Hello Fireshed Members,
Creating communities that are adapted to living in wildfire-prone landscapes requires capturing the hearts and minds of many New Mexicans. To support this effort, we need useful information to guide our actions and creative materials that compel us to reimagine our role in fire adapted landscapes.
This week’s Wildfire Wednesday features resources to guide our wildfire preparedness actions as well as some creative approaches to help us reimagine what it looks like to live within a fire adapted landscape.
A lesson in Fireline Factors: What does Red Flag Warning mean?
An discussion focused around the book Fire Ghosts, that finds glimmers of beauty and enlightenment in the increasing destruction of wildfires in an era of climate change.
Creative campfire alternatives for camping during fire restrictions
Best,
Gabe
What are Red Flag Warnings?
By Porfirio Chavarria, City of Santa Fe Wildland Urban Interface Specialist
The National Weather Service defines Red Flag Warnings as:
A term used by fire-weather forecasters to call attention to limited weather conditions of particular importance that may result in extreme burning conditions.
Still scratching your head? Here’s three bullet points to understand what a Red Flag Warning means. In addition to an area being in a dry spell for at least a week and in high to extreme fire danger, the criteria for the issuance of a Red Flag Warning by the National Weather Service is:
Sustained wind average 15 mph or greater
Relative humidity less than or equal to 25 percent and
Temperature of greater than 75 degrees F.
Red Flag Warnings are issued for specific geographical areas delineated by the National Weather Service. These areas are referred to as, “forecast zones”. As with any imaginary line drawn on a map, fires and weather don’t recognize those lines. But, they do help us make sense of and identify commonalities within those lines to tell a story. In this case, a story about the potential for increased fire behavior. Santa Fe happens to be in a tale of three forecast zones; zone 102, 103, and 107.
This can cause confusion. I tend to err on the side of caution, as mentioned before weather doesn’t recognize these arbitrary boundaries, and therefore if a Red Flag Warning is issued in any one of these zones, I regard Santa Fe as a whole to be in a Red Flag Warning.
This is all well and good but, “How do I know if there is a Red Flag Warning in my area?”. The easiest and most reliable way to know if there is a Red Flag Warning issued is to sign up for severe weather alerts through Alert Santa Fe. Your local television and radio stations will also relay that information during their news casts. The local National Weather Service Office website, weather.gov/abq is an excellent source for a quick visual, and you can click on the links to get the detailed text forecast.
In summary, Red Flag Warnings mean the weather is hot, dry, and windy. Any fire that starts under those conditions has the potential to spread quickly, and easily overwhelm firefighting resources.
Get the alerts and create a wildfire action plan. When a Red Flag Warning is issued for your area Get Ready, and be Set, because you may need to Go!
Fire Ghosts, a virtual discussion with the authors Patricia Galagan & Philip Metcalf (d) hosted by Collected Works
Jun 25, 6:00 PM Online Event
Patricia Galagan, one of the authors of Fire Ghosts, a new book chronicling the Las Conchas fire and beauty and enlightenment found in the aftermath, will be in conversation with essayists William deBuys, Craig D. Allen and curator of photography at the New Mexico Museum of Fine Art, Katherine Ware and Ernie Atencio, regional director of National Parks and Conservation association (co-sponsors of the event)
For More information and to join the conversation please visit
https://www.collectedworksbookstore.com/events-1/philip-metcalf-patricia-galagan-fire-ghosts
Campfire Alternatives: Creative Ways to Follow Fire Restrictions and Still Have Fun
You can still have fun camping without a campfire. Although nearly everyone prefers campfires, in a time where there are fire restrictions just about everywhere in New Mexico, it is a great time to get creative and test your outdoor skills by trying some of these creative campfire alternatives.
For extra outdoors points, brainstorm your own fun after-dinner activities that you can do while you are out in the woods with your friends and family.
One of my favorites is going to sleep early. Ha!
Click here to check out a video and blog post by Leave No Trace for some ideas to get you started.