Kelly Andersson, Author at Wildfire Today

Eastern Oregon fire traps hunters

Kelly AnderssonAugust 29, 2012August 25, 2019UncategorizedOregon3 Comments

Two bowhunters in eastern Oregon have been trapped by a fast-moving wildfire. The Parish Cabin Fire, 15 miles northeast of Seneca, forced the evacuation of about two dozen people from campgrounds and dispersed hunting camps Tuesday night. Glenn Palmer, Grant County Sheriff, said the trapped couple had called relatives in the Portland area on Tuesday evening and said they were hiking back out toward their car, which was parked on the south side of the Strawberry Mountain Wilderness.

“They’re not going to be able to drive out,” Palmer said. “The fire’s cut off their escape route.”

The Oregonian reported that Palmer sent two deputies to the area late Tuesday, but they couldn’t find the couple’s car at the High Lake trailhead. The fire’s burned across area roads, and numerous downed trees in the area have made it inaccessible by ground; the sheriff plans to request a helicopter rescue by the Oregon Office of Emergency Management.

View from USFS Supervisor's Office in John Day - Parish Cabin Fire — View from USFS Supervisor’s Office in John Day – Parish Cabin Fire. USFS photo.

The fire’s reported at 4,000 acres this morning; roads in the area are closed. Oregon Interagency Incident Management Team 4 (Incident Commander Brian Watts) has been ordered and will transition this evening with the local Type 3 team.

The Blue Mountain Eagle reported that the Forest Service and Grant County Sheriff’s deputies evacuated Lake Creek Youth Camp, Parish Cabin Campground, and many dispersed campsites in the area.

UPDATE 7:12 p.m. PDT: The Blue Mountain Eagle in John Day reports that the Portland couple are unaccounted for. The sheriff’s department has been in contact with the family, including the man’s brother, a deputy sheriff in Los Angeles County, California. Messages have been left on the couple’s cellphones.

“They’re skilled hikers, and he has some experience with firefighting,” Sheriff Glenn Palmer said.

He said a note was left on the couple’s vehicle, found parked near the High Lake trailhead on the south side of Strawberry Mountain, asking them to call law enforcement. The fire’s about 2.5 miles from the vehicle.

UPDATE 7:22 p.m. PDT: KEPR-TV reports that the couple has safely got out of the fire area.

Smokey Junior

Kelly AnderssonAugust 28, 2012August 25, 2019Uncategorized

Firefighters have rescued a black bear cub whose paws were burned on the Mustang Complex on the Salmon River in Idaho. They nicknamed him “Boo Boo” after discovering the cub Saturday near a boat launch. The little guy’s paws were blistered; a crew scouted for the mother bear but couldn’t find her.

Boo Boo Bear – photo by Karen Dunlap, USFS

KVAL News reported that an Idaho Fish and Game Officer and a member of the Whiskey Flats Crew took the cub to the Garden Valley Ranger Station. They figure the cub, at about 25 lbs., hadn’t eaten for several days. The cub will be re-homed at the non-profit Snowden Wildlife Sanctuary in McCall, Idaho.

The 149,000-acre Mustang Complex was lightning-ignited over the weekend of July 28-29. Five of the fires (Mustang, Broomtail, Roan, Cayuse, and East Butte) burned together over the next four weeks. The incident command post is about a mile north of the community of North Fork, and the IMT says containment will be difficult in the absence of substantial precipitation. The complex is about 14 percent contained, and firefighters have been challenged by exceptionally dry fuels, rugged terrain, and frequent adverse fire weather conditions.

Rock started fire

Kelly AnderssonAugust 28, 2012August 28, 2012Uncategorized3 Comments

In the weird-ways-to-start-a-fire department, the 800-acre Lighthouse Fire last month was caused by two boulders. According to Utah state fire investigators, the fire started July 18 when a boulder fell 800 feet from a cliff face, bounced several times, then collided with a larger boulder and came to “an instantaneous stop.” Jason Curry, spokesman for the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands, told the Deseret News that it’s a rare incident.

The boulder was about the size of a refrigerator, and it smacked a boulder the size of a sport utility vehicle. Curry said the pressure friction generated heat, which set off the fire in dry grass and brush.

Delphia Fire in Montana at 30,000 acres (46.875 square miles)

Kelly AnderssonAugust 27, 2012August 25, 2019Uncategorized1 Comment

Fire crews today battled a wildfire threatening rural homes east of Roundup, Montana, and fire weather forecasters are expecting that winds over the next several days could push growth on fires across the rest of the state. KFBB News tonight reported the Delphia Fire at 30,000 acres and said that a Type 2 IMT took over command yesterday morning.

