On Sunday, June 6, 2021 you can view a two-part live stream on Facebook of Tim Hart’s final journey home. Tim suffered a critical injury while parachuting into the Eicks Fire in New Mexico and passed away June 3.
The stream will be available on the Facebook pages of the Custer Gallatin National Forest and the Shoshone National Forest. The first stream will go live at approximately 8:30 a.m. MDT. The second stream of Tim arriving home in Cody, Wyoming should be available at around 3:00 p.m. MDT (*delayed starts are possible).
Mescal Fire
According to the San Carlos Apache Tribe Emergency Response Commission, evacuations have been ordered for Coyote Flats Peridot Heights, the San Carlos High School Area, and all residents along Route 3.
The fire has burned more than 25,600 acres and has 400 personnel assigned, led by Southwest Area Incident Management Team 5.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about these fires, including the most current, click here.)
Telegraph Fire
The incident management team (IMT) announced the estimated size has been updated to 25,000 acres. A Type 1 IMT has been ordered. The Sheriff’s Office has placed the towns of Superior and Top-of-the-World in “SET- Be Alert” status due. This means there is significant danger in the area, threatening approximately 150 residents — be ready to evacuate if notified from public safety officials. This is NOT an evacuation notification.
An estimated 150 personnel are managing the fire including 3 hand crews and 5 engines, with additional support from the State of Arizona, Gila District Bureau of Land Management, and Pinal County. A Type 1 Incident Management Team has been ordered.
Smoke
Below is the smoke forecast for Saturday evening at 8 MDT. Heavy smoke from the Mescal and Telegraph Fires is projected to move east into Southern New Mexico and Texas toward El Paso and Juárez.
Smoke Forecast for 8 p.m. MDT June 5, 2021. Heavy smoke from the Mescal and Telegraph Fires is projected to move east into Southern New Mexico.
12:19 p.m. MDT June 5, 2021
Map, showing the locations of the Telegraph & Mescal Fires in Arizona.
Two wildfires east of Phoenix, Arizona were very active Friday, exhibiting extreme fire behavior while pushed by strong winds.
Mescal Fire
The Mescal Fire 60 miles east-southeast of Phoenix and 12 miles southeast of Globe spread several miles to the east and northeast Friday, pushed by strong winds gusting to 34 mph, coming to within less than two miles of the north shore of San Carlos Reservoir. The west side of the fire continued to move to the west. (see map above)
The incident management team reported Friday that it had grown to 7,900 acres since it started June 1. Heat detected by satellites indicates that with the growth late Friday and into the night it could be two to three times that size, but mapping aircraft were not available Friday night to update the mapped perimeter.
Telegraph Fire
The Telegraph Fire is 35 miles east-southeast of Phoenix and 18 miles southwest of Globe. As this was written before noon on Saturday it had been burning approximately 24 hours. Officially it is 3,500 acres but with recent growth could be more than 5,500 acres. The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office placed the town of Superior in “SET-Be Alert” status at about 11 a.m. Saturday, meaning there was significant danger from the fire, but evacuations had not been ordered at that time. (Sign up for alerts.)
Fire officials said they expect it to move to the north and east Saturday with extreme fire behavior.
Telegraph Fire, June 4, 2021. InciWeb photo.
Weather
The weather forecast for the area is for hot, dry, and breezy conditions to persist through the weekend, with wind gusts up to 30 mph, daytime humidities in the single digits, and high temperatures near 100. These conditions will make it a challenge for firefighters to make a lot of progress toward containing the fires. A Red Flag Warning is expected to be in effect Saturday afternoon.
Tim Hart, the smokejumper critically injured May 24 in a hard landing while parachuting into the Eicks Fire in New Mexico has passed away. Tim had been flown via air ambulance to a hospital in El Paso, Texas where he has been treated for the last 11 days.
The U.S. Forest Service announced the fatality today in an email sent by Laurel Beth McClean, Executive Assistant to FS Chief Vicki Christiansen, on behalf of the Chief.
