Wildfire in solar panel field
A vegetation fire in Intel’s solar panel field in Folsom, California created an unusual situation for firefighters, who for safety reasons declined to fight the fire among the electricity-generating panels, but attacked it from the edge of the facility. FOX40 has a video report.
Massachusetts firefighters deployed to Canada
The Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation is sending 15 state and municipal wildland firefighters along with six others from Maine to fight forest fires in the Canadian province of Quebec. The 21 firefighters will assist in suppressing some of the fires that have burned over a million acres in the province.
Grass fire causes delays at airport in Chicago
A grass fire near an FAA Tracon Facility in Elgin, Illinois Saturday caused delays at O’Hare International Airport. The fire caused a drop in water pressure in the building which triggered fire alarms. Operations were switched to an Aurora facility, according to a spokeswoman for the FAA.
Thanks for your comment Ken. Your advice is so simple, yet so very important. Trying to attain complete knowledge and understanding of ‘fire weather’ is paramount to staying safe and thus being successful in suppressing wildfires. I say this without making any judgment regarding the circumstances on the Yarnell Hill fire. For the sake of all who bravely and diligently wage the fight against wildfires I hope and pray the investigation will reveal the full story of what occurred.
I might be cynical or clairvoyant, but my old Supt. always knew what was going on (or potentially going on) with the weather ANYWHERE near a fire that we were on.
He told me to listen and learn… and always watch the sky….. and watch the nightly weather with Dr. George Fischbeck each evening. I can’t watch Dr. George anymore, but I sure as hell can watch, learn, and absorb weather info like a “Student of Fire”.
It took a while, but I realized what he was teaching….. knowing WEATHER is as important (if not more important) as knowing fire behavior and fuels…. and weather is a lacking component in fire behavior and fuels classes now-a-days.
…. and when I say “knowing WEATHER” …. I don’t mean having an IMET or computer program in your pocket giving you “hints” on how you should act… it means keeping your head on a swivel and recognizing the changing weather conditions around you… and what the can/may/or will do to change your fire behavior.
IMHO
I was out working in the back field today under pleasant sunny skies. Thunderclouds in the distance, no particular wind when all of a sudden, the light variable wind changed to strong gusts out of the north. With the tragedy of the Yarnell fire on my mind, I realized how a dangerous situation could have developed without prior warning. Those thunderclouds in the distance were clearly visible but it was hours before a dangerous wind condition arose. Firefighters could use a system that gave 15-30 minutes warning before the winds changed. You could not expect them to stay away from a fire in the expectation that the winds would change hours from now.
Good point, Jim. Even though higher level wildland firefighters receive training in weather, we can’t expect them to be meteorologists or to have all of the information that is available to meteorologists, even if they have a smart phone and access to the internet. I was the burn boss on a prescribed fire when the wind shifted dramatically due to an isolated thunderstorm that was about 10 miles away in a mostly clear sky. We could see it, but none of us on the project expected that a thunderstorm that far away would cause a problem. We had to quickly change our ignition and holding tactics in order to keep the prescribed fire within the planned boundaries.
On a prescribed fire, you have the option of lighting or not, depending on weather. On a wildfire, it’s already going, you can’t back off as easily if thunderstorms are in the area. But as you mention, it is the storm cells miles away that cause the problem. I am wondering if some portable remote weather stations with telemetry could be set up to monitor those more distant winds. See Campbell Scientific http://www.campbellsci.com/raws-f for an example. It might mean adding a person skilled in fire weather forecasting to each IMT but the dollar cost would be worth it if it saves lives.