Wildfire news, July 19

Fired Hawaii firefighter suspected of arson

A former Honolulu firefighter is suspected of starting three vegetation fires on Thursday. He was fired for trying to manipulate the outcome of his random drug test. The Hawaii Kai fire department put out three fires totaling eight acres that started within a 4 hour period. Police arrested Kenton F. Leong, 41, a 17-year veteran of the fire department, near the scene of the third fire. He was spotted by a policeman walking out of an area where a fire had just started.

South Carolina lookout towers

Only 40 of South Carolina's 160 fire lookout towers are still standing and groups are trying to save at least pieces of some of them for a museum. Most of the remaining towers have not been maintained since 1993 and are literally falling apart. When the towers were built decades ago, even wired telephones were rare and it took a while for fires to be reported. Now almost everybody on the road or out in the woods has a cell phone, so it's like having thousands of "lookouts".

Brush fires in Los Angeles

A couple of brush fires in the LA area received a lot of local attention yesterday, attracting a squadron of news helicopters documenting every pulaski stroke. One in La Tuna Canyon north of Burbank burned 15 acres and a Pasadena fire scorched 5 acres.

Pot growers threaten firefighters

Wildland firefighters have enough to worry about while trying to stay safe suppressing a fire, but a story in the Press Democrat gives several examples of marijuana growers in California threatening or even shooting at firefighters. The group of camo-wearing men that were trapped and burned on the Motion fire on Wednesday were suspected of tending a pot plantation. This is not a new problem. On the Big Bar fire on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest in 1987 we were warned to stay out of a certain area as much as possible because armed men had been seen there, most likely guarding a plantation.

Basin fire

InciWeb has this information, released last night, on the Basin fire east of Big Sur:

Burnout operations between Piney Creek and Arroyo Seco west of Carmel Valley Road began this afternoon and will continue this evening. Smoke is highly visible in this area.

Burnout operations continue east of Devil's Peak on the north edge of the fire, and will continue in the coming days as conditions permit. The northern edge of the fire is backing toward Carmel River inside the containment lines.

Fire activity has increased in the Rocky, Calaboose, and Piney Creek drainages due to dissipating smoke cover from the previous day's burnouts and increasing temperatures.

The Basin fire is 133,270 acres and is 70% contained.

Wildland fire news, July 17

President plans flightseeing trip over fires

President Bush is expected to fly in to the Redding, California airport around 2 p.m. today. Then he and the Governor will cruise around in a helicopter looking at the fires. This will be the first time a sitting president has visited Redding since John F. Kennedy was there in 1963 for the dedication of the Whiskeytown Dam.

Bush will also attend a private Republican fund raiser in Napa.

UPDATE @ 2026 PT, July 17

A reporter for the Redding Record Searchlight, Ryan Sabalow, was at the Redding airport for the President's visit and was using his Blackberry to send live updates to the newspaper. Here is his description of when the President stopped by to see the jumpers:

Prez Bush just walked into smokejumper room. Walked up to John Casey, a 38-year-old jumper with almost 200 jumps in his career.

"I couldn't handle it," he said to Casey.

Bush asked him how many jumps. His eyes got wide at the number -- 200.

"I appreciate your service," Bush said.

Bush went around the room shaking hands and greeting the smokejumpers, who appeared busy sewing and prepping their chutes.

One was so fixed on his work that he apparently missed the president's approach from behind.

"I don't want to interrupt," Bush said, drawing laughter from reporters and firefighters alike.

Gov followed being giving kudos to the firefighters.

"Good to see you," he said to Casey. "Keep up the good work."

UPDATE @ 1413 PT, July 17:

Here is part of a transcript from a "press gaggle" that occurred today at 10:55 p.m. PT on Air Force One on the way to Redding, California. Mr. Stanzel is a spokesperson for the President. Under Secretary of Agriculture Mark Rey also participated in the gaggle.

Mr. STANZEL: At 2:30 p.m. today, when we arrive in California, the President will participate in a briefing on the California wildfires. That will be at -- in Redding, California. We'll have pool at the top, and he'll receive a briefing on the response efforts from federal, state and local officials.

And as you -- I'll let the two experts here talk a little bit about the fires themselves, but I would just note that on June 28th, the President signed an emergency declaration for the state of California; that is providing federal funding and support. And we have lots of information about the fires, and these are the single-largest -- this is the single-largest fire event in the history of California with over 1,300 square miles burned since June 21st.

After the President participates in that briefing on the California wildfires, he is going to participate in an aerial tour of the area, of Redding, and he will be joined in that by Governor Schwarzenegger. Administrator Paulison will also be there for an aerial tour of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest. And following the aerial tour, the -- Governor Schwarzenegger and the President will deliver brief remarks.

[...]

Q And square miles burned?

UNDER SECRETARY REY: I was afraid you were going to ask square miles burned -- it's about 900,000 acres burned. I'd have to get you the -- it's 66 acres per square mile, so -- (laughter) -- if you want the divide that number by 66 --

Q Can you give us an idea of what he'll see in the aerial tour?

UNDER SECRETARY REY: What he'll see in the aerial tour is areas of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest that have burned, as well as areas that have been thinned to reduce flammable materials. He'll also see a couple of thinning projects that did result in our ability to put out a fire more easily.

