Above: Active wildfires in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, and Northern California at 4:18 a.m. MDT August 16, 2017.
(Originally published at 10:21 a.m. MDT August 16, 2017)
Dozens of wildfires are active in the Northwest one-quarter of the United States. Many of them have been burning for several weeks under a limited suppression strategy. The states of Washington and Oregon have a total of 32 large uncontained fires that have spread over 810,171 acres.
At times the area around Missoula has been heavily affected by smoke. Here are some PM 2.5 readings from Wednesday morning:
Seeley Lake: 180
Missoula: 33
Lolo: 54
Superior: 180
French Town: 19
Clinton: 26
Satellite photo showing smoke from wildfires near Missoula, Montana, August 15, 2017.Satellite photo showing smoke from wildfires in northwest California, August 15, 2017.Active wildfires (without added name tags) in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Western Montana, and Northern California at 4:18 a.m. MDT August 16, 2017.
Near the end of the hearing Senator Maria Cantwell, the ranking member, asked Bryan Rice, the Department of Interior’s Director of the Office of Wildland Fire, about using devices that can track the location of firefighters in order to reduce their risk of entrapments.
Left to right: Bryan Rice and Senator Maria Cantwell.
The Senator said to Mr. Rice, “Don’t hold us back from getting solutions in the marketplace this summer if we can”.
You can see how this went down in the better version of the 6-minute video below. If the video does not play, here’s another source for it.
At about 2:35 a.m. Tuesday two men escaped from an inmate crew that was assigned to the Head Water Fire in south-central Washington nine miles north of Goldendale. Tyray Munter, 30, was serving time for second degree assault and theft; Maksim Petrovskiy, 22, was convicted of possession of a stolen vehicle.
When not assigned to a fire the prisoners were held at the Olympic Corrections Center near Forks, Washington which houses approximately 380 minimum custody male inmates.
The Head Water Fire has burned 100 acres and has the following resources assigned: 2 hand crews, 6 engines, and 3 helicopters for a total of 123 personnel.
(Originally published at 11:38 a.m. PDT August 15, 2017)
The main priority of firefighters battling the South Fork Fire in Yosemite National Park in California is protecting homes in the North Wawona community 1.7 miles west of the fire along the South Fork of the Merced River.
Not much information is available about the fire 56 hours after it was reported very early Sunday morning, but we know that it is burning above the river on steep, rocky slopes in a forested area with beetle-killed trees. While a fire burning through dead trees sounds scary, after the needles fall off, the trees burn with less intensity and rate of spread than a healthy forest.
According to the South Zone Coordination Center, voluntary evacuations are in effect for Wawona on the east side of Chilnaulna Falls Ridge.
Our very unofficial estimate based on satellite data from 3:43 a.m. PDT Tuesday puts it at approximately 2,000 acres. The last official figure from the Incident Management Team was 1,613 acres at 7 p.m. Monday.
3-D map of the South Fork Fire. Estimated perimeter (in red) based on satellite data from 3:43 a.m. PDT August 15, 2017.
Deron Mills’ Type 2 Incident Management Team is transitioning into the management structure of the fire today, Tuesday.
The weather forecast for the fire area for Tuesday calls for sunny skies, 75 to 80 degrees, relative humidity in the mid-30s, and very light winds on the slopes in the morning increasing to 10 mph on the ridgetops in the afternoon.
The South Fork Fire and others in California are contributing to unhealthy air quality in many areas.
The visibility in Yosemite National Park at El Capitan, 12:02 p.m. PDT August 15, 2017.The forecast for the maximum levels of wildfire particulate matter (PM 2.5) for August 15, 2017 in Central California. Experimental product by U.S. Forest Service/BlueSky.
Above: Satellite photo of the South Fork and Empire Fires in Yosemite National Park, August 14, 2017.
(Originally published at 3:40 a.m. PDT August 14, 2017)
Two large fires are burning in Yosemite National Park. The Empire Fire started two weeks ago and is being monitored but not completely suppressed. It has spread across 1,200 acres one mile south of Bridalveil Campground in Yosemite’s Wilderness.
The first report of the South Fork Fire came in at 2:30 a.m. Sunday, August 13 near the South Fork of the Merced River 2.6 miles east of Wawona.
South Fork Fire. Posted on InciWeb August 14, 2017.
It has burned approximately 1,000 acres. Smoke has prevented the use of air tankers at times, but there is a report that all three of the military MAFFS aircraft currently activated have dropped on the fire when the smoke has cleared.
A Type 2 Incident Management Team has been ordered.
3-D map of the South Fork and Empire Fires in Yosemite National Park, August 14, 2017.
Above: A wildfire burns north of Athens, Greece, August 14, 2017.
(Originally published at 2:40 p.m. MDT August 14, 2017)
Numerous wildfires are burning in Greece, with one of them damaging homes and threatening more as it burns through a pine forest north of Athens. The AP reported that about 20 structures were damaged Sunday in the fire near Varnava.
Several fires are burning on the island of Zakynthos where Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis, the MP for Zakytnos, said, “It’s arson according to an organized plan”.
Wildfires in Greece, August 14, 2017. One is north of Pyrgos and others are on the island of Zakynthos.
At times the area around Missoula has been heavily affected by smoke. Here are some PM 2.5 readings from Wednesday morning:
