News and opinion about wildland fire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on Wildfire smoke forecast and Red Flag Warnings Above is the forecast for the distribution of smoke from wildfires at 6 p.m. MDT August 5, 2018. It looks like the air will be pretty nasty in areas of California, Oregon, Nevada, Idaho, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.
The map below shows the Red Flag Warnings in effect for Sunday, August 5 in portions of California, Utah, and Wyoming.
July in the state had the highest minimum temperature on record
Above: Credit Los Angeles Times
There are many ways that a warmer climate can influence wildfires, causing them to burn more intensely. Higher temperatures can lower the relative humidity, lower the amount of moisture in the vegetation (fuel), raise the temperature of the fuel itself, and cause more powerful thunderstorms with lightning. But one factor that we don’t think about very often is that the heat can persist through the night, influencing fire behavior.
When today’s senior firefighters began their careers, they could usually count on fires “laying down” at night. The intensity and rate of spread would decline to the point where night shift personnel could more easily and safely “go direct”, constructing fireline very close to the edge of the fire.
During the month of July in California, many of the large fires continued to grow rapidly at night, which often required firefighters to drop back to a safety zone and simply watch, since there is little that they could do without putting themselves in harms way.
No surprise that CA has been getting warmer, but particularly striking is accelerated pace of nighttime warming. Large implications for human health (harder for human body to cool off) & for #wildfires (fires don’t “lay down” when temps stay warm at night). #CAwx #CAfire https://t.co/ATnz7u1J3B
— Dr. Daniel Swain (@Weather_West) August 5, 2018
Of course it is too early to say that this will be a permanent change, but in the last month a new record was set for California’s average minimum temperature; it was the highest since records have been kept. And this was not just a one-month event. The trend has been increasing since the 1980s.
Many of those senior firefighters have been known to to lament the trend in the last couple of decades of incident management teams declining to have a night shift. The justification of the teams was that it was not safe to have firefighters working at night because of snags falling, steep terrain, and other issues. After observing the nighttime fire behavior in recent years, the senior firefighters might now be less inclined to argue strongly in favor of night shifts, at least in certain geographical areas and weather conditions.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Flyover tour of Ferguson Fire at Yosemite National Park Take a simulated flight over the 89,000-acre wildfire
Above: screenshot from the video.
This is a flyover virtual tour of the Ferguson Fire burning in and near Yosemite National Park in California. The red line was the perimeter at 12:15 a.m. PDT August 5, 2018. The red shaded areas were intense heat at that time. The blue line is the location of the huge Rim Fire of 2013. The green line is the boundary between Yosemite National Park and U.S. Forest Service managed land. Recorded by WildfireToday.com August 5, 2018.
The fire has burned over 89,000 acres in Yosemite National Park, Sierra National Forest, and Stanislaus National Forest. On the north edge it has burned into the footprint of the Rim Fire that blackened 257,000 acres in 2013.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Ferguson Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)
Astronaut Alexander Gerst tweeted these photos on August 3 of the wildfires in California, apparently taken from the International Space Station. He didn’t specify the date, but presumably they are very recent.
I’m not positive, but I think the photo that has multiple fires includes, from bottom to top (south to north), the Ferguson Fire at Yosemite National Park, the Mendocino Complex east of Ukiah, and the Carr Fire at Redding. The smoke farther north could be the Natchez Fire and blazes in Oregon. The other photo is most likely the Ferguson Fire.
Click on the images twice to see larger versions.
California burning. These fires are frightening to watch, even from space. Here’s a shout-out from space to all firefighters on this planet, my former colleagues. Stay safe my friends! pic.twitter.com/y7PNmR006b
— Alexander Gerst (@Astro_Alex) August 3, 2018
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on Ferguson Fire spreads across Highway 41, moves deeper into Yosemite The fire is well established on the east side of Highway 41 and has crossed Glacier Point Road
(UPDATED at 5:20 a.m. PDT August 4, 2018)
These two maps of the Ferguson Fire at Yosemite National Park in California include the latest perimeter data collected by a fixed wing aircraft at 1:30 a.m. PDT August 4, 2018.
