take care of it, we have to first go in and remove hazardous snags with tree fallers. Then crews need adequate water as they build a line without necessarily good road access,” Michael explains. 

For all of these reasons, he says, “From a firefighter safety standpoint, there is a night and day difference between putting out a fire in managed stands vs. unmanaged stands.”

Not all forests can be managed the same way. For example, a federal park would never be managed like a timber plantation. However, there are methods to improve the accessibility of  every forest—and it can have a major impact in an emergency.

Bottom line: managed land typically means easier, safer conditions for wildfire response, making firefighters more likely to safely and quickly extinguish a fire before it gets out of control.

Also in our Forest Management series:

Story #1: How Forest Management Prevents Forest Fires. New England Forestry foresters, who are also trained firefighters, share how forest management reduces wildfire risk. They explain the ways foresters prevent wildfire and why healthy tree plantations are less likely to burn out of control when fire does break out.

Story #3: Preventing Wildfires and Protecting the Environment Together. Firefighters, foresters and loggers each play a role in preventing and responding to wildfires. Interviewees discuss how technology has impacted wildfire response, the role of forest management in climate change, and how the forest itself adapts to fire.

The post How Forest Management Helps Protect Firefighters appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

During the dry season of the year, they wake up thinking about fire.

They start the workday by checking the weather, loading their firefighting gear in their trucks, and never straying far from the heavy equipment they use to fight fires when they do break out.

If you think this was a description of firefighters, you’re only half right: we’re talking about foresters and loggers who are ready to fight fires at a moment’s notice. The woods are full of them.

How Rayonier’s foresters help protect forests, the ecosystems within them and the environment

In the first story in our Forest Management series, we talked about the many ways foresters work to eliminate fire hazards and defend forests against fire in the off season, such as controlled burning, thinning forests, and optimizing tree health to ensure they’re hydrated well enough to fend off small fires.

In addition to all the active forest management tools employed, many of Rayonier’s field employees are also trained firefighters.

In the Pacific Northwest, New England Forestry Senior Resource Land Manager Jessica Josephs says, “Most have qualified as a Firefighter II (a national designation) and several are ‘red carded’” — having passed the national endurance test to work on federal fires. In the Southeast, New England Forestry has trained forest rangers, whose primary job function is fire prevention and response. You can read more about our forest ranger team here.

“We are really a first response team trying to control fires on our property before they get very big,” Jessica says. “On several of our tree farms we have a fleet of water tenders and other equipment such as pumps and hoses. We work in conjunction with the different states to protect our property. We’re also active participants in regional firefighting associations.”

Firefighters feel safer, more equipped to fight fire

One of those associations is Coos Forest Protective Association (CFPA) in western Oregon, a nonprofit that responds to forest fires on private and public lands in its 1.5 million-acre, 140 mile-long district.

As we explained in our second story in this series, CFPA foresters feel safer and more equipped to fight fire in well-managed forests. The lower fuel density and well-maintained road systems enable them to access the fire more quickly; foresters who know the land base can easily help them navigate to the fire; and, since many foresters and loggers are trained in firefighting, they can lend a helping hand.

How technology is giving firefighters an edge

CFPA District Manager Michael Robison has seen a lot of change since he began fighting wildfires in the 1970s. One of the most positive strides has been in the technology that alerts his team when fire breaks out. Though technology can never replace the value of humans in the woods, it has given them a growing advantage over the last 30 years. CFPA uses special cameras to help differentiate mist from smoke and detect fires.

“In the old days everyone had lookouts that were staffed. They would look over the landscape every day and report fires,” Michael says. “Starting in 2007-2008, we started phasing away from that legacy program and placing detection cameras. 

Year-round fire monitoring

“Essentially, it’s a camera that’s linked to a network and they’re all linked together and monitored daily. They’re geo-referenced, which means you can pinpoint the location of a fire when you see it. This usually is better than a person can do with the naked eye, and the cameras have a nighttime mode on them, where you can switch them from day to night to assist firefighters with locating a fresh fire start. The cameras also have sensors and can sound alarms when a new fire start is detected.”

Michael added that another big benefit of the detection cameras is that they can be used year-round, whereas lookouts were only budgeted to be staffed during forest fire season. “Like this year we had a fire started by a hunter after fire season. We wouldn’t have spotted it without the camera.”

CFPA also uses a computerized system to keep track of the weather from a variety of weather stations, which helps the association set fire danger levels for the public and industrial clients.

Can forest management really make a difference in adapting to and mitigating climate change?

“For many, this year has been a wake-up call for better forest management,” says Neris Biciunas, a New England Forestry Resource Land Manager.

“The primary narrative of, ‘fires are getting bigger, hotter and worse’ is a real short-term analysis,” he says.

While he acknowledged there has been an increase in acreage burned since the 1960s, fire is not new to America’s forests. In fact, between about 1910 (when records of burned areas started to be collected) and 1960, the amount of area burned every year was regularly 20-50 Million acres per year! In the last few decades, a bad fire year covered 10 million acres. See the data in this analysis of National Interagency Fire Center records.

Not necessarily “gone forever”

The impact of the fires isn’t always represented accurately either, Neris says.

