The Federation of American Scientists say the USDA should unblock mass timber by incentivizing adoption of the new building code. In related news: Utah developers pivot to mass timber; and light-frame wood construction may help solve Toronto’s missing-middle. In Business news: Interfor experiences a kiln fire in Bloomingdale, Georgia; Philomath’s sawmill closure is Oregon’s third this year; Universal Forest Products’ earnings drop in Q4, 2023; and US custom home building slows after recent gains.
In Forestry/Wildfire news: implementing UNDRIP sparks public debate in BC; firefighter attrition may impact Ontario’s pending wildfire season; union reps doubt Ontario’s effort to combat firefighter smoke exposure; the real story behind Oregon’s wildfire funding bill; and a podcast on firefighting health risks from firefighter gear.
Finally, after 50 years, NatureServe says the US Endangered Species Act needs an upgrade.
Kelly McCloskey, Tree Frog Editor
EFFINGHAM COUNTY, Georgia — Several fire departments spent most of Sunday fighting a fire at a saw mill in Bloomingdale… they were dispatched around 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon. Effingham Fire and Rescue responded to a fire at Interfor Lumber in Meldrim located in the south end of Effingham County. Captain Hannah Jenkins with Effingham County Fire Rescue said, “when we responded out here, we found a fire located in one of the kiln buildings. We assisted the crews on site with extinguishing the fire.. getting the fire under control. We also asked for assistance from Bulloch County, Bryan County, the city of Rincon and the city of Pooler.” “This is an infrequent occurrence, but it happened while they were operating the kiln machine.” …There was substantial damage to the kiln on fire, but no injuries were reported.
Mass timber can help solve the housing shortage, yet the building material is not widely adopted because old building codes treat it like traditional lumber. The 2021 International Building Code (IBC) addressed this issue, significantly updating mass timber allowances such as increasing height limits. But mass timber use is still broadly limited because state and local building codes usually don’t update automatically. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) could speed the adoption of mass timber through grants that incentivize state and local governments to adopt the latest IBC codes….Use of mass timber is growing. But building codes, often slow to catch up with the latest research, have limited the impact so far. Only in 2021 did amendments to the IBC enable the construction of mass timber buildings taller than six stories Building taller increases the cost savings from building faster. …USDA Could Incentivize The Adoption Of The Latest IBC.
With six weeks until wildfire season, the Ford government is on a campaign to silence its wildland firefighters’ dire warning about the catastrophic state of the province’s fire program. Make no mistake, winter is almost over and the fire bans are coming. Fire bans are used by the province when the threat of wildfire is extreme and though the government cannot readily influence the severity of the hazard, it can, and does, control the limitation of firefighting resources. …According to an internal report from 2015, Ontario’s wildfire program is comprised primarily of students trying to pay for college, which has resulted in constant turnover and “inexperienced staff making poor decisions on the fireline.” Natural Resources and Forestry Minister Graydon Smith has reassured Ontarians that the province has a “great number of crews.” In reality, ongoing retention issues mean Ontario is actually losing fire crews, and experience, at an exponential rate every year.
