Innovation & Economic Development

UC still a fire info source

The news media are continuing to use University of California Cooperative Extension as a source of information on fire issues. In a New York Times article, UC Riverside earth sciences professor Richard A. Minnich raises the sometimes controversial issue of the state's fire policy.

“California has lost 1.5 million acres in the last four years,” Minnich is quoted in the second paragraph of the article. “When do we declare the policy a failure?”

The article presents the argument that California has gigantic fires from time to time because of its fire suppression policies — in which the government has kept fires from their normal cycle — ultimately resulting in huge fuel stores that erupt into "conflagrations" every few years when the conditions are right.

On Oct. 25, the Bay City News Wire ran a tip sheet distributed by UC News and Information Outreach with links to a wide variety of UC Cooperative Extension Web sites and workshops. UCCE provides a wealth of information on what to do before, during and after a wildfire.

A burned out neighborhood.

Computer World looks to UC for fire expertise

An online publication, "Computer World - The voice of IT management," ran an interesting story today on the use of high-tech tools such as GPS technology, satellite imaging systems and aerial photography in fighting the Southern California fires and managing evacuations. For the story, reporter Todd Weiss spoke to two UC Cooperative Extension experts.

Glenn Nader, the natural resources advisor for UCCE Yuba City, said one technology that continues to help firefighters is geographic information system mapping data, which can be combined in layers to provide details on topography, fire history, roads, access and population.

"It gives you kind of a plan," Nader is quoted.

He told the reporter that GPS navigational technology helps fire fighters from other areas find fire hydrants and other water supplis and reverse 911 systems enable police and fire officials to quickly issue evacuation notices to thousands of residents at a time.

The reporter also spoke to Max Moritz, a wildfire specialist at UC Berkeley, about his new "fire engine tool kit" Web site, where officials and residents can use databases of historical fire data to analyze new fires and determine how they might behave.

"Firefighters can use the tool kit to see what they're up against when fighting fires like this," Moritz is quoted.

According to the article, Moritz said the Web site is still evolving, but it's drawing interest from officials.

 

Media looks to ANR for fire expertise

In California's current fire frenzy, reporters seem to be focusing on the breaking news, speaking mostly to firefighters and evacuees. Once the embers begin to cool and analysis begins, they will likely turn to UC experts, among others, to try to tease out reasons for the devastation and how to prevent it in the future.

Already, UC ANR experts have been tapped by two media outlets. ABC 30 News in the Bay Area spoke to UC Berkeley fire science professor Scott Stephens. He noted that, until the wind dies down, crews can only take a defensive position, and get people out of harms way.

"It's constantly jumping from one place to another, so it's making it impossible to catch," Stephens was quoted on the TV station's Web site.

The San Bernardino Sun, which reports on an area heavily affected by the fires, sought comment from Richard Minnich, a professor of fire ecology at UC Riverside.

In a story titled "Empire on fire," Minnich compared the fires to the severe blazes of 2003. He said this year the fires were of a "smaller scale," and that the weather conditions four years ago -- Santa Ana winds and low humidity -- are comparable in 2007.

Minnich predicted temperatures would rise and humidity would stay dangerously low today as winds could lighten. In the coming days, fire behavior will be based as much on the combustibility of the drought-stricken vegetation as it was Monday on the erratic wind, he said, according to the newspaper report.

UC feature gets a local spin in Fresno Bee

UC ANR produces a monthly feature story for its Web site that is shared with the news media. For October, the feature on 4-H service learning projects was picked up by a reporter in the Fresno Bee South Valley Bureau, with a focus on the two Tulare County clubs who received substantial grants in 2006.

Reporter Roni Miller interviewed 12-year-old Elbow Creek 4-H members Rylin Lindahl and Jordan Dunn, who used the money for an autumn festival for blind children.

"Jordan and I go to a lot of groups and talk to them and they usually give us money, and now some just send us money for the festival each year," Miller quoted Rylin said.

The article says the 4-Hers and their families run the event, with activities to stimulate the senses of touch, hearing and taste. That includes a hayride trip to the pumpkin patch where the blind children choose their own pumpkins.

"We put beepers next to the pumpkins so they can hear where they are. Then they have to feel which pumpkin they like. It's neat," Rylin told the Bee.

The second Tulare County service learning grant went to the Visalia 4-H Club, who received $2,500 that permitted the group to work hand in hand with Visalia's Department of Parks and Recreation on the "1000 Hands Playground." Club members then raised more than $3,000 in additional funds in order to build an American Indian tipi in one section of the community-built playground at Visalia's new Riverway Sports Park, the article said.

As a style aside, the Fresno Bee spelled tipi as "teepee." In writing our feature, we considered using that traditional spelling, but instead went with the spelling that was used by the 4-H club in its grant proposal. According to Wikipedia, the word "tipi" comes into English from the Lakota language word thípi. The online encyclopedia says the verb thí means "to dwell" and a pluralizing suffix pi makes it "they dwell."

The 4-H tipi in Visalia's "1000 Hands Playground"

There's a school in every garden

Years after former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Easton, who declared her intention to see a garden in every school, retired from state politics, efforts are continuing to make her vision a reality. And LA County UC Cooperative Extension's Common Ground Program is supporting the effort.

California Farmer magazine reported in its Oct. 11 issue on a recent school garden resource fair in Los Angeles; Common Ground was a sponsor. The story says LA Unified teachers will be receiving more than $1.7 million in grant funds to be used for supplies, professional development and technical assistance for school gardens at more than 500 sites this school year. The money comes from Assembly Bill 1535 (Nuñez), which authorized the California Department of Education to award $15 million in grants to promote, develop and sustain instructional school gardens.

A school in every garden

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