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.

New situational awareness technology being used on southern California fires

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized

Earlier this year we wrote about a new tool being used by at least 255 emergency management agencies in California and a few other areas that provides enhanced situational awareness for incident managers. Called Next-Generation Incident Command System (NICS), the developers describe it as “a mobile web-based command and control environment for dynamically escalating incidents from first alarm to extreme-scale that facilitates collaboration across [multiple] levels of preparedness, planning, response, and recovery for all-risk/all-hazard events.” It is a combination of tools, technologies, and an innovative concept of operations for emergency response.

Channel 10 in San Diego reported on one of the features of the system — real time video downlinking from an aircraft over the fire to firefighters on the ground. A video at their site covers the infrared and fire perimeter mapping features the system can provide.

Research: storms on the sun can increase lightning on the Earth

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

solar flare

Here is something else to worry about. Researchers have found that intense solar storms on the sun can increase the amount of lightning on the earth. So….. does more solar activity mean more lightning-caused wildfires?

Here is an excerpt from an article at the BBC:

…”The solar wind is not continuous, it has slow and fast streams. Because the Sun rotates, these streams can be sent out behind each other – so if you have a fast solar wind catching up with a slow solar wind, it causes a concentration to occur,” said Dr Scott.

The scientists found that when the speed and intensity of the solar winds increased, so too did the rate of lightning strikes.

The team said the turbulent weather lasted for more than a month after the particles hit the Earth.

Using data from northern Europe, the researchers found there was an average of 422 lightning strikes in the 40 days after the high-speed solar wind arrived, compared with 321 strikes in the 40 days prior…

The finding was surprising, said Dr Scott, because it had been thought that an increase in the solar wind would have the opposite effect.

 
Thanks and a hat tip go out to Bean.

California: Las Pulgas Fire on Camp Pendleton

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,
Cocos and Las Pulgas Fires
Cocos and Las Pulgas Fires, showing in red the heat detected by a satellite at 4:03 a.m. PDT, May 16, 2014. The heat icons can be as much as a mile in error.

A new fire at Camp Pendleton in southern California grew rapidly after it started at 3:15 p.m. Thursday. A 5:09 a.m. update on Friday from the base said it had burned 8,000 acres and was 5 percent contained. Several areas on the base have been evacuated. Little other information about the fire is available, other than evacuation areas, since the Marines rarely allow reporters on the base when a fire is burning.

A total of 19 military helicopters are providing fire suppression support to firefighters in southern California, including eight Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters, seven CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters and four UH-1Y Huey helicopters.

Deceased person found in Poinsettia Fire in Carlsbad, California

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,
Poinsettia Fire, screen grab from Fox TV at 120 pm PDT, May 14, 2014
Poinsettia Fire, screen grab from Fox TV at 1:20 p.m. PDT, May 14, 2014.

A deceased person has been found inside the perimeter of the Poinsettia Fire in Carlsbad, California.

The City announced today that during mopup of the 400-acre blaze, firefighters were alerted to a transient encampment in the area of Ambrosia and Calliandra.  On checking the area, firefighters located a badly burned body. Further details about the deceased are unknown at this time and the investigation is ongoing. There have been no other reported injuries or fatalities.

Carlsbad is on the Pacific coast between Oceanside and San Diego. More information about the Poinsettia Fire which started May 14, 2014.

Video: Prescribed Burning in Northern California

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

This video provides a great deal of information about the use of prescribed fire in northern California. It is well done, with high production values.

The description on YouTube:

Catching Fire tells a compelling story of how a small but committed group of local, tribal, state and federal land managers are bringing back the use of prescribed fire as a tool to protect communities and ecosystems across Northern California. It examines the use of fire by the Karuk Tribe of California, and the connection between the rise of megafires across the West and the last century of fire suppression. Drawing on interviews with
fire scientists, tribal and federal land managers, and fire savvy residents from across the North State, this film provides insight on how our relationship to fire can be restored through strategic use of fire as a powerful management tool.

Produced By: Will Harling and Jenny Staats, Orleans/Somes Bar Fire Safe Council,
Klamath-Salmon Media Collaborative
Narrration By: Peter Coyote
Music By: Rex Richardson

Funding Provided By: a USDA Forest Service National Fire Plan grant through the California Fire Safe Council

Additional Funding Provided By: The Watershed Center, The Fire Learning Network, The US Endowment for Forestry and Communities

 
Thanks and a hat tip go out to John.