Wildfire Today

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Santa Fe National Forest fuels & restoration videos, parts 11 and 12

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,
fuel management fire forest wildfire
Screenshot from Part 12 of the Santa Fe NF series of videos on fuel management.

Here are parts 11 and 12 in the series of 12 videos produced by the Santa Fe National Forest on the topic of fuel management and forest restoration.

Fuel Management is defined as:

An act or practice of controlling flammability and reducing resistance to control of wildland fuels [vegetation] through mechanical, chemical, biological, or manual means, or by fire, in support of land management objectives.

Forest Restoration:

Actions to re-instate ecological processes, which accelerate recovery of forest structure, ecological functioning and biodiversity levels towards those typical of climax forest, i.e. the end-stage of natural forest succession.

Part 11, Protecting Cultural Sites

Part 12, If We Do Nothing

Other videos in the series, published weekly, can be seen here. The final video will appear October 20, 2019.

Little Tujunga Hotshots spotted in Tennessee

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , ,
Little Tujunga Hotshots eastern Tennessee
Little Tujunga Hotshots in eastern Tennessee. Screenshot from WJHL video.

The Little Tujunga Hotshots are about 2,000 miles away from their southern California home on the Angeles National Forest. The crew is staged on the Cherokee National Forest in eastern Tennessee due to the high wildland fire danger in the area.

National Preparedness Level raised to 2

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags
NIFC web site
Screenshot from the NIFC web site, October 18, 2019.

The week after the National Interagency Coordination Center announced they were going to stop producing the daily Situation Report and only publish it weekly, they raised the National Preparedness level to 2.

Preparedness Level 2The change occurred at 2 p.m. MDT Friday, “…due to an increase in resource mobilization, competition for resources, significant incidents occurring in multiple geographic areas and critical fire weather conditions in those geographic areas.”

As of today, October 18, fourteen active large fires have burned more than 228,000 acres in five states. Twelve new large fires were reported this week.

Firefighting resources committed to fires today:

  • 87 hand crews
  • 166 engines
  • 22 helicopters
  • 3,181 personnel

“Fire Season” is now “Fire Year”.

Red Flag Warnings
Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches, current at 6:15 p.m MDT October, 18, 2019 Click to enlarge.

(Red Flag Warnings can be modified throughout the day as NWS offices around the country update and revise their weather forecasts.)

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to LM. Typos or errors, report them HERE.

USFS firefighters save life of person suffering cardiac event

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 2 Comments on USFS firefighters save life of person suffering cardiac event

U.S. Forest Service Firefighters on the Saddle Ridge Fire in Southern California saved the life of a man who was experiencing a cardiac event.

Good job, men!