[...]

UNDER SECRETARY REY: Let me correct a number I gave you. It's 640 acres per square mile. So I've got to remember that. I have a hard time with the metric system and all that sort of stuff. I don't trust it.

The President will be briefed at the U.S. Forest Service smoke jumper base before he departs for his flightseeing tour. He will meet with Cal Fire Chief Ruben Garijalva, Randy Moore, U.S. Forest Service Regional Forester, Gen. William Wade from the National Guard, and Henry Renteria, director of the California Office of Emergency Services. After his briefing he will visit the smokejumper loft and say hello to the jumpers working on their chutes before he departs on a helicopter for a tour of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest.


Basin fire, Big Sur area

The satellites have detected quite a bit of heat north and south of the White Oaks area that is outside of yesterday's fire perimeter, apparently the result of quite a bit of firing from the dozer lines. The update from the fire late yesterday had this information:

Today's burnout operations went well on Chew's Ridge. Burning conditions were optimal and a combination of tools, including the helitorch, was used to meet today's objectives. It is expected that operations will extend east along the containment line to Carmel Valley Road tonight. Burnout operations in this area will continue through the coming days as weather conditions permit.

At the south end of the fire, along Carrizo Trail, the Cobra helicopter that is outfitted with an infrared camera found no remaining hotspots near the containment line.

Burnout operations also continued east of Devil's Peak on the north edge of the fire, and will continue in the coming days as conditions permit.

The King City Incident Command Post and Carmel Valley Spike Camp have been combined and relocated to Carmel Valley Road near Tassajara Road.

At a public meeting Tuesday night a Forest Service spokesman used technical jargon to explain the slopover in the White Oaks area:

"Two nights ago, we had a little oops," Buck Silva of the U.S. Forest Service told a group of more than 100 residents at a community meeting late Tuesday at Tularcitos Elementary School in Carmel Valley.

"We're making progress," he said. "We just had this little pooch-out that delayed us a couple of days."

I can't find "a little oops" or "pooch-out" in the glossary in the Fireline Handbook.

The fire is 122,980 acres and is 61% contained. The map below is of the White Oaks area.



This map shows how much heat (in red) was detected by the satellites outside the last perimeter (in yellow) uploaded by the incident management team. I am going to assume that all of the heat shown shown outside the perimeter, including that on the northeast side in the White Oaks area, was created by the burnouts from the dozer lines.


Cold Springs fire, Mt. Adams, Washington

The spread of the Cold Springs fire on the lower slopes of Mt. Adams in southwest Washington has slowed. After quickly burning over 7,000 acres, it is now about 7,900 acres. Yesterday morning it was 5% contained, but that percentage has increased since then.

Four men trapped, three burned on Motion fire

Four men wearing camouflage clothing were found in the Motion fire on the Whiskeytown National Recreation Area in northern California after one of them made a call in Spanish to 911. The area was burning vigorously and several strike teams of engines, hand crews, and dozers were staged along roads preparing for a burning operation.

Of the four Hispanic males, three of them had burn injuries. Jose Alcazar Fernandez, 25, was flown to Mercy Medical Center with third degree burns and was later transferred to the UC Davis burn unit. A second adult and a juvenile were transferred by ground ambulance, then treated for first and second degree burns and smoke inhalation and released. The juvenile male was treated and released for minor burns. The treated adult and a fourth adult male were arrested on federal charges of being present in a closed area.

Law enforcement officers determined that the men were Mexican nationals unlawfully present in the United States. They claimed to have been hunting in the park but refused to say where their weapons were. A marijuana cultivation site had been under investigation nearby and fire overhead and suppression personnel had repeatedly been briefed over the previous few days as to the specific location of the site and the probability of armed suspects in the area.

Firefighting can be dangerous, and even more so around marijuana plantations. Be careful out there. The following statement was in an Incident Status Summary from the Soda Complex on July 13:

Armed Law Enforcment officers are needed to mitigate threats against fire crews and provide for safety on the fireline.

"Chopper Chick" is a helicopter pilot who, the last we heard, was assigned to the Mendocino Lightning Complex flying a Sikorsky 58T. She blogged about the marijuana on June 29:

The first few days I was mostly amazed at how many back yards grow "pot" in their yards. Pot up here is like rose gardens where I live. Every one's got one. It's pretty cool to see from above. Most of the dip sights (where I get water from for the bambi bucket) are sources of water for most of these little pot gardens.

For those who don't know, it's legal to grow pot with a doctors note up here. It's all out in the open, fenced in according to law, completely visible to anyone who flies over. Here are the rules.

But she is referring to "legal" pot growing. The illegal growers too often defend their crops with firearms.
.

Fire news roundup, July 16

Basin fire, Big Sur, California

The fire was relatively quiet yesterday with the exception of the Pine Valley campground vicinity and the slopover in the White Oaks area. The fire crews have apparently picked up the slopover on the southeast side across the Rodeo Flats trail.

Cold Springs Fire, Mt. Adams, Washington

The fire is burning along the lower slopes of the mountain, with the most intense fire activity being on the south and east sides. It is burning into an area with some roads and large clear cuts on the east flank which may give the firefighters more options. On the map below, Mt. Adams is in the foreground, with Mt. Rainier in the background. The fire is 7,160 7,604 acres and is 5% contained.


