Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Author: Bill Gabbert

After working full time in wildland fire for 33 years, he continues to learn, and strives to be a Student of Fire.

Two fires in Southern California you didn’t hear about

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 4 Comments on Two fires in Southern California you didn’t hear about

Long time fire photographer Jeff Zimmerman sent us these photos he shot at two recent Southern California fires that you did not hear about. Like many, many others, they were successfully attacked by firefighters and contained before growing into major conflagrations.

The photo above as well as the next three, were from the July 6 Hunter Fire off Sylvan road near Lake Hughes. Jeff got some quick shots with a camera phone of U.S. Forest Service and Los Angeles County personnel working at a vehicle fire that got into the brush at 5:20 a.m. during Red Flag Warning conditions. It burned one acre in addition to the vehicle.

Hunter Fire California Lake Hughes
Hunter Fire at Lake Hughes. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.
Hunter Fire California Lake Hughes
Hunter Fire at Lake Hughes. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.
Hunter Fire California Lake Hughes
Hunter Fire at Lake Hughes. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.

On July 8 Jeff was at a fire in Lebec, California as firefighters from Kern County, BLM, USFS and LA County battled a stubborn vegetation fire. It was reported at 1:35 p.m. along Lebec and Lebec Oaks Road which brought a large response including fixed wing aircraft. No structures were damaged but several rural homes had to have structure protection put in place and large animals were evacuated. Firefighters stopped it at 62 acres. Jeff said extremely high temperatures and very low relative humidity have been a big factor in spawning wildfires across the State this week.

The next four photos are of the fire in Lebec:

wildfire Lebec, California
Fire at Lebec, California. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.
wildfire Lebec, California
Fire at Lebec, California. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.
wildfire Lebec, California
Fire at Lebec, California. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.
wildfire Lebec, California
Fire at Lebec, California. Photo by Jeff Zimmerman.

Jeff Zimmerman photographs fires and writes about them, usually from Southern California.

Wildfire smoke map, July 9, 2018

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 6 Comments on Wildfire smoke map, July 9, 2018

This is the prediction for the distribution of wildfire smoke for 6 p.m. MDT July 9, 2018. It is an experimental forecast from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory.

The scientists expect significant smoke impacts Monday in areas of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana.

Most of the smoke is coming from the Klamathon Fire on the Oregon/California border and the Martin Fire in Northern Nevada.

Martin Fire grows to almost 400,000 acres

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Above: screenshot from the video of the Martin Fire.

(UPDATED at 8:58 a.m. MDT July 9, 2018)

A new map of the rapidly growing Martin Fire in Northern Nevada reveals that it has exploded to 399,429 acres, according to the Incident Management Team. During an overnight fixed wing mapping flight some areas of light vegetation burned and then cooled, again making it difficult to fill in some of the holes where no heat was detected by the sensors.

The Martin Fire is 57 miles long, west to east.

map martin fire nevada
Map showing heat detected on the Martin Fire. The most current data was collected at 1 a.m. MDT July 9, 2018.
DC-10 drop retardant Martin Fire
A DC-10 makes a retardant drop on the Martin Fire. Photo uploaded to InciWeb June 6, 2018.

(UPDATED at 6:30 a.m. MDT July 9, 2018)

The incident management team has posted an updated map of the Martin Fire on InciWeb.

(UPDATED  at 6:50 p.m. MDT July 8, 2018)

According to satellite data acquired at 1:54 p.m. MDT Sunday the Martin Fire in Northern Nevada was extremely active at that time. It may have progressed over 20 miles during the previous 24 hours, reaching a total length of approximately 54 miles, west to east. At 1:54 p.m. it was 13 miles west of highway 11/226. Our very, very unofficial guestimate of the size at that time was about 380,000 acres. This is difficult to determine, because much of the vegetation that is burning is light, and can burn and then cool before the next infrared-sensing satellite overflight, occurring about every 12 hours. Our guess involved assuming some of the “unburned” holes had actually burned, but were undetectable by the satellite.

The map below shows approximately the same area as the one farther down dated July 7.

Martin Fire, July 7, 2018
Martin Fire, July 7, 2018.

(UPDATED at 2:21 MDT July 8, 2018)

InciWeb is saying the Martin Fire has burned 164,000 acres but this map puts it at over 239,000 acres.

(Originally published at 1:45 p.m MDT July 8, 2018)

The robotic cameras operated by the Nevada Seismological Lab  have scored again, capturing some great time-lapse video of the Martin Fire in Northern Nevada as pyrocumulus clouds are being created. The video was shot from 6 to 7 p.m. on July 7, 2018.

The Martin Fire has burned 164,000 acres according to InciWeb, and on Saturday it spread from Humboldt County into Elko County.

Martin Fire map Fire perimeter produced by the Incident Management Team. Text notations by Wildfire Today.

Klamathon Fire burns into Oregon

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Firefighter suffers severe burns when his engine is burned over

(Originally published at 6:18 a.m. PDT July 8, 2018) 

After burning 31 homes and killing one civilian in Hornbrook California, the Klamathon Fire has spread almost a mile across the state line into Oregon. Jefferson Public Radio is reporting that 10 people are missing in Siskiyou County, but the agencies have not provided any details.

Firefighter Brandon Feller suffered severe burns when his engine was burned over. He is being treated at the UC Davis burn center and they expect a full recovery. A GoFundMe account has been created for Mr. Feller.

Map Klamathon Fire
Map of the Klamathon Fire, July 7, 2018.

Evacuation orders have been issued for the communities of Hornbrook, Hilt, Colestin and Irongate Reservoir. Some locations in Oregon’s Jackson County have also been evacuated.

A wedding had to start early and was cut short when evacuation orders were issued.

Most of the fire is burning on private land but portions of the Klamath National Forest are also affected.

CAL FIRE reported Saturday that the fire has burned 22,000 acres, but our very unofficial analysis of a Saturday night mapping flight found that it has spread to an estimated 32,000 acres.

Saturday evening the 747 Supertanker made its first retardant drop of the year on the Klamathon Fire after being activated on a Call When Needed contract with CAL FIRE. From the flight tracking, it appeared that it dropped on the far north end of the fire in Oregon, and then returned to Sacramento McClellan Airport.

Valley Fire — from one extreme to another

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Firefighters on the 1,000-acre Valley Fire on the San Bernardino National Forest in Southern California are experiencing unusual weather. Extreme heat was on the agenda Friday, and Saturday brought several thunderstorms through the area, resulting in some flooding and debris flows along Valley of The Falls Drive and Highway 38.

The Arrowhead Hotshots, the National Park Service crew that posted these photos on Twitter, wrote Saturday night about conditions on the fire:

From one extreme to the next. Hot, fire, thunderstorms, lots of rain, hail, flash flood.

Arrowhead hotshots Valley Fire weather

Arrowhead hotshots Valley Fire weather

The Incident Management Team reports that the fire is far from being out:

The higher elevations of the fire have not seen significant rainfall, and continue to burn. The fire is moving north and east, higher into the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area.