The Rail Ridge Fire triggered evacuations for nearby Oregon communities and burned more than 82,000 acres as of Thursday morning. Several lightning strikes caused numerous fires to combine and become a single wildfire burning throughout the Ochoco National Forest & Crooked River National Grassland.
NIFC‘s infrared fire map estimates approximately 82,946 acres have burned so far, but numerous new fires were detected around the fire’s perimeter in every direction, including to the fire’s north around 10 miles away from the town of Dayville.
“Two Oregon State Fire Marshal Task Forces are being positioned for structure protection in the Dayville area,” the Grant County Emergency Management’s Facebook page posted Wednesday night. “Dayville is currently at a Level 2 “Be Set” evacuation notice.”
Current evacuations for the fire include all buildings in the Aldrich Mountain and eastern Crook County areas.
The Rail Ridge is made of multiple lightning fires that merged into one fire. When the lightning fires first started, they were growing quickly due to winds and warm weather. Credit: Inciweb
Officials first reported the fire on Sept. 2, but it quickly jumped the nearby John Day River near Martin Creek and burned into the Murderers Creek drainage, where it ballooned in size.
The Southern Area Gray IMT, led by Incident Commander Mitch Ketron, assumed command of the fire on Sept. 3 and are reportedly utilizing a full suppression strategy when possible with firefighter and public safety in mind, according to Inciweb. Continued dry and hot weather may continue increased fire behavior.
“Strategic burning operations will be utilized from control lines to remove unburned fuels between defensible barriers and the active fire front,” Ketron told Inciweb. “On the north end, the focus will be stopping the fire from spreading into the Deep Creek drainage to keep the fire away from structures in this area.”
The Bureau of Land Management also ordered an emergency public lands closure of multiple areas throughout Crook and Grant counties. Click here for the full details.
Prescribed burns have risen to the top of the most prominent wildland fuel treatments in the world. But while the practice is excellent at reducing fuel loads, it’s been less successful at saving peoples’ homes from the flames.
Research previously published in the Journal of the International Association of Wildland Fire shows that prescribed burns only lessen structure destruction when they’re set close to structures, which adds another layer of careful, costly, and legally challenging coordination of multiple landowners. Depending on the area, relying solely on Rx burns can ultimately be unsustainable and unfeasible as extreme fire weather conditions become more frequent due to human-induced climate change.
Scientists from the University of Tasmania recognized this shortfall and turned to another fire management practice that has received little praise or scientific inquiry: defensible space in the form of gardens.
Home threatened by the Colby fire east of Los Angeles, January 17, 2014. Photo by John Stimson.
“Models based on post-fire assessments revealed that garden characteristics, particularly vegetation type and cover near the house, as well as presence of non-vegetative fuels, affect the likelihood of house loss,” the scientific article said. “In one case, they were found to be more important than building characteristics in determining house survival.”
The researchers reviewed defensible space creation guidelines from Africa, Europe, North America, South America, and Oceania to develop key recommended approaches to mitigating multiple fire attack mechanisms, including fuel types, amount, and spatial distribution.
Proper defensible space hinges on its ability to stop radiative and convective energy from crossing a heat threshold and causing a house fire. Energy transfer can occur in numerous ways, including:
Direct flame contact – Potentially the most hazardous wildfire house-loss mechanism since it has the highest heat fluxes with temperature reaching nearly 2,000°F.
Radiant heat – Electromagnetic radiation emitted from thermally hot bodies that cause structure fires when intense.
Firebrand attack – Airborne flaming or smoldering fuel particles lifted by the plume of fire gases and carried horizontally by winds which can set structures on fire or start additional fires in the area.
Direct flame contact represents a high risk, but only in proximity to the house. Radiant heat constitutes a high risk near the house, but quickly declines as the heat source is located away from the house. Conversely, the risk caused by firebrand attacks only slightly decline with distance.
Using the fuel attack mechanisms and an understanding of each region’s common fuel types and loads, the researchers developed key guidelines provided for the whole defensible space as well as a general conceptual model for defensible space including tree zones, open zones, and fuel-free zones.
Ultimately, defensible space is just one of the many practices communities will have to use as fire conditions become more frequent.
“It is important to acknowledge that defensible space is but one component in mitigating the risk of house loss,” the researchers said. “In addition to wildland fuel management, particularly in close proximity of property boundaries, and creation of defensible space, the other major factor is house design124. These last two components are fundamentally interconnected because a well-designed home may be lost to wildfire if fuel management in the defensible space is insufficient, and a poorly designed house may be still vulnerable to destruction from ember attack even if provided appropriate defensible space.”
