Posted on Jul 16, 2017
Should the Army allow training when there is a danger of wildfire?
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Responses: 26
This is a risk that must be evaluated, controlled, mitigated and engaged (Composite Risk Management anyone?), but it should not stop training. It may alter training. It may dictate prohibition of certain munitions under certain conditions. This should all be in the Range SOP from Range Control. This is what is part of the Range OIC/NCO class you usually have to have to sign for a training area/Range. You can have a range fire when no one is out training at all. Range fires are an aspect of military training.
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SSG Robert Perrotto
absolutely sir - risk assesments, RSO/RSI, range and unit SOP's, all these things deal with situations that may arise on a range, and how to mitigate them - range fires are common, most ranges have fire equipment to quickly put out a brush fire, there is also direct radio contact with range control to call in the situation and to request a cold status when dealing with a wild fire.
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Decades ago, I was stationed at Ft Ord, CA and we trained a lot at FtHunter Ligget further south. CA was going through a severe years long drought, and the training areas were covered with long, dry brown grass. But training was indeed severely curtailed due to the fire hazards. No pyrotechnics of any kind. At one point they even prohibited firing blanks.
But OTOH, often at Ft Bragg it would get dry, and fires would start up regularly within the live fire range impact areas. They would just let them burn out as long as they didn't appear to be able to jump over into the regular training areas. In fact, Ft Bragg now has a flower that is on the endangered species list that is found only at Ft Bragg in the impact areas. It is some weird thing that only puts out seeds after a forest fire would burn over it. That's how it evolved. But now that forest fires are controlled, the plants gradually died out. Except at Ft Bragg, where the fires in the impact areas allowed it to keep regenerating.
But OTOH, often at Ft Bragg it would get dry, and fires would start up regularly within the live fire range impact areas. They would just let them burn out as long as they didn't appear to be able to jump over into the regular training areas. In fact, Ft Bragg now has a flower that is on the endangered species list that is found only at Ft Bragg in the impact areas. It is some weird thing that only puts out seeds after a forest fire would burn over it. That's how it evolved. But now that forest fires are controlled, the plants gradually died out. Except at Ft Bragg, where the fires in the impact areas allowed it to keep regenerating.
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SSG Joseph VanDyck
Don't forget the prescribed burns that take place at Bragg every summer and fall.
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