The north end of the Glass Fire, as seen from St Helena South camera at 225 p.m. PDT Oct. 6, 2020. Looking east. AlertWildfire.
Sixteen firefighters assigned to the Glass Fire near the Napa Valley in Northern California were evaluated for possible carbon monoxide exposure Tuesday morning October 6. One was transported to a hospital and the others were allowed to return to their duties.
CAL FIRE said the exposure occurred at a location off-site out of the fire area. The personnel were evaluated by members of the Santa Rosa Fire Department and medical personnel assigned to the incident.
CAL FIRE did not disclose where the firefighters were or what they were doing when the possible exposure occurred. Five ambulances were dispatched to the CAL FIRE incident command post at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa Tuesday morning.
The Glass Fire has burned 66,840 acres, 310 homes, and 12 commercial buildings.
UPDATE October 7, 2020 | 12:09 a.m. PDT:
Pat McLean, a spokesperson for CAL FIRE, said on October 7, “16 firefighters were evaluated yesterday. Fifteen were cleared to go right back to active duty yesterday and the 16th was evaluated at the hospital and has since been released back to full duty as well.”
When asked where the firefighters were when they were exposed to carbon monoxide, Mr. McLean said, “I don’t have that information. They were outside, they were not on the fire, nor were they at base camp.”
He said he did not have information about the source of the carbon monoxide. The incident is being investigated.
Map of the August Complex of fires in Northern California, October 6, 2020.
On August 16 a weather pattern that does not occur often began working its way slowly through northern California. During the next three days about 2,500 lightning strikes were recorded that started over 600 fires, creating what became the Siege of ’20. The lightning was a result of moist unstable air from Tropical Storm Fausto colliding with a high pressure ridge during a heat wave. Many of the thunderstorm cells produced little or no rain that reached the ground. The lightning ignited dry fuels causing fires that spread rapidly, quickly overwhelming the suppression capability of local, state, and federal fire organizations. Some fires were not staffed at all for days, and for weeks most incidents struggled, with fewer resources than they needed.
The August Complex of fires is the result of 37 blazes that started on August 17 and eventually burned together on the Mendocino National Forest. It has now blackened 1,004,373 acres becoming a gigafire, the largest fire in the recorded history of California, by far. The scope of the fire is almost difficult to comprehend — approximately 72 miles by 32 miles. It is larger than Rhode Island which is 988,832 acres.
Resources assigned include 65 hand crews, 353 fire engines, and 31 helicopters for a total of 4,075 personnel. About 100 residences and 104 other structures have been destroyed . The estimated costs to date are $166 million.
The fire is divided into two zones with individual areas managed by four Type 1 Incident Management Teams overseen by an Area Command Team.
Largest fires in the recorded history of California as of October 6, 2020. The number of structures includes all types of structures, from small sheds to large commercial buildings.A firefighter bucks a log near Van Duzen Road on the Northwest Zone of the August Complex. Credit: Jacob Welsh
Our take on the largest fires list
The next three fires on the “Top 20 Largest California Wildfires” are all complexes, comprised of multiple separate fires that were arbitrarily clumped together on paper and called a complex. If they are listed at all on a Top 20 list, they should at least have an asterisk indicating each complex is actually multiple fires. If they burn together they should be treated as one fire. Geographically separate fires should be listed independently.
An interstate fire in Wyoming and Colorado, 25 air miles southwest of Laramie, WY
Progression of Mullen Fire, Oct. 5, 2020. Situation Unit Leader, Sonya Feaster.
Monday afternoon update from the Incident Management Team for the 151,711-acre Mullen fire in Wyoming and Colorado, 25 air miles southwest of Laramie, WY:
“The fire is very active in the northern part south of Centennial between Albany and Keystone along the 542 road. Strong afternoon winds from the west are hampering firefighters efforts as they try to keep the fire south of the road. A predicted shift to bring winds more from the northwest could prove helpful in this effort.
“The fire will continue to produce smoke and possibly large visible smoke columns Monday afternoon.
“The Southern Area Type 1 Incident Management Team is shadowing the Rocky Mountain Blue Team this afternoon to ensure a smooth transition of leadership Tuesday morning at 6:00 a.m.”
Mullen Fire. USFS photo.Mullen Fire, night firing, October 1, 2020, by Zach Alexander.
To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Mullen Fire, including the most recent, click here.
They were working as a hand crew in a remote location east of Oroville, California
October 5, 2020 | 1:46 p.m. PDT
Map shows the location of the CHP helicopter October 4, 2020 shortly before extracting the four National Guard personnel on the Bear Fire, part of the North Complex of fires in Northern California. The location is based on the coordinates displayed on the CHP video.
Four members of the California National Guard serving as wildland firefighters were rescued by a helicopter hoist.
It happened on a steep slope Sunday afternoon, October 4, 2020 on the Bear Fire, part of the North Complex of fires 18 air miles east of Oroville.
