Fuel Trailer Executive Summary The Central Area UTFFSL Fuels Program has the need to purchase a DOT approved split tanked fuel trailer capable of hauling 1,100 total gallons of fuel (Diesel/Ethanol free unleaded) to remote locations on the forest. This amount of fuel is needed to be staged and used to complete planned prescribed fire projects. The trailer will be utilized to support both heli-torch and terra torch ignition operations that require large amounts of fuel onsite. We expect this trailer to get 20-30 days of use per year for the next 10-15+ years on the Fishlake NF & FFSL Adjacent Private Lands and we also anticipate that this trailer will be utilized on neighboring Dixie and Manti-LaSal NFs, and BLM Color County to support their prescribed burns as well. This trailer will be pulled on mountainous terrain utilizing improved Forest dirt road systems by CDL A class Drivers with Hazmat Endorsements. Vehicles that will be towing this trailer include two Ford F-350 Super duty diesel trucks with SRW and a F-450 Super duty truck with DRW. Purpose and Need There are many parts of a puzzle so to speak, that all need to fit together to be able to begin implementation of a helitorch burn. 1)Burn prescription (Burn windows) 2) Helicopter availability, 3) Helitorch Module personnel availability, 4) Holding Resources availability, and 5) Fuel Truck availability. Each one of these puzzle pieces must be in place or the burn may need to be cancelled. The biggest issue that continues to threaten to postpone or cancel heli-torch burns is the lack of fuel...yes, the lack of fuel, not helicopter availability, or other resource availability, but lack of large quantities of fuel being available onsite. This is a continuous problem that we have been facing for several years and there are currently no other solutions out there to remedy this. The overall purpose of this fuel trailer is to give FFSL and Partnering Fuels Programs the capability to have 1,100 gallons of fuel (800 gallons Diesel/300 gallons Ethanol Free Unleaded) staged onsite during prescribed burning activities. The trailer is needed to support both heli-torch and terra torch ignition operations that both require large amounts of fuel. The 800/300 gallon proportionally split tank is the appropriate ratio of diesel and unleaded required to most efficiently support a helitorch flash 21 gelled fuel mix. Each barrel/helitorch holds 50 gallons of gelled fuel mix and common practice is to have two helicopters with two heli-torches completing ignitions in tandem. Each barrel on average takes 20-30 minutes to empty and on average our prescribed burns have been utilizing 17-20 barrels per day which equates to 950-1,100 gallons of fuel used per day. This trailer is also needed to support three terra-torches that are owned and regularly used on the Fishlake NF and UTFFSL. The Terra-torches hold 50-75 gallons of fuel in each. These terra-torches may be run individually or in tandem depending on burn objectives. Each terra torch on average takes 20-30 minutes to empty on average, and our prescribed burns have been utilizing 4-6 tanks per day that equates to 200-300 gallons of fuel used per day. The use of this small amount is usually because we run out of fuel by using everything that we brought up in bed mounted 100-gallon transfer tanks in 2-3 separate trucks. In the past FFSL would contract a fuel tender through a local provider that possess a state contract. When ordered there is a list of reasons why they cannot provide us with fuel. From unavailable drivers to not wanting their delivery trucks on rough mountain roads. The truck driver shortage hurts us here as well providers like their employees to be with their families, at the current time drivers are pulling 60-hour weeks without the burden of providing us fuel. FFSL will get a great burn window on a weekend and drivers or tucks are unavailable. We pay approximately a $1000.00 per day for just the service. This is a $1,000.00 per day savings, with 27 -- 30 days of use each year this trailer will pay for itself in 1-2 years' time. The issue is again...fuel truck availability due to having only one vendor available for the state to purchase from. With this lack of available fuel truck vendors, we recently had to resort to having several individual drivers each drive a separate truck each equipped with a 100 gallon transfer fuel tank just so we could carry out the heli-torch burn, and we still did not have enough fuel to complete the burn and the ignitions were cut short on two different days. On both days we had two helicopters available to us and were paying their daily availability but could not keep them flying because of the fuel shortage, this led to not being able to complete all planned ignitions with an increased overall cost/acre to implement. Having to drive several separate trucks, with several separate drivers in each for upwards of 150-200 miles round trip also increased exposure to hazards associated with driving. In total the FFSL and Partners are using upwards of 1,000-1,500 gallons of fuel per day while supporting a heli-torch and terra-torch ignition operation. We have been currently stationing 800- 1,500 gallons of burn fuel onsite at the burn for approx. 20-30 days per year just on FSFSL private and the Richfield Ranger District. We have been somewhat accomplishing this by a mix of the following 1) Utilizing State Purchasing with approved fuel truck vendor when available, 2) Multiple transfer tanks of 100 gallons mounted in multiple truck beds, 3) Borrowing a 600-gallon BLM fuel tanked trailer. FFSL and partners have numerous prescribed fire projects that will be implemented over the next 10-15+ years. This trailer will be utilized to implement these projects during this time frame.