Arsonist(s) at Rainbow gathering, Big Sandy, WY

Eight fires have plagued the gathering of the Rainbow Family at the annual get together held this year east of Big Sandy, Wyoming in the southern Wind River Mountains on BLM land. Investigators have determined that at least one of the fires that occurred near the gathering was arson, but all of them were quickly suppressed by the 20 firefighters that have been staged nearby. Up to 7,000 participants have been camping in the area, but that number has now declined to about 100 who are cleaning up and restoring the site.



View Larger Map

Firefighters rescue injured horse, Mill Fire, California

A fire crew constructing line on the Mill fire, part of the Soda Complex on the Mendocino National Forest, discovered an injured horse Tuesday morning. The firefighters, who were preparing a line for a backfire operation, found that the horse appeared to be dehydrated and had some abrasions and injuries to his front legs. He may have been in this condition for several days. They think he was spooked by the fire and ran off during the initial lightening bust several weeks ago.

Incident Commander Dave Fiorella placed a resource order for a local veterinarian and told the firefighters to prepare for a rescue mission. Dr. Sherry Cronin D.V.M of Covelo was flown by helicopter into the area to assess the horse's condition prior to rescue.

The horse received some special attention from the fire crew, who brought him water and gave him apples from their sack lunches. After a few hours the horse showed signs of improvement and Dr. Cronin determined the injuries were minor enough that the firefighters could walk him out to a ranch a few miles away where he was then placed in a temporary shelter. The fire crew affectionately named the horse "Mr. Ed".

A photo of the horse was not available, but I found one of a dehydrated water tender on the same fire getting a drink.

Excellent fire pictures

Boston.com has a great assortment of photographs that have been taken in the last few weeks on fires. Here's one example, taken by David McNew on the Gap fire near Santa Barbara, but a visit to the site to see the entire collection is highly recommended.


Northern California fires

• Iron Complex: This series of 28 fires west of Junction City had burned 45,257 acres and was 45 percent contained Tuesday.
• Lime Complex: The 92 fires in this complex have scorched 80,469 acres and were 60 percent contained Tuesday.
• Motion fire: This 21,931 acre fire west of Redding is 50% contained.
• Moon fire: The fire has burned 28,899 acres and is 85% contained.

Insurance companies hiring their own firefighters

Some insurance companies are finding that it is less expensive to hire their own firefighters to protect high value properties than to pay the replacement cost if they burn in a fire. Here is an excerpt from the Herald Extra:

New Jersey-based Chubb Corp., which employs Breglia, began offering free fire protection to its clients in 13 Western states in March. Already 11,000 homeowners have signed up, more than a third of those in wealthy and fire-prone enclaves like Lake Tahoe and Marin County. The company plans to expand the service to other states before the start of next fire season.

Chubb hired Montana-based Wildfire Defense Systems Inc. to protect homes with a replacement value of $1 million or more. The company is now subcontracting a pool of 50 fire engines throughout the West dedicated exclusively to Chubb policyholders.

Fireman's Fund Insurance Company donated $18 million over four years to support public fire departments. But this year it jumped into the private firefighting business, too, joining with Sacramento-based Fire Stop and two southern California companies.

Fire Stop, with nine fire engines, has doubled its employees over the last year. The company is also in talks to acquire helicopter support.

[...]

But inside the command trailers at the Big Sur fire camp, surrounded by a sea of tents, portable toilets and smoke-filled air, Thom Walsh looked skeptical.

"Insurance company fire engines need to stay out of our way," said Walsh, leader of the U.S. Forest Service Resource Unit. "We don't know who they are or where they are. They're like the private mercenaries in Iraq."

Thanks, Dick, for the tip.

Wildland fire news, July 15; "Don't Drop the Baby"

Fire on former Senator's ranch-

A fire 25 miles southwest of Cody, Wyoming destroyed three structures on land owned by retired Senator Al Simpson, R-Wyoming. The fire was believed to have started near a cabin and burned 54 acres of cottonwood trees on Simpson's Bobcat Ranch. One cabin and two outbuildings were lost. Firefighters from Cody VFD, Powell VFD, the BLM, and the U.S. Forest Service fought the fire.

Update on Piute fire-

The Piute fire, south of Lake Isabella, California, received between 1 and 3 inches of rain on Sunday. They are still doing evacuations, but now it is because of mud slides and floods instead of the fire. A mix of ash and mud slid into the town of Lake Isabella and covered one of the main streets.

The two areas still releasing large amounts of smoke are in the upper watershed of Erskine Creek and the upper Bob Rabbit Canyon. Bill Molumby's Type 1 incident management team that had such success on the Indians fire assumed command of the fire on July 14. Kern County and CalFire incident commanders remain in place as part of the unified command.

Kern County FD helicopters have switched from dropping water to rescuing residents from flooded areas. Here is a link to a video of a helitack crew short-hauling a baby (using a firefighter suspended on a cable) and a family off the roof of a house. It's about 9 minutes long. On the video you can hear someone on the helicopter telling the rescuer at the end of the cable, not once but twice, "Don't drop the baby"--which is always good advice.

