National fire situation

Six MAFFS C-130 air tankers from the military have now been activated and are based at McClellan airport in Sacramento, CA and at Chico, CA. They are from Charlotte, NC, Colorado Springs, CO, and Cheyenne, WY.

The National Preparedness Level is now 4. This level can be authorized when:

Three or more Geographic Areas are experiencing incidents requiring Type 1 and 2 IMTs. Competition exists between Geographic Areas. Nationally, 60 percent of Type 1 and 2 IMTs and crews are committed.

Weather forecast for northern California

FIRE WEATHER WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
948 AM PDT FRI JUN 27 2008

...FIRE WEATHER WATCH FOR DRY LIGHTNING FOR THE INTERIOR MOUNTAINS INCLUDING THE SIERRA NEVADA FOOTHILLS FROM FRIDAY EVENING THROUGH LATE SUNDAY NIGHT..

.HIGH PRESSURE OVER THE DESERT SOUTHWEST IS FORECAST TO BUILD NORTHWARD ACROSS THE GREAT BASIN AND INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA FRIDAY AND SATURDAY. THIS WILL CAUSE SUBTROPICAL MOISTURE FROM THE DESERT SOUTHWEST TO SPREAD NORTHWARD OVER THE SIERRA NEVADA ON FRIDAY...AND OVER THE COASTAL RANGE AND NORTHERN MOUNTAINS OF SHASTA COUNTY FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. THIS MOIST AND UNSTABLE AIR WILL RESULT IN SCATTERED THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE HIGHER TERRAIN. THE THUNDERSTORMS WILL LIKELY HAVE LITTLE PRECIPITATION ASSOCIATED WITH THEM FRIDAY NIGHT AND SATURDAY. LOW PRESSURE MOVING NORTHWARD ALONG THE CALIFORNIA COAST WILL CONTINUE THE CHANCES OF THUNDERSTORMS ON SUNDAY...WITH STORMS GRADUALLY BECOMING WETTER.

Infrared Aircraft

Both of the U.S. Forest Service infrared line-scanning fixed wing aircraft are working the fires in California and flying out of Redding.

The Ikhana Predator B Unmanned Aerial Vehicle operated by NASA has been ordered and will begin flying fires next week, using it's equipment to take infrared imagery of the fires and downlink it in real time. Last year it flew missions over fires lasting from 10 to 20 hours before landing.

Update, 11:12 pm, June 27. The Ikhana will fly test flights over the Clover fire on June 28. Their first actual mission will occur July 1 when it will collect imagery over at least 10-12 fires in central and northern California.

Navy and Air Force Global Hawks as well as a U2 airframe will be flying training missions over California on Friday and Saturday.

Fire Summary (Five Day Trend)

Date	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
Day	6/23	6/24	6/25	6/26	6/27
Initial Attack Fires	517	312	406	283	226
New Large Fires	25	14	12	10	6
Large Fires Contained	6	3	8	4	7
Uncontained Large Fires	37	48	52	53	56

The above 5-day summary courtesy of the NPS Morning Report