Two companies that performed work for San Diego Gas and Electric agreed to pay a total of $370 million for their roles in the 2007 Witch Creek and Guejito fires in San Diego County. Davey Tree Expert Company was a contractor doing hazard reduction for SDG&E, trimming trees near power lines. A fallen sycamore branch is believed to have started the Guejito fire near Fallbrook, Californina.
PAR Electrical replaced and modified a power pole that has been linked to the ignition of the 198,000-acre Witch Creek fire which started near Santa Ysabel during 100 mph Santa Ana winds. The fires destroyed more than 1,300 homes, killed two people, and caused massive evacuations.
The $370 will be paid to SDG&E which has already agreed to pay $686 million to insurance companies that paid claims to their customers for the Witch Creek, Guejito and Rice Canyon fires. The company also agreed in a 2010 settlement with the California Public Utilities Commission to pay the state of California $14.8 million for the three fires. The Commission accused SDG&E of obstructing their investigation of the cause of the fires. According to the San Diego Union, in the settlement the company admitted that it didn’t give investigators the information they asked for and nor did it let its workers talk to the investigators, as required by law.
The Predictive Services section at the National Interagency Fire Center has issued their National Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for December, 2012 through March, 2013:
Significant Fire Potential
For December above normal significant wildland fire potential only exists across a portion of the west central U.S. stretching from Nebraska and Wyoming south through Colorado, Kansas and Oklahoma into Texas and New Mexico. Small portions of the Hawaiian Islands also show above normal significant wildland fire potential. By the January through March timeframe no above normal significant fire potential is expected in the U.S.
Below normal significant fire potential is expected across much of the southeastern U.S. for the entire forecast period.
Elsewhere expect near normal significant fire potential to exist. In many areas of the western U.S. this indicates fall and winter conditions that are generally considered out of fire season.
Climate and Drought Conditions
El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO): Equatorial Pacific sea surface temperatures continue to indicate a neutral ENSO pattern.
Drought: Most of the nation had less than 50 percent of normal precipitation for November with only parts of the northwestern U.S. receiving normal to above normal rain and snow. Severe to exceptional drought continued over most of the central and western U.S. with pockets in the Southeast.
Fuel Conditions: Generally fuel conditions across the areas of most concern this time of year are better than normal. However, a trend of continued dryness across much of the central U.S. especially into Colorado and New Mexico indicate the possibility of seeing an early onset of fire season in these areas, though that should be later in the outlook period.
Weather Outlook: Current climate projections by the Climate Prediction Center favor a continuing neutral pattern. For December, long range models indicated a high probability of above normal temperatures over much of the southern U.S. and northern Alaska while below temperatures settle over the northern Plains, the upper Midwest and southwestern Alaska. Precipitation projections indicate a high likelihood of below median precipitation for the mid-Mississippi and Ohio Valleys. Southeastern Alaska will likely be drier than normal.
For January through March, projections show higher probabilities for above normal temperatures across northern Alaska, most of the Southwest, the Great Basin, the central and southern Rockies, the central and southern Plains, and the lower Mississippi Valley. Below normal temperatures are probable over the far northern Plains and southern Alaska. Precipitation will be above median over the Ohio and mid-Mississippi Valleys and below median across California and the Southwest.
A firefighter was killed Sunday at the scene of a wildfire that spread to a structure. Here is an excerpt from an article at KSDK:
A 45-year-old fireman with the Santa Fe Fire Protection District in Clinton County, Illinois, has been killed at the scene of a fire.
Timothy P. Jansen died of injuries sustained when he was struck by a fire truck in the 9700 block of River Road in Bartelso. The accident happened about 7:45 p.m. Sunday.
Jansen was among the first firefighters to arrive at the scene, which began as a grass fire and spread to a building.
Santa Fe Fire Chief Adam Maue said Jansen was standing on the back of a truck, pulling hoses, when he slipped off. The driver of the truck told the chief he did not know Jansen fell, so he backed up, striking Jansen.