The lightning-caused Delphia Fire is now 60 percent contained, according to an AP report, after growing to 30,000 acres (what the mainstream media is calling “almost 55 square miles,” which is actually 35,200 acres).

Pat Mckelvey with the Montana DNRC said the fire’s burning in timber and sage between Roundup and Musselshell; 15 or 20 outbuildings have been destroyed.

According to Tom Heintz’s IMT, a critical fire weather event is expected in the next few days. High temperatures, low relative humidity, and thunderstorms have resulted in a red flag warning.

There are no maps nor photos on inciweb for this fire. However, the Billings Gazette has a few photos online. Their report yesterday noted that power was restored to the areas of Melstone and Musselshell on Sunday night.

Increasing winds the next couple days will probably push the Delphia Fire to the east, where Mckelvey said crews were working on firelines. Area residents have been advised to evacuate, but most residents were reportedly staying put and planning to defend their homes. Near-record high temps and winds of up to 45 mph are expected before the forecasted cold front on Wednesday, along with predicted dry thunderstorms in the area.

So far this year, fires have burned just shy of 1,300 square miles (832,000 acres) in Montana.

NIMO team on fire complex near Seiad Valley

Kelly AnderssonAugust 27, 2012August 25, 2019UncategorizedNIMO3 Comments

Residents of the Seiad Valley west of Yreka in northern California received a 12-hour evacuation notice today at 9:00 a.m. from the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department. The notice informs residents that the Goff Fire is approaching and that they may have to evacuate. The 12-hour notification process includes phone calls to residents’ land-line phones and door-to-door notification by the Siskiyou County Sheriff’s Department.

We’ll see if Siskiyou County is more on the ball than the Jefferson County system in Colorado was back in March. A reverse-911 system there, intended to automatically call residents to advise them to evacuate may have contributed to the three fatalities during the first few hours of the Lower North Fork Fire on March 26 southwest of Denver. All three victims on that fire called 9-1-1 during the early stages of the fire and talked to dispatchers, but they were not told to evacuate.

Although two of the three blazes in the Fort Complex have been mostly contained, the Goff Fire in the Klamath River drainage is still growing.

The Goff Fire is at 11,712 acres and 15 percent contained. Late last week, the southeast edge of the fire was about three miles from Seiad Valley, according to the Ashland Daily Tidings. “Our first priority is the protection of the Seiad Valley community,” said Mike Ferris, info officer with the USFS.

“A lot of our focus and attention is to reinforce the fireline around the southeast flank of the fire where it has the potential to come down and threaten the community,” Ferris said. “The work is all hand-line because there is no opportunity to use dozers.” Ferris said that crews are available to battle the Goff Fire. “We’re getting the resources we need. We had three hotshot crews come in this morning.”

A structure protection unit is assigned in case the fire approaches the community; they’re assessing structure defense along Seiad Creek Road. Ferris said there are 85 homes and 10 outbuildings in the area.

Closures near the fire include a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail. The 403-acre Lick Fire in the Applegate River drainage and the 977-acre Hello Fire in the Red Buttes Wilderness in the Fort Complex are no longer active; the Lick Fire is 97 percent contained and the Hello Fire is at 83 percent containment. Command of the Hello and Lick Fires has been transferred back to the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. No additional updates on the Fruit or Lick Fires are expected unless conditions change. Both are in the Siskiyou Mountains Ranger District of the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.

All three fires in the complex were ignited by a thunderstorm during the first week of August.

Teach your children well …

Kelly AnderssonAugust 24, 2012August 25, 2012Uncategorizedfire behavior1 Comment

In the midst of drifting smoke haze from wildfires, forced evacuations, and wildfire news all over the media, back-to-school kids in northern California are getting lessons on fire preparedness.

Ridge-area sixth graders, just east of Chico, California, have been learning the do’s and don’ts of keeping their families safe in the event of a wildfire. The Paradise Post reported on a new curriculum designed by the Butte County Fire Safe Council, which received a grant from PG&E that supplied educational materials to local sixth-grade classes.

Local Pine Ridge teacher Mike Gulbranson told his class on Thursday, “We’re going to focus specifically on wildfire in the foothills because this is where you live.”

He ran his students through instructional material ranging from identifying hazardous vegetation to the geographical makeup of the local area and why it’s especially susceptible to wildfire.

“Fires love elevation,” Gulbranson told the kids. He explained how a fire on the lower part of the ridge is more likely to move up the ridge rather than down. Taylor Cook, 11, was asked about how trees might catch fire from the underbrush below. She correctly identified the hazard as “ladder fuels” and said she’d learned about ladder fuels on a field trip. The schools program is supported by community donations and grant funding from Pacific Gas and Electric Company

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