Wildfire Today

Update on Lower North Fork fire in Colorado

Bill GabbertMarch 28, 2012August 25, 2019UncategorizedColorado, escaped prescribed fire, Lower North Fork Fire3 Comments

(We will update this throughout the day on March 28 as developments occur.)

UPDATE at 12:30 p.m. MT, March 28, 2012

The reported size of the fire has been changed from 4,500 to 3,790 acres. This latest size was calculated from an infrared mapping flight that occurred at 10:30 p.m. on March 27.

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s office has reduced the number of damaged structures from 28 to 27. One of the recorded addresses was not accurate.

We have an audio recording of radio traffic from an incident that occurred on March 26 on the fire when four Jefferson County Sheriff officers were entrapped in the fire. They escaped unhurt, but the audio is gripping.

The Denver Post has some fascinating video that was shot by residents driving out of the fire. They said they did not receive a reverse 911 phone call warning.

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UPDATE at 9:23 a.m. March 28, 2012

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has updated their map of the fire with data from 8:20 p.m., March 27. The fire perimeter in red. The blue line is the evacuation area as of 2:00 p.m. on March 27. We expect they will give us an updated acreage later.

Map Lower North Fork Fire 2030 3-27-2012 — Map Lower North Fork Fire 8:30 p.m., 3-27-2012. Jefferson County Sheriff's Office

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UPDATE at 8:45 a.m. March 28, 2012:

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office released some updated information at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday:

Overnight the fire was relatively stable. Fire crews made progress through the night in protecting structures. Today’s strategy is to gain containment around the fire while continuing to protect structures.

Today’s fire behavior is expected to be similar to yesterday but with slightly higher winds. The winds could result in more robust fire activity. The fire will also most likely become more intense as the temperature rises throughout the day. The fire has continued to exhibit a tendency to start spot fires in a wide area.

[…]

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office will continue to man road blocks around the fire perimeter. At this time we are not allowing anyone back into the evacuated regions.

The Sheriff’s Office said the estimated size is still 4,500 acres and that 28 structures have been damaged.

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(Original post at 7:30 a.m. MT, March 28.)

The Lower North Fork fire that is southwest of Denver and seven miles southeast of Conifer, Colorado, was relatively quiet during the night. The last official acreage that was released by the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for the wildfire was 4,500, and they reported that 23 homes have been damaged. An elderly couple was found dead near their home and one resident within the burn area is missing.

The map of the fire shows the fire perimeter in red, as of 11:00 p.m. on March 26. The blue line is the evacuation area as of 2:00 p.m. on March 27. We will provide an updated map as more information is provided.

Map Lower North Fork Fire 732 am 3-28-2012 — Map Lower North Fork Fire. Jefferson County Sheriff's Office

The firefighters’ strategy on Wednesday is to switch from point protection to constructing fireline to begin containment of the fire. They had hoped to do that on Tuesday, but the weather and fire behavior did not cooperate, pushing them back into a defensive and structure protection mode. Containment is still listed at zero percent, and 900 homes are still under a mandatory evacuation order. On Wednesday three air tankers (two P2Vs and one single engine air tanker) and four helicopters (including two National Guard Blackhawks) will be working on the fire. More aircraft are on order.

The Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center reported Wednesday morning that Rich Harvey’s Type 1 Incident Management Team arrived and in-briefed at 8:00 p.m. on Tuesday and will assume command at end of the shift today. The RMACC says 3,790 acres have burned. This reduction in size is probably due to more accurate mapping as a result of the aircraft that Tuesday night used infrared equipment to determine the fire perimeter.

On Tuesday the Colorado State Forest Service released a statement saying a prescribed fire they ignited on Wednesday, March 21, escaped control on Monday, and investigations are underway to determine the cause of the Lower North Fork fire. The Denver Post earlier on Tuesday quoted Jacki Kelley, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, as saying the fire originated from a controlled burn conducted by the Colorado Forest Service.

This first video is from a 6:00 a.m. newscast on March 27.

The video below is from March 26.

9news.com occasionally has live video reports about the fire.

Read Wildfire Today’s March 27 coverage of the Lower North Fork fire. and the March 29 article.

Did an escaped prescribed fire cause the Lower North Fork fire?

Bill GabbertMarch 27, 2012July 29, 2014Uncategorizedescaped prescribed fire, Lower North Fork Fire, prescribed fire9 Comments

On Tuesday afternoon the Colorado State Forest Service released a statement that contributes to the theory that one of their prescribed fires that escaped control may have started the Lower North Fork fire, which as of Tuesday afternoon has burned 4,500 acres and destroyed or damaged 23 homes. An elderly couple was found dead in the burn area, but a cause of death has not been released. The Denver Post earlier on Tuesday quoted Jacki Kelley, a Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, as saying the fire originated from a controlled burn conducted by the Colorado Forest Service on March 19.

Below is the statement from the Colorado State Forest Service:

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“Preliminary reports indicate that on the fourth day of mop-up operations, following a prescribed burn, extremely strong wind appears to have reignited the fire by fanning embers and blowing them into an unburned area outside the containment line. Crews patrolling the area immediately began fighting the fire.