Jansen was married and had two daughters. He’d been with the fire district for 15 years and owned a restaurant directly across the street from the firehouse.
Fire engine overturns en route to wildfire, injuring 4
A fire engine that was participating in a Christmas parade in Bedford, Virginia was dispatched to a wildland fire duirng the parade but didn’t make it to the fire. It overturned while rounding a curve, landing in Phyllis Carimi’s front yard.
Here is an excerpt from The News & Advance:
Lt. Todd Foreman, of the Bedford City Police, said he believed there were only four men inside the truck, all of whom were hospitalized.
Foreman said two were airlifted from the wreck — one to Lynchburg General Hospital, the other to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. The other two were taken by ambulance to Lynchburg and Bedford hospitals.
Their conditions and identities have not yet been provided.
Chief of the Forest Service expects 12 million to 15 million acres to burn annually due to higher temperatures
U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell told a group in Boise Friday that in the future even more acres are going to burn and the cost of fighting fires will continue to rise. One of his answers to the problem, of course, is to increase timber sales by 20 percent.
As we pointed out November 23, so far this year the number of acres burned, 9,093,431, was the third highest total since national wildfire statistics have been kept beginning in 1960. Remaining at the number one and two spots are 2006 with 9.9 million, and 2007 with 9.3 million.
Rocky Barker wrote in the Idaho Statesman on Saturday:
Tidwell told the City Club of Boise that as many as 12 million to 15 million acres will burn annually now because of warming temperatures and drier years.
[…]
More than 30,000 homes have burned in the past decade, Tidwell said, including 3,000 just this year — homes in a Pocatello subdivision among them. Experts expect fires to keep claiming houses, but fuel-reduction steps can make communities safer and easier to protect, Tidwell said.
Federal budget cuts will make money more scarce, but communities are increasingly taking responsibility, he said. Flagstaff, Ariz., passed a $10 million bond to do forest restoration on private and federal land there.
The comments people have left at the bottom of the Idaho Statesman article are interesting.
Canadian Commission rejects changes to codes to protect communities
From the Edmonton Journal:
EDMONTON – A federal commission has rejected proposals to change Canada’s national construction codes to better protect communities from destructive wildfires.
The changes would have required builders in areas prone to forest fires to use less flammable building materials, to space buildings farther apart and to keep them clear of trees and vegetation.
[…]
The proposal for changes came from the National Fire Protection Association and an Alberta-based non-profit group called Partners in Protection.
The proposals were submitted to the commission before wildfires in May 2011 destroyed hundreds of homes in Slave Lake, Alta., and forced thousands of people to flee. The disaster cost more than $1 billion in damage, firefighting and relief costs.
Air tankers still on active duty
Two large air tankers are still on active duty, long past their normal mandatory availability periods. More information at FireAviation.com
Fern Lake Fire burns in Moraine Park, December 1, 2012. Photo by Bjorn Skovlin
Sunday afternoon a Rich Harvey’s Type 1 Incident Management Team will assume command of the Fern Lake Fire which in the early morning hours yesterday doubled in size as it spread more than three miles, coming to within less than four miles of the center of Estes Park, Colorado (see the map of the fire below). Strong winds early Saturday morning of 25 to 45 mph gusting to 75 mph pushed the fire into Moraine Park, burning one privately owned cabin and causing evacuations of residents just outside the boundaries of Rocky Mountain National Park, within which the fire has been confined so far. A campground within the park was also evacuated.
Firefighters mapped the fire at 3,584 acres on Sunday but there is no estimate of containment. Priorities today include keeping the fire within the national park.
Aircraft were not used on Saturday due to strong winds. Air tankers, though requested through channels, were not available, with the only large tankers still on contract grounded in California by weather.
A Red Flag Warning is in effect for the fire area from noon Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday. The forecast the fire area for Sunday predicts southwest winds of 15 gusting to 24 mph, a high temperature of 51, sky cover of 49 percent, and a minimum relative humidity of 24 percent. However Sunday night will see the winds increasing to a maximum 41 with gusts to 62 along with a 22 percent chance of rain. The humidity will max out Sunday night at 75 percent.
