Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

South Lake Tahoe under evacuation order due to Caldor Fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories WildfireTags , 21 Comments on South Lake Tahoe under evacuation order due to Caldor Fire

Monday afternoon the fire was less than a mile west of Highway 89

7:41 p.m. PDT Aug. 30, 2021

Caldor Fire map, northeast side at 4 p.m. PDT Aug. 30, 2021
Caldor Fire map, northeast side at 4 p.m. PDT Aug. 30, 2021.

The northeast and east sides of the Caldor Fire were very active again Monday. The northeast side has reached Lower Echo Lake, the community of Echo Lake, and Echo Summit. Where Highway 50 makes a 180-degree turn at the Summit it had crossed the highway twice when it was mapped by a fixed wing aircraft at 4 p.m., including two spot fires east of Echo Lake. At that time the fire was spreading south and east of the Sierra-At-Tahoe resort and also west of Nebelhorn. It was less than a mile west of Highway 89.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Caldor Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.

The southeast side crossed Highway 88 north of Kit Carson and west of Kirkwood. There were numerous spot fires west of Tragedy Spring.

Caldor Fire 2:21 p.m. Aug. 30, 2021
Caldor Fire as seen from Armstrong Lookoout, peering northeast at 2:21 p.m. Aug. 30, 2021. AlertWildfire.

The following is part of a description of Monday’s activities from the Incident Management Team Monday afternoon:

Fire behavior increased in the northeast and eastern divisions early in the morning due to the expected southwest flow returning and poor overnight humidity recovery. The current RED FLAG WARNING has been extended to 9/1/21 ending at 23:00. Wind speeds continue to accelerate through the steep drainages resulting in gusty and erratic winds. Spotting distances have been between 0.75 and 1 mile with the Probability of Ignition at 90%. Active crown fire runs were observed in multiple divisions with rates of spread above 165 ft/min.

South Lake Tahoe is now under a mandatory evacuation order.

Caldor Fire evacuation zones
Caldor Fire evacuation zones. Obtained at 6:48 p.m. Aug 30, 2021.

A detailed zoomable map showing the areas under evacuation orders is available.

10:015a.m. PDT August 30, 2021

Caldor Fire 3-D map
Caldor Fire 3-D map looking north. The yellow areas had intense heat when mapped by a fixed wing aircraft at 10:36 p.m. PDT Aug. 29, 2021.

The Caldor Fire southeast of Lake Tahoe ran to the east and northeast Sunday spreading along the Highway 50 corridor for five miles past Sierra-At-Tahoe, and Phillips. Spot fires were occurring up to a half mile ahead of the fire south of Echo Lake and Nebelhorn.

Additional evacuations were ordered. South Lake Tahoe is in evacuation warning status, meaning be prepared to immediately leave if ordered. Several areas were placed under mandatory evacuation including Meyers.

Caldor Fire map
Caldor Fire map, east side. The yellow areas had intense heat when mapped by a fixed wing aircraft at 10:36 p.m. PDT Aug. 29, 2021. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:19 a.m. Aug. 30, 2021.

KCRA reported that the South Lake Tahoe police confirmed that Barton Memorial Hospital is being evacuated.

Continue reading “South Lake Tahoe under evacuation order due to Caldor Fire”

Firefighters on Caldor Fire work to protect Strawberry

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories WildfireTags , 3 Comments on Firefighters on Caldor Fire work to protect Strawberry

Sunday the fire ran five miles to the east along Highway 50

10:40 p.m. PDT August 29, 2021

Caldor Fire map 8 p.m. PDT Aug. 29, 2021
Caldor Fire 3-D map looking north 8 p.m. Aug. 29, 2021. The yellow area was most recently burned.

The northeast side of the Caldor Fire was extremely active Monday. With the topography of the Highway 50 corridor aligned with the wind direction the fire ran for about five miles to the east-northeast past the community of Strawberry according to data from an 8 p.m. fixed wing mapping flight. It burned on both sides of Highway 50 and through the Sierra-At-Tahoe Resort. At that time it had come to within a quarter mile of Echo Lake and was about two miles southwest of the southern junction of Highways 50 and 89 near Meyers. The fire was 7 miles south of Lake Tahoe.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Caldor Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.

The fire behavior increase Monday morning on the northeast and eastern sides was due to the southwest flow returning and poor overnight humidity recovery. Wind speeds accelerated through the steep drainages resulting in gusty and erratic winds. Spot fires occurred between .75 and 1 mile in front of the main fire. Active crown fire runs were observed in multiple areas that were in alignment with the up-canyon southwest flow.

A map showing the areas under evacuation orders is available.