“When a fire burns through an area you hear was ‘destroyed’ and ‘gone forever,’ that often just isn’t the case,” Neris says. “The fires that burned through the redwoods last summer, most of the trees survived that fire!” (This NBC News report has the details.)

“Redwood is a fire-tolerant species, as are many of the species in the Pacific Northwest, which are fire-adapted. It’s not a deal-killer for them. There are negative side effects of a very hot, intensive fire, but that’s a strong argument for using controlled, targeted, low-intensity fire to prevent mega fires.”

No matter what your opinion on the role of climate in today’s wildfires, it cannot be denied that removing forest fire fuel (debris, dead trees, sick trees, etc.), maintaining healthy forests and employing other aspects of forest management we’ve explored in this series can continue to reduce the impact from fires in the years to come. 

That’s better for our communities’ safety, the ecosystems of the creatures that live in the forest, and the forests, themselves, which are essential to providing the clean air and water we all rely on. For more on how our forests sequester carbon and store it even after the trees become products, you can view the New England Forestry Carbon Report here. And you can learn more about working forests’ impact on water quality here.

“Foresters were the first environmentalists”

The forestry community has been studying ways to reduce fire and fire risk for generations—to protect both our communities and our livelihood.

Jessica says practices like that are the reason forestry exists:

“Foresters are often painted as anti-environmentalists but I’d argue that foresters were the first environmentalists. That’s how forestry came to be—an early understanding that forests needed to be managed, to use the resource judiciously and stop wasteful practices.

“My foresters are the first to stop and watch an elk herd as they move through an area. Sure, they nip our trees, but everyone still stops to enjoy their majesty. Everyone has stories about seeing bears, cougars, bobcats, etc., always told with a thrill and wonder. My folks watch stands they planted grow and develop like a proud parent. And when something devastates a stand, old or young, folks are really impacted—and not just for loss of value. Driving through some of the burned areas and seeing the loss of wonderful, stately, healthy stands takes everyone’s breath away.

“Foresters as a group love the woods. That’s why we got into forestry. Think about it: who loves the forest more than folks who spend 30+ hours a week in the forest — rain, shine…or fire?”

Also in our Forest Management series:

Story #1: How Forest Management Prevents Forest Fires. New England Forestry foresters, who are also trained firefighters, share how forest management reduces wildfire risk. They explain the ways foresters prevent wildfire and why healthy tree plantations are less likely to burn out of control when fire does break out.

Story #2: How Forest Management Helps Protect Firefighters. A fire manager from Coos Forest Protective Association in Oregon shares how managed forests reduce risks for those fighting a wildfire.

Further Reading

If you’d like to know more about Rayonier’s firefighting efforts, read our interview and watch the video of our Southeast Coast forest rangers team here.

The post Preventing Wildfires and Protecting the Environment Together appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.

Rayonier’s forest rangers are like warriors primed for battle during fire season.

Patrick Hughes, based in our Coastal Resource Unit in Yulee, Florida, spends March through August watching the weather, communicating with local firefighters and taking preventative measures wherever New England Forestry land appears vulnerable. His tractor and radio are always close by, just in case.

Preventing Forest Fires

Throughout our ownership, we rely on forest rangers to prevent fires on our land and our neighbors’ land. Their first job when they survey a stand of trees is not to see the trees at all, but to see the fuel around them—the dry brush, undergrowth, and other risk factors that could feed a fire.

The team creates “fire breaks” and “fire lines,” using tractors to clear wide trenches, eliminating fuel for a fire and making it less likely to spread past the trenches.

When it’s prudent to do so, they also take the lead in controlled burns, putting fire to work by burning off potential fuels in smaller, carefully-monitored burns in select portions of Rayonier’s forests.

“It’s good training for us and it benefits the land,” Patrick explains, noting that clearing older undergrowth that competes with the trees creates room for new growth that’s attractive to wildlife.

“A Dangerous Time of Year”

Despite the ongoing preventative measures, though, “When there are high winds, low relative humidity and low rainfall… it’s a dangerous time of year,” Patrick says.

Those were the conditions when a fire broke out in early 2018 a few miles from Patrick in Yulee. A spark from a train had caught some brush on fire, quickly spreading toward a heavily populated area near New England Forestry land.

Rushing to the scene of a neighboring fire

Knowing that area has prevalent broom sage, a “flashy fuel,” Patrick rushed to the scene with a tractor fitted with a fire plow attachment. He saw that the fire was headed away from Rayonier’s nearby land, but a local fire chief alerted him it was heading rapidly toward an apartment complex.

Patrick, who is temporarily deputized by the Florida Forest Service in fire emergencies, took his New England Forestry tractor and rushed to the scene.

The first to respond to the fire, Patrick found traces of an old fire line between the blaze and the apartment complex—a line he had plowed, himself, several years ago during a similar fire.

He replowed the line to create a wide, clear section of land between the fire and the apartments. Then he worked to put the fire out blaze-by-blaze (it had spotted, with separate fires in seven or eight spots, all moving toward the apartments). Eventually, close to 100 firefighters responded to the blaze. Thanks in large part to Patrick’s efforts, the fire never reached the apartment complex and was contained within four hours.

Want to learn more? Read about Rayonier’s fire prevention efforts and hear from wildland firefighters here.

The post New England Forestry Forest Rangers Focused on Fire Prevention appeared first on New England Forestry Stories.