Forests to roll out new Smokey code

By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer | Thursday, August 5, 2004 10:29 PM PDT ∞

For years, Smokey Bear has employed five colors ---- green, blue, yellow, orange and red ---- to rate forest fire danger. Ratings range from "low" at the darker end of the spectrum to "extreme" on the brighter side.

Soon Smokey will have a sixth color at which to point his arrow: black. U.S. Forest Service officials said Thursday they plan to introduce the color band on Smokey's rainbow-wheel signs in four forests Aug. 16 and apply it to a new rating, "critical," that is a step beyond extreme.

The rating will give officials a new tool for informing the public about the severity of conditions in one of the most fire-prone environments on earth. The color black is designed to coincide with closures of the Cleveland, San Bernardino, Angeles and Los Padres forests.

Closures already are in effect for parts of the San Bernardino, and more are coming. Within the next 30 days, Cleveland visitors can expect restrictions on target shooting, camp fires and off-roading, said Joan Wynn, Forest Service spokeswoman in Rancho Bernardo.

For now, the new label will be used only in Southern California, said Gordon Martin, acting division chief for the Cleveland National Forest's Trabuco Ranger District in western Riverside County. The rest of the country will continue to use the five-color wheel.

Noting that the hues get hotter as the danger gets higher, Martin said, "There weren't a whole lot of colors left to choose from, without getting into maroon or pink or something like that... And we didn't want to reinvent the color wheel."

So officials left the existing color code intact and chose to add black, he said.

Not only will Smokey get a broader spectrum, visitors to national forests should get a clearer understanding of when they will have to refrain from building camp fires or stay out of certain areas. For the first time, Martin said, the four Southern California forests are tying individual colors to specific sets of permitted activities.

Final details are being worked out.

For the most part, activities will not be restricted when the wheel is green (low fire danger), blue (moderate) or yellow (high).

But when the arrow reaches orange, it will not only mean fire danger is "very high." It likely will mean no fires at campgrounds in the Cleveland forest, for example, while making exceptions for El Cariso near Lake Elsinore and Oak Grove in the Palomar Mountain area, Martin said.

Orange also likely will mean a stove ban for backpacking in wilderness areas, such as the San Mateo west of Murrieta, he said. And it will trigger closure of the Aguanga shooting area.

When visitors see red, or "extreme" danger, they should expect off-highway vehicle areas at Wildomar in Riverside County and Corral Canyon in San Diego County to close, and a forestwide fire ban, Martin said.

And, if the wheel reaches black, or "critical," all bets are off: entire forests will close. No hiking, horseback riding, mountain biking, off-roading, picnicking or camping will be allowed, he said.

All visitors could do then is drive through on state and county highways, which will remain open so people can reach homes on private tracts surrounded by federal lands and jobs in neighboring counties, such as Orange.

"The only thing that would remain open would be roads like the Ortega Highway, which we don't have the authority to close, anyway," Martin said. The Ortega, or Highway 74, is a meandering east-west state route connecting Riverside and Orange counties.

With the debut of a retooled color code, fire danger is likely to be set at very high or extreme, depending on the forest, he said. By late September, Smokey arrows could be in the black, because of dry conditions now and the anticipated arrival of the Santa Ana winds then.

"The fuel moistures are horrible, abysmal," said Judy Behrens, a Cleveland forest spokeswoman in Corona. "They have been for months."

The revamped code ---- tied to plant moisture, rainfall and wind speed ---- should make clear to the public when to expect closures and fire restrictions, Martin said. In the past, he said, service officials ordered closures separate from fire-danger settings.

Martin said the changes also will herald increased effort by the four area forests to coordinate future closures and fire ratings.

Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2616, or ddowney@californian.com.

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