More evacuation warnings issued
Continue readingA firefighter has died on the El Dorado Fire in Southern California
The wildfire started from gender-reveal party pyrotechnics
Continue readingSouthwest Oregon and Northwest California — a hotbed of fire activity for at least 20 years
The Northwest California/Southwest Oregon area has kept firefighters very busy at times during the last 20 years, as you can see on the map above.
A new fire is rapidly putting itself into that history. The Slater Fire reported September 8 grew to 89,000 acres by September 9 and has now spread to 150,000 acres. That growth, however, has slowed in the last several days.
It started northeast of Happy Camp, California and ran north into Oregon then took a left and crossed Highway 199. It has come to within about four miles of the 2002 Biscuit Fire.
If recent fire history is any indication, the Slater Fire may not even slow down when and if it reaches the Biscuit burn, and of course it depends on the weather, which has moderated this week. The 2017 Chetco Bar Fire and the 2018 Klondike Fire burned for miles into the then 17 or 18-year old fire scar. The entire eastern two-thirds of the Chetco Bar Fire was in the footprint.
Strong winds that drove the dozens of fires September 8 in Oregon are not super rare. The Klondike Fire west of Grants Pass started July 15, 2018. In early October it had become virtually dormant, but a few hot spots were revitalized by an east wind event on the 14th. According to an article in the Mail Tribune the suddenly vigorous fire was transporting burning embers that started spot fires six miles out ahead of the flaming front:
“Extreme spotting” propelled fine embers up to six miles ahead of the main fire, dropping the live ash right between firefighters’ tents and close to people’s homes.
“We even had to move our own fire camp,” [information officer Kale] Casey said.
So if the weather this year is anything like it was two years ago, firefighters could be busy in the area for at least another month.
Excellent video of DC-10 dropping through smoke
DC-10 dropping on the Almeda Fire, September 8, 2020. Screenshot from the Loren Julien video.Update September 18, 2020: The video was shot during the Almeda Fire in Southern Oregon September 8, 2020 by Loren Julien. It was just after he put sprinklers on his sister Annette Julien’s house and left the area — the house seen with the wet roof. Ms. Julien told me her house did not survive.
Satellite photo of smoky Western skies
September 17, 2020 | 7:24 a.m. PDT
The satellite photo shows smoky skies in the Western states caused by wildfires in California and Oregon.
Current information about air quality and smoke can be found at https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
Smoke and air quality maps for September 17, 2020
September 17, 2020 | 7 a.m. PDT
Near-surface smoke refers to the smoke that will hover within 8 meters (26 feet) of the ground—the kind responsible for burning eyes and aggravated asthma.
Vertically integrated smoke depicts all of the smoke in a vertical column, including smoke high in Earth’s atmosphere and can produce red sunrises and sunsets. In some cases where it is only at high altitudes it may not be very noticeable on the ground.
You can bookmark https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/ to always go to the latest article on Wildfire Today about smoke.
An additional 250 active duty military personnel assigned to fire suppression duty
At the request of the National Interagency Fire Center and in support of the U.S. Forest Service, approximately 250 Marines and sailors will assist wildland firefighting efforts in Central California. The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC), comprised of state and federal wildland fire managers at NIFC, requested the personnel, along with command and support staff, from the Department of Defense (DOD).
The Marine unit from Camp Pendleton, California will receive wildland firefighting training before assisting with response efforts in Central California.
In late August 200 active duty U.S. Army personnel were mobilized to help battle the blazes.
Wildfire Today has articles about other mobilizations of the military in 2008, 2015, 2017, and 2018.
Fire leadership is concerned about the decreasing number of firefighters in the fall months
Strategies are being suggested to mitigate the shortage
Continue readingBobcat Fire crosses Angeles Crest Highway
Updated maps of the Southern California fire
Continue readingA Q400 air tanker will be based in Australia this summer
T-141 (C-FFQEQ) Q400AT. At Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia. Photo Credit Brendon SuttonA De Havilland Canada Dash 8 Q400AT is on contract in Queensland, Australia during the 2020/2021 summer bushfire season. This is the first time the state has had regular access to a large air tanker, rather than borrowing from New South Wales or Victoria. Provided by Conair, Tanker 141/Bomber 141 (C-FFQE) arrived in Bundaberg in August after departing from Abbotsford British Columbia and making fuel stops at Oakland, Honolulu, Majuro (Marshall Islands), Honiara (Solomon Islands), and Brisbane where it cleared customs. There is a possibility the contract which started September 1 could be extended for an additional four years during the bushfire seasons.
Air Tanker 141, (C-FFQEQ) Q400AT – Landing in Marshall Islands en route to Queensland – Photo Credit Brendon Sutton.Conair, working with the Australian company Field Air, will have two other large air tankers on contract in Australia, both RJ 85s, beginning October 1 in New South Wales and early December in Victoria.
In 2017 the Conair Group secured a deal to sell six Q400 Multi-Role aircraft converted to air tankers to France’s Securite Civile (Department of Civil Defence and Emergency Preparedness), two of which have been delivered. These are new aircraft that Conair purchased from Bombardier which can be converted in a few hours to carry passengers.
Besides the six that will be going to France, Conair has two Q400s, including the one in Australia. The company is working with North American agencies to hopefully see at least two of the Q400AT’s begin contracts next year. The aircraft were previously owned and are not the Multi-Role models.
Jeff Berry, Manager of Business Development at Conair, said the aircraft, “[A]re pure air tanker STC [supplemental type certificate], so we don’t have any of the residual plumbing, wiring, attachment points inside, or heavy duty flooring that you need for an MR, so it’s stripped down to be a pure tanker. And it gives us the maximum fuel load and the maximum retardant tank capacity. You get the full 10,000 liters [2,642 gallons]. The Q400AT is truly a ‘Green’ airtanker — it is incredibly fuel efficient burning only 58 percent of the fuel per hour while carrying 85 percent of the load of a typical type 1 airtanker.”
“It can operate off a 5,000-foot runway,” Mr. Berry said. “It gives them a lot of flexibility to utilize more of the existing tanker base infrastructure that is in place that may or may not be available for some of the large or very large air tankers.”
T-141 (C-FFQEQ) Q400AT – Refueling at Majuro, Marshall Islands. Photo Credit Brendon Sutton.Queensland had an extraordinarily busy 2018/2019 bushfire season. Wildfire Today covered some of the fires that year.
Map showing location of Bundaberg, Queensland, Australia
T-141 (C-FFQEQ) Q400AT – Photo Credit Jeff Bough.