Smoke from U.S. wildfires, July 29, 2016. Weatherunderground.
Smoke from western wildfires in Idaho and Colorado is expected to worsen over the weekend as it drifts east.
The Pioneer fire burning outside of Boise emitted a pillowing plume of smoke on Friday that could be seen from miles away. As of Friday night, the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality had issued an unhealthy air quality warning for areas around Ketchum, due east of the Pioneer fire.
Colorado residents are also likely to see more smoke in the area this weekend as smoke from the Pioneer fire drifts east and mixes with plumes from Colorado’s Beaver Creek fire.
Firefighters are anticipating that it will take them until late October to contain the Beaver Creek fire, which is burning in one of the forests hardest hit by mountain pine beetle.
Tactics being used to contain the blaze have already emerged as a case study in how to suppress fire in an environment transfigured by thousands of dead trees.
Beetle-kill trees in the area thwarted firefighters’ attempts at a direct attack — downed trees made building a fireline difficult and gusts from helicopter rotors only caused more trees to fall, according to a lessons learned report published on July 27.
An indirect approach containing the fire became essential when initial attack crews felt radiant heat from flames a half a mile away:
Because of the extreme fire behavior exhibited early on in the Beaver Creek Fire, firefighters knew a direct attack would be both dangerous and ineffective…Firefighters removed fuels, wrapped buildings, laid hoses and sprinklers around the structures, and strategically burned out around buildings in advance of the fire.
The conditions in the Routt National Forest, along the Colorado-Wyoming border, also proved challenging to firefighter safety, according to a post from the incident management team on InciWeb.
The fire is burning in heavy beetle killed timber. The infested trees are subject to blowing over contributing large amounts of down timber and providing fuel for extreme fire behavior when strong winds and terrain features are in alignment, making the timbered areas unsafe for firefighters.
The fire, which started on June 19 in north-central Colorado, spread by several hundred acres during a hot, windy and humid day this week and forced firefighters to pull back to safety zones, The Denver Post reported.
As of July 29, the fire had burned 30,137 acres and is 12 percent contained.
Map of the Soberanes Fire at 2:30 a.m. August 2, 2016.
Damage assessment teams have identified 57 residences and 11 outbuildings that have been destroyed in the Soberanes Fire between Big Sur and Monterey, California.
The Incident Commander, Todd Derum, reports that firefighters have achieved 18 percent containment after fighting the blaze for 12 days, which has now blackened over 43,000 acres.
Several areas are still under evacuation orders.
On the west side the fire has come close to reaching the Pacific Ocean, while the east side is 14 to 18 miles west of US Highway 101.
Resources assigned to the fire include: Engines: 510, Water tenders: 51, Helicopters: 17, Air Tankers: 6, Hand Crews: 107, Dozers: 72, Other: 14, Total Personnel: 5,451.
The Soberanes fire in Big Sur continues to rage with little containment, and on Sunday it prompted more evacuations of local residents.
Businesses in the area have already begun to suffer from the shutdown of various state parks in the famously scenic coastal region, according to a story from Market Watch.
As of Monday morning, the fire had burned 40,618 acres and was 18 percent contained, according to InciWeb.
The rugged firefighting conditions mixed with hot weather have made the fire harder to contain:
Extremely remote and rugged terrain with limited access coupled with hot and dry weather and an above average cured grass crop has resulted in a high resistance to control.
— Alameda County Fire (@AlamedaCoFire) July 29, 2016
The Soberanes fire in Monterey County has shifted California’s focus from Los Angeles to Big Sur, where the fire has shut down several state parks, destroyed dozens of homes and continues to burn with little containment.
The National Weather Service has posted Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches for areas in California, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
The maps were current as of 5:37 a.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 and maps. For the most current data visit this NWS site.
The operator of a bulldozer was killed while working on the Soberanes fire, one of two major wildfires burning in California and one that has already destroyed 20 homes.
The operator was killed when the bulldozer rolled over, and another operator was injured in a similar incident, The Associated Press reported on Wednesday. Other reports say the dozer operator died of injuries on Tuesday night.
The bulldozer operator was working on a call-when-needed basis overnight when the fatal accident occurred, according to information posted on CAL FIRE’s website. The dozer was one of 60 assigned to the fire in Monterey County.
Officials have not yet released the name of the operator who was killed. California’s other major blaze, the Sand fire, killed a man this week outside of Los Angeles.
UPDATE April 17, 2017: KQED reports that the name of the dozer operator that was killed was Robert Reagan.
Check back with wildfiretoday.com for more on this story.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Chris and Daniel.
3-D Map of the Sand Fire, looking east. It shows heat detected by a satellite. The red dots are the most current, detected at 2:01 p.m. PDT July 25, 2016.
(Updated 12:34 p.m. MDT, July 26, 2016)
Officials in Los Angeles have identified the body of Robert Bresnick, 67, who was found dead Saturday in a neighborhood burned by the Sand fire.
The fire has also destroyed at least 18 homes. Many of the thousands of residents who were forced to evacuate were allowed to return home Monday night.
The Sand fire continued to rage outside of Los Angeles on Monday, and while firefighters still struggled to contain it, thousands of evacuation residents were allowed to return home.
(Maps of evacuation zones and lists of neighborhoods can be found here.)
On Tuesday the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors is expected to declare the Sand fire — which has destroyed 18 homes and possibly killed one person — a local emergency, a declaration that usually paves the way for grant funding to help communities recover after natural disasters.
Near the city of Santa Clarita, the fire grew by more than 10,000 acres on Sunday, according to the incident management team’s Monday-morning updates. By Monday night the fire spanned more than 35,000 acres and remained only 10 percent contained.
Map showing heat detected on the Sand Fire by a satellite. The red dots are the most current, detected at 2:01 p.m. PDT July 25, 2016. At that time the fire was actively spreading on the east side, as well as on the west side, east of Santa Clarita and Highway 14.Here are some updated stats on resources:
3,379 firefighters are engaged on the Sand Fire,
Resources: 435 engines, 54 hand crews, 26 helicopters, 22 dozers and 17 water tenders.
On Sunday, aircraft were briefly kept from the skies over the Sand fire when a personal drone was spotted in the area. While aircraft were only out of commission for 30 minutes (according to local media reports), this was the second time in a week that aircraft were downed because a drone. A similar incident in Montana occurred on the same day.
Thanks to wildfiretoday.com reader, Rick Baldridge, for sending us this photo, taken when the fire started on July 23.
(Updated 5:50 a.m. MDT, July 28, 2016)
The Soberanes fire in Monterey County has destroyed 34 homes, according to the Wednesday night update posted on CALFire’s information site.
The fire has already taken a heavier toll — a privately-contracted bulldozer operator died Tuesday night from injuries sustained in an accident while working on the fireline.
The fire has burned 23,688 acres and remains only 10 percent contained.
***
(Updated 5:47 a.m. MDT, July 27, 2016)
The Soberanes fire in Monterey County has triggered a local emergency declaration, which will allow affected counties to access emergency funds to help cover costs during and after the fire.
As of Tuesday night, the fire had destroyed 23,500 acres and remains 10 percent contained. It has destroyed 20 homes and continues to threaten 1,650 other structures, according to the latest information posted on InciWeb. The fire has also shut down several state parks, according to The Mercury News.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
***
(Updated 10 p.m. MDT, July 25, 2016)
While the Sand fire rages in L.A. County, the Soberanes fire near Big Sur in Monterey County has forced evacuations as it continues to spread with little to no containment.
Some quick stats (see more here):
16,100; 10 percent contained
1,650 structures threatened; 20 homes destroyed, 2 outbuildings
Resources:
Engines: 210
Crews: 42
Helicopters: 14
Air Tankers: 6
Dozers: 56
Water Tenders: 20
Total Personnel: 2,285
CAL Fire’s Chief Public Information Officer Daniel Berlant shared some spectacular photos on Twitter:
A fire raging in Los Angeles County destroyed at least 18 homes and killed one person, whose body was found outside of a home in Santa Clarita, according to local media reports.
Thousands of homes remain threatened as the Sand fire doubled in size from Friday to Saturday. Officials had planned to lift evacuation orders for some threatened neighborhoods, but changed their minds after an unexpected wind event, according to updates on inciweb.com.
Drones have also caused problems for firefighting efforts on the Sand fire, according to a posting from the incident management team on inciweb.com. Local media reported that a drone flying in the Bear Divide area of the Angeles National Forest suspended flight operations on Sunday for 30 minutes.
On Friday, a similar incident shutdown fire operations in Montana.
Some quick facts about the Sand fire:
Started: July 22, around 2:15 p.m. PST
Cause: Undetermined
Total personnel: 1,673
Size: 22,000 acres
Resources: 122 engines, 39 hand crews, 15 helicopters and 8 dozers.
Montana law enforcement officials have seized a drone that shut down airtanker flights Saturday over the Fritz fire, burning outside of Billings.
The incident comes less than a month after the Federal Aviation Administration sent a mass email to all people who have drones registered with agency asking that they not fly during wildfires.
The email warned that “drone operators who interfere with wildfire suppression efforts are subject to civil penalties of up to $27,500 and possible criminal prosecution.”
The Fritz fire has destroyed at least one home and burned more than 1,000 acres, according to local media reports. As of Sunday, local media said it was at 40 percent containment.
The fire ignited Friday evening, and that night a private drone was spotted flying in the area. The Billings-Gazette reported law enforcement officials took possession of the drone on Friday.
It appears that flight operations were shut down for a half-an-hour.
Drones, like other aircraft, are subject to temporary flight restrictions put in place during a wildfire, according to information from the National Fire Information Center.
“Individuals who are determined to have interfered with wildfire suppression efforts may be subject to civil penalties and potentially criminal prosecution.”
