Fire news roundup

The Indians fire in the Los Padres National Forest west of King City, CA is now 50,099 acres. Voluntary evacuations and evacuation advisories are in place for some residents. As of this morning, 2,551 firefighters and support personnel are working on the fire. The map below shows the heat detected by satellites last night (in black, orange, and red), while the perimeter uploaded by the incident management team is in yellow.


The spread of the Evans Road fire in North Carolina has slowed down in recent days. It is now reported to be 41,060 acres. They continue to pump huge quantities of water into the peat-infested soils.

The Rocky fire 35 miles west of Carlsbad, NM on the Lincoln NF has shown extreme fire behavior recently and has burned at least 13,000 acres as of the last report. Here is a map showing heat detected by satellites last night. The red areas are the most recently burned.


There is an article at Vail Daily.com about the Vail, Colorado wildland fire crew doing fuel modification in aspen stands. Here is an excerpt:

Two years ago, he and other firefighters were cutting down hundreds of aspen trees there. The goal was to allow some of the hillside’s aspen stand to regrow, preventing them from falling to the ground, where they could be fuel for wildfire.

“Aspen, when it’s alive, is a wonderful ‘fuel break’ because it has so much water in it,” Talbot said. “When it’s dead, as well all know, in the fireplace, boy, does it burn hot. And fast.”

On Saturday the agencies around Hailey, Idaho will conduct a drill that is centered around the concept of a large wildland fire.

Extreme heat in southern California yesterday broke records and the hot weather is expected to continue through Saturday. Low humidities and winds along with the high temperatures are causing red flag warnings to be issued. Temperatures in some inland valleys today will exceed 100 degrees, challenging firefighters on the Indian fire that is already burning.

Yesterday a fatal car crash caused a 50-acre fire in eastern San Diego county. The fire near Carrizo Gorge off Interstate 8, burning during the record heat, caused six firefighters to seek medical treatment, with two of them being transported to a hospital. Five of the injuries were heat related, while the sixth was for a diabetic condition.