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.

“Fire Chasers” documentary series to premiere September 8

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Above: Official trailer for the new series “Fire Chasers”.

Netflix has announced that the premiere of their new Fire Chasers documentary miniseries will air on September 8, 2017. They are calling it “Season 1” and there is no official word on the number of episodes or seasons, but we heard one unofficial report that there would be four episodes with the third covering the 1966 Loop Fire on the Angeles National Forest that killed 12 firefighters.

The program will concentrate on fires and firefighters in California. Original Productions (Deadliest Catch) produced the project, which will follow both the Los Angeles County Fire Department and CAL FIRE, including women on inmate crews.

The only public screening prior to the series launch will take place on Tuesday, September 5 at 7 p.m. at the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, California. Following the screening of the first one-hour episode, KCET Cinema Series Host and Deadline.com Chief Film Critic Pete Hammond will moderate a Q&A panel discussion about the film and the issues around fire prevention.

Watch smoke from Canadian wildfires get blown over the North Atlantic Ocean

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Scientists have tracked smoke plumes that have circumnavigated the Earth multiple times.

Wildfires in Northwest California and Southern Oregon were very active Thursday

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Above: satellite photo of fires in Northwest California and Southern Oregon, August 17, 2017.

(Originally published at 11:30 a.m. MDT August 18, 2017)

Wildfires in Northwest California and Southern Oregon were very active on Thursday. Three of the largest fires on the Klamath National Forest in California are the Salmon August Complex (4,418 acres), Eclipse Complex (17,501), and Clear Fire (6,701).

The Ruth and Orleans Complexes on the Six Rivers NF have burned 4,617 and 6,943 acres respectively.

Eclipse Complex firefighters
Eclipse Complex firefighters on Division D. Photo by B. Patton. InciWeb.

Oregon and Washington have a total of 24 large fires; 15 are being suppressed and 9 are being managed with less than full suppression strategies. Some of the more active fires in Southern Oregon on Thursday were: Chetco Bar (8,500 acres), Miller (4,668), Jones (2,703), Milli (4,565), Umpqua North (3,414), and High Cascades (10,460).

Milli Fire
Milli Fire at 4 a.m. PDT August 16, 2017. Inciweb.

Forecasters expect a warm Fall in the United States

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Temperature outlook, September through November, 2017
Temperature outlook, September through November, 2017.

Weather forecasters just released their three-month outlook for September through November in the United States. If correct, it will be warmer than normal across the entire country and the precipitation will be close to average except in the Southeast where they expect wetter conditions. This could lead to extended Autumn wildfire seasons.

Precipitation outlook, September through November
Precipitation outlook, September through November, 2017.

Heavy wildfire smoke in some areas of California, Oregon, and Montana

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Air Quality Index
Air Quality Index at 12:30 p.m. MDT August 17, 2017.
Air Quality Index
Air Quality Index

Some areas in northwest Montana are seeing heavy concentrations of smoke generated by the local fires that have been burning for several weeks. When the AirNow map above was generated the Air Quality Index (AQI) at Seeley Lake was 433, well into the “Hazardous” category which ranges from 301 to 500. If it exceeds 500 that will be off the scale.

Almost all of the western two-thirds of Montana are at least in the Moderate AQI level and many areas range from Unsafe for Sensitive Groups, to Unhealthy, to Very Unhealthy.

Some locations in Oregon and Northern California are also experiencing air quality and smoke issues.

Air Quality Index for Montana
Air Quality Index for Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming at 12:30 p.m. MDT August 17, 2017.
Wildfire smoke map
Wildfire smoke at mid-day August 17, 2017. NOAA.