1) Reduce the need to rely on State of Utah purchasing for needed fuel requirements. 2) Increase the Prescribed Fire Partners ability to have large quantities of fuel onsite at moment's notice. 3) Reduce overall stress to numerous folks that is being caused by fuel availability issues. 4) Reduce overall cost to implement prescribed fires across the area. 5) Increase efficiency of prescribed fire implementation.

No Narrative

Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands - Fire Program Overview and Strategic Plan (2022). Goal 3: Restore and maintain landscapes that are resilient to Wildfire-related disturbances. National Cohesive Wildland Fire Management Strategy - is a collaborative effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Department of the Interior that encourages collaboration among stakeholders such as FFSL to use best-available science to make meaningful progress towards three goals: Resilient Landscapes Fire Adapted Communities Safe and Effective Wildfire Response

FFSL and partners have numerous prescribed fire projects that will be implemented over the next 10-15+ years. This trailer will be utilized to implement these projects during this time frame.

No Narrative

Not applicable as this is an equipment purchase. Will follow all State of Utah Purchasing procurement processes.

The Central Area UTFFSL Fuels Program will purchase a DOT approved split tanked fuel trailer capable of hauling 1,100 total gallons of fuel (Diesel/Ethanol free unleaded) to remote locations on the forest.

No Narrative

UTFFSL, UDWR, USDA Forest Service, BLM, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Wild Turkey Federation, The wild Turkey Federation has agreed to funding this piece of equipment. The UDWR, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service aid us in planning, funding, and implementation of our projects. FFSL and the Fishlake National Forest are working jointly on prescribed fires that border State, Private, and Federal lands. Our current project that is in the middle of implementation is the Old Woman Rx. This is a 16,094 acre burn consisting of 3,988 acres of Private and 12,106 acres of USFS lands. This first of its kind in scale RX and is the first of many, due to the fact its hard to stop fire on fence lines. Future Joint projects are additions to the USFS Signal Peak burn (10,000 acres total) and approximately 1,800 acres of private and the new Monroe Peak RX (25,000 acres total) with 2,000 acres of private. We hope to greatly improve on our targets over the next 5 - 10 years. Multi Jurisdictional burning is our future in Central Utah. FFSL has a solo project in the works on the San Pitch Mountain Range in Central Utah. This project "San Pitch RX" is 10,684 acres of mostly private lands with scattered state and BLM inholdings. This project we plan to implement over the next 2-3 years depending on funding and weather. This project has been one of my better projects due to the willingness of land owners to participate with funding, resources, and their support of the project. This doesn't discount any of the other land owners we have worked with, these folks have just went above and beyond. FFSL also aids the Manti LaSal and plans to do new cross boundary projects with them in the future as well. Color Country BLM's burn program is just getting started with more to come in the future. Part of San Pitch is on BLM ground. The BLM is looking to do more with prescribed fire in the future and we want to help them grow with this piece of equipment. Right now Central Utah FFSL is setting a 5000 acre per year goal on private lands. Last year we burned roughly 2500 acres on Old Woman and 400+ acres of River Bottoms in Millard County and 100 acres of Bicknell Bottoms for the UDWR in Wayne County. The Central Area FFSL has plans of aiding the Manti LaSal folks with their burns as well. The FFSL has aided them the last few years with people and fuel support through state contracting and the good neighbor program. Future targets: Fishlake 15k acres per year Manti LaSal 7k acres per year FFSL 5k acres per year BLM nothing substantial yet.

FFSL will provide all future maintenance of the trailer and work with partners to arrange its availability to WRI projects for next 10-15 years.

No Narrative

04/15/2024

06/30/2024

2024

Trailer purchased for transportation of fuel for Heli-Torch operations on prescribed fires, Used interagency BLM, USFS, and State FFSL. The trailer shows as real property owned by the DNR /FFSL.

Trailer purchased from Superior Steel Products for the purchase amount of $53,750.00 and Striped and Placarded by EVS for the amount of $1214.00. The trailer will be used interagency wide on WRI and other fuels prescribed fires by the BLM, USFS, and State of Utah on State and Private lands. The trailer will be owned and maintained by the DNR/UFFSL located at 2031 South Industrial Park Road, Richfield Utah. Matt Christensen will manage its availability. To date the trailer has been used by UTFFSL, USFS Fishlake National Forest, Manti Lasal National Forest and UWC National Forest to burn over 8000 acres with about 10 days of burning.

The trailer will be used if needed on all prescribed fires in the State Of Utah, pending availability.