|
REBUTTAL
DECLARATIONS
James
Slack
Keith
Longtin
Richard Cowley
Gary
Hall
~~~~~~~
All
of our Legal Actions
The
Complaint
Venue
Decision
Donate
to the Legal Fund
Join
MFMU
Forest
Plan Revision
|
Declaration
of James Slack
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
COMES NOW James M. Slack and declares as
follows:
1. I have personal knowledge of the matters stated herein and if
called upon to testify could testify competently thereto. In the
course of the preparation of this declaration, I have read the
declaration of Mr. Donald R. Black dated May 25, 2004.
2. I am the owner/operator of one of the first bulldozers hired
to fight the July 18, 2003 Wedge Canyon Fire. As such I was an
eyewitness to events in the early stages of the fire suppression
efforts in that fire.
3. I am also currently Vice President of James A. Slack Inc., a
long established family logging business in Flathead County,
Montana. My family has roots commensurate with the establishment of
the United States Forest Service and Flathead National Forest as a
result of the establishment of my Great Grandfather’s homestead
here in about 1897. My family history reflects the traditional
custom and culture of Flathead County, Montana. My father grew up
and was educated here in the Flathead along with his two brothers
all of which eventually established their own logging and trucking
businesses as a result of working with my grandfather’s
agricultural and logging enterprises.
4. I began to work for my father’s logging company in 1975
before graduating from Flathead High School in 1978. The forests of
the west, including the Flathead National Forest, has been an
integral part of my life. My family not only derived subsistence and
income from the forest, but our recreation and leisure time
activities were primarily based on access to forest resources
(fishing, hunting, boating, berry picking, sight seeing, etc.).
These traditions continue today with my own family. My father is now
retired and I run the family business.
5. I have three decades of experience in all aspects of forest
management activities from timber harvest, reforestation, controlled
burning, and firefighting, to road construction and maintenance. In
addition, I have continued my education in forestry and timber
harvesting methods. In 1991 I was among the first class of loggers
to attend the Montana State University Extension Forestry and
Montana Logging Association sponsored Forest Stewardship Workshop.
In addition to learning more about the principles of forest
inventory, ecology, silviculture, fish and wildlife relationships,
stream and water protection laws and Best Management Practices, I
achieved Accredited Logging Professional status. I maintain this
professional status through annual continuing education short
courses covering safety, fire fighting, business management, road
maintenance, insect and disease identification and management, and
attending logging conferences, among other things.
6. As I stated above, I have read the Declaration of Mr. Don R.
Black, who was evidently in the Supervisors Office in Kalispell at
the time the Wedge Canyon Fire broke out on July 18, 2003. I agree
with Mr. Black that the fire hazard and burning conditions at that
time were extreme and perhaps unprecedented.
7. Due to my long experience with burning conditions for
controlled burning of logging slash and in wildfire suppression, I
know this was a severe situation and I had my logging equipment
already under contract with the Forest Service for firefighting
work, and I had first aid and fire training updates to qualify for
"Red Card" certification for fire duty.
8. I first heard the Wedge Fire reports on the radio scanner. I
knew the mountainous terrain and heavy fuels in that part of the
Flathead Forest would require heavy equipment to effectively fight
the fire. I was expecting to receive a call at any time as I
serviced my equipment and made sure I was ready to go. Finally,
about 8:00 p.m., after hearing nothing from the Forest Service, I
called the Flathead National Forest contracting office who had the
paperwork on my equipment and talked to Judy Cundy to ask what
equipment was needed. She talked to someone in Dispatch and informed
me that the Forest Service needed bulldozers but not today. Instead,
I was told to be at the Ford Work Center at 5:00 a.m. on July 19.
9. I reported with my Cat D-6D loaded on a lowboy truck at Ford
at 5:00 a.m. I observed that another logger with whom I am familiar,
Jim Stupack, had a D-6 bulldozer there as well and there were two
smaller bulldozers supplied by construction contractors. I
recognized, based on my experience and expertise that the
construction company dozers were of the type used for excavating and
backfilling around construction sites, and their operators had no
experience fighting fires or operating the equipment in mountainous
terrain. They had no fire safety clothing or shelters. As required
by my contract, I had the required fire safety shelter and clothing
ready to go to work. In my professional opinion, this kind of
construction equipment and such operators should not have been
dispatched to a dangerous fire in mountainous terrain.