Last Wednesday (3/21), Colorado State Forest Service initiated a controlled burn on Denver Water Board property. The 35-acre prescribed burn was part of ongoing fuels management activities in the Lower North Fork area as part of a service agreement with Denver Water. On Wednesday, March 21, crews built a containment line around the fire area. The actual prescribed fire was carried out and completed on Thursday, with mop-up operations beginning on Friday.

On Monday afternoon (3/26), during the fourth day of mop-up work, a patrol crew reported windy conditions, but no smoke or fire activity as they circled the burn area several times. The crew reported a sudden, significant increase in wind and then reported seeing blowing embers carried across the containment line, over a road, and into unburned fuels. The crew immediately requested additional resources and began aggressively fighting the fire.

As the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office further investigates the cause of the current wildfire, Colorado State Forest Service will also be conducting a simultaneous review of the prescribed burn. Conducting a prescribed burn involves a considerable amount of planning, research and oversight by fire professionals who carefully consider current and future weather forecasts, fuel conditions, and other factors before initiating a prescribed burn. On preliminary review CSFS officials say fire crews followed all procedures and safety protocols in conducting the prescribed burn. An independent panel will now fully review the prescribed burn and the procedures surrounding it.

Joseph A. Duda

Deputy State Forester

Colorado State Forest Service”

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More information about the Lower North Fork Fire, from March 29.

Jury awards $70 million for helicopter crash on Iron Complex fire

Bill GabbertMarch 27, 2012November 24, 2014UncategorizedCarson, helicopter, Iron 44, Iron Complex1 Comment

After deliberating for over a week a jury in Oregon decided on Tuesday that the manufacturer of the engines was at fault for the crash of a helicopter that was transporting wildland firefighters on the Iron Complex (or Iron 44 fire) in 2008. Nine people died in the crash as it attempted to take off from a remote helispot in northern California. Seven of those killed were firefighters. One was a U.S. Forest Service check pilot, observing the operation of the helicopter’s crew, and another was one of the two pilots working for the owner of the ship, Carson Helicopters.

The surviving pilot, William Coultas, his wife, and the estate of the pilot who was killed, Roark Schwanenberg, brought a $177 million lawsuit against General Electric, the manufacturer of the engines.

The jury, after deliberating for six days, made the following awards, totaling $69.7 million:

$37 million to William Coultas
$4.3 million to Coultas’ wife
$28.4 million to the estate of Roark Schwanenberg

Their case revolved around the plaintiffs’ belief that there were problems with a fuel control valve and that the specifications on the fuel filters were inadequate to remove contaminants. They claimed that GE had been aware of the problem for six years.

GE’s defense was along the same lines as the findings of a National Transportation Safety Board investigation of the crash, which determined that the owner and operator of the Sikorsky S-61N helicopter, Carson Helicopters, under-stated the weight of the helicopter and over-stated its performance in the documents they provided to the U.S. Forest Service when bidding on their firefighting contract. The NTSB estimated that the actual empty weight of the helicopter was 13,845 pounds, while Carson Helicopters stated in their contract proposal that the weight was 12,013 pounds. For the purpose of load calculations on the day of the crash, the pilot assumed the weight to be 12,408 pounds, which was 1,437 pounds less than the actual weight estimated by the NTSB. According to their findings, for the mission of flying the firefighters off the helispot, the helicopter was already over the allowable weight even without the firefighters on board.

The families of eight men who were killed and three who were injured, previously reached out-of-court settlements with Carson Helicopters and the manufacturer of the helicopter, Sikorsky.

Some of the details of the monetary award still have to be worked out. Here is an excerpt from Oregonlive, which says the jury…

…found GE 57 percent at fault — and attorneys will argue in the next 10 days whether that means GE must pay all $70.455 million that the jurors awarded, or whether GE must pay only 57 percent, which amounts to about $40 million.

Jurors found Carson Helicopters 23 percent at fault, but the company won’t be liable for paying its share of the verdict because a judge dismissed them from the case. The jury also found Sikorsky 20 percent at fault, but the company settled with the plaintiffs for an undisclosed amount shortly after trial started. That means Sikorsky isn’t responsible for paying any of the verdict, said Anderson, the plaintiffs’ attorney.

After the crash the U.S. Forest Service canceled their contract with Carson Helicopters. The company then surrendered their FAA Certificate which is equivalent to an operating license. However, they may still be flying for the military in Afghanistan as a subcontractor for the company formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide, which was renamed “Xe”.

Killed in the crash were pilot Roark Schwanenberg, 54; USFS check pilot Jim Ramage, 63; and firefighters Shawn Blazer, 30; Scott Charlson, 25; Matthew Hammer, 23; Edrik Gomez, 19; Bryan Rich, 29; David Steele, 19; and Steven “Caleb” Renno, 21.