The left side shows an effective defensible space, with overall low canopy cover, nicely green plants and grass, no vegetation in proximity of the building, and trees and shrubs organised in distinct patches which are not interconnected. With this design a fire approaching from the surrounding landscape would not encroach within the defensible space and, if individual shrubs/trees were to be lit by firebrands, fire would not easily propagate. The right side shows the opposite, where high canopy cover and connectivity facilitate fire spread from the landscape all the way to the house.
The Wapiti Fire has burned 68,123 acres of the Boise National Forest in Idaho as of Monday morning, according to Rocky Mountain Incident Management Team officials. Aerial help is largely restricted as massive smoke plumes bellow into the sky.
The fire’s hottest spots were recorded on the eastern perimeter edge nearing the isolated town of Stanley, according to the NIFC‘s infrared imaging. Town residents are also expected to bear the brunt of the smoke from the Wapiti Fire and the other nearby Nelle, Bulldog, and Flat fires. An air quality alert is in effect until 3 p.m. Monday.
“Along HWY-21 from Lowman to Banner Creek Pass and Stanley, including the entire Sawtooth Valley, will have heaviest smoke impacts,” according to Monday’s smoke forecast. “Tomorrow into early mid-week, warming and drying conditions may lead to more active smoke production.”
Credit: Inciweb
Operations Section Chief Travis Lipp said helicopters were briefly able to assist with suppression efforts after the wildfire became significantly more active Sunday afternoon. A hotspot threatened to push eastward toward Highway 21 near Stanley, but two Type 1 helicopters dropped water to cool the fire’s edge.
Officials considered also ordering scooper planes to the fire, but smoke plumes and subsequent poor flying conditions forced officials to hold off on that order. Multiple recons, three Type 1 helicopters, and scoopers are on standby to assist with suppression efforts, but will have to wait until conditions clear up. Smoke forecasts indicate the plumes won’t let up for days.
Structures in Stanley are being prepared for future burnout operations as officials prepare for potential northwest winds pushing smoke and flames even closer to the community.
“Those locally probably noticed some increased fire activity Sunday afternoon in the homestead area,” said Operations Section Chief Travis Lipp in a video Monday. “Crews were able to start putting fire on the ground along highway 21 and around the homestead community. That was continued on through the night into the early hours of this morning until conditions moderated. Today, we’re looking at continuing those burning operations when conditions allow.”
The Red Cross of Idaho and East Oregon opened a shelter in Stanley for Custer and Boise county residents displaced by the fire, along with meals and emotional support. The shelter is at the Stanley Community Center, 510 Eva Falls Ave.
The lightning-caused Fish Creek Fire has burned nearly 8,000 acres of Wyoming’s Bridger-Teton National Forest and triggered pre-evacuation notices as of Thursday morning. The wildfire’s total acreage has nearly quadrupled since Monday.
Officials first reported the fire on Aug. 17 at just five acres, but quickly ballooned to 2,250 acres on Monday. USFS officials blame high winds for the spread, and warn the fire may grow even more.
“Fire managers are expecting significant growth again on the Fish Creek Fire [Thursday] afternoon with increased winds and warmer temperatures,” the national forest’s Facebook account posted. “The fires increased growth continues to produce heavy, dense smoke creating limited visibility on US HWY 26/287. Please drive slowly and cautiously in the area with your headlights on.”
Fire danger rating for the national forest and the nearby Grand Teton National Park has been listed as “High” since July 9. A CIMT was ordered and will provide command-and-control infrastructure.
U.S. Forest Service-Bridger-Teton National Forest
Level 2 “Be Set” evacuation notices were issued by Fremont Emergency Management officials to numerous areas near the fire, including all homes and dwellings on Brooks Lake Road, West Pinnacle Drive, East Pinnacle Drive, Pinnacle Lane, and Breccia Drive. All areas along U.S. Highway 26/State Route 287 between mile posts 30 and 35 are also under pre-evacuation notices.
Fire crews were forced to battle the Fish Creek while managing other wildfires in the forest as of Sunday, including:
Clearwater Fire – Burned 1,966 acres since July 19 and sits at 75% containment.
Leeds Creek Fire – Burned 780 acres and sits at 70% containment.
Merna Butte Fire – Burned 153 acres and sits at 50% containment.
Cottonwood Creek Fire – Burned seven acres and sits at 0% containment. It is burning six miles southwest of the Fish Creek Fire.
