As the wildfires in central Louisiana continue to burn, emergency officials are using social media to keep the public up-to-date on developments - but also to offering information about wildfires.
In addition to providing ground support, the National Interagency Fire Center also provides informational support, in the form of social media posts to keep the public and media informed and educated.
In a post yesterday, the Facebook page set up by the Southern Area Red Team to provide information on the Elizabeth Fire in Rapides Parish answered a question a lot of folks seem to have: Why don't you just put the fire out?
"Another common question we've been asked is why our goal is containment instead of extinguishing or the fire being out. To be clear, we would love for the fire to be totally out! But, there is a process to getting to that point, and fires must be first contained, then controlled before being declared "out," the post states.
First comes containment, and then control.
"The #ElizabethFire is 943 acres. That means the fire perimeter encompasses that acreage. It does not mean the acreage is all currently burning. In fact, most of the acres are "black." But, fire usually burns in a mosaic pattern, so there are pockets of unburned fuel within the fire perimeter. Also, we are experiencing "needle cast" - which we'll give you more details about later. Green trees that have been scorched begin to shed their needles and leaves, which provides additional fuel, so if a hot area within the fire perimeter can reach any of those fuel sources it can start to burn. If there is wind gust and if the new burning area is close to the control line, it can throw embers and start a "spot fire" outside the lines," the post on containment states.
"Portions of the fire perimeter are not considered contained until there is a high confidence the fire will not cross that section of line," the containment post continues. "Since the chance of spot fires has been high (heat pockets, winds, and dry fuel), we have not felt confident enough to increase containment. That doesn't mean the situation is not improving though! Every day, we work hard putting water on hotspots and widening dozer lines, decreasing the chance anything gets through. We are adding "black" (contained sections) to the line, as we secure each section and build that confidence."
The second step is the fire being controlled, the post on "out" states.
"A controlled fire means that the fire no longer threatens further spread or resource damage under foreseeable conditions," the out post states. "For a fire to be declared out, there needs to be ZERO residual heat. The best way to reduce heat is with water! But, according to our Fire Behavior Analyst, we need 4-5" of rain to relieve the severe drought conditions on the #ElizabethFire , and that much rain STILL may not put the fire out! Some quick math showed that 5 inches of rain would put millions of gallons of water on the fire area. A normal water drop from a helicopter is 600-1000 gallons, which shows you how much water is really needed!
"Fires are generally not declared totally out until a "season-ending event" - a huge rainstorm or even snowfall in other states.
"Aviation resources are an important piece of our firefighting operations. Helicopters allow us to drop water on areas that we can't access from the ground, or places it isn't safe to be on the ground. But they can't take the place of a good rain!"
Here's the "containment" post:
And, here's the "out" post:
