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National Park Service releases video about the Howe Ridge Fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 2 Comments on National Park Service releases video about the Howe Ridge Fire

The fire burned 14,000 acres and more than a dozen structures in Glacier National Park in August, 2018

Howe Ridge Fire in Glacier National Park
Howe Ridge Fire, August 12, 2018. NPS photo.

The National Park Service has released a video discussing the first 36 hours of the Howe Ridge Fire that burned over 14,000 acres in Glacier National Park in Northern Montana in August, 2018. The fire destroyed approximately 13 private homes and publicly-owned historic structures.

Below is text released by the NPS along with the video on August 1, 2019. The photos are NPS photos of the fire on flickr but no photographer credits or dates were provided.

Lakewood, CO – Today, the National Park Service (NPS) released a video documenting the first 36 hours of the Howe Ridge Fire, which took place at Glacier National Park. The fire destroyed private homes and publicly-owned historic structures on August 12, 2018.

The video documents steps firefighters took to attack the wildland fire initially, and the combination of factors that made initial attack unsuccessful. The video also documents evacuation and structural firefighting efforts.

The goal of the video is to share these efforts and raise awareness about this incident to other public land management agencies, people who visit and recreate on public lands, and residents who live in wildland fire prone areas.

Summary of Events
August 11, 2018, was a Red Flag day when a weather system moved through the region bringing little moisture and widespread lightning, 19 fires ignited across the Northern Rockies Fire Zone. Three of these fires ignited in Glacier National Park, requiring interagency fire managers to prioritize by considering values at risk. The Howe Ridge Fire was detected at 7:18 pm – all three park fires were deemed high priority fires. Firefighters caught the other two fires on initial attack due to a combination of factors, including access and weather conditions.

In the last 10 years, there were three other reported fires on Howe Ridge. Because the area is relatively close to developed infrastructure, all three fires were managed with full suppression tactics. One was suppressed at .1 acres, another at 2.3 acres, and the third was never found after the initial report. We presume that fire went out without firefighter intervention. In all cases, these previous fires were relatively straightforward to control.

Howe Ridge Fire Glacier National Park 2018
Two CL-415 scooping air tankers work the Howe Ridge Fire, Glacier National Park, August, 2018. NPS photo.

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“Fire is inevitable”

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 1 Comment on “Fire is inevitable”
tree density wildfires exclusion
A screengrab from a video below illustrating how the number of trees per acre can increase if fires are excluded from an area.

In the first two in a series of 12 videos produced by the Santa Fe National Forest in Northern New Mexico, Fuels Program Manager Dennis Carril discusses the inevitability of vegetation fires and how fuel, standing trees and deep layers of litter, can build up as a result of fire exclusion. Each video is less than three minutes long.

The videos are “unlisted” on YouTube, however they have been promoted on Twitter by @SantafeNF and @DOIWildlandFire.

How fire retardant works

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on How fire retardant works
Beaver Fire, MD-87, T-103, South Dakota,
An MD-87, probably Tanker 103, drops on the Beaver Fire west of Wind Cave National Park September 13, 2017. Photo by Herb Ryan used with permission.

The American Chemical Society produced this video that provides some information about how fire retardant, such as the slurry dropped by air tankers, works to slow the spread of a wildfire.

Man pleads guilty of starting Klamathon Fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

The fire burned 38,008 acres in California and Oregon

Map Klamathon Fire
Map of the Klamathon Fire, July 7, 2018.

From KTVL:

The man accused of starting the fatal Klamathon Fire in July of 2018 pleaded guilty to all counts Thursday morning in a Siskiyou County courtroom.

John Colin Eagle Skoda, 32, was arrested on August 20, 2018, after a joint investigation between CAL FIRE and the Siskiyou County District Attorney’s Office.

According to Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus Skoda was camping when the fire began.

“He lit a fire in a fire ring and the wind took it. He tried to stomp it out and when that didn’t work he called authorities,” Andrus said.

The Klamathon Fire started July 5, 2018, and burned on both sides of Interstate 5 in Northern California and spread across the border into Oregon eventually blackening 38,008 acres . One man was killed, Hornbrook resident John Bermel, 72, who died in his home as the fire swept over the structure.

Firefighter Brandon Feller suffered severe burns when his engine was burned over.

Red Flag Warnings and Lightning strikes, August 2, 2019

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
Lightning strikes map
Lightning strikes during the 24-hour period ending at 4:29 a.m. MDT August 2, 2019.

Lightning strikes, above, and accumulated precipitation, below.

Accumulated precipitation
Accumulated precipitation during the 72-hour period ending at 4 a.m. MDT August 2, 2019.
Dry lightning strikes
Dry lightning strikes shown with the degree of dryness, August 1, 2019.

 

On Friday the Red Flag Warning areas in Washington, Idaho, and southwestern Montana could experience additional lightning with little or no rain.

Red Flag Warnings August 2, 2019
Red Flag Warnings August 2, 2019

Elevated wildfire potential expected in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and California

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

August wildfire outlook

On August 1 the Predictive Services section at the National Interagency Fire Center issued their Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for August through November. The data represents the cumulative forecasts of the ten Geographic Area Predictive Services Units and the National Predictive Services Unit.

If NIFC’s analysis is correct, areas in Washington, Oregon, Nevada, and California will have elevated potential for wildfires in August and September. With the monsoons moving into the Southwest there are no areas east of those four states that NIFC identified as having high wildfire potential between August and November.

Below:

  • An excerpt from the NIFC narrative report for the next several months;
  • More of NIFC’s monthly graphical outlooks;
  • NOAA’s three-month temperature and precipitation forecasts;
  • Drought Monitor;
  • Vegetation greenness map.From NIFC:

“Moderate to severe drought conditions exist across portions of northern Oregon, Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana. However, a recent extended period of cool and periodically moist conditions has lessened the drought stress in the vegetation. Moderate drought has emerged across the northeastern Interior of Alaska and on the Kenai Peninsