IDL Firefighters Return Home After Assisting with Canadian Forest Fires
A team of firefighters drawn from IDL’s Helitack Unit, Kootenai Valley, Pend Oreille Lake, and Priest Lake offices served 12 days in Northern Alberta at Chipewyan Lake fighting the lightning caused Carrot Lake Fire which grew to more than 20,000 acres.
The team, made up of 13 IDL staff members and led by IDL Resource Boss Cody Griffin, put their IDL fire management skills to work protecting the village around the lake. Roughly 200 people live in the village, which was evacuated for several weeks.
IDL’s crew secured the homes by checking around each house and making sure burned areas were cold to the touch to avoid the risk of reignition. After that was completed, the crew worked on “gridding” in the area which is a process of searching for small fires that could potentially grow, then putting those fires out. This was done rather than digging fire line, which is the process of removing bushes, branches, etc. down to bare soil. That’s because this part of Canada is thick with muskeg, a dense ground cover that thrives in boggy areas where bare dirt is hard to find.
Our northern neighbor seems an unlikely place for early-season wildfires, but Canada is having a historically dry year. The crew’s work at Chipewyan Lake paid off, as only two structures/homes were lost..
“We came with the right skills because we are trained to deal with wildfires near homes at the Idaho Department of Lands because so much of the forests we protect are in the Wildland Urban Interface,” said Griffin. “We are glad to be back, but it was bittersweet leaving when we did because the residents hadn’t been cleared to return home. Protecting those homes was our top priority during this assignment.”
The crew returned to Idaho June 6.
This is the second time assisting with a Canada wildfire for Griffin, who went with an IDL fire crew to a different fire a few years ago.
   
2023 Idaho Fire Restrictions Plan
Appropriate fire restrictions help prevent unwanted human caused wildfires. In Idaho, fire restrictions are implemented only when very high or extreme fire danger is predicted to persist.
The 2023 Idaho Fire Restrictions Plan represents a sensible, interagency approach for coordinating fire restrictions. The partners update the plan annually.
This plan provides consistency among the land management partners and makes restriction boundaries easy for the public to understand. Restriction areas are encouraged to engage affected agencies or landowners before implementing Stage 1 or Stage 2 restrictions.
Idaho uses fire restrictions to reduce the risk of human-caused fires during unusually high fire danger and/or burning conditions, and when other prevention efforts have been exhausted. They work by imposing common-sense, easy to follow limitations on the public and private landowners. Restrictions, a tool of last resort, complement other fire prevention efforts designed to help change human behavior.
IDL communicates fire restriction information with the public via its Fire Restrictions Finder webpage, social media channels and news releases. The agency's webpage is the top-ranked search result in Google for "Idaho fire restrictions."
Gas Pump Wildfire Prevention Campaign Continues Strong Performance
In the last edition of the Director's Update for the Land Board, IDL reported on its efforts to deliver short fire prevention tips at gas stations throughout Idaho and in nearby states that serve as jumping off points for Gem State visitors.
So far, the 15 second video-based ads have been viewed 2,102,348 times!
The campaign, which began in April, will run through October 31. The videos remind folks to take an extra minute to make sure chains aren’t dragging if towing a trailer or a boat, to park on pavement or gravel instead of over dry grass, and to put campfires out cold to the touch even if leaving camp for a short time.
Versions of the ads also remind people that now is the time to prepare the area around your home for the threat of wildfire.
This $100,000 ad campaign is paid for through federal grant money for fire prevention. IDL’s high-volume ad purchase allows partners like Idaho Firewise and other states to piggyback on our contract and buy similar ads at a reduced rate.
National Wildland Firefighter Day Scheduled for July 2
National Wildland Firefighter Day, July 2, recognizes the highly dangerous work of wildland firefighters. IDL's firefighters protect more than 9 million acres of private, state and federal land.
This year, an engine and crew from IDL's Southwest Supervisory Area will participate in the annual National Wildland Firefighter Day press conference at the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise on June 27th.
Also this year IDL and the Washington State DNR represented the National Association of State Foresters fire management interests, and all state firefighting resources, on the National Wildland Firefighters Day committee. IDL fire prevention staff provided the committee with photos and videos of our team that were used to create print assets, social media posts, and videos clips for a national media campaign. These media resources will be available from NIFC's website.
Recognizing wildland firefighters is important because without this skilled workforce in Idaho, IDL wouldn’t be able to combat the continued threat of wildfire.
IDL Takes Lead Role for Recreate Responsibly Idaho
Recreate Responsibly Idaho (RRI) partners have worked for several years to inform and remind recreationists statewide about best practices when it comes to putting out campfires, fire safety in general, ATV, UTV and Off-Highway vehicle use, proper etiquette at boat ramps, water and lifejacket safety, minding your wake on lakes, rivers and reservoirs, and more.