The fire is 37,026 acres and is 70% contained.

Fire news roundup, July 14

Washington state fires-

A fire that was discovered Saturday evening 11 miles northeast of Trout Lake grew to 6,000 acres today. The Cold Springs fire on the Gifford Pinchot National Forest will be managed by the central Oregon incident management team. Forest Service employees helped 200 hikers walk down off the nearby Mount Adams as the fire burned on the south end of the mountain. Extreme fire behavior caused firefighters to be pulled off the fire on Sunday.

Update @ 2000 MT: the Cold Springs fire is now 8,000 acres and 0% contained.

The Willow Lakes fire southeast of Soap Lake has burned 6,400 acres.

The Badger Mountain fire eight miles north of Wenatchee has covered 14,722 acres and is 60% contained, with 160 homes under evacuation orders.

The Spokane Valley fire, east of Spokane, which earlier burned 13 houses, is looking better, at 1,006 acres and 70% containment. The cause of the fire is listed as "hold over recreational fire". The person responsible has been identified, but the name is not being released.

Nebraska fire-

The Oregon Trail Days fire in Scotts Bluff National Monument burned 287 acres on Friday. It spread toward the base of Dome Rock and threatened the city of Gering's water tank and a nearby home. The fast moving, wind driven fire sweep across the south half of the monument pushed by 20 mph winds. Initial attack resources were able to contain the fire to the monument. Wildland fires this large in this little national monument in western Nebraska are very rare.

This photo was taken in 2002 during a prescribed fire at Scotts Bluff NM.



Martin Mars-

The Canadian-owned Martin Mars amphibious air tanker, which holds 7,200 of water, has returned to northern California after spending the last six days on the Basin Complex fire in the Big Sur area. It landed on Lake Shasta at 2 p.m. yesterday, but won't begin fighting fires until today because its support vehicles had not arrived from the Big Sur area yet.

Martin Mars support vehicles at Lake Shasta, June 29, 2008. Photo by Eric Cassano, ShastaLake.com

National Guard firefighters-

National Guard troops from "Task Force Pick" today were assigned to the Lime complex of fires near Hyampom, Hayfork, and Platina, California today. They trained on the Telephone fire over the weekend.

State record for acres burned-

The fires in California have broken the record for the most acres burned in a single year. More than 1,700 wildfires have scorched the state this season, burning a total of 829,000 acres, or nearly 1,300 square miles, as of Monday morning. This figure includes fires on both state protected lands and National Forests.

Aussie firefighters arrive in U.S.-

The 45 firefighters from Australia and New Zealand arrived at the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise yesterday to prepare for their assignment on the California fires. They will be working two 14-day assignments with a break in between. The entire expedition for them, including travel, briefing, fire assignments, and R&R, will last about 40 days.

Some of the positions they will be filling include Division Supervisors, Task Force Leaders, Helicopter Managers, and liaison personnel.

Basin complex July 14

It is getting harder and harder to get information about the Basin complex, east of Big Sur. The update last evening on InciWeb had this:

• The fire remained active today, with most activity observed in the Rocky Creek and Calaboose Creek areas.
• The fire spotted over the containment line north of Chew's Ridge early Saturday morning. Heavy helicopters are being used as they work to contain the fire in that area.
• Fire activity in the Rodeo Flats area has been light. Firefighters are holding and mopping up its perimeter.
• Burnout operations will continue in the area east of Devil's Peak as weather conditions allow.
• The fire continued toward Blue Rock Ridge and Carmel Springs River.

The satellites detected no large heat sources on the large slopover across the Rodeo Flats trail on the southeast side of the fire.

Here is a map that shows the fire activity in the White Oaks area.



The map below shows the entire fire:

BTU Complex slows down with higher humidities

Higher relative humidities for the last two days have made it easier for firefighters to construct lines around the BTU or Butte County Complex near Paradise, California east of Chico. This trend should continue with temperatures predicted to be around 90 on Sunday and Monday with the humidity being in the mid-30s during the day and the high 60s at night. The wind should be 3-9 mph mostly out of the southwest. The fire is now 53,000 acres and is 65% contained.

Here is a map from the CalFire web site updated yesterday. Click on it or the link to see a larger version.

CA: Basin Complex slows

After the big runs on Thursday, the Basin fire east of Big Sur slowed down in comparison on Friday, due in part to the marine layer and the smoke. It is about 5,000 acres larger than reported yesterday morning, and is now 113,827 acres and is 41% contained.

Crews continued firing from the dozer line on the north side, east of Big Pines, and the fire was active north and east of Uncle Sam Mountain. Additional acres also burned north of Tassajara near Church Divide and China campground.

The 500-700 acre slopover south of the Rodeo Flats trail on the southeast corner did not get any larger yesterday, thanks to aggressive work on the ground and from the air. Most of it is still un-lined, but the east side burned up against the Indians fire. There is about two miles of line left to construct on the west side of the slopover.

The five people at the Zen Center at Tassajara are doing OK, after the fire burned around them a couple of days ago. One additional outbuilding burned yesterday.

The weather will be moderating a bit for the next day or two, with higher humidities and a few clouds.