Colorado fire update: 2 fatalities; 16 structures burn; fire map

Bill GabbertMarch 27, 2012August 25, 2019UncategorizedColorado, Lower North Fork Fire, time-lapse8 Comments

Map Lower North Fork Fire 0900 3-27-2012 — Map showing heat on the Lower North Fork Fire detected by satellites, March 27, 2012

(Read our March 28 update on the Lower North Fork fire and our March 29 update.)

UPDATE at 5:00 p.m. MT, 3-27-2012

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office has provided additional information about the Lower North Fork Fire:

23 homes have been damaged by the fire.
4,500 acres have burned
Two air tankers are working the fire: a single engine air tanker and a large P2V. Two military helicopters are also assigned.
Increased fire activity today convinced the incident management team to issue a pre-evacuation notice to an additional 6,500 homes north and east of the fire.
200 firefighters are on scene.
Containment is at 0%. Due to the fire behavior, firefighters had to back off from their aggressive strategy this morning, to more of a defensive strategy emphasizing structure protection.
The Type 1 Incident Management Team has arrived. There is no word yet on when they will assume command. Our best guess at Wildfire Today is sometime on Wednesday.

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UPDATE at 3:25 p.m. MT, 3-27-2012:

The Jefferson County Coroner’s Office has identifed the two fatalities from the Lower North Fork Fire as a husband and wife, Samuel Lucas, 77, and Linda Lucas, 76.

Air Tanker 44 drop 312 pm 3-27-2012 — Air Tanker 44 dropping at 3:12 pm 3-27-2012, on the Lower North Fork Fire. 9News

UPDATE AT 2:24 p.m., March 27, 2012

The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department has updated the map of the Lower North Fork fire. The blue line is the evacuation Area as of 3/27/2012 at 2:00 p.m. This evacuation zone is the original area and does not include the pre-evacuation notice to 6,500 homes located in regions north of the existing evacuation area. The additional pre-evacuation notice was sent out because “current weather conditions have caused the fire to act in an erratic manner which may threaten those 6500 homes”.

Map Lower North Fork Fire 220 pm 3-27-2012 — Map, Lower North Fork Fire, updated at 2:20 p.m. 3-27-2012. By Jefferson County Sheriffs Office

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UPDATE at 12:33 p.m. MT, March 27, 2012

As the temperature rises and the humidity decreases, activity on the fire is picking up. At least two air tankers are actively dropping retardant on the fire, a Single Engine Air Tanker, and Tanker 44, the P2V which is the tanker than ran off the end of the runway at Rocky Mountain Metro Airport in 2010 after its brakes failed. The aircraft was repaired at the airport and has been stationed there for the last week or so. Two National Guard helicopters are enroute from Buckley Air Force Base to start dropping water.

Lower North Fork fire, 4:00 p.m, 3-26-2012. Photo provided by Jefferson County Sheriffs Office

Tanker 44 drop 1231 pm 3-27-2012 — Tanker 44 dropping on the Lower North Fork Fire at 12:31 p.m., 3-27-2012. Credit: 9News

Continue reading “Colorado fire update: 2 fatalities; 16 structures burn; fire map”

Photos from USF&WS prescribed fires

Bill GabbertMarch 26, 2012August 25, 2019Uncategorizedprescribed fire

I love the fact that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service frequently posts photos of their fire activities on Facebook and Flickr. The first two photos are from a prescribed fire on the McNary National Wildlife Refuge in southern Washington. More photos from that project can be found on Flickr.

The last one is from a black-lining operation in preparation for a prescribed fire on the Southeast Idaho National Wildlife Refuge Complex. I am a big proponent of black-lining. It can be done when conditions are a little too wet for your main burn. And a black line around your project can greatly reduce the amount of time needed for the main burn, while providing an extra margin of safety and reducing the chance of an escape. Black-lining can be done with fewer people than the main burn, and can turn a large 2-day project into a 1-day job, reducing the overall costs.

Monday wildfire one-liners, March 26, 2012

Bill GabbertMarch 26, 2012August 25, 2019Uncategorizedair tanker, Alabama, Australia, Colorado, New Hampshire, weather

Screen grab from report about Colorado wildfire conditions — Screen grab from CBS Denver report about Colorado wildfire conditions

Excellent photos of a P2V and an Air Tractor 802A at Jeffco Air Tanker Base in Colorado.

Annual wildfire refresher available, online and by DVD. Warning: a lame, pointless video with audio will automatically play for about 15 seconds when you visit the NIFC web site.

Video report about wildfire conditions in Colorado.

U.S. Forest Service starts women’s firefighting boot camp.

Two boys ordered to pay $10,000 each for starting fire near Gardnerville, NV.

New Hampshire man uses gasoline to ignite brush pile, is treated at hospital for burns on hands and face.

Two Single Engine Air Tankers begin their 7-day journey from Australia to the United States.

Meteorologist gives early prediction of a normal fire season for the northern Rockies.

One home and two outbuildings burn in three-acre wildfire in Chimayo, NM.

During the past 10 years, the Alabama Forestry Commission’s staff has been reduced by more than 300 employees.

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