The Red Flag Warning on Monday will still be in effect Tuesday with dry, windy weather.

Caldor Fire map 3-D looking north 8 p.m. Aug 29, 2021
Caldor Fire, map of the northeast side at 8 p.m. Aug. 29, 2021. The yellow area was the most recently burned.
Caldor Fire map
Caldor Fire map at 8 p.m. Aug 29, 2021. The yellow area was the most recently burned.

6:28 p.m. PDT August 29, 2021

Caldor Fire map 930 a.m. PDT Aug 29, 2021
Caldor Fire map in 3-D, looking northeast. The data is from a mapping flight at 9:30 a.m. Aug. 29. The yellow areas were most recently burned.

Continue reading “Firefighters on Caldor Fire work to protect Strawberry”

Chaparral Fire grows rapidly in Northern San Diego County

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories WildfireTags , 5 Comments on Chaparral Fire grows rapidly in Northern San Diego County

4:45 a.m. PDT Aug. 29, 2021

Chaparral Fire map
Chaparral Fire mapped by fixed wing aircraft at 11 p.m. PDT Aug 28, 2021.

The Chaparral Fire in northern San Diego County was active Saturday night. A mapping flight at 11 p.m. determined it had burned about 1,380 acres and had spread slightly into Riverside County. (See map above.) At that time it was less than a half mile west of Tenaja Road and had reached the end of Calle de Dietel.

The photo below shows active fire at 4:10 a.m. Sunday.

Chaparral Fire 410 a.m. Aug 29, 2021
Chaparral Fire as seen from the Upper Talega South camera, looking east-southeast at 4:10 a.m. Aug 29, 2021. AlertWildfire.

Firefighters expect the fire to spread to the north on Sunday. The weather forecast for the fire area is sunny, with a high near 95. Light and variable winds will become south 5 to 10 mph in the afternoon gusting as high as 20 mph. The relative humidity will rise from the mid-20s in the morning to the mid-30s in the afternoon.

The video below has incredible footage of the fire. It shows an impressive fire whirl, but it is not a “firenado”. Fire tornados are a real phenomenon. They begin to dominate the large scale fire dynamics and lead to extreme hazard and control problems. In size, they average 100 to 1,000 feet in diameter and have rotational velocities up to 90 MPH. They tend to persist for more than a few seconds or minutes.

Keep in mind that the detailed evacuation information in the video may have changed since it was edited and posted August 28, 2021.

An official map is available showing the evacuation areas.

The 17-second video below conveys an idea of the intensity of the Chaparral Fire Saturday afternoon.

6:42 p.m. PDT August 28, 2021

Chaparral Fire map
Chaparral Fire map. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 2:27 p.m. PDT August 28, 2021. The green lines are the county boundaries; the yellow line is the National Forest boundary.

The Chaparral Fire grew very quickly after it started at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday afternoon in northern San Diego County in Southern California. By 5:30 it was mapped at 1,200 acres.

The fire is near Cold Springs Road and Tenaja Road in the community of La Cresta. It is just north of Camp Pendleton, 10 miles west of Temecula, and 12 miles east of San Clemente.

Many structures are threatened and mandatory evacuations are in place. A map is available showing the evacuation areas.

Chaparral Fire
Chaparral Fire as seen from the San Clemente South camera, looking east at 2:57 p.m. PDT Aug 28, 2021. AlertWildfire.

Firefighters on the ground initially had difficulty in gaining direct access in the remote area of the Cleveland National Forest. In the early hours it was completely in San Diego County, but was spreading toward Riverside County which was not far away to the east

Early on, eight air tankers were assigned, including two DC-10 Very Large Air Tankers. Later a third DC-10 was dispatched. That was a large aviation commitment considering the fires ongoing in Northern California. The Air Attack over the fire requested a “no divert” for some of the VLATs and other large air tankers due to life and property that were in danger. If approved, that would prevent the dispatcher from pulling them off the fire to respond to another fire.

At 4 p.m. the humidity began increasing at the Case Springs weather station west of the fire, from 22 percent at 3:22 p.m. to 50 percent at 6:22, and the smoke column started to diminish. Haze or low clouds at times obscured the view from the San Clemente South camera. This type of weather change can slow the spread of a wildfire.

We will update this article as more information becomes available.

200 active-duty soldiers activated to fight wildfires in California

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 13 Comments on 200 active-duty soldiers activated to fight wildfires in California

Their fire training will begin August 30 near Tacoma, Washington

marines firefighters military
File photo. Robert Baird, Regional Director of Fire and Aviation management in the Pacific Southwest Region of the USFS addresses some of the Marines and Sailors from the 7th Engineer Support Battalion from Camp Pendleton, CA during a welcoming ceremony for Marines at the Creek Fire Incident Command Post on the Sierra National Forest, Saturday 19, 2020. USFS photo.