This summer, the RRI website and social media channels were going to be discontinued as the Idaho Department of Commerce stopped funding RRI marketing, the website and sponsored media content.
IDL's communications team stepped in to migrate the RRI site under our management and is keeping up the coalition's important social outreach. IDL is again the state coordinator for the agencies and effort, which includes Idaho Fish and Game, the U.S. Forest Service, and BLM. Other RRI partners include Idaho Sportsmen, Idaho Rangeland Resource Commission, Idaho Firewise and the Idaho State ATV Association.
This effort is important to IDL because it allows us to reach a larger audience with messaging important to our agency, mainly wildfire prevention while recreating, and the importance of not damaging the landscape, especially endowment land.
Without paid marketing, IDL will focus on earning media coverage such as this interview on KTVB this week, as well as social media outreach as seen on Instagram and Facebook.
How Land Board and IDL employees can help
Recreate Responsibly Idaho’s Show and Tell Summer campaign will provide an easy way for the public to simply take a picture of an issue, use a QR code to upload the image, and provide a location. Pictures of recreating the right way are also encouraged as it helps remind people to recreate responsibly. View and download photos and videos submitted so far this week for use by the media and public:
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Questions & Answers: St. Joe Building Project
St. Joe Supervisory Area Manager Tony Brede received a few questions from the St. Maries Gazette Record about the new IDL facility that will be built. We thought you would find the Q & A interesting.
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What prompted this facility upgrade? The current administration building and fire engine bays/shop were piecemealed together over a time span of more than six decades and are well past their efficient life expectancy. The admin building is made up of four generations of construction. The initial office was built around 1946 as an office at Heyburn Park and was moved to the current location where it served as a fire district office. The second addition was constructed in 1963 with four additional office spaces added. The third addition was constructed in 1970. That added office space and a shower facility for firefighters. The fourth and final addition was constructed in 1996 where more office space, a fire dispatch center, and conference room were added. The heating furnaces are outdated and the overall structure requires significant maintenance/repair.
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What's the timeline for building and opening the new headquarters? Tentative plans are to start this September with phase 1 by first demolishing the current shop/engine bays, constructing the new Fire Quarters/Engine Bays, and constructing the new administration building. Phase 2 will demolish the current administration building, then construct employee and public parking lots.
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How much will this cost, and what are the funding sources? The total appropriation for the project was $5,000,000 coming out of the Permanent Building Fund and the General Fund.
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Which companies have been retained as contractors (assuming you're past the bid phase)? None currently. Public works and the architect are working to contain costs within the appropriated budget. The next step will be to request bids from prospective contractors.
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Comparative stats; what are the sizes, footprints and occupancy numbers of the current versus the new building(s)? The existing administration building is two levels with approximately 5,800 sq. ft. of office space. The new administration building will be one level with approximately 5,840 sq. ft. of office space. The existing shop/engine bays is approximately 2,160 sq. ft. with an adjoining fire equipment cache of approximately 550 sq. ft. The Fire Building and Engine Bays will be approximately 5,200 sq. ft. with an attached fire cache. Right now, we have 21 full time employees with two vacant openings, so 23 total folks when fully staffed. During the summer field season, we have a total of approximately 42 employees with the additional fire and timber seasonal employees.
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What features will the new building(s) boast to make it an improvement over the old one? The new facility will be ADA compliant (access doors, restrooms, hallways), and its modern wiring and properly designed HVAC system will provide a safer and more suitable and cost-effective work environment. All functions will be under one roof to help interoffice communications and networking between functions. The fire building/engine bays will have three heated engine bays where the current engine bays have none. This will allow the engines to remain in service longer to respond to early spring and late fall assignments. The fire building will be better able to accommodate our firefighters with a full workout room for them to stay in shape for their physically demanding jobs, sleeping quarters, men’s and women’s showers, and full washer/dryer facilities. The current fire building has none of these amenities. The sleeping quarters will be used for off district resources who assist us on our fires and for our own employees who come off the fire line late at night and are too tired to drive home safely.
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Related question; what customer needs will your new HQ be able to serve better for the public? ADA capabilities, an efficient waiting/reception area, and improved access to staff with being on one level will help us better serve the public. Currently, our conference room is large enough to accommodate only 20 people. The new administration building will have a conference room capable of accommodating up to 50 people. With the larger conference room, we will be able to host public meetings and conduct training opportunities for public and IDL personnel.
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What sort of community input did you all have going into this project, and will there be further opportunities for the public to submit comment on it? The State of Idaho’s Permanent Building Fund Advisory Council will review the project at the July meeting and provide comments on the plans and budget.
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Are there any misconceptions you've heard about this transition that you'd like to dispel? None currently.
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What points would you like me to emphasize in my article? The current facility needs costly maintenance and repair, is not ADA compliant, and has reached the end of its useful life. In the past, additions to the facility were poorly constructed with low-value materials given inadequate funding at the time. Consequently, upkeep and maintenance costs continue to increase. Replacing the facility with a new building will alleviate these problems and create a safe structure for our employees and the citizens we serve.
IDL Safety: Preventing Heat Illness
Last year, IDL had multiple heat related reports of varying degrees within a short period of time. To help us be more proactive, Safety Officer Vikki Snider arranged a Micro Learning presentation conducted by Mike Gugino, Safety Consultant with Idaho's State Insurance Fund (SIF) regarding heat illness prevention and response.
The attached below is the PowerPoint from the Micro Learning session, as well as other information put together by Vikki to help you to be better prepared to prevent, recognize, and respond to, the different degrees of heat related illnesses.
Cleaning Up Sloppy Reporting
On the morning of Monday, June 5, 2023, IDL became aware of an inaccurate media story published by www.IdahoTribune.org. The story incorrectly alleged IDL rescinded a seasonal firefighting job offer due to the applicant’s views on gender.
After determining the manager in mentioned in the story, John Heyn, did not work for IDL and the applicant, Travis Lohr, had not applied for a job with IDL via our online seasonal employment portal, IDL sought corrections to the inaccurate coverage quickly and responded to all citizen calls/complaints with phone calls (or emails if a phone number was not available). IDL also kept key stakeholders, including Land Board members, Land Board Staff, internal agency staff and Legislators updated.
By noon on the 5th the incident was contained. Remaining loose ends, including correcting a second online-only article, were resolved by Tuesday afternoon. IDL continues to monitor online news stories and social media to find and correct inaccurate information.
Summary of Key Events
Monday, June 5, 2023
6:40 AM Communicated via text message with Tim Frost of the Attorney General’s office about the inaccurate story published in www.idahotribune.org
7:20 AM Communicated via text message with Emily Callahan of the Governor’s Office about the inaccurate story published in www.idahotribune.org
8:43 AM Instructed PIO staff to comb through IDL and non-IDL social media and respond to inaccurate posts using approved language
8:52 AM Sent an email to IDL Area Managers, Wardens, Administrative Assistants and Executive Team members requesting that all related calls be forwarded to Scott Phillips for response
8:55 AM Sent a correction request via an online form at www.idahotribune.org
8:57 AM Forwarded a copy of the correction request to Emily Callahan at the Governor's Office
9:52 AM Sent a correction request via email to editor@idahotribune.org
10:06 AM Noticed the body of the inaccurate coverage on www.idahotribune.org was corrected, but the story byline still incorrectly referred to the Idaho Department of Lands
10:06 AM Used the online form at www.idahotribune.org to request the story byline be corrected
10:06 AM Emailed editor@idahotribune.org to request the story byline be corrected
10:33 AM The byline and body of the story on www.idahotribune.org were corrected, and the misleading use of IDL’s August 3, 2021, social media post was resolved as the post was removed from the site
12:05 PM Sent a status update email to IDL Area Managers, Wardens, Administrative Assistants and Executive Team members informing them this issue had likely been resolved, and requesting that all related calls continue to be forwarded to Scott Phillips for response
Tuesday, June 6, 2023
9:20 AM Identified a second online-only story at www.stream.org that incorrectly referenced IDL
9:49 AM Sent correction request via online form at www.stream.org
9:49 AM Attempted to ascertain email addresses for The Stream editors, and sent emails requesting their story be corrected
10:55 AM Ascertained the email address for The Stream’s editor in chief’s assistant, and forwarded the correction request to her
12:00 PM The story on www.stream.org was corrected
2:00 PM Spoke with an angry constituent who said the Idaho Human Rights Commission referred him to IDL to discuss his concerns about the incident
2:07 PM Called and left a message for the Idaho Human Rights Commission administrator, Benjamin Earwicker
3:24 PM Received a message from Benjamin Earwicker that the Idaho Human Rights Commission had not referred any calls received by their office to IDL
Employees Leaving IDL
We wish departing team members the very best in their new endeavors.
- Josh Lander, Mica Supervisory Area
- Nichol King, Ponderosa Supervisory Area
In Case You Missed It
One Team One Voice Webpage
Did you miss some important news? Are you curious about knowing what's happening across IDL? Our One Team, One Voice webpage contains an archive of IDL's newsletters covering:
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