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Another fire burns in the hills above Springville, Utah

Bill GabbertJuly 31, 2019July 31, 2019UncategorizedAlaska Fire, Utah

The Alaska Fire was 450 acres at 1 p.m. Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Alaska Fire Springville Utah Jocelyn Marie Cooley — A Neptune Aviation BAe-146 drops on the Alaska Fire, July 31, 2019. Photo by Jocelyn Marie Cooley.

(Originally published at 1:29 p.m. MDT July 31, 2019)

It was just two weeks ago that the Round Peak Fire was ignited by a campfire at 9:30 p.m. July 15 in the hills above Springville, Utah south of Provo. A new fire, the Alaska Fire, was reported at 11:30 p.m. on July 30th near Alaska Avenue, northeast of Springville. The cause is under investigation but there was no lightning in the area.

Wednesday at 1 p.m. MDT fire authorities said it had burned approximately 450 acres and was still moving uphill in grass and brush. A type 3 Incident Management Team will assume command of the incident today. Crews will concentrate on building fireline while supported by aircraft as needed.

These photos, used with permission, were taken just before noon MDT July 31 with a long lens by professional photographer Jocelyn Marie Cooley, from her home in the Springville area. We also used one of her shots when we covered the Round Peak Fire. Thank you Jocelyn!

Opinion: Diversity helps fight wildfires

Bill GabbertJuly 30, 2019July 30, 2019Uncategorized

Big Meadows Fire in Rocky Mountain National Park 2013 — The Big Meadows Fire in Rocky Mountain National Park in 2013. NPS photo by Ross Wilmore.

David M. J. S. Bowman and Cathelijne Stoof wrote the following letter to the journal Nature (571, 478 [2019]), dated July 23, 2019:

Diversity helps fight wildfires

As professionals who study the control and prevention of wildfires, we argue that reducing the resulting loss of life and property calls for the involvement of socially diverse local communities.

People from different cultural backgrounds respond differently to wildfire risk, as do men and women (C. Eriksen; Gender and Wildfire: Landscapes of Uncertainty; Routledge, 2013). This presents practical and policy challenges for firefighting agencies. For instance, fire prevention and emergency warning must be tailored to specific groups. And engagement with local communities could be an awkward fit with wildland firefighting institutions, which are strongly hierarchical and have a masculine culture (A. M. S. Smith and E. K. Strand Fire 1, 45; 2018).

Fire-prevention strategies should include public education and real-time mass communication (see also A. M. S. Smith et al. Bioscience 66, 130–146; 2016). Communities need advice on managing fire risk. This requires devolution of political power from centralized bureaucracies to local organizations, and promotion of disciplinary, sectoral and social diversity among fire scientists, policymakers and wildfire managers.

Cathelijne Stoof and David M. J. S. Bowman. Photo: The Fire Centre at the University of Tasmania

How a dust devil forms

Bill GabbertJuly 30, 2019Uncategorized

Dust devils are always interesting to watch, especially if they are over a wildfire and grow larger becoming fire whirls, or the very rarely seen fire tornado.

The Reno office of the National Weather Service distributed this graphic of how a dust devil forms.

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New film reveals the untold story of fire in a swamp

Bill GabbertJuly 29, 2019July 29, 2019UncategorizedBig Cypress National Preserve, Florida, Jennifer Brown2 Comments

film fire Big Cypress National Preserve — A screenshot from “Fire Swamp”

Much of Big Cypress National Preserve in south Florida is swampland. And like most areas with native vegetation it evolved with fire as a major component of the ecosystem.

Today the Preserve released a new film, “Fire Swamp,” that explains the relationship. Here is how they describe it:

‘Fire Swamp’ reveals the untold story of how fire burns in a swamp. Get a front row seat to fire flowing through our interwoven ecosystem of high and dry pinelands to cypress swamps with two National Park Service professionals who manage this dynamic ecosystem. Down here in the Big Cypress, the borders between fire, water, people, limestone, plants, and animals creates an exquisite mosaic of beauty.

Jen Brown, and recently with Rick Anderson, has been making films about fire in South Florida since at least 2012. Their company, IntoNatureFilms, has helped the land management agencies in the area interpret for the general public the value of public lands and inform them about how they are managed. More agencies around the country could learn from this approach.

The 2018 Woolsey Fire set back the reintroduction of an endangered frog

Bill GabbertJuly 29, 2019August 25, 2019UncategorizedCalifornia

Three of the four reintroduction sites for the largest native frog in the western U.S. were wiped out by debris flows after the wildfire

The LA Times has an interesting story about how an endangered frog, the largest native frog in the western US, barely survived the 2018 Woolsey Fire in Southern California after being painstakingly reintroduced by wildlife biologists.
https://t.co/eoZ3gwfiXU

— Wildfire Today ? (@wildfiretoday) July 29, 2019

Articles on Wildfire Today tagged “Woolsey Fire”.

Hundreds of homes evacuated due to wildfire north of Helena

Bill GabbertJuly 29, 2019July 31, 2019UncategorizedMontana, North Hills Fire

The North Hills Fire has burned 4,225 acres 10 miles north of downtown Helena, Montana

map North Hills Fire Helena MT — Map showing the location of the North Hills Fire north of Helena, Montana. The red line was the perimeter at 9:37 p.m. MDT July 28. The red-shaded areas were areas of intense heat. The red dots on the south side represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:30 a.m. MDT July 29, 2019. Click to enlarge.

(UPDATED at 11:41 a.m. MDT July 29, 2019)

The North Hills Fire has forced the evacuation of 400 homes 10 miles north of downtown Helena, Montana. The fire was very active Sunday night, challenging firefighters who went house to house protecting private property.

An overnight mapping flight at 9:37 p.m. Sunday determined that at that time the fire had burned 4,225 acres. (see map above)

Sunday afternoon the firefighting resources assigned to the fire included 6 hand crews, 22 fire engines, and 6 helicopters for a total of 238 personnel.

Walt Jester, Chief of the Lewis and Clark Volunteer Fire Department, took some excellent photos of the fire:

North Hills Fire retardant drop — Retardant settles to the ground after being dropped by an RJ85 air tanker. Screengrab from Walter Jester’s video.

Mike Almas’ Northern Rockies Incident Management Team assumed command of the North Hills Fire at 6 a.m., Monday, July 29.

On Sunday, Governor Steve Bullock declared a state of emergency via executive order temporarily suspending “hours of service” regulations to meet increased demand for drivers’ hours spent transporting fuel and fire suppression resources.

We will update this article as more information becomes available.

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