The map was current as of late yesterday, Friday.

Body found in burned house in Butte County, CA

A burned body was found in the remains of a house that burned in the BTU (or Butte County) complex in an evacuated section of Concow, California. According to a press release issued by the Butte County Sheriff's office, a deputy sheriff found the body at 10 a.m. on Friday while doing a search of the structures that had burned. The house had been the residence of someone named in a missing person report. The Sheriffs office said 40 homes were destroyed in the neighborhood where the body was found. An autopsy will be conducted this weekend to attempt to identify the body using DNA or fingerprints.

Wildfire Today reported on Tuesday that up to 50 homes had burned in the community of Concow when the BTU fire complex burned through the community which is east of Paradise.

CNN is reporting that if it turns out that this person died as a result of the wildland fire, it would be the first person killed in the recent California fires. That is not accurate. Wildfire Today had the story on July 3 about 63-year-old volunteer firefighter Robert Roland who collapsed while battling a blaze in Mendocino County and died hours later at the Ukiah Valley Medical Center.

Basin fire burns around Tassajara

The Basin fire, east of Big Sur, made huge runs yesterday, burning completely around the Zen Center at Tassajara. It is now 108,026 acres and is 41% contained, adding about 18,000 acres over the last 24 hours.

East side:
The fire ran to the east for two to five miles leaving Tassajara and the road into it enveloped by fire. The Tassajara folks posted this information on their blog Sitting With Fire last night.

So far, so good

The fire has passed through Tassajara and is making it's way down the creek. Everyone who has stayed is safe and very tired. They plan to spend the night maintaining a watch for embers falling from the hills above.

They report that the Tassajara grounds are an island of green in a sea of black. A testament to the recently installed sprinkler system and the twice daily irrigation of the site.

The fire approached quickly from three sides shortly after 1pm and passed over Tassajara mercifully fast. The crew were able to move around outside the safe space and keep the sprinkler system working.

Several small buildings were lost: the Bird House, the compost shed, the wood shed and the pool bathroom. The radio-phone and half of the lower garden were also destroyed.

Clarification 9:00pm: The front of the fire has passed Tassajara and was burning the meadow below the lower barn early this evening. There appears to be no fuel left to burn in the valley. The remaining danger is from embers falling down the hillsides. This danger may persist for days and diminishes as time passes.

The eastern side of the fire is now approaching the indirect dozer lines that have been in place over a week. A very rough estimate is that there are over 20 miles of this line that must be defended on the north and east sides. East of Tassajara the fire last night was two to three miles from the line. Farther north it varies from 1/2 mile to four.

With the shortage of resources in the state and on this fire, I hope the Incident Management Team has what they need in order to fire out and hold this line.

North side:
The firing along the dozer line continues to progress to the east and has made it one mile east of Big Pines campsite. With the intense burning yesterday, this was the one bright spot--the firing is going well and the line held.

South side:
We reported yesterday that the fire had crossed the fire line on the Rodeo Flats Trail near the Indians fire. This line had not been fired out yet, and now it has burned two miles beyond to the south, burning along the Indians fire. On InciWeb, which is working off and on now. they are calling it a "spot fire", but it is at least 700 acres. If they had stopped it as planned on the trail, this would have wrapped up the south side. Now they will have to fall back to secondary lines, some of which have been prepared, and others are only planned.

The fire in this area is now going to take a major effort to corral. I wonder if a shortage of resources, extreme fire behavior, or something else caused the fire to not be stopped on the fire line as planned.

The map below was produced late yesterday.



The weather forecast for Jamesburg, east of the fire:

Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 89. Southwest wind between 5 and 8 mph. Relative humidity 15%.

Tonight: Partly cloudy, with a low around 63. West southwest wind 5 to 8 mph becoming south southeast. RH 55%.

Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 92. South southeast wind around 7 mph becoming west. RH 28%.

Newspaper story: not enough firefighters

Reporters for the Mercury News in Silicon Valley in California reviewed Incident Status Summary forms, ICS-209's, from many of the California fires and harvested narrative comments from the forms regarding the availability of resources. The entire article is worth reading, but here are a few excerpts:


"A shortage of equipment and manpower has contributed to the spread of fires across the state, according to frustrated fire commanders trying to subdue the state's 320 raging wildland blazes.

Internal reports from experts out in the field reveal repeated requests for additional help - and concern for their firefighters' lives.

"All fires on the Complex are minimally staffed . . . Due to limited resources, there are some divisions unstaffed," according to an incident status summary by Ron Roberts at the Shasta and Trinity County fire, the site of 34 injuries. "Operational adjustments have been made due to the lack of resources."

In Kern County's Piute Fire, commander Chris Hoff asked repeatedly for more officers, writing "Lack of overhead positions continue to hamper suppression efforts." In a Humboldt County fire, called Hell's Half Complex, commander Jess Secrest wrote that "Continued inability to fill critical resource orders increases the fire's ability to enter residential areas, expected later this week."

More than 700,000 acres have burned - and 99 homes lost - since a series of wildfires scorched the state. The destruction - particularly the expansion of a blaze into several Shasta-based towns - prompted the governor to deploy the state's National Guard, the first time in 31 years.

On Thursday afternoon, secretary of the Homeland Security Michael Chertoff promised to provide federal helicopters to dump water. He also said he would send out-of-state fire fighters to train incoming National Guardsmen."

[...]

"The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group, which supervises staffing of the nation's fires, has issued a report warning that California's needs were "stretching the national response capability."

"The situation in California, particularly the northern part of the state, is perhaps unprecedented and the needs for crews, aircraft, equipment and support are already acute," it said. The group cautioned that "The rate of 'unable to fill' orders is increasing."

Documents called "incident status summaries," submitted by on-site commanders to U.S. Forestry Service and Cal Fire authorities, show repeated requests for help.

In the Canyon Fire, in Plumas County, two blazes have been reduced to "patrol status," with no one to fight them, according to Commander Jeanne Pincha-Tulley. She wrote: "Lack of sufficient suppression resources, especially hand crews. . .Multiple crews are reaching their maximum work assignment. . .This reduction in resources may affect the predicted containment date and strategies if replacement crews are not assigned."

At Hell's Half Complex, "fire growth has continued. . .five fewer crews being available to work today's shift."

The number of concerns written into official reports signals how extreme the situation has become, some said.

[...]

An estimated 84 wildfires in California are burning "unstaffed," according to the national coordinating group, "and have the potential to burn through much of the summer and into the fall until rainfall increases."

============================

Meanwhile, Governor Schwarzenegger today sent a letter to President Bush requesting help with the fires in California. Some of his requests include:

• Federal active duty forces to provide additional Type II firefighting handcrews to meet shortages;
• Additional out-of-state federal firefighters to provide training for National Guard personnel as Type II handcrews;
• Increasing the "Maximum Efficiency Level" (MEL) for the U.S. Forest Service to 100 percent.

=============================

I wonder if the federal bean counters are still being assigned to all the large fires with the mission of nagging Incident Commanders to fight fire on the cheap?

=============================

Today the U.S. Forest Service sent out their almost-annual "let my people go" letter, reminding managers that:

Our foundation principles guide us to support local fire emergencies as a priority over resource targets. Non-local fire emergencies can be supported at the local line officer's discretion.... Line officers must support these fire suppression efforts and ensure employees are available to support the current national response to wildfires."

Sometimes the letter is referred to as "The Moses Letter".

And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.
-- Exodus 5: 1 (KJV)

Piute Fire Update, July 10

Since we last updated information about the Piute fire, south of Lake Isabella, California, it has grown on the north side, but is still quite some distance from primary roads and major population centers. It is 33,992 acres and is 28% contained.

Kern County FD reported this morning:

Yesterday, the fire was active in the northeast corner near Cortez Canyon and Dry Meadow. Crews continue to work on establishing a northern control line in the Erskine Creek and the Bob Rabbit Canyon areas utilizing hand crews supported by retardant drops; indirect control line on the northeast corner has been completed.

Dozers and hand crews have completed the control line on the western edge of the fire and will conduct a small burnout operation today. Firefighters have made excellent progress with direct control efforts on the eastern perimeter near Kelso Valley. There were no smokes visible on the south flank of the fire yesterday; crews plan to burnout a small piece of line along Piute Mountain Road today.

Ground crews are well supported by aerial resources with water bucket and retardant drops; in addition to the six assigned helicopters, eleven air tankers are on order today.

This map was updated at 0900 today. Click on it to see a larger version.

CA: Basin fire, July 10

The Basin fire near Big Sur is now 90,114 acres and is 41% contained.

South Side:
It is largely symbolic at this point, but the Basin fire has bumped up against the Indians fire. The fires met about a mile north of the fire line on the Rodeo Flats trail.

I am hearing that the fire burned intensely late yesterday near the remaining open line on the Rodeo Flats trail, just south of where the two fires met. There is a chance that the fire burned across the line and progressed 2 miles south almost to the Cook Springs campground near the Carrizo trail, but this is not confirmed. If this is true, it is going to significantly delay the containment of the fire on the south side. But there are secondary lines in this area that the firefighters can fall back to.

North side:
The fire did not spread a great deal on the north side with the exception of the firing the crews are accomplishing along the dozer line. Working to the east, they progressed about a mile past Devils Peak, getting into even rougher, more remote terrain.

East side:
There was no major fire movement on the east side, except for areas near Tassajara. The fire is approaching the road to Tassajara 1.6 miles north of the facility at Wildcat campground. It is also still spreading a mile to the west, and 1.4 miles to the south at Willow Springs campground.

The folks at Tassajara decided to evacuate yesterday, and it's probably a good thing. At best, it will be extremely smoky there for a while... maybe a long while. At the worst, well, we don't want to think about that right now.

East side update, July 10 @ 10:45 PT:
We received a call today from a Wildfire Today reader who said that 5 of the Tassajara folks are still there. We confirmed this on their web site. Apparently as the entire group of 19 drove out, they encountered a check point and were told that if they left, they would not be able to return, so five of them went back to Tassajara.

Someone who posted on Wildlandfire.com's Hotlist Forum said:

In listening to scanner traffic the people at The Zen Center off Tassajara Road decided to leave as the fire approached from the north and west. This is presenting a problem for the crews on scene as the fire has become very established in the Church Creek Area. The East Basin (Air Attack) Diverted all the (air tankers) to this area to try to buy time for them to evacuate by vehicle. Fire has spotted half mile ahead presenting more problems. They have 2 MAFFS ships enroute also.

