Board eyes new firefighting tool

Even with the latest snowfall, the northern two-thirds of Minnesota faces a significant potential for a wildland fire this spring.

But a new pilot program in Crow Wing County may prove to be firefighting tool linking area residents, fire permits and the Internet.

Ron Sanow, DNR forest supervisor, Tuesday spoke to the Crow Wing County Board about the pilot project. Though happy to see the recent snowfall - and with more in the forecast - Sanow said the overall drought conditions are setting the area up for a dramatic fire danger situation.

The pilot project means Crow Wing County will have electronic burning permits that can be purchased on the Internet and then activated on a daily basis by calling an 800 number.

Sanow said the daily call-in will give the DNR greater flexibility to respond to dry conditions. In the past, written permits could be taken out four to five days before an individual wanted to burn. During that lag time, conditions may have deteriorated to the point burning was a bad idea.

By using the call-in system, the DNR will be able to activate the burning permit depending on updated conditions. Sanow said it likely will take awhile for people to adjust to the new system. Paper permits will still be available, but they also will require the telephone call to activate them each day.

Sanow said the new process should also save tax dollars by avoiding fire department responses to grass fires reports when the fires are actually permitted burns.

If there is a big fire here, Sanow said the DNR is already talking to Crow Wing County Sheriff Todd Dahl and John Bowen, county emergency management director, about joint resources and emergency response. Bigger dirt-moving equipment - front-end loaders and dump trucks - from area contractors and the county may be pressed into firefighting duty as needed.

Sanow said 50-75 percent of fire detection now comes in the form of cell phone calls from the driving public.

"We need the eyes and ears of the public," he said.

Sightings of smoke in the middle of the day should grab attention as permitted burning at that time is not expected to be a regular occurrence. If conditions are just too dry, the DNR will suspend burning permits altogether.

Beyond the public, the DNR relies on aerial detection. A permanent tanker base and a contract helicopter base are both located at the Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport. Once fire season arrives, daily flights - from about 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. - over the area will be used to spot fires. Much of the aerial firefighting efforts rely on open lake water, leaving a potentially dicey time period between the snow melt and ice out. A new plane in the firefighting arsenal, basically a converted crop duster, should provide greater maneuverability, Sanow said. The plane's smaller water load capacity will allow it to fight fires in populated residential areas without pummeling buildings.

The 10-year average winter snowfall for the region is about 32 inches. The recent snowfall is the start of a recharge, Sanow said.

"But there is a lot of recharge that needs to happen," he said.

The state climatology office reported most of Crow Wing County was 8-10 inches below the normal total precipitation from May to October of 2006. After a winter of little snow, the recent storm will help but it won't solve the drought dangers single-handedly. Aitkin County and the northern sections of Cass County are in similar shape.

Most of southern Cass County and Morrison County are about 6 inches below normal precipitation measures for May to October of 2006.

RENEE RICHARDSON can be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.