The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in Boise, Idaho, has requested a Department of Defense (DoD) activation of approximately 200 active-duty U.S. Army Soldiers to assist with wildfire suppression efforts. The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group (NMAC) at NIFC requested the personnel along with command and support staff. After receiving training, the Soldiers will serve as hand crews, assisting with wildfire suppression efforts in Northern California. Two similar requests were granted last year to support the August Complex and Creek wildfires in California.

The Soldiers will be trained over the next week at Joint Base Lewis-McChord (JBLM) near Tacoma, Washington and on the fireline to provide support in early September in Northern California.

“The United States has been experiencing above-normal fire activity throughout multiple geographic areas, which will likely continue into the fall. These conditions are creating competition for all types of wildland fire resources,” said Josh Simmons, NMAC Chair.

Currently, 84 large fires have burned 2.5 million acres in 9 states. More than 26,000 wildland firefighters are currently assigned to fires across the United States. The country has been at Preparedness Level 5 – the highest level of wildfire preparedness – since July 14. Several geographic areas are experiencing large, complex wildland fire incidents, which have the potential to exhaust national wildland fire suppression resources.

The training at JBLM will consist of both a classroom portion and field training in the basics of wildland fire suppression and firefighter safety. The Soldiers will be outfitted with wildland fire personal protective equipment  and other gear. They will be trained by wildland fire agency personnel beginning Monday, August 30 and should conclude by Wednesday, September 3. While providing support, the Soldiers will be accompanied by experienced wildland fire strike team leaders and crew bosses from wildland fire management agencies.

This is the 40th time since 1987 that active-duty military personnel have been mobilized to serve as wildland firefighters. In addition to the U.S. Army activation, eight U.S. Air Force C-130s equipped with Modular Airborne Fire Fighting Systems (MAFFS) are currently serving as airtankers, providing wildfire support across the West.

She wrote “I love my job” just days before being killed by a bomb in Afghanistan

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 8 Comments on She wrote “I love my job” just days before being killed by a bomb in Afghanistan
Nicole Gee
Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, of Roseville, Calif. posted this photo of herself six days before being killed by a terrorist in a bomb explosion.

Too often on Wildfire Today I have to write about line of duty deaths (LODD) of firefighters. My heart goes out to the families, friends and co-workers of the 13 troops who were killed and the 18 other troops who were wounded in the bombing that killed at least 170 people Thursday near the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

To firefighters, that disaster would be equivalent to the South Canyon Fire that killed 14 in 1994. It is likely that at least one of those 10 men or 4 women told someone that they loved their job also.

Each of these individual deaths and injuries Thursday is tragic. One of them on the list of names released today by the Pentagon is being noted in particular because of an Instagram post before the attack. Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, of Roseville, California posted a photo of herself holding an infant six days before she was killed, writing, “I love my job  ?”

The Department of Defense picked up the photo and used it in their Twitter account on the same day with two other photos.

Two days later she posted another photo of her escorting a long line of evacuees as they boarded an airplane to flee Kabul.

Sgt. Nicole Gee
Marine Corps Sgt. Nicole Gee, 23, of Roseville, Calif. posted this photo of herself four days before being killed by a terrorist in a bomb explosion.

Sgt. Gee, a maintenance technician with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, was from Roseville, Calif., Stars & Stripes reported. She was promoted to Sergeant a few weeks before being killed.

At the airport she had been assigned to assist women and girls at the airport as they fled Taliban repression.

Sgt. Nicole Gee
Sgt. Nicole Gee walks with a family during ongoing evacuations at Hamid Karzai International Airport, Kabul, Afghanistan on Aug. 24, 2021. U.S. Marine Corps via AP.

May she rest in peace.

Firefighter dies at brush fire in Spokane County, Washington

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 2 Comments on Firefighter dies at brush fire in Spokane County, Washington
Cody Traber firefighter
Cody Traber. Photo on left by Spokane County FD. Photo on right by Robert J. Shaer in 2002.

A firefighter with Spokane County Fire District 9 died while at a brush fire Thursday in Washington.

According to the Spokane County Sheriff’s Office, Mr. Traber fell from the Wandermere Bridge on Interstate 395.

In a Facebook post the Fire District said Mr. Traber was an 18-year veteran of the District and previously served at the Department of Natural Resources and two other fire departments. He leaves behind his wife, Allisyn and four young children.

We send out our sincere condolences to Mr. Traber’s family, friends, and co-workers.