“I am deeply saddened to share with you that Tim Hart, a smokejumper from the West Yellowstone Smokejumper Base in Montana, passed away last night as a result of injuries he sustained when jumping on the Eiks Fire in New Mexico on May 24.
“Tim grew up in Illinois and lived with his wife in Cody, Wyoming. During his firefighting career Tim was an Engine Crew Member on the Coconino, Fremont-Winema, and Shoshone National Forests. He was a Lead Firefighter on the Ashville and Ruby Mountain (with the BLM) Hotshot Crews. He moved to Grangeville, Idaho as a Rookie Smokejumper in 2016. In 2019, he transitioned to West Yellowstone and the Custer Gallatin National Forest first as a Squad Leader and then as a Spotter. His life touched many people across the Forest Service and the wildland fire community. He will be greatly missed.
“My heart goes out to Tim’s family, friends and colleagues, and I ask all of you to keep them in your thoughts and prayers. And, please continue to look out for each other. I draw my strength, every day, from the compassion and dedication each of you exhibit in service to our nation. During times of great loss, as we and our partners have experienced over the past week, we pause to reflect on the lives we have lost and the void that can never be filled – and we hold on to, and sustain each other.”
Condolences Mailing Address:
c/o Shoshone National Forest
808 Meadow Lane Ave., Cody, WY 82414
Shoshone National Forest will ensure families receive all condolences.
Tim Hart. USFS photo.
We send out our sincere condolences to Mr. Hart’s family, friends, and co-workers.
Another fire, north of Beatty, OR, has burned more than 600 acres
7:49 a.m. PDT June 3, 2021
Map showing heat detected on a fire in the Columbia River Gorge June 2, 2021.
A fire in the Columbia River Gorge Wednesday afternoon forced the evacuation of a mobile home park and the temporary closure of Interstate 84 and Highway 30 in northern Oregon.
The fire two miles northwest of The Dalles, Oregon was suppressed by Mid-Columbia Fire and Rescue and the US Forest Service.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported that the Pine Wood Mobile Manor community, the Columbia River Gorge Discovery Center, and a nearby golf course were evacuated for several hours.
A spokesperson from the USFS said the fire burned about 120 acres.
In 2017 the Eagle Creek Fire burned 48,831 acres in the Columbia River Gorge. Most of the fire was on the Oregon side of the river but a burning ember started a spot fire on the Washington side which was quickly extinguished. The fire required the extended closure of Interstate 84, forced hundreds to evacuate, and poured smoke into Portland. A judge ordered the teen who started it to pay restitution totaling $36.6 million.
Fire in Columbia River Gorge, June 2, 2021. USFS photo.
Another fire 18 miles north of Beatty, Oregon, has burned 679 acres. The Sycan River Fire was being managed by a Type 3 Incident Management Team but the number of personnel assigned has been reduced from 150 to 13.
Firefighters are mopping up the 34-acre Yellow Jacket Fire 4 miles south of Beatty.
It is influenced by the fact that more than 87% of the West is now categorized in drought.
The forecast for wildland fire potential issued June 1 by the National Interagency Fire Center for June through September predicts wildfire potential will be higher than normal in the Southwest until the monsoons arrive in July. For the rest of the period, fire potential will be increasing in the Great Basin and the Pacific Coast states. From July through September nearly all of the mountainous areas of California, Oregon, and Washington are in the above normal category.
NIFC has modified their prediction for the Northern Rockies to show higher than normal fire potential in August for Idaho, Montana, and most of Wyoming.
The entire eastern half of the U.S. is not expected to have any areas with above normal potential through September.
The data from NIFC shown here represents the cumulative forecasts of the ten Geographic Area Predictive Services Units and the National Predictive Services Unit.
Below:
An excerpt from the NIFC narrative report for the next several months;
NIFC’s monthly graphical outlooks;
NOAA’s three-month temperature and precipitation forecasts;
Drought Monitor;
Keetch-Byram Drought Index.
