Here & Now

James Barnier On The Potential for Wildfire Around Wisconsin

Frederica Freyberg:
Smoke from Canadian 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 affect 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.

James Barnier:
Thank you.

Frederica Freyberg:
So I know that the Wisconsin DNR also has these fire management dashboards online. How has this year compared historically for wildfires in Wisconsin?

James Barnier:
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.

Frederica Freyberg:
Right. So what are conditions like right now for fires in Wisconsin?

James Barnier:
Well, to be honest, we’re just starting to get back into some droughty-er conditions. We’re starting to staff up again and just prepare for fires for the summer months.

Frederica Freyberg:
When a fire breaks out, what kind of fuels it spread?

James Barnier:
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 usually that light fuels, that grassier 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.

Frederica Freyberg:
So you have told us that it is not likely that Wisconsin would ever see fires like those in Canada. Why not?

James Barnier:
I 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, 3,000 to, you know, 15,000 acres. Those types of fires are common, you know, every so often in the state of Wisconsin and have significant impacts across the state.

Frederica Freyberg:
A number of DNR firefighters have been in Canada. Tell me about that.

James Barnier:
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.

Frederica Freyberg:
How much forest land does Wisconsin have and who’s responsible for its management, fire prevention and firefighting?

James Barnier:
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 type fires.

Frederica Freyberg:
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?

James Barnier:
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 are 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.

Frederica Freyberg:
James Barnier, thanks very much for joining us.

James Barnier:
Thank you.