Red Flag Warnings for elevated wildfire danger have been issued by the National Weather Service for some areas in California through 4 p.m. PST Monday for very low humidities in the southern Sierra Nevada and the Tehachapi Mountains. This includes the Kern County Mountains, the Sierra Nevada from Yosemite National Park to Kings Canyon National Park, and the Tulare County Mountains.
Winds are expected to be northeast at 5 to 15 mph with gusts to 20, along with relative humidities of 10 percent or less.
The Red Flag Warning map was current as of 10:41 a.m. MDT on Monday. 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.
Wolverine eating road killed deer in Bitterroot National Forest. USFS photo.
U.S. Forest Service researchers in Montana set up 30 trail cameras in burned over areas to capture images of carnivores willing to climb a tree to dine on road killed deer. Below is an excerpt from an article that appeared in the Ravalli Republic.
There was no way of knowing what kind of critters might venture through the charred trees left last year in the wake of a wildfire in Soldier Creek.
“The ground was basically dust,” said Bitterroot National Forest biologist Andrea Shortsleeve.
Far up in the head of the West Fork drainage not far from Devil Creek, a team of Bitterroot National Forest researchers led by the biologist decided to set a photographic trap in an effort to see what might show up.
So they tied a leg taken from road-killed deer high up on blackened tree with a stout piece of wire. And then they carefully placed a series of stiff wire brushes into the bark of the tree to capture some fur from passing carnivores.
After that was done, they attached a trail camera to a nearby tree with its lens pointed at the bait…
(Originally published at 9:29 a.m. PST, December 28, 2013; updated at 10 a.m. PST December 29, 2013) The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings for elevated wildfire danger in some areas of California Saturday night through Sunday. The areas affected include the greater Bay area, the southern Sierras, and in southern California the counties of Los Angeles and Ventura. Santa Ana winds are expected to gust in the 50 to 60 mph range across the mountains with occasional gusts to 70 mph. In the coastal and valley areas 40 to 55 mph winds are expected. Humidities will likely lower into the teens and single digits on Sunday. The winds will diminish Sunday night but the warm and dry conditions will persist into Monday.
AT 9:53 PST on Sunday morning the weather station at Chilao north of Los Angeles recorded 8 percent relative humidity, sustained winds of 42 mph, and wind gusts to 67 mph.
As 2013 is winding down, we took a look back at the articles that have been the most popular so far this year, and other statistics about visitors to Wildfire Today.
The number of views of the stand-alone pages for articles, (articles can also viewed by visiting the home page, WildfireToday.com, at which you can see the six most recent articles):
(Originally published at 10:16 a.m. MST December 26; revised at 12:55 p.m. MST December 27, 2013)
This 34-minute documentary about the Yarnell Hill and 1994 South Canyon Fires is more evidence of how the deaths of 19 firefighters in Arizona on June 30 continues to resonate not just in the firefighter community but in the public as well. Six months later the media is still producing lengthy articles, sometimes a series of articles, and films inspired by the tragedy. This makes us think that if there is similar interest within the leadership of the wildland fire agencies there could be hope that lessons are being learned and meaningful changes could occur that may reduce the chances of it happening to another crew of 10 to 20 people. But there was similar hope almost 20 years ago when 14 firefighters died on the South Canyon Fire.
The documentary was produced by the Magic Valley Times-News which has recently published a series of articles about wildland firefighting:
UPDATE: December 27, 2013: We found another article in the series: Questioning Authority: The South Canyon Solutions. While this article is interesting reading, and quotes Pete Blume who was the BLM Fire Management Officer at Grand Junction during the South Canyon fire, like most of the other articles it has a number of factual errors, for example claiming that the South Canyon fatalities directly led to several specific changes, some of which did not come about as a result of the fire. And there’s this:
An IC on a big wildfire today, for example, may appoint someone to oversee logistics, such as care and feeding of the crews; someone to spearhead finances, dealing with contractors’ shift tickets, crew time reports, etc.; and another person on operations, i.e. strategy and tactics, who may set up two divisions of teams, each responding to their respective supervisors.
This shows a lack of understanding of the Incident Command System by the writer, a system that was first used on the Pacoima Fire in 1975 and became widely used in the 1980s. And “two divisions of teams”? Please.
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Below is an excerpt from the last section of the “20 Years After the South Canyon Fire” article:
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“….Meanwhile, seasoned fire managers report to officials in Washington, D.C., who may be from forestry, fisheries or recreation.
“People who come into these situations aren’t coming from fire,” said Alex Robertson, [deputy fire staff officer for a vast swath of Oregon, working for the U.S. Forest Service and BLM]. “Many times, they have zero experience on fire, but we’re coming to them for decisions. … it could mean a bad deal for some poor firefighter on the ground because of a decision made many miles away.
“We’re trying to explain risk and exposure to someone who doesn’t know what it means to be on top of a snag patch with flames 100 feet high.”
“I’m looking at 20-plus years in fire service, but decisions are being made by somebody with 90 days,” said one manager, whose identity is being withheld to protect his career. “It may be a very talented, brilliant individual, but they don’t have the same mental slides. It’s troubling that somebody with 90 days’ experience is making decisions for firefighters nationwide.”
“Why would we hire non-fire people into a fire agency?” asked another supervisor, whose identity also is being withheld. “But it still happens today. People in charge of fire and aviation should have an understanding of fire and aviation. But the people in charge don’t.”
Military aviation people without fire experience often are hired under the federal “veterans’ preference,” and no one begrudges a job for someone who risked their life for their country. “But it takes so long for Department of Defense people to learn fire service,” the supervisor said. “We’ve got to get the focus back to the firefighters on the ground. You could have become a master in biology or some ‘ology,’ and you have to have at least 90 days’ experience. But you could become a fire management officer for a district.”
Administrators “have to be allowed the time to learn (fire),” said Joe Brinkley, [manager of the McCall Smokejumper Base, brother of Josh Brinkley and a triplet brother of Levi, who died in the South Canyon fire]. “Somehow there has to be a relationship where everybody’s talking to everybody.”
That’s why leaders need to take time outside of the fire season to “build these relationships and trust” with top administrators, Alex Robertson said. “They’re going to make decisions that put firefighters at risk. So we’re trying to build those relationships.” “
Who knew the U.S. Forest Service has a Remount Depot? The Missoulian has an interesting article about how the agency overwinters 214 horses and mules at a facility 20 miles northwest of Missoula, MT. The mules are used to resupply fire lookout towers, bring supplies to firefighters working on remote lightning-caused fires, and assist with trail maintenance.
NINEMILE – As the sun was rising on a cold, quiet morning, 214 sets of ears tipped forward in the same direction, listening with anticipation as a hay truck started.
Tendrils of steam drifted from the many nostrils in the giant group of mostly mules as they stood statue-still, concentrating on the sound.
When it was obvious the truck was headed their way, hooves set to motion in an eager trot, kicking up freshly fallen snow as the long-eared herd moved to meet its breakfast at the pasture gate.
“Every year they come together here from across the Northern Region to winter,” explained Laura Johnson, the resources assistant with the Ninemile Remount Depot and Historic Ranger Station.
Smiling at the sight of the gentle giants, Johnson said, “They are all really friendly and get along well with each other…