10. A Forest Service official did an inspection of my bulldozer
right away, but then we just sat there getting standby pay all day
with no instructions or information from fire overhead. As we sat
there all day I did not observe the arrival of any organized fire
crews or additional equipment.
11. Finally, at approximately 5:00 p.m. on July 19th,
Tom Smith ("Smitty"), a Division Boss, showed up and had
us move the equipment down to Whale Creek and park it for the night.
He informed me and others present that the Forest Service was
working on plans to get into the fire because there were no open
roads. We were then told to report for a briefing at 6:00 a.m. on
Sunday, July 20, 2003. All equipment operators went home without
turning a wheel toward the fire on July 19 while the fire continued
to expand all day with no effective ground attack.
12. After breakfast and a briefing at the newly established fire
camp on July 20, the two construction cats and an excavator were
employed to install culverts and remove berms to open up the main
Tepee Creek road #907 for firefighting access, confirming what we
had been told regarding the lack of road access. Smitty took me and
Stupack’s D-6 Cats up Trail Creek north of the fire to begin
opening the Antley Creek road, a logging road that was built in the
1970’s, but which had grown up with thick brush and was unuseable
without work. The road bed and culverts were all in good condition
with no evidence of erosion or culvert failures. We got started
around 8:00 a.m. and worked until 8 p.m. I pioneered ahead, removing
most of the brush and windfalls, while the other bulldozer finished
the road surface suitable for truck or bus access. We got at least a
mile and a half of the road open for use and only had about a mile
and a half left to get to the end of road where it would be easy to
push on up a spur ridge on the foot trail location to the ridge top
to the west, above and upwind of the fire. We parked our dozers
where we quit because we were upwind and in no danger of fire
reaching our position on this road.
13. Among the areas we were told not to take bulldozers was the
area at the top of the ridge because it was a "roadless
area". However, based on my knowledge of the area, including
the Thompson-Seaton "Roadless" area, it was known to me to
be the site of numerous old trails and roads and the denial of
access made it difficult if not impossible to fight the fire and put
firefighters and other people at risk as well as private property. A
point on this ridge would be the logical place to establish and
anchor point, to provide access for ground crews, and begin building
flanking fire line down into Teepee Creek and on the north perimeter
of the fire each morning and evening when fire activity subsided. In
my professional opinion, this is the plan that should have been
implemented as soon as possible after the fire was reported. Dozers
can safely work at night opening an old road like that, and access
to the top of the fire could have been established on Saturday July
19.
14. The next morning, June 21, the plans were changed to place
high emphasis on building a 100-150 foot wide north-south fire line
west of Teepee Lake to try to protect private property from the
advancing flames. After the morning briefing, I went with Smitty up
the Tepee Lake road to scout the fire line location to the north
while Stupack’s operator went with the lowboy drivers to get the
cats from Antley Creek. It was after 8:00 a.m. before we got the
dozers and began work along with 2 timber harvesters and 2 skidders
clearing the line. We worked a full 14 hour shift on the 21st
and again on the fire line and again on the July 22.
15. On July 23 we worked until around 2:30 p.m. when the fire
blew up and they pulled us out. We pulled back to Ford and watched
the fire until 6:00 pm.
16. The morning of June 24 the fire had layed down and we went
back to work on the fire line until about 1:30 p.m. when the fire
blew up again. This time we were pulled back clear to Polebridge. At
this point, the fire overran the new fire line, private property,
and the North Fork Road, jumped the North Fork Flathead River, and
burned into Glacier National Park.
17. On June 25 and 26 we were put to work building a fire line in
the Trail Creek area from the North Fork road to the river. The
purpose of this fire line was to stop the fire from spreading north
into more private land and possibly into Canada.
18. From July 27 to August 1, I worked various fire line
construction jobs around young timber stands that the fire did not
burn, moving piles of timber cut from the big firebreak,
constructing safety zones, and opening the reclaimed upper two (2)
mile portion of the Tepee Lake road #9899 for firefighter access.
