Americans have shown solidarity in Australia’s fight to get control of the wildfires that are plaguing the country. A BLM fire management specialist from Carson City is one of those who recently returned from the destruction.
BLM Carson City Fire Management Specialist Tim Roide is one of the Americans who have volunteered to help Australian firefighters try to get control of the fires raging throughout the country. “We typically do not see fires near that size. The particular fire I was assigned to was 1.2 million acres when we left,” said Roide.
Roide took a 15 hours non-stop flight from San Francisco to Sydney. His purpose was to help plan how to fight the fires. “Just extreme fire behavior with 100 to 150 foot flame lengths,” said Roide.
The fires in the outback however, reacted much differently because of the winds. “Embers that come off of the main fire get caught into the air and carried out in front. They are traveling 5 to 10 miles in front of the main fire in Australia,” said Roide.
So initial planning did not work. “Traditional tactics are effective in Nevada, such as constructing fire lines and using heavy equipment. And then back burning firing off of those lines ahead of the main fire. That ended up not being successful week after week so we ended up going to a fall back strategy,” said Roide.
100-foot-tall trees and other fuel located right next to populated areas forced firefighters to evacuate entire towns. “It was the Christmas holidays and there were nearly 100,000 people that were vacationing on the South Coast and South Wales during the holidays that we ended up evacuating,” said Roide.
He says it was emotionally challenging not being able to stop the fires before he left. The effort however was appreciated. Roide says he spent 37 days in Australia. He's hopeful the next crews being sent will have a safe experience.
