News and opinion about wildland fire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized7 Comments on MAFFS air tankers assist crew in trouble A TV station in Sacramento, California has a story about Military MAFFS C-130 air tankers making some retardant drops to assist a hand crew that was in a difficult situation on the RIM fire recently.
I am intrigued by the “common operating picture” that was mentioned by the national guard gentleman.
Our main article about the Rim Fire at Yosemite National Park is updated daily with maps and current information.
Jake Niece sent us some photos tanken at the Beaver Creek Fire southwest of Ketchum, Idaho. This is just a sample of his excellent photography, more of which can be seen at his web site.
“In single file they marched right up to heaven.”
From the song, Change in the wind.
Some artists in Prescott, Arizona got together and recorded a song that honors the memories of the 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots that were killed on the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013. The recording has just been released and is available as a CD or can be downloaded as an Mp3. The organization they formed, Change in the Wind, will donate the proceeds from the sales to “help fill the immediate and long-term needs of the Granite Mountain Hotshot families”.
A video of the song, Change in the Wind, is below. We helped their effort in a small way by donating a photo we took of the procession that carried the bodies of the 19 hotshots from Phoenix to Prescott.
The CD release party will be tonight, Wednesday August 28, from 5 to 7 p.m., at the El Gato Azul restaurant, 316 W. Goodwin Street, in Prescott. CDs will be for sale there.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on Virtual tour of the Rim Fire area This is an excellent virtual tour video that shows the geographical relationship of the 187,000-acre Rim Fire to Yosemite National Park, Yosemite Valley, and some of the other landmarks in the area.
Our main article about the Rim Fire is updated daily with maps and current information.
Oscar Montano-Garcia, 50, a firefighter working on a contract Type 2 hand crew collapsed and died while working on the Nabob Fire on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest in Oregon on Sunday, August 25.
The crew was rehabilitating a fireline by pulling brush back over the line that connected with the Pacific Crest Trail. They had just taken a lunch break when Mr. Montano-Garcia collapsed. EMT’s on scene and multiple other EMS personnel attempted to revive the firefighter but were unsuccessful.
Our sincere condolences go out to Mr. Montano-Garcia’s family and co-workers.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Nighttime photo of the Rim Fire from space 
A satellite with extraordinary light-sensing capabilities recently photographed the Rim Fire at night. The image above was captured by NASA’s Suomi NPP satellite on August 23 as the fire burned into Yosemite National Park in California. That was a very active time period for the fire, as it was growing rapidly.
It is common to see satellite data showing heat generated by wildfires, but this is the first image we have seen of visible light created by a fire at night. In this photo, the smoke from the fire is also detected.
The satellite, launched in October 2011, has a new imaging instrument with a “day-night band” that can detect natural and man-made light with unprecedented resolution and clarity — six times better spatial resolution and 250 times better resolution of lighting levels than previous instruments.
Our main article about the Rim Fire is HERE, and is updated daily with maps and current information.
For comparison with the satellite photo, below is a map of the Rim Fire at 9 p.m. August 22.