On the second day of winter Red Flag Warnings for extreme wildfire danger are affecting portions of Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and and New Mexico.
One of the areas affects the Fern Lake Fire in Colorado where the warning will be in effect from noon Sunday until 6 a.m. Monday. The forecast the fire area for Sunday predicts southwest winds of 15 gusting to 24 mph, a high temperature of 51, sky cover of 49 percent, and a minimum relative humidity of 24 percent. However Sunday night will see the winds increasing to a maximum 41 with gusts to 62 along with a 22 percent chance of rain. The humidity will max out Sunday night at 75 percent.
The map was current as of 10:26 a.m. MT on Wednesday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the dozens of National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts. For the most current data, visit this NWS site.
Map of Fern Lake Fire, showing the last Google Earth fire perimeter made available by the NPS, November 25, 2012. The fire spread into Moraine Park on December 1, 2012. Click to enlarge.
Updated at 4:56 p.m. MT, December 1, 2012
At 1:50 a.m. on Saturday campers in the Moraine Park Campground four miles west of downtown Estes Park, Colorado were roused from their sleep and ordered to evacuate, forced out by the Fern Lake Fire in Rocky Mountain National Park. Strong winds early Saturday morning of 25 to 45 mph gusting to 75 mph pushed the fire approximately three miles east into Moraine Park, just south of the campground. Firefighters were able to prevent it from crossing Bear Lake Road.
According to the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office evacuations were ordered for the Highway 66 area and other locations east of Moraine Park. The Sheriff’s web site reported that those needing information about evacuations to call 970-577-3716. That number is subject to change. Additional information regarding evacuations can be found at InciWeb.
One structure burned on Saturday, a privately owned cabin inside the park boundary. No land outside the park has burned.
The fire has been burning since October 9, and following the expansion Saturday morning it was mapped at 4,400 acres. Due to the steep terrain and hazardous trees, firefighters have only been able to attack the fire in areas that provide an adequate margin of safety. A Type 3 medium-sized helicopter was able to complete a recon flight on Saturday, but the strong winds prevented the large Type 1 Skycrane helicopter on scene from working on the fire. Two additional Type 1 helicopters have been ordered, a K-MAX and another Skycrane.
The map of the Fern Lake Fire above shows the last Google Earth perimeter of the fire that has been made available by the National Park Service. A more recent map dated November 30, 2012 showing virtually the same perimeter before the lastest fire movement can be found at InciWeb.
By mid-day on Saturday the winds decreased, slowing the fire, which allowed some residents to return to their homes in the High Drive and Marys Lake Road areas.
On order are a Type 1 Incident Management Team, hot shot crews, additional engines, two additional Type 1 helicopters, and “all available local resources”, according to the fire’s InciWeb site. Structure protection is being provided by many local fire departments. Tracy Weaver, a spokesperson for the fire, told Wildfire Today that two large air tankers were ordered early Saturday morning but they were told the only air tankers still on contract were in southern California and they were grounded, unable to take off due to weather.
In recent days, the Incident Commander has been Jerran Flinders, a smokejumper from Boise, Idaho. One or two squads of jumpers have been assigned to the fire for the last week or two.
Saturday morning the National Weather Service issued a hazardous weather outlook that warned of winds in the area gusting up to 50 mph in the morning, decreasing to peak gusts of 30 mph in the afternoon. Temperatures will continue to be unseasonably warm. The forecast for the specific area of the fire calls for 49 degrees on Saturday with a minimum relative humidity of 38 percent. On Sunday the high will be 50 degrees, the relative humidity will bottom out at 23 percent, and the winds should be out of the west-southwest at 16 mph gusting to 26. There is virtually no chance of rain until Sunday night, when there is a 15 percent chance.
We are working on obtaining additional information on the fire and expect to update this article later on Saturday.
