Firefighters making progress on Roosevelt Fire in Wyoming

Above: Roosevelt Fire, Wyoming. InciWeb photo. Date and photographer not identified.

Firefighters have accomplished a great deal on the Roosevelt Fire since it started September 15 south of Bondurant, Wyoming but it has grown to over 60,000 acres, and only about half of the 172-mile fire perimeter has completed fireline.

The focus Sunday was on the southwest side of the fire in the North Dry Beaver Creek area west of Jim Bridger Estates. Firefighters have secured fire lines there, which reduces the threat. Additional resources have been allocated and a structure protection group is working the area ahead of the fire to protect homes.

On the north side of the fire adjacent to the highway, containment lines are in place and holding the fire south of the highway.

In Hoback Ranches, recovery efforts are underway in preparation of an organized repopulation of residents. Lower Valley Energy and Rocky Mountain Energy are working to restore destroyed infrastructure, while firefighters are clearing dangerous snags and suppressing hotspots as they occur. These efforts will continue for a number of days until it is safe for residents to return.

Personnel on the fire could receive help Tuesday night through Wednesday with a 30 to 70 percent chance of precipitation. There could be as much as a quarter-inch on Tuesday. From Thursday until Sunday the chance of additional precipitation is from 20 to 60 percent. Nighttime temperatures will be in the 20s and 30s.

Investigators determined that the fire was caused by an abandoned warming fire.

Highway 191 is fully open through the fire area with reduced speed limits and lane restrictions.

Map of the Roosevelt Fire
Map of the Roosevelt Fire, September 29, 2018. Click to enlarge.
Roosevelt Fire Wyoming
Roosevelt Fire. Photo by Kari Greer.
Roosevelt Fire Wyoming
A Firehawk helicopter executes a fancy water drop on the Roosevelt Fire in an area that is showing fall colors. Photo by Kari Greer.

Two unique ways to thank firefighters

This article first appeared on Fire Aviation.

Earlier this week a family wanted to thank a helicopter pilot who was helping to suppress the Black Mountain Fire in Colorado by dropping water. There was apparently no way they could make a billboard-sized sign, so they arranged their bodies, spelling out “THANKS”.

The photo was taken by Joseph Mutchler of Billings Flying Service and posted on Twitter by Air Attack pilot Ron Hauck.

Here is an enlarged version of the family’s message:

family thanks helicopter pilot wildfire

The Black Mountain fire is 14 air miles southwest of Kremmling, Colorado in the southeast corner of Routt County. We can’t find it listed on any official government lists of wildfires, but it created a small heat signature on September 25 during a 3 a.m. satellite overflight.

And here is another great way to thank firefighters!

Successful initial attacks in Santa Barbara County

A crew constructs fireline on the Drum Fire September 29, 2018 at Hwy. 246 and Drum Canyon. SBC photo.

The big wildfires that burn homes and thousands of acres are the ones that make the news. We rarely hear about the successful, aggressive initial attacks on new fires that never grow to more than a handful of acres.

On Friday and Saturday of this week firefighters in Santa Barbara County in Southern California squashed two fires, keeping them both to less than three acres.

The credit for these photos goes to Santa Barbara County.  @EliasonMike of SBC distributed them on Twitter.

Drum Fire
Drum Fire, at Hwy. 246 and Drum Canyon, September 29, 2018.
Peak Fire
An S-2T makes a drop on the Peak Fire, Gaviota Peak near Hwy 101/SR-1, September 28, 2018.
Peak Fire
A helicopter makes a drop on the Peak Fire, Gaviota Peak near Hwy 101/SR-1, September 28, 2018.

New professional football team calls itself “Arizona Hotshots”

Arizona Hotshots football teamOne of the eight teams in the new Alliance of American Football calls itself “Arizona Hotshots”. In February when they begin playing games in Arizona State’s Sun Devil Stadium they will wear yellow helmets and jerseys with dark green pants. The team’s logo features flames and crossed *Pulaskis (although on their website they are called “cross-axe Pulaskis”).

The origin of the name definitely is inspired by firefighting Interagency Hotshot Crews (IHC). Here is an excerpt from their website:

The Hotshots draw inspiration from the  more than 100 elite teams of exemplary, ferocious wildland firefighters from the U.S. Forest Service and other federal, state and county agencies, mostly located in the west. Hotshot firefighters are highly successful and an essential line of defense in battling the most serious wildfires across the country.

The Arizona Hotshots will gratefully display the firefighters’ familiar cross-axe Pulaskis in their logo. The color scheme and designs tip their helmets to the heroes who confront orange-fire disasters wearing yellow helmets and shirts with dark green pants.

(UPDATE September 30, 2018)

*A couple of people have pointed out that the firefighting tools in the logo look more like a fire axe used by structural firefighters than a Pulaski.The people that have pointed this out are correct, but the team calls them Pulaskis and the only people that will notice the difference are wildland firefighters. Maybe it is not a big deal.

Ranger Edward Pulaski invented or improved the tool for wildland firefighters soon after the fires of 1910. The Collins Tool Company sold a similar tool beginning in 1876.

Vineyard Fire may have been caused by flare gun

Vineyard Fire hot springs south dakota
Vineyard Fire at approximately 6:30 p.m. MDT August 11, 2018. Photo by Wendee Pettis.

A juvenile with a flare gun may have ignited the Vineyard Fire that burned 560 acres at Hot Springs, South Dakota.

According to a cause and origin report completed by fire investigator Jeff McBraw, a 16-year old girl “…stated that her boyfriend who is also a juvenile possibly started this fire with a flare gun,” McGraw wrote.

The Fall River County Sheriff’s Office will handle any further investigation.

The fire started August 11 near an abandoned vineyard and caused evacuations on the east side of Hot Springs.

Five firefighters injured in California rollover crash

Five firefighters were injured when their vehicle crashed on Interstate 5 near Tehama, California Wednesday September 26. Four of them with minor injuries were taken to a hospital in Red Bluff and a fifth with major injuries was transported to St. Elizabeth hospital in Paradise.

firestormThe firefighters were members of a crew operated by Firestorm Wildland Fire Suppression Inc.

According to media reports the northbound truck went off the edge of the highway to the right. As the driver tried to steer it back onto the road, he lost control, went across both northbound lanes, entered the center divider and overturned.

A year ago a truck operated by the same company was involved in another single vehicle rollover accident on Highway 299 near Cedarville, California. In that case the driver tried to avoid hitting a vehicle that had stopped due to a deer being in the road.

This is the 60th article we have posted on Wildfire Today tagged “rollover”.