(Originally published at 1:09 p.m. PDT July 26, 2019)
3-D map of the Milepost 97 Fire south of Canyonville, OR at 7:30 p.m. PT July 25, 2019. Looking northwest.
The Milepost 97 fire in southwest Oregon burned actively Thursday and Thursday night growing to 1,650 acres. The fire is one mile south of Canyonville on the west side of Interstate 5. (see map above)
It was reported Wednesday, July 24 at approximately 10:00 p.m. and is burning in steep, rocky terrain with limited access. Most of the fire is within an old fire scar from 1987. A preliminary investigation indicates it was started by a campfire.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Milepost 97 Fire, including the most current, click here.)
The area is managed by the Douglas Forest Protective Association.
The Douglas County Sheriff’s Office issued a Level 3 “Go” evacuation order at 7:20 Thursday night, which applied to approximately three residences in the 100 to 300 blocks of Ritchie Road.
Map of the Milepost 97 Fire south of Canyonville, OR at 7:30 p.m. PT July 25, 2019.
The Oregon Department of Forestry Incident Management Team 3 (Incident Commander Smith) has been mobilized to assist the Douglas Forest Protective Association. The team is scheduled to assume command of the fire Friday evening.
Milepost 97 Fire. Photo by Douglas Forest Protective Association.
Flames from the Milepost 97 Fire light up a ridge behind the six-story Forest Glen Senior Redisence tonight in Canyonville. #Milepost97Fire pic.twitter.com/Cf0bVs1L5M
A test of the SpaceX Starhopper rocket started a brush fire July 25, 2019 at the company’s facilities in Boca Chica Village, Texas. Screengrab from Everyday Astronaut video.
Late Thursday night a test of SpaceX’s newest rocket engine started a brush fire at their facilities in Boca Chica Village, Texas. (map)It was the first untethered flight of the company’s Starhopper, a developmental prototype that Elon Musk says will lead to a line of Starship vehicles that will orbit the earth, land on the moon and — beyond.
One of the main objectives of the test was using the new Raptor rocket engine to lift the vehicle 20 meters off the pad, move laterally a few dozen meters, and then land, upright. In the videos of the flight smoke mostly obscured views of the vehicle, but it appeared to be a success in that it elevated, moved to the side, and landed again. Nothing exploded.
However, soon after the smoke cleared a vegetation fire started near the launch pad. In the video produced by Everyday Astronaut the fire can be seen spreading unimpeded by firefighters, and was still going when he stopped recording 40 minutes after the launch. It took about seven seconds for the sound of the rocket to reach the microphones on the camera, so the video was shot from well over a mile away. From that location the fire appears to be of fairly substantial size.
It is possible that firefighters were kept at a distance due to the proximity to the launch pad, the rocket sitting there minutes after flying, darkness, and huge tanks of fuel.
In the NASA video below, flaming debris is visible at 0:15 that appears to land in the general area where the vegetation fire started.
Here is a screengrab of that moment at 0:15:
Flaming debris from the Starhopper test launch lands in the general area where a vegetation fire started.
In Everyday Astronaut’s video below, the launch begins at 4:40:19. When you start it, it should begin just before the launch. Since he had the exposure set on manual expecting the light from the rocket to be very bright, you can’t see much of the rocket flight because smoke obscured the view and blocked the light from the flame. However you can clearly see the brush fire for the next 40 minutes.
Elon Musk tweeted these two videos. The one shot by a drone has the best view of the rocket.
Photo taken on the Camp Fire by a drone in Magalia near Indian Drive.
Pamela Ren Larson and Dennis Wagner of the Arizona Republic studied nearly 5,000 small communities around the West to find out how how many of them are facing large-scale wildfire risk similar to Paradise, California where 19,000 structures burned and 85 people were killed in the Camp Fire. After finding 526 places that have a higher wildfire potential than Paradise, nine reporters set out to report on nine communities in eight states.
Click on the tweet below to reveal the detailed thread which is an introduction to the very detailed reporting that you will see when you click on the links therein. Here is a link to the main story.
About six months ago, I began an enormous project: To find other places like Paradise, California, at risk of wildfire in the West. With wildfire season getting longer, we set out to find these high-hazard communities, ahead of the fire. (THREAD)
On July 18 California’s Department of Industrial Relations’ (DIR) Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board adopted an emergency regulation to protect workers from hazards associated with wildfire smoke. The regulation is expected to go into effect in early August.
The emergency regulation will be effective for one year and applies to workplaces where the current Air Quality Index (AQI) for airborne particulate matter (PM) is 151 or greater, and where employers should reasonably anticipate that employees could be exposed to wildfire smoke.
Under the new regulation, employers must take the following steps to protect workers who may be exposed to wildfire smoke:
Identify harmful exposure to airborne particulate matter from wildfire smoke before each shift and periodically thereafter by checking the AQI for PM 2.5 in regions where workers are located.
Reduce harmful exposure to wildfire smoke if feasible, for example, by relocating work to an enclosed building with filtered air or to an outdoor location where the AQI for PM 2.5 is 150 or lower.
If employers cannot reduce workers’ harmful exposure to wildfire smoke so that the AQI for PM 2.5 is 150 or lower, they must provide respirators such as N95 masks to all employees for voluntary use, training on the new regulation, information about the health effects of wildfire smoke, and the safe use and maintenance of respirators.
