By Sherri Taylor
Journal News Editor

Wildfire can't happen in Louisiana!" That's a common cry in this state that's criss-crossed by rivers, creeks and branches but professional foresters have a different view point.

"We are ripe for the same problems California is now facing with wildfires," said Holly Morgan, U.S. Forest Service technician and Forestry Chair for Twin Valley RC&D at a Wildfire Prevention Demonstration held Wednesday, November 5 at the Hudson Creek Fire Station in Grant Parish.

The goal of the event was to publicize the growing dangers of the "wildland-urban interface," where urban development meets forestland, as more and more homes are built in forest settings. The demonstration was sponsored by the Twin Valley Resource Conservation & Development. Along with Ms. Morgan were Benny Dobson, Project coordinator, Randall Fletcher, Grant Parish RC&D representative and John Martel of the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry. Barbara Poole, fire program manager for the Catahoula Ranger District of Kisatchie National Forest, assisted with the help of Hudson Creek volunteer fireman Jerry Coleman.

The reason Louisiana can now suffer fire similar to those in the west is that people have built homes in the forest, fragmenting the forest into smaller tracts, the forest technicians said. If these tracts burn, not only trees, but people's homes, their pets and most of what they own could be endangered.

"Years ago, a fire could burn fifty acres and not threaten a home," Ms. Morgan said. "Today, a fire can be off forest service land and in someone's home quickly."

She also pointed to pipelines and highlines that further fragment the forests, a severe drought two years ago, and the use of flammable ornamental plants in landscaping as a parts of the problem.

"The only thing that saves us is the terrain in Louisiana," Ms. Morgan said. In California, the fires often start in high mountains where heavy equipment can't be used to build fire lines. Also, environmentalists in California have enacted laws prohibiting heavy dozers and other necessary fire fighting tools to be used in wilderness areas where fires often burn.

"The 'let it burn' activists know no limits," wrote M. David Sterling, vice-president of Pacific Legal Foundation, a public interest organization. "They want firefighters to obtain advance permit for aerial spraying and bulldozing. Imagine the nightmare for fire crews fighting multiple fires coordinating permit applications."

That's the situation now in Montana and California, but it could happen here since so many believe a fire in Louisiana will not spread as it will in western states. That's not true, according to the forest service experts.

"A good example is the Kisatchie Wilderness area," said Ed Meyers, Smurfit-Stone Hodge mill's forest resources manager.

That 8,000 acre tract had been set aside by the Forest Service with no harvesting, no thinning and no prescribed burns. The forest was left to nature - not managed. During the 1980s, pine beetles attacked and killed most of the trees. Then forest fire burned the entire tract to the ground. Environmentalists who object to forest management pointed the beauty of the wild flowers that came up in the ashes. Let nature take its course, they say.

"Nature can be brutal," said Meyers. On the other hand, managing the forest is good science, according to foresters.

Louisiana has two fire seasons, explained Barbara Poole. One of those is during July, August and September when many streams have dried up or become thin streams of water.

"If fire gets into the crowns of trees, it will jump anything," she explained. The group pointed out that the number one cause of all wildfire is arson, someone deliberately setting the fire. The second is homeowners burning debris.

During the Wild Fire Prevention Demonstration, ways to protect homes in wilderness areas around Louisiana were described. The most important element is a thirty-foot space around each home dividing it from the woods line, using preferably St. Augustine grass, with few trees. Trees should not touch each other and should not over reach the roof of the house. Fences around houses prevent fire fighting equipment from gaining access to homes in wildland-urban settings where forest fires can burn homes.

Such plants as wax myrtle and yaupon holly, ornamental grass or conifers should not be used near a home.

Ms. Poole set wax myrtle and yaupon holly afire in a controlled setting and it blazed like hot oil.

"It acts like it has bacon grease poured over it," said one observer as the fire popped like fire crackers.

In addition, Ms. Morgan suggested that homeowners not use pine straw for mulch and that gutters should be cleaned regularly to prevent sparks from igniting debris and causing creeping fire that could eventually destroy a home.

When the demonstration was completed, the firemen headed to Grant Elementary School less than half a mile from the fire station where around 50 kids gathered for a lesson in fire prevention.

Since there are two kinds of fires: woods fire and structure or house fires - the children were told to call 911 for house fires and the Forest Service for wildfire.

"We'd like to see homeowners contact our office before they burn," said Martel. He explained that each ranger district office will know if it's a safe day to burn. Call the sheriff's office for the number in each homeowner's area, he advised.

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