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Fire and Flames Part I

As mentioned before, the main fuel type in Northern Nevada is cheat grass and sagebrush.  Cheat grass is a non-native species of grass that was introduced to the United States in the early 1900's.  The seed was mixed in with grain seed that had been imported from Asia.  In the last 100 years cheat grass has proliferated the Great Basin and is now one of the most dominant vegetation types and noxious weeds.  Cheat grass is very well adapted fire species.  After curing, the grass has burning properties that have been compared to the explosiveness of burning gasoline. It is an annual grass and once an area burns, without aggressive reseeding efforts,  cheat grass will dominate the area the following growing season.  This fine flashy fuel creates some extreme fire behavior.  Below are some pictures from fires over the last 8 seasons.

 

The Dido Fire in Northern Nevada in 1999.  Photo by Mark Nunez.

Flame front on the Dido Fire.  Photo by Mark Nunez.

Burnout on a fire (name unkown).  Photo taken by Jacob of the Entiat Hotshots.

Flame front of a fire taken by Dan Butler.

Column from the Keystone Fire.  Photo by Dan Butler.

Flame front from the River Ranch fire bumps Kings River Highway in 2000.

Russ Whilstead on a Rx Fire near Gerber Lake, OR in 1999.  Photo by Meredith Rader.

Moon scape after the Reservoir Fire near Reno in 1999.

Photo of some air resources working the Tungston Fire.  Photo by JP Marden.

Another picture by JP Marden of the Tungston Fire.

Another picture by JP Marden of the Tungston Fire.

Another picture of the Lang Syne Fire in July 1999.

Picture of a fire whirl that happened on the Lang Syne fire in 1999.  Photo by Gary Cook.

The world famous Elk Bath picture.  Taken by John McColgan on the Sula Complex on the East Fork of the Bitterroot in August 2000.

Cool variation on the Elk Bath photo.  Shows the exact same location two years later after reseeding and rehabilitation efforts.

They type of fuels that Rx Fires are meant to burn off to make forests more productive.  Photo by Meredith Rader.

Pine tree torching on a Rx Fire in Gerber Lake, OR in 1999.  Photo by Meredith Rader.

Picture of a hay stack fire on the Happy Ranch in 2000.

Column from the Clear Creek Fire south of Winnemucca in 2001.  Photo by Meredith Rader.

Dan Butler on a fire north of Daveytown in 2000.


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