A California Highway Patrol Helicopter, H20, picked up a Nevada County Fire Helicopter Rescue Technician who was inserted via hoist to facilitate the extraction of the firefighters north of the South Fork of the Feather River. All four firefighters were hoisted and transported to a waiting Butte County ambulance for transport to Oroville Hospital. All are expected to make a full recovery, according to the CHP.
The CHP reported that the guard members had “extremity and heat related injuries.” CBS Sacramento said the personnel were treated for injuries to their legs and heat exhaustion.
Screenshot from video of the hoist rescue of firefighters
More than 600 California National Guard members are assisting with the wildfires in the state. The four that were extracted were part of a hand crew working in a remote location.
The crew was working on the portion of the North Complex that is being managed by CAL FIRE.
We have left messages with the agency to obtain more information. When we hear back we will update this article.
Area Command Team 2 led by Tim Sexton was assigned to the Southern California Operations Center in mid-September to assist with strategic planning for the rest of the fire year.
These screen shots are borrowed from a PowerPoint presentation the team developed (3.6 Mb) of the likely fire activity, scheduled resource availability, likely resources needs, the gap between needs and availability, and suggestions on how to address the gap.
The group looked back at the previous four years of fire activity and the use of firefighting resources to help predict what the needs are going to be during the rest of the calendar year, or “Fire Year” as we are hearing these days. Of those four years, one was an outlier, 2019, with much less fire activity than average, so it was not used to predict resource needs. The 2,210,266 acres burned in the 49 states outside of Alaska in 2019 was the lowest total since 2004. Almost twice that many acres have already burned in just California so far this year, according to CAL FIRE October 2, 2020.
The slides shown here are 11 of the 15 in the presentation.
California Interagency Incident Management Team 5 briefs the incoming Type 3 IMT from the New York City Fire Department. The FDNY IMT will assume command of the Dolan Fire at 7 a.m. October 6, 2020.
A Type 3 Incident Management Team from the New York City Fire Department will assume command of the Dolan Fire on October 6. Since it started on August 18 the blaze has burned over 124,000 acres on the California coast 10 miles south of Big Sur, mostly on the Los Padres National Forest but also on private land.
Map of the Dolan Fire October 4, 2020.
Below is information released by New York City.
FDNY Sends 50 of New York’s Bravest to Fight Dolan Fire in Central California
October 2, 2020
NEW YORK—Mayor Bill de Blasio today announced that the FDNY Incident Management Team (IMT), comprised of 50 members of the FDNY, will deploy to Pacific Valley Station, California, to support the containment effort for the Dolan fire that is currently devastating the Central Coast region. This is the largest-ever single FDNY IMT deployment to a wildland fire. The IMT leaves today, Friday, October 2nd, for a two-week deployment.
“New Yorkers don’t turn away from a friend in need. Our City doesn’t, either,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “Our hearts go out to all those affected by Dolan already, and I’m proud to work with the State of California to provide the support it needs to keep Americans safe. We look forward to welcoming New York’s Bravest back home soon after a job well done.”
The FDNY IMT will assist with managing the operations, planning, and logistics for the containment effort, which is extremely difficult because the Dolan Fire is up against steep terrain that is inaccessible to most fire suppression efforts. FDNY IMT will use drones to locate hotspots so helicopters can extinguish the fire, supervise the strengthening of existing fire lines, and monitor the potential spread of fire into additional areas.
The team will also be supervising fire units operating across large geographic areas of the forest; tracking all resources, including Firefighting personnel and apparatus; and tracking costs related to equipment, food, and supplies, as well as possible injuries to first responders operating in the fire line area.
“FDNY members will go to any lengths – and even well beyond the borders of our city – to help those in need of our assistance,” said Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro. “When massive fires and natural disasters cause damage across the country, the men and women of our Department’s highly-trained Incident Management Team always answer the call for help. I know they will make an immediate impact in the extensive containment efforts already underway.”
A separate group of 15 members of the FDNY IMT returned home one week ago after a two-week deployment to Oregon to assist with containment and management of the Brattain Fire in the Fremont-Winema National Forest.
IMTs are trained teams of first responders responsible for overseeing large-scale long-duration incidents and emergencies, including forest fires, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Following September 11th, 2001, an IMT from the United States Forest Service greatly assisted FDNY with the rescue and recovery effort at the World Trade Center site. From this experience, the FDNY IMT was created to manage incidents in New York City and across the country. The FDNY IMT has responded to multiple national emergencies, from forest fires; to New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina; to Broome County, NY following Hurricane Irene; to here in New York City after Hurricane Sandy. The FDNY IMT consists of more than 300 FDNY members from all ranks in the Department with specialized training in incident command, rescue operations, logistics, and planning.
(End of news release)
The introduction to the article was edited October 4, 2020 to correctly show the start date of the Dolan Fire as August 18, 2020.