This new regulation exempts employees exposed to a current AQI for PM2.5 of 151 or greater for an hour or less during a shift, and firefighters engaged in wildland firefighting.
This emergency rule making process began last December, after the Standards Board received a petition to protect workers from wildfire smoke before this year’s wildfire season. The Standards Board has requested that Cal/OSHA conduct a follow-up comprehensive review of the regulation with an advisory committee using the regular rule making process in order to adopt permanent regulations. The emergency regulation will remain in effect during that process. Meeting details and documents will be posted on Cal/OSHA’s website.
The Sheep Fire is about 24 miles northwest of Idaho Falls
Firefighters burning out along a road on the Sheep Fire. Photo by BLM Air Attack Dan Zajanc.
(UPDATED at 6:37 p.m. MDT July 24, 2019)
Firefighters are making progress on the Sheep Fire 24 miles northwest of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The fire is on land administered by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL), an agency within the Department of Energy. (scroll down to see a map)
At a briefing Wednesday the fire chief said containment has increased to the point where they expect to release 5 of the 17 engine crews later in the day. He said no “buildings” have burned but some “power structures” were damaged. A backfiring operation was executed on the south side of the fire Wednesday night. About 105 personnel are assigned to the fire.
Wednesday the size of the fire was estimated at 110,000 acres, an increase of 20,000 acres from Tuesday.
Firefighters were challenged Wednesday by strong winds. A weather station in Idaho Falls recorded sustained winds at 20 to 25 mph with gusts above 35 along with a high of 90 degrees and relative humidity in the teens. The forecast for Thursday at the fire area is about the same, except with much diminished winds — 12 mph with gusts to 21 in the afternoon.
Officials at the INL said Wednesday that there has been no release of radiation due to the fire.
Most of the workers at the INL were evacuated from the lab facilities, but there appears to be a good chance they will be allowed to return to work on Thursday.
Photos and videos of the fire, including videos of air tanker drops filmed from overhead by Air Attack, can be found here.
The photo below is interesting.
Smoke column over the Sheep Fire in Idaho. Photo by BLM Incident Commander Kris Bruington.
In the video below of a briefing about the fire, the Fire Chief describes the status of the blaze beginning at 7:30.
UPDATE: Work continues to be curtailed for non-essential employees at some facilities at the INL Site Wednesday as firefighters continue to contain the #SheepFire. It is anticipated that operations across the Site will return to normal on Thursday. More: https://t.co/crK3BkrPyB
— Idaho National Lab (@INL) July 24, 2019
(Originally published at 6:17 p.m. MDT July 23, 2019)
A smoke column over the Sheep Fire in Eastern Idaho Tuesday morning. BLM photo.
The Sheep Fire on property managed by the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has burned approximately 90,000 acres in the first 24 hours. The facility about 24 miles northwest of Idaho Falls conducts nuclear research. (see the map below)
All non-essential employees were evacuated from several facilities at the lab: Central Facilities Area, Advanced Test Reactor Complex, Naval Reactors Facility, Radioactive Waste Management Complex, and Idaho Nuclear Technology and Engineering Center.
INL Site facilities are preparing for the anticipated loss of commercial power and are switching to on-site backups per existing emergency procedures.
Map showing the location of the Lava and Sheep Fires in Idaho. Data from 2:26 p.m. MDT July 23, 2019. Much of the fire is burning in light fuels that consumes quickly and may cool before the next heat-detecting satellite overflight. Therefore the fires may be larger than they appear on the map.
Radiation monitoring is ongoing, and based on current information there is no risk to the public, according to information released by the INL.
The Sheep Fire started at about 6:30 p.m. Monday from a lightning strike, and later that night other fires were started by lightning in the area. It is being managed by the Bureau of Land Management and is burning between Highways 20 and 33.
The Sheep Fire northwest of Idaho Falls, ID. Photo provided by the Idaho National Laboratory.
The weather forecast for the fire area until dark on Tuesday predicts 16 mph winds gusting to 24 out of the southwest, 25 percent relative humidity, and temperatures around 90. Wednesday should bring winds out of the southwest at 24 mph gusting to 35, 88 degrees, and relative humidity of 18 percent.
Another fire in Idaho, the Lava Fire, has burned 800 acres north of Shoshone. (see the map above)
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bill and Al. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Story and photos by Samantha Storms, Public Information Officer, Alaska Fire Service.
With more than 200 fires burning in mid-July in Alaska, the 2019 BLM Women’s Fire Crew received their first ever wildland fire assignment.
Traveling by plane, helicopter and boat, this eight woman crew headed to the Hadweenzic River Fire in the Upper Yukon of eastern Alaska with eager smiles.
BLM Wyoming and the Montana Conservation Corps, or MCC, started this crew in 2016, training women to be wildland firefighters. This program is a wonderful opportunity to introduce these young women to the world of wildland firefighting.
Looking back at the 2018 season, 11 of 12 crew members are still working in wildland fire jobs and the other started her career working for MCC. Through this partnership, all crew members are qualified chainsaw operators and when they are not on the fireline, they are working with BLM Wyoming on public lands restoration projects.
Below is a video featuring the 2017 BLM Women’s Fire crew at the Orleans Complex of fires on the Six Rivers National Forest in California. Video by Eric Coulter, BLM.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Rick Freimuth. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