If the report from the forum is true, it sounds like they waited too long to evacuate, and all of the air tankers on the fire had to be diverted from their missions to cool the fire down near the road enough to allow them to drive through the fire area. I hope the remaining five will be OK at Tassajara. And I hope that the firefighters that had been using the air tankers didn't have problems when they lost them to protect the people driving out on the road.

Thanks, caller, for the update.

Big Sur side:
The mandatory evacuation for the Big Sur valley has been lifted and a few businesses are beginning to open for the locals and firefighters. The valley is still only open to residents, but the agencies are re-evaluating the closure and there is hope that the public will be allowed into the area around the first of next week, but that decision has not yet been made. This is a real hardship on the businesses, who rely on the summer season for the majority of their income.

The firefighters:
The next 5-6 miles of the open line on the north side, firing from the dozer line, is going to be exceedingly difficult, tactically and logistically. The task these firefighters have been doing, and especially what they have done recently and will be doing over the next several days, is as difficult as it gets. It is very steep, remote, heavily vegetated country, loaded with poison oak.

I was on the El Cariso Hot Shots when we fought fire in the Big Sur area on the Molera fire in 1972. That memory is seared into my brain as one of the most challenging assignments I have ever experienced as a firefighter. We need to appreciate the work these crews are doing, and we need to find ways to thank them. They are putting out our fires as we sit comfortably at home in front of our computers.

Fire information:
The Los Padres National Forest has stopped putting fire updates on their web page, shrewdly deciding to put all of their eggs into the InciWeb basket. For a week or so, InciWeb was not able to handle the capacity and was out of service, then it worked for a couple of days, and this morning it is out again. Maybe it is just a temporary outage, but for now, there is no official fire information available on the Internet. Again.

The map below shows heat, in red, orange, and black, detected by satellites at about 1 a.m. on Wednesday, with the red areas being the most recently burned. The yellow lines are the latest perimeters uploaded by the incident management teams. Click on the map to see a larger version.


The map below was current at 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

CA: BTU or Butte Lightning Complex

The Camp fire, part of the BTU complex east of Chico, CA near Paradise, continued to move slowly south on Wednesday. Strong down canyon winds were forecast for Wednesday night, prompting additional evacuations for Jarbo Gap, Yankee Hill and Big Bend.

This map, maintained by the Chico Enterprise Record newspaper, has a great deal of information, but we can't vouch for it's accuracy. But the CalFire web site is having problems due to very heavy visitation.

The size of the fire according to CalFire is 49,000 acres and it is 45% contained. Burning embers have been landing in Paradise and areas south of the fire during the day on Wednesday, according to our contact in the area.

CA: Basin Complex, July 9 update

Contrary to reports elsewhere, as of last night Big Sur's Basin fire still had not reached the Indians fire, although undoubtedly it will in the very near future. The latest information shows a 1/2 mile gap between the two fires on the southeast side of the Basin fire north of the Rodeo Flats trail. The fire is burning intensely in this area and the two fires will probably merge within the next 24 hours.

Crews are firing the line downhill along the Rodeo Flats trail toward the Indians fire. This has been going very slowly for the last several days, but I expect they will have to complete this firing in the next day or two. Of course the Indians fire has been relatively cold for a while now, so the act of merging will have no effect on fire behavior, other than the Indians burned area serving as a barrier to the Basin fire.

South side-
The burning operation down Dolan Ridge to the coast highway is complete

North side-
The firing along the Old Coast Road is complete, and the firing on Mescal Ridge has progressed east beyond Bottchers Gap. The fire is burning intensely east of Bottchers Gap, and in the Pat Springs, Little Pines, and Uncle Sam Mountain areas. It is within a mile of the dozer line north of Little Pines, east of Devils Peak. The dozer line is downhill from the existing fire edge, so it will be burning more slowly as it approaches the line, but I imagine the firefighters have plans to fire this out in the near future. There are plans for an additional secondary dozer line north of the existing one east of Devis Peak, but hopefully it won't have to be used.

East side-
The fire is burning intensely:

• west of the Carmel River drainage south of Uncle Sam Mountain,
• in two areas 1.5 to 2 miles northwest and southwest of Tassajara,
• and a large area west of the Indians fire north of the Rodeo Flats Trail.

The map was current as of 1900 Tuesday night. Click on it to see a larger version.

CA: BTU Complex, July 9 update

Update: 0900 PT-

Wildfire Today received a call from a local resident who used our "Call Me" button. He said the fire crossed the West Branch of the Feather River (which runs north and south in this area) but the spots across the river were picked up by aircraft and firefighters. He said the fire is being pushed to the south now by a steady 15 mph wind, which would mean it will be moving parallel with the river.

The weather forecast for today:

Paradise (at the fire, elevation 1,715')
Temp: 104
Winds: NE shifting to NW 5-7
RH: 12%

Oroville (12 miles south of the fire, elevation 190')
Temp: 107
Winds: N shifting to W and then NW 7-9
RH: 10%

=========================
The Camp fire, part of the BTU (or Butte) Lightning Complex, slowed last night after burning approximately 50 homes in Concow, California yesterday. Evacuations are in effect for portions of Concow and Paradise displacing an estimated 9,500 14,000 people.

