[pct-l] why close the burn areas?

[ckwrkornge at aol.com]

After working as a wildland firefighter since 2004....



*Unofficially, i.e., in my humble opinion*


In most cases, the PREVIOUSLY burned areas are closed either for safety or liability (avoiding lawsuit) reasons.


Such as:


To prevent more trail damage.  Fires burn away at deep soil "duff layers" which cause trail instability.  The trail could collapse on you and this could hurt, particularly if you are on a switchback.  Using the trail when it is damaged will only degrade it faster.  I have, at times, stepped on what I thought was a trail only to sink knee deep into an ash pit.  


Falling trees.  If you look at fatality statistics amongst firefighters, more are killed in vehicle accidents than from falling trees, however, this is a huge liability issue.  Inclement weather (wind & soft soil) will increase the number of falling trees.


Choosing to re-open a trail is a lengthy process which involves, at the very least, walking the trail segment entirely and noting every single tree which has the potential to fall over the trail, and if the fire has increased the probability of a tree striking the trail.  This includes walking transects up to 400 ft from the trail to see if any trees could potentially fall over the trail from 400 ft away.  If sections of the trail are damaged, or there is an increased risk of tree fall across the trail, the trail will not be opened until a trail crew can mitigate the hazard.  Given the current allocation of government funding, this could take awhile...


So, if you do decide to hike through a previously burned area, keep an eye out for hazards, especially dead trees.


-E.P., PCT class of 08