Wednesday morning one-liners

Engine rollover, Warm Springs, Oregon
Engine rollover, Warm Springs, Oregon, July 18, 2014.

*The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has published a report on a BIA engine that rolled over near Warm Springs, Oregon, July 18, 2014. Two people were injured, one seriously. The LLC says more than 50 fire vehicles have rolled over in the last 10 years.

*A Colorado artist has created a work consisting of rectilinear pillars suspended from the ceiling, each measuring nine feet tall, meant to convey the idea of a wildfire.

*A man spotted running from the 50-acre Foothill Fire in Ventura, California was arrested on suspicion of setting the blaze.

*Fire officials in Washington state suspect an arsonist is responsible for igniting 23 fires in less than two weeks. Most of them have been vegetation fires.

*A firefighting vehicle in Australia has been outfitted with drop-down steel wheels so that it can follow a steam-powered train, putting out wildfires started by the steam engine.

*In other news from Australia, a Senator gave a speech, titled, Thank you For Smoking, praising nicotine fiends for their $8 billion a year contribution to the economy. He said he did the math: Last year smokers cost the health care system $320 million and another $150 million in bushfire control.

*Researchers have found that “recent (2001–2010) beetle outbreak severity was unrelated to most field measures of subsequent fire severity, which was instead driven primarily by extreme burning conditions (weather) and topography.” Unfortunately, to read the article, researched and published by government employees, it will cost you $10 for two days of access. If the researchers, Brian J. Harvey, Daniel C. Donato, and Monica G. Turner, are going to hide the results of their taxpayer-funded research behind a pay wall, what’s the point in hiring researchers? Support Open Access.

*Firefighters are on alert in the Philippines for wildfires that may start from an eruption of the Mayon volcano.

*Firefighters are on lessened alert in the Black Hills after the area received two to five inches of rain over the last few days.

*California has burned through its wildfire-fighting budget — $209 million — just as it faces what is historically the worst of the fire season.

Montana firefighters expecting high winds

A red flag warning is in effect this afternoon through tomorrow, with a dry cold front predicted to bring strong gusty winds from the northwest at 20 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Firefighters on the 20,000-acre East Sarpy Fire east of Billings, Montana, will focus on structure protection instead of building fireline. The fire area is not heavily populated, but it includes some ranch homesteads and the Westmoreland Sarpy Creek coal mine.

[UPDATE: The Sarpy Hill Complex is estimated at 51,000 acres this afternoon.]

 

East Sarpy Fire at noon 08/01/2012
East Sarpy Fire at noon 08/01/2012

Portions of the fire over the last two days have jumped dozer lines. “Everything we tried didn’t work,” said a veteran helicopter manager. An additional five crews will work on the fire today, along with 20 more engines. Crow tribal engines worked through the night, along with Big Horn County Rural Fire resources, dozers, graders, water tenders, and local ranchers. A Type 2 team will take over the fire today.

The East Sarpy and West Tullock Creek fires burned together late yesterday, and the Dawes Fire burned actively all night. East of Dunmore, residents could see the glow of the Little Dry Creek fire, which is a priority today.

Three other fires recently burned more than 15,000 acres north of Winnett. Crews have contained the Wolf Creek, 15-Mile, and Dovetail lightning-caused fires earlier this week. To the east, Rosebud County crews are working on 28 fires burning in the county. Carole Raymond, Rosebud County’s disaster and emergency services coordinator, told the Billings Gazette that the largest of the fires is burning between Rosebud and Butte creeks.

“That’s the biggest one and they don’t have it even kind of handled,” she said. “It’s just running on them.”