JUST THE BAER FACTS: BAER Engineering Specialists assess burned FS roads

JUST THE BAER FACTS: BAER Engineering Specialists Assess Forest Service Roads in Dixie Burned Area

In addition to threats to human life and safety, the Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) program assesses potential threats to Forest Service (USFS) property and infrastructure such as roads.

BAER engineering specialists assess the effects of the fire to roads and other infrastructure within the Dixie burned area. They identify potential threats to public users of the roads and infrastructure because of the effects of the fire and potential threats from rainstorms.

After assessing the roads within the Dixie burned area, the BAER engineering specialists may recommend BAER stabilization road treatments to lessen the impacts to USFS roads. These treatments will improve drainage and could include cleaning ditches and culvert inlets and installing culvert risers and trash racks on road crossings that are at-risk of plugging by sediment and woody debris. They may also recommend post-storm inspections to respond to any threats during and after rain events.

Recently Plumas National Forest BAER specialist Alax Parker, Joseph Lumpkin from the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, Jonathan Berry from the Pacific Southwest Regional Office, Kris Skinner and Loren Reimer, both from the Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest in Colorado, completed their field assessment in Phase 1 of the Dixie burned area.

The following photos are from their recent field assessment:

In these two photos, BAER engineers evaluate the culvert capacity and function, then determine if the drainage structures are adequate to pass the expected increases in flow, ash and debris during rainstorm events.

                                                  

In the photo below, BAER engineers evaluate the road prism and previously installed drainage features to develop emergency stabilization treatments to ensure that the expected increases in post-fire runoff and erosion don’t adversely damage USFS roads and other built assets.

 

In these last two photos BAER engineers Jonathan Berry and Alax Parker dig out and clear a clogged culvert to increase its function to allow anticipated increased water and sediment flows to continue under the road unobstructed.