Friday afternoon the fire spotted across two highways running for almost a mile in both places — east of Highway 41 at Glacier Point Road, and across Highway 140 below Foresta. The slop over across 41 was approximately 200 acres at 1:30 a.m. PDT on Saturday. About half of that crossed over Glacier Point Road.
Below is an excerpt from a Friday evening update by the incident management team:
The Ferguson Fire grew by 3,647 acres throughout the day and was at 77,207 acres as of 6 p.m. Containment is at 41 percent. Firefighters worked throughout the day on a spot fire that jumped the Merced River early this morning and is burning in the Crane Creek drainage southwest of Foresta. Aircraft dropped water and retardant in support of firefighters.
Bulldozers and hand crews built containment lines between the fire and Foresta. Engines and crews remained in Foresta for structure protection. While Yosemite Valley was not in imminent danger, dangerous road conditions, smoke and a loss of power prompted Yosemite National Park officials to evacuate the area until further notice.
Later in the afternoon, another spot fire emerged west of Wawona Road (Highway 41) and began advancing toward Badger Pass. Evacuations were issued along Highway 140 out of concern that shifting winds overnight could bring the fire back into the communities.
On the north side of the fire, crews completed tactical firing along Pilot Ridge on the Mariposa-Tuolumne county line. They will perform firing operations south along the 13 Road as weather allows to fully contain the fire’s northern perimeter.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Ferguson Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)
(UPDATED at 7:17 p.m. PDT August 3, 2018)
The satellite heat sensing data from 2:43 p.m. PDT August 3, 2018, represented by the red dots, can be seen in the map above. It shows heat where the Ferguson Fire, at Yosemite National Park in California, crossed Highway 41 near Glacier Point Road, and Highway 140 south and southeast of Foresta.
We hope to have an updated map Saturday morning. Continue reading “Ferguson Fire spreads across Highway 41, moves deeper into Yosemite”
The Ranch Fire will most likely burn into the Pawnee Fire of June, 2018.
(Originally published at 11:02 a.m. PDT August 3, 2018)
The Mendocino Complex of Fires east of Ukiah, California were extremely active Thursday, adding another 43,000 acres west and east of Clear Lake. Firefighters were again engaged in house to house structure protection as the fire moved through the wildland-urban interface.
The northernmost of the two fires, the Ranch Fire, ran for about 6 miles to the southeast, coming very close to the burn scar from the Pawnee Fire of June, 2018, according to the infrared sensing data from a fixed wing aircraft collected at 11:30 p.m. August 2. The Ranch Fire also grew significantly on the northeast side.
The River Fire west of Clear Lake only showed major growth on its north side, where it moved to the north for up to a mile along an eight-mile long active edge.
Photographer Kent Porter wrote on Twitter (see below) that more evacuations were ordered north of Clear Lake. He said “the firefight was intense in Scotts Valley” Thursday. His photos confirm that statement.
To see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Mendocino Complex of Fires, including the most recent, click HERE.
Both fires are remaining active throughout the night. On Friday firefighters will prep and construct primary and secondary control lines. Difficult access and hot, dry weather make it difficult to fight fire directly in many areas.
CAL FIRE reports that 41 residences have been destroyed, up from 14 in Thursday’s update. The two fires have burned a total of 153,738 acres — 112,226 on the Ranch Fire and 41,512 on the River Fire, according to the numbers released by CAL FIRE Friday morning. That is a total increase of over 43,000 acres since Thursday.
Kent Porter got some great photos at the fire on Thursday, including one of the 747 Supertanker. Click on the pictures below to see larger versions.
THE #mendocinocomplex of the #riverfire and the #ranchfire continued to expand on Thursday, prompting more evacuations on the north side of the Clear Lake, Thursday. The firefight was intense in Scotts Valley today. @NorthBayNews @CAL_FIRE #VLAT pic.twitter.com/bUHyx12i7e
— Kent Porter (@kentphotos) August 3, 2018