Monday night between 8 and 10 p.m., firefighters began a firing operation out ahead of the fire, between the fire and Concow. CalFire-Butte County Capt. Scott McLean said the firing was going well, until an unexpected change in the weather occurred after midnight. Strong down canyon winds and a drop in the relative humidity from 43% to 21% caused spot fires far ahead of the firing operation.

McLean said:

We had to try something; the fire was going to get there anyway.

On Tuesday the fire reached Concow and burned at least 50 homes. We don't fault the firefighters.... we will take the spokesperson at his word, that the fire would have reached Concow anyway. The strong winds Monday night and Tuesday contributed to the extreme fire behavior that caused the fire to burn all the way to the outskirts of Paradise.

The map below shows heat, in red, orange, and black, detected by satellites last night, with the red areas being the most recently burned. The yellow lines are the latest perimeters uploaded by the incident management teams. Click on the map to see a larger version.

BTU Complex: 50 homes burn in Concow

At least 50 homes burned Tuesday in the city of Concow, California as the BTU (or Butte) Lightning Complex swept through communities 20 miles east of Chico. The entire east half of the city of Paradise, a city of 26,000, is under evacuation orders, and some areas of Magalia have also been evacuated.

If the weather forecast is accurate, Paradise and Magalia are under a severe threat from the fire. Firefighters hope to stop the fire at the West Branch of the Feather River just east of the city.

This is the third time in the last few weeks that Paradise has had a bulls eye painted on it by fires heading in their direction.

HERE is a link to a very interesting map of the fire in the area made by the newspaper in Chico, the Chico Enterprise Record. This is an amazing use of Google Maps. You might call it groundbreaking. There is a ton of information there---I hope the data is accurate. Click on the icons on the map to get details.

It also shows the areas that are being evacuated. Scroll through the legend on the left side. HERE and HERE is more information about evacuations.

Record high temperatures as high as 115 in the valley on Tuesday contributed to the extreme fire behavior. Foothill temperatures were expected to be in the 90s on Tuesday.

The Weather forecast for Paradisc, CA: (note that the maximum relative humidities at night only go up to 30% and 26%)

Tuesday night: Areas of smoke. Clear, with a low around 79. Northeast wind between 10 and 15 mph, with gusts as high as 18 mph. RH 30%.

Wednesday: Areas of smoke. Sunny and hot, with a high near 110. North northwest wind between 5 and 10 mph. RH 10%.

Wednesday Night: Areas of smoke. Clear, with a low around 77. North wind between 7 and 13 mph. RH 26%

Thursday: Areas of smoke. Sunny and hot, with a high near 108. Northeast wind 6 to 8 mph becoming west. RH 11%.

CA: Oregon firefighter drowns

An off duty firefighter drowned yesterday in the Trinity River in northern California.

The Times-Standard

Article Launched: 07/08/2008 09:10:19 AM PDT

A wildland firefighter from Oregon who was fighting the local fires drowned yesterday after visiting the Trinity River on his day off, the Humboldt County Coroner's Office said.

The firefighter, who was in his 30s, was visiting the river near Willow Creek, said Deputy Coroner Charles Van Buskirk.

”We're working currently to notify his family,” Van Buskirk said late last night.

According to a press release, the Humboldt County Sheriff's deputies responded to Kimtu Beach in Willow Creak at about 4:30 p.m. and found about a dozen people searching for the victim.

Deputies were assessing the situation when they learned the victim had been pulled from the water near Patterson Road. Resuscitation efforts were unsuccessful.

The firefighter was employed by a contract wildland firefighting company. Witnesses told deputies the victim attempted to swim across the river in a T-shirt and his Nomex pants. About halfway across, the man turned around and tried to return to shore.

The current began to carry him down the river and he seemed to panic, witnesses said. Another swimmer attempted to help the man, but had to swim to shore after approaching the swift current and rocks. Witnesses saw the victim go underwater and his body was recovered approximately 20 minutes later.

The decedent's name is being withheld pending the notification of the next of kin.

Our sincere condolences for the family of this firefighter.

California fires: a record setting year?

Acres burned in California on CalFire jurisdiction lands by year:

1936-- 756,696
2008-- 630,886 (to date)
2007-- 434,667
2003-- 404,328
2006-- 222,896

The numbers are provided by CNN. They did not say if these are the top 5 years, but did state that the previous high was the 1936 figure. I assume there were several other years when more than 222,896 acres burned that are not listed here, for example, 1970, when the Laguna fire east of San Diego was 165,000 acres. Many other large fires burned in 1970 as well, leading to the development of the Incident Command System.

Update @ 1400:
A little research shows that in 1985, 235,400 acres burned on the Los Padres NF alone, due mostly to the Wheeler and Gorda-Rat fires.

Update @ 1440:
More research shows that the numbers provided by CNN are only for fires on CalFire jurisdiction. Geeze. Too bad they didn't mention this little detail. HERE is a link with CalFire numbers by year.