WILDFIRES STRIKE THE WEST
The wildfire season is heating up, with wildland firefighters battling blazes in multiple states. Here’s a roundup of local reports:
- California: Multiple fires destroyed buildings and forced evacuations, the Los Angeles Times reported (see: “Here’s the latest on Southern California’s four largest wildfires,” by Joseph Serna). “The blazes started at the tail end of a brutal statewide heat wave that dried out valley grasses and brush-covered hillsides,” the paper reported. “Officials say California’s wettest winter in more than a decade created a fresh crop of fuel spread across the state that has since dried out in the spring and summer heat.”
- Arizona: “A wildfire burning Wednesday through a dense Arizona forest has forced thousands of people from their homes, closed a major road and created a huge plume of smoke over the same area devastated by a blaze that killed 19 firefighters four years ago,” US News reported (see: “Thousands in Arizona Flee Flames as Wildfires Sweep West,” by Matt York and Astrid Galvin – Associated Press).
- Utah: “Gusty winds propelled flames through another 4,000 acres through tinder-dry trees and brush at southern Utah’s Brian Head Fire, which had topped 58,300 acres by early Thursday morning,” the Salt Lake Tribune reported (see: “S. Utah Brian Head Fire flares another 4,000 acres, but some evacuations eased,” by Bob Mims). “The nearly two-week-old blaze, still the largest active wildfire in the nation, was 15 percent contained and 58,319 acres. Firefighters still hoped to meet a July 15 target date for completing a ring of breaks and lines around the flames.”
- Washington: “Fires in grasslands east of the Cascades continued to expand Wednesday, forcing evacuations as firefighters faced another day of difficult weather,” reported the Seattle Times (see: “Eastern Washington wildfires prompt urgent evacuations,” by Evan Bush). “Near Wenatchee, three separate fires grew to encompass more than 23,000 acres… [officials] said firefighters have been dealing with heavy grasses, grown thick and high with bountiful spring moisture.”
Conditions will stay ripe for wildfires through the Fourth of July, according to Accuweather.com (see: “Western wildfire threat to continue through Independence Day,” by Faith Eherts). “Warm, dry weather will continue in the Southwest through the weekend. In addition, winds will become gusty each afternoon,” said AccuWeather Meteorologist Ryan Adamson. “These conditions are prime for fanning a spark or small fire into a large-scale inferno,” AccuWeather noted.
EPA MOVES TO RESCIND CLEAN-WATER RULE
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told the Congress on June 27 that the agency will propose a new rule revoking the controversial “Waters of the United States,” or “WOTUS” rule that extended federal authority over wetlands and streams. The Washington Post had a report on June 27 (see: “Trump administration to propose repealing rule giving EPA broad authority over water pollution,” by Steven Mufson and Juliet Eilperin).
In his previous position as Attorney General of Oklahoma, Pruitt had joined other states in lawsuits opposing the WOTUS rule. The Post reported, “‘Pruitt told senators in testimony Tuesday that the Obama-era rule “created a situation where farmers and ranchers, landowners across the country did not know whether their stream or dry creek bed, in some instances, was actually subject … to EPA jurisdiction and EPA authority.’ He said that ‘they were facing fines that were substantial as they engaged in earth work to build subdivisions — I mean, it was something that created a substantial amount of uncertainty and confusion.'”
Any new rule will have to go through the same kind of comment period as the previous rule faced, and could also face litigation, the Post noted: “After taking comment on repealing the rule and reaching a final decision, EPA will have to craft its own proposed rule for defining which waters deserve federal protection under the 1972 law. That new regulation, which will be subject to public comment, will very likely be challenged in federal court by environmental and outdoors groups.”
The new rulemaking effort has been announced on the EPA website (see: “Waters of the United States (WOTUS) Rulemaking”).
While the time-consuming public process grinds on, wetland enforcement across the nation is likely to be piecemeal, haphazard, complicated, and contentious. This post on the National Law Review website offers a closer look at the background and the future prospects (see: “Waters of the United States— Will Rewrite of the Clean Water Rule Bring Elusive Clarity and Predictability?” by Amy P. Wang).
FIRE GUTS NEARLY FINISHED BOSTON CONDO
A fire in a nearly-completed six-story condominium building in the Boston community of Dorchester is drawing attention to the risks of mid-rise light wood-frame construction. “According to the Boston Fire Department, the six-story building was in its final stages of construction, with 32 condos on the top two floors were already sold, and floors 2, 3 and 4 already fully rented,” MassLive reported (see: “$45 million condos still under construction in Boston go up in flames,” by Alban Murtishi).
“Given the size and scope of this building, it’s nothing but a tinderbox,” Fire Commissioner Joseph Finn said of the building, according to the Boston Herald (see: “An inferno in Ashmont: New apartments destroyed,” by O’Ryan Johnson and Donna Goodison). “If this had started below and traveled the length of the building we’d have real problems,” Finn said. “It’s all legal. It’s all in the state building code. It’s all accepted practice. Buildings are built across the city just like this.”
“As this sort of wood-frame development has become more popular around the country, concerns have grown about fires during construction, before sprinklers and other safety systems are fully operational,” the Boston Globe reported (see: “Did wooden construction feed Dorchester fire?” by Tim Logan, Travis Andersen and John R. Ellement). “Dozens of similar buildings have burned down over the last few years, according to data tracked by a concrete industry trade group pushing for more stringent fire-protection rules. They include a huge apartment complex in downtown Los Angeles in late 2014 and a Raleigh, N.C., project that was incinerated in March in one that [sic] biggest fires in that city’s history.”
The developers of the building, branded as “Treadmark” (Facebook; website), said in a statement: “We care deeply about the Ashmont neighborhood, and are heart-broken. The most important thing is that no one was seriously hurt. Those who were inside the building, which was still under construction, were immediately evacuated. The Boston Fire Department is working tirelessly and we are so grateful for their efforts. We are fully committed to making sure this project gets rebuilt as quickly as possible.”
