Jeff Zimmerman was kind enough to send us these photos he took of CL-415 water-scooping air tankers dropping on the Colby Fire east of Los Angeles on January 16. The Canadian air tankers are leased every year during the fall by the Los Angeles County Fire Department. Their 2013 contract was scheduled to end in December, but was extended due to the extremely dry conditions in southern California.
John Stimson was kind enough to allow us to show you some of the photos he took on Thursday at the Colby Fire near Glendora, California. You can see more of his photos HERE.
Red Flag Warnings (in red) and Fire Weather Watches (in brown), January 17, 2014
Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches for elevated wildfire danger have been issued by the National Weather Service for areas in California, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Alabama.
The Red Flag Warning map was current as of 1:30 p.m. MDT on Friday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts. For the most current data, visit this NWS site.
Smoke from the Colby Fire, as photographed by a NASA satellite
(Originally published at 8:20 a.m. PST, January 16, 2014)
(UPDATED at 12:42 p.m. January 20, 2014)
The incident management team reports that the Colby fire is 46 acres larger than it was yesterday, at 1,952 acres now, and they are calling it 84 percent contained.
The team reported today that resources assigned to the fire include 1,112 personnel, 45 hand crews, 100 engines, 3 helicopters, 5 dozers, 8 fixed wing aircraft, and 3 heli-tankers.
(UPDATED at 11:18, January 19, 2014)
Firefighters are gaining a stronger hold on the Colby Fire east of Los Angeles. The incident management team is now calling the 1,906-acre fire 78 percent contained.
Evacuations were lifted for the Community of Mountain Cove at 6:00 PM. January 18, 2014. No evacuation are currently in place. Highway 39 remains closed and is only open to residents.
The Colby Fire is being fought by 1,112 personnel, 26 hand crews, 100 engines, 3 helicopters, 5 dozers, 8 fixed wing aircraft, and 3 heli-tankers.
Six residences have been destroyed and five have been damaged.
Firefighters put in a hose lay on the Colby Fire. InciWeb Photo.Cleveland National Forest engine crews after a shift on the Colby Fire. InciWeb photo.
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(UPDATE at 10 a.m. PST, January 18, 2014)
The Incident Management Team has revised the mapped size of the Colby Fire to 1,863 acres, and they are calling it 30 percent contained. Today’s high temperature is expected to reach 87 degrees with relative humidity in the single digits. They anticipate a “medium” potential for additional fire spread. The area continues to be under a Red Flag Warning until 6 p.m. for elevated wildfire danger. Today’s fire operations will be primarily focused on reinforcing containment lines along the fire’s northern perimeter and cooling hot spots.
Firefighting resources assigned include 1,112 personnel, 33 hand crews, 140 engines, 9 helicopters, 1 dozer, 4 and fixed-wing aircraft.
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(UPDATE at 1:15 p.m. PST, January 17, 2014)
The photo above is a still image from an amazing video of the Super Scooper CL-415 air tankers scooping water at Santa Fe Dam yesterday. One of the videos is below, others are at Fire Aviation.
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(UPDATE at 12:25 p.m. PST, January 17, 2014)
Below we have a map showing the official perimeter of the Colby Fire. The perimeter data was produced by the Incident Management Team as was current as of 5:04 PST January 16. Reportedly, the fire has not spread much since then. Click on the map to see a larger version. Continue reading “Colby Fire, near Glendora, California”
A National Park Service study suggests air pollution in the Santa Monica Mountains is harming native plants, increasing the fire risk.
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THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Initial results from experiments conducted in the Santa Monica Mountains indicate that high levels of nitrogen may adversely impact native plants and, by extension, increase the risk of wildfire.
Interns measure plots of California sagebrush that have been injected with various levels of nitrogen as part of a three-year study to learn how air pollution is impacting native plants and fire risk. National Park Service photo.
“No one will be surprised to learn that our data shows increased air pollution on the eastern end of the mountains, closer to Los Angeles,” said Dr. Irina Irvine, restoration ecologist for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “What’s more intriguing about this study is learning how high nitrogen levels affect native vegetation and what that might mean for fire risk in such a fire-prone region.”
The preliminary results are from the first year of a three-year study undertaken by Irvine, UC Riverside’s Dr. Edith B. Allen and the U.S. Forest Service’s Dr. Andrzej Bytnerowicz and Dr. Mark Fenn.
Researchers measured atmospheric nitrogen deposition levels at 10 sites throughout the Santa Monica Mountains and found significantly higher pollution levels in the eastern end (see map). At the two sites with the best air quality, they added various levels of nitrogen into experimental plots of coastal sage scrub to simulate pollution levels found throughout the mountains.
Higher levels of nitrogen led to a decline in native shrub seedlings and an increase in nonnative grasses. Other studies in Australia and California have demonstrated a link between nonnative grasses, also known as “flashy fuels,” and larger and more frequent wildfires.
Funded by the National Park Service’s Air Resources Division, the $100,000 study will help scientists better determine the “critical load” when vegetation shifts, causing alterations to the structure and functionality of ecosystems. Coastal sage scrub once covered much of coastal California and is now an endangered habitat type, primarily due to development.
Generally attributed to vehicle emissions in the Santa Monica Mountains, nitrogen deposition is the air pollution from industry, agriculture and transportation that settles out of the atmosphere and onto the earth’s surface.