19. As a result of witnessing on-the-ground effects resulting
from the lack of access due to closed and obliterated roads which
delayed an effective early attack on the Wedge Canyon Fire, it is my
professional opinion based on my knowledge and experience that Mr.
Black’s assertion in his declaration that open access roads would
not have changed the consequences of this fire is grossly
inaccurate. I very strongly disagree with Black’s claim about a
"strong initial attack" on the Wedge Canyon Fire. In
reality there was no effective initial attack on this fire, no
ground forces got near the fire, and the air attack proved how
completely ineffective it is in heavy fuels and extreme burning
conditions. There was not even a plan to get access restored until
the fire was in its third burning day.
20. My experience with efforts to restore firefighting access to
this fire outside the roadless area it started in, as well as my
experience fighting other fires from Montana to California, confirms
my believe that rapid access for heavy equipment, pumps, and
organized ground crews is critical to stopping catastrophic fires
such as this one. Nearly all the old roads that have been closed
within this fire were reopened for firefighter use and then
"reclaimed" after the fire rather than left open for fire
salvage and burn area restoration work. I understand the Antley
Creek road was obliterated and all existing culverts remove after
the fire with no NEPA review or public notification of obliterating
yet another usable road. It was evident that the Forest Service
reluctance to send heavy equipment into a roadless area also
contributed to the scale and consequences of the Wedge Canyon Fire.
The Forest Service’s actions in closing and reclosing roads
clearly reduces access to the Forest for management of forest
health, fire fuels, and fire suppression, as well as access for
public recreation and other multiple uses.
I declare that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of
my knowledge and recollection under penalty of perjury of the laws
of the United States.
Dated this __ day of June, 2004
___________________________________
James M. Slack
TOP
Declaration of Keith
Longtin
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT
FOR THE DISTRICT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
COMES NOW Keith Longtin and declares as
follows:
1. I have personal
knowledge of the matters stated herein and if called upon to testify
could testify competently thereto. In the course of the preparation
of this declaration, I have read the declaration of Mr. Donald R.
Black dated May 25, 2004.
2. I reside in Kila,
Montana, approximately 15 miles west of Kalispell, Montana, near the
Flathead National Forest. I have read the Declaration of Donald R.
Black dated 25 May, 2004 and was an eyewitness to events
on July 18, 2003. My observations are in direct opposition to what
Mr. Black stated in his declaration. Further, I attended a fire
review meeting held November 16, 2003, where Mr. Black was on the
same panel of speakers that I was. He heard my account of events as
well as others, and I therefore have difficulty in understanding the
statements in his declaration.
3. I have an agricultural background as I grew up on a grain and
sugar beet farm near Neche, North Dakota. I moved, in 1984, from
North Dakota to the Flathead Valley area near Kalispell, MT. I was
acquainted with the Flathead and North Fork of the Flathead 10 years
before moving here. My wife’s family lived on their property in
Whale Creek, approximately six (6) miles north of Polebridge,
Montana where I visited regularly in the 1980's. In 1983 I bought
property in Whale Creek and later sold it and bought property in
Moose Creek where I resided for seven (7) years. Moose Creek is a
tributary to the North Fork Flathead River, the next drainage south
of Whale Creek on the southern boundary of the Wedge Canyon fire. My
father in law, Bud James still resides in Whale Creek which narrowly
escaped being burned by the Wedge Canyon Fire.
4. My property, economic status, and quality of life is linked to
the National Forests. My entire family and I are long time
participants in outdoor recreation within the Flathead Forest. We
trap, hunt, fish, hike, drive, and snowmobile for pleasure in the
Flathead National Forest.
5. As a result of my long term personal experience and years of
residence, I have detailed knowledge of the North Fork area, the
natural resources and their condition within the Flathead National
Forest and the actions and policies of the Forest Service. In
addition, I am owner of Longtin Construction and my company does a
lot of work for landowners in the North Fork area. Among the
activities I undertake as a part of my business is assisting
landowners whose properties are threatened with fire to take steps
to try to protect their real and personal properties when fires
occur. As a result, I have familiarized myself with the
characteristics of wildfires and the techniques necessary to work
around fire and to protect property from fire.
6. On July 18, 2003, I was working on a construction job on the
bench about 1.5 miles north of Polebridge. After lunch I looked
north and saw a huge smoke column coming up in the vicinity of
Hornet Lookout. I had a radio phone and called the Flathead National
Forest fire report number 758-5260. My phone record shows my call
was at 1:23 p.m., whereas Mr. Black, in his declaration, claims the
fire was reported by Numa Lookout in Glacier Park at 1:50 p.m.,
twenty-seven (27) minutes later.
7. I told the woman who answered the phone the fire looked bad
and appeared to be between Whale Creek and Trail Creek. Nothing in
my conversation with the person to whom I reported the fire
suggested that the Forest Service was aware of the fire at the time
I called.
8. I worked at the job site until about 5:30 p.m. and therefore
had the area of the fire, which was severe, and visible above the
ridge line, in constant sight. I did not see or hear any planes
until about 3:30-3:45 p.m. If they had been present, I would have
seen them since the height of the flames would have ensured that
they would be visible if they flew over the fire.
9. I was very concerned about my equipment and tools I had at the
Carl Lewis job on Moose Creek, so I drove up to Moose Creek and
loaded my tractor and tools to move to a safer location. It was
almost dark, at approximately 9:30 p.m., when I drove out. While
driving out, I encountered a couple of structure engines, including
one from the Bigfork Fire Department, and a couple of government
pickups which were heading north toward the fire. Given my
experience in the area, I thought the limited number of vehicles
were a strangely weak response considering the burning conditions
and the actual fire. I expected to meet lots of heavy equipment and
crews headed toward the fire, but I didn’t.
10. During the course of the fire at issue, I continued to work
for non-resident landowners to move things, construct fire lines,
clear around buildings, set up sprinkler systems, as well as my
contract jobs almost every day in the North Fork as the fire
continued to burn. In all that time I observed no organized work on
fighting the fire until Monday July 21. It was impossible for me,
given my experience and observations, to obtain any sense that the
local Forest Service office had a response or plan to combat the
fire. It instead appeared to me, based on my experience, that the
Forest Service simply ordered the big fire camp team and waited for
them to come and get set up.
11. As noted, my years of residence has provided me with
substantial knowledge of the topography and other characteristics of
the Flathead National Forest, including the roads that exist and
used to exist, before their destruction and/or blocking, in the
Forest. It is clear to me, based on my knowledge of the area and my
experience in protecting my own property and that of others from
wildfire, that road access to and around fire areas is critical to
preventing and fighting fires as well as in providing people in and
near fires in the forest to escape from fires which may head in
their direction. I know from my own observations and experience in
the area during my time in the area, that in the case of the Wedge
fire that there were roads in Teepee Creek that would have permitted
pumps and ground crews to get to the fire, but those roads have been
made unusable by any vehicle by the Forest Service. Those roads had
to be opened up by the firefighters to fight the fire and were then
made unusable again after the fire, by the Forest Service, so any
salvage or rehabilitation needed to prevent even more buildup of
fuels (including fire damaged or killed trees and insect damaged or
killed trees) could not take place with the Forest Service having to
reopen them yet again. I have observed both the closing and
reopening of roads in the Flathead National Forest which have had
the effect of increasing fire hazard and the hampering of fire
fighting efforts.
12. It was clear to me as well, based on
my experience and expertise, that one reason that nothing was being
done was that such personnel and people as had gathered at the camp
could do nothing on the fire until roads were opened that would
allow them access to the fire area. The lack of access to the fire
areas also explained, in my opinion based on my experience, why,
even after the big organization and forces arrived at the staging
area for the Wedge Fire, that there seemed to be little aggressive
attack until roads were opened. Only when the fire neared private
land, where open roads existed could bulldozers and cats be used and
personnel transported in numbers sufficient to be effective.
I declare that the foregoing is true and correct to the best of
my knowledge and recollection under penalty of perjury of the laws
of the United States.
Dated this __ Day of June, 2004
___________________________________
Keith Longtin
TOP
|