U.S. Forest Service-Bridger-Teton National Forest
The forest has a generations-long fire history, with numerous Native American tribes regularly and intentionally burning Northern Rockies landscapes for a variety of reasons including clearing undergrowth, creating wildlife habitat, and reducing fire risk. Forest officials began reintroducing fire to ecosystems throughout the 1960s and ’70s.
Wildfire smoke from Canada has been crossing the North Atlantic since Aug. 10 and reached Western Europe on Aug. 17, resulting in high levels of particulate matter and aerosols like smoke particles in Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, and Scandinavia.
“Evaluation of the CAMS forecasts against independent Aeronet measurements shows good agreement in the timing and magnitude of the [aerosol optical depth] evaluations at several sites, including Cork in Ireland, Camborne in the United Kingdom, and Brest and Arcachon in France,” the service said Tuesday.
CAMS total aerosol optical depth analyses from 10 to 19 August. Source: CAMS
The Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba recorded their highest wildfire carbon emissions for any August ever in the service’s Global Fire Assimilation System, CAMS reported Tuesday.
British Columbia and Alberta dominated emissions totals for Canada in July, but the number of wildfires and emissions increased sharply in the Northwest Territories through August following heatwaves across the region. Saskatchewan emissions are estimated at over 11 megatonnes for August alone, while Manitoba is currently at over 5 megatonnes.
The new records push Canada’s total estimated August emissions near the level of 2023, when the country experienced its highest emissions since 2023.
“As a result, 2024 is already one of the most extreme years of the last two decades for Canada and is set to be second only to 2023 in terms of emissions,” CAMS researchers said. “The total estimated wildfire carbon emissions in Northwest Territories from 1 January to 19 August exceed 70 megatonnes and are only behind 2023 and 2014 in terms of the annual total fire emissions for the territory.”
CAMS GFASv1.2 daily total fire radiative power (top) since August 1 comparing 2024 (in red) with the 2003-2023 mean (in grey) and total estimated carbon emissions (bottom) for Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario since August 1. Source: CAMS
While evacuation orders remain in place for residents near a wildfire in the Portuguese archipelago of Madeira, worry now turns toward the six-day fire possibly permanently damaging a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The Curral das Freiras (Valley of the Nuns) wildfire began on Aug. 14 and has since burned 3,000 hectares (7,410 acres) of forest. Regional Government President Miguel Albuquerque claimed arson started the fire, but specifics have not yet been released.
The fire continues to cause issues for the main island’s inhabitants, according to the Regional Civil Protection Service. Officials evacuated 160 residents on Sunday, but many more on the island continue to suffer from the fire’s smoke.
NASA Earth Observatory Landsat 8 — OLI
“In Curral das Freiras, the situation causes some concern, due to the fact that the active front is evolving upwards towards the Areeiro peak and branching downwards approaching a residential area in Fajã dos Cardos,” the service said in a Tuesday morning update on its Facebook page. “[Officials] continue to closely monitor the evolution of fires and reiterate their appeal to the population to avoid traveling to the affected areas, for their safety and to ensure a more effective and safer combat operation for the teams on the ground.”
Regional Civil Protection Service President António Nunes recently told the Madeira Journal that the slope-filled area where the wildfire is spreading is “impossible” to fight with land-based resources and said the only solution may be letting the fire burn-out. Pressure mounts as the fire burns some of the Laurisilva World Heritage Site’s 15,000 hectares (37,065 acres), which makes up 20% of the island. The forest holds exceptional environmental importance as it is largest surviving area of primary laurel forest in the world and holds a wealth of ecological niches and intact ecosystem processes.
“No matter how hard it is, no matter how much it may hurt, this is one of the possibilities,” Nunes said. “When it is not accessible, we have to let the fire progress to an area where it is possible to fight it.”
The president’s statement worried UNESCO Chair in Biodiversity and Conservation for Development Helena Freitas, who told Portugal Pulse that the wildfire may do more than burn the “precious treasure” forest.
“There’s nothing that isn’t affected by the loss of biodiversity,” Freitas said. “I don’t even know if we can talk about a recoverable situation, but it is indeed a very singular heritage. We’re talking about a vascular and exuberant flora, with over a thousand species, of which about 20% are completely exclusive to Madeira Island.”
It’s not the first time a fire has threatened Laurisilva, even recently. Arson also started a fire that partially burned the site last October, and caused widespread outrage due to the delay in fighting the fire. Possibly learning from their mistakes in the past, the nation’s Judicial Police have reportedly been investigating the cause of the current fire “since the beginning.”
“Declining to provide details, the source only indicated that the Madeira Criminal Investigation Department ‘is carrying out the investigation procedures that are normal in this type of situation’,” Madeira Island News reported.