“The year-to-date acres burned remains well below the 10-year average and significant fire activity was also limited during May. The absence of critical fire weather patterns in areas with very dry fuels helped limit significant fire activity in May. Fuels remain very dry across large swaths of the Southwest, Great Basin, and California with fuel dryness in much of the West two to four weeks ahead of schedule.
“Drought expanded and intensified over the West, especially in California. More than 87% of the West is now categorized in drought and over half the West in the highest two categories of drought. Snowpack set new record lows in parts of the West, including the Sierra, in May.
“Climate outlooks indicate warmer and drier than normal conditions are likely for much of the High Plains and West through summer continuing and exacerbating drought there. Near normal timing and precipitation is likely with the Southwest Monsoon in July, which should help alleviate drought conditions and significant fire activity, at least temporarily.
“Southern Area is likely to have near normal fire potential through the summer with below normal potential across the southern Plains in June. Near normal significant fire potential is also likely for Eastern Area and Alaska through the summer, although elevated periods of activity are possible during short-term drying episodes.
“The Southwest is forecast to have above normal significant fire potential through June before the Southwest Monsoon arrives.
“Above normal significant fire potential will expand northward into the Great Basin and Rocky Mountain Geographic Areas through August with areas closer to the monsoon likely returning to near normal significant fire potential in July and August.
“Central Oregon into southeast Washington is likely to have above normal significant fire potential beginning in June with portions of the Coast Ranges, Sierra, and Cascades in California increasing to above normal in June and July and continuing through September.
“West of the Continental Divide in the Northern Rockies is expected to have above normal significant fire potential in July before spreading across the entire geographic area during August, then likely returning to normal in September.
“Leeside locations of Hawaii are likely to have above normal significant fire potential into September due to heavier fuel loading and forecast warm and dry conditions.”
In August and September of last year some areas in the western states were under smoke advisories for weeks at a time due to numerous wildfires. If the weather in the coming months is hot, dry, and windy, and with the vegetation being dried by the multi-year drought, there could be multitudinous large fires producing conditions at least as smoky as 2020, or worse.
Smoke can have serious adverse effects on those who have asthma, COPD, heart disease, diabetes, and other chronic conditions or acute infections such as COVID-19. Older people, pregnant women, and young children can also be at risk.
It is not practical for most of us to move to a different part of the country to find better air quality, but there are some measures that can be taken to reduce the concentration of the tiny smoke particles inside the home that can cause problems when they get into the lungs.
Closing windows will not keep smoke out of a structure. However, if you have a good quality air filtration device, the air inside the house should be better than what is outside with the windows closed. When the smoke is dense, it would be difficult for one portable air cleaner with a HEPA filter to treat the entire home, so if you only have one, put it where you spend the most time, such as the bedroom.
If you have a central air conditioner or heating system, slide-in filters can be purchased that are rated to remove very small particles like smoke and pollen. Filters are rated under various criteria — one is MERV (Minimum Efficiency Reporting Value). The higher the MERV number the better it is at removing the small particles. And medium-efficiency MERV filters in the 8 to 13 range can remove about 90 percent or more of these.
You can also tape a MERV 8 to 13 filter on a box fan and it will do a pretty good job of removing smoke in a small room. Unfortunately not all filter manufacturers use the MERV rating system. The New York Times reports that Filtrete, one of the larger filter companies, said their rating system, MPR, can be translated to MERV. “Filtrete said MPR 1900 is equivalent to MERV 13, MPR 1500 to MERV 12, and MPR 1000 to MERV 11.”
Respirator masks used during the pandemic, such as well-fitting N95, KN95 and KF94 masks, can offer protection when outside. A simple cloth mask can’t filter the PM 2.5 smoke particles.
Apps for smart phones can provide up to date air quality information. Examples include WeatherCAN and AQHI Canada in Canada, and AirNow and SmokeSense in the U.S.
File image — Satellite photo showing smoke from wildfires at 5:17 p.m. PDT September 11, 2020.
