>> All right. We leave it there. Steven Deller thanks
very much. >> Thank you.
wildfires is a regular feature these days in
Wisconsin. According to current maps, there are 700
active wildfires in Canada, most of them categorized as
out of control. What's the risk of wildfires or forest
fires in Wisconsin? And could cuts in federal
funding of the U.S. Forest Service? If forest
management in Wisconsin, we're joined now by James
Barnier forest fire protection section chief for
the Division of Forestry. And thanks very much for
being here. >> Thank you.
>> So I know that the Wisconsin DNR also has these
fire management dashboards online. How has this year
compared historically for wildfires in Wisconsin?
>> This year is fairly unique. It was one of our
more uncommon types of events. We've had. As you
might remember, a drier than normal winter. We saw a
significant number of fires in January and February,
which we traditionally don't see. So those fires cause a
lot of great a lot of work on our staff to be prepared,
be ready. Typically, when we're trying to get ready
for our typical spring season, which is March,
April and May. And so that really took a toll on our
staff overall from that working those two months
earlier. Traditionally, we see snowfall during that
time frame. >> Right.
>> So what are conditions like right now for fires in
Wisconsin? >> Well, to be honest, we're
just starting to get back into some drought
conditions. We're starting to staff up again and just
prepare for fires for the summer months.
>> When a fire breaks out. What kind of fuels it
spread? >> Well, most of our fires
are caused by people, and typically in the state of
Wisconsin, most of our fires are wind driven, usually
with low RH and higher temperatures, but mostly
with wind. And low RH is what we see drives most of
our fires. And that usually that light fuels that grass
type fuels that would spread really fast. And then once
that gets ignited, the fire gets a lot bigger. There's
called ladder fuels. Those ladder fuels get you know,
get into the tops of the trees. And then when you see
those really significant type of crown fires.
>> So you have told us that it is not likely that
Wisconsin would ever see fires like those in in
Canada. Why not? >> Why wouldn't say we
wouldn't see types of fires of that magnitude of 250,000
acres. We probably wouldn't see that size of fires. But
we do see a lot of significant what I would
say, catastrophic for the state of Wisconsin. Anything
between, you know, 3000 to, you know, 15,000 acres,
those types of fires in the are common. You know, every
so often in the state of Wisconsin and have
significant impacts across the state.
>> A number of DNR firefighters have been in
Canada. Tell me about that. >> So we've sent up 20
people to both Ontario, and Manitoba. And during that
time frame in, they're actually fighting fires and
working within that organization on their IMT
incident management teams to help facilitate that. So
doing so, it is a significant event.
>> How much forest land does Wisconsin have and who's
responsible for its management, fire prevention
and firefighting. >> Just in general, there's
about 57% of the forested lands is privately owned and
about another 10% industry owned. And the rest is
government entities. And so we provide Wisconsin DNR,
provide support with those landowners through, you
know, sound forest management practices to
provide some management plans for them or through,
you know, industry working through industry foresters
and ensuring that we have a good, solid forest, healthy
forest to help limit those large scale fires.
>> So we know that state officials have concern about
federal cuts to states from the U.S. Forest Service.
What role do the feds play in wildfire management?
>> They provide us a lot of funding sources. So, yes,
roughly a little over $2 million to support
perspectives associated with wildfire preparedness. And
that where would that money go? Well, we work heavily
with our partners, local fire departments. Our one of
our key components within the state of Wisconsin. And
we provide grants to those to help facilitate responses
to those fires. Also for our needs, for our training
responsibilities, our tools, our resources, and even some
of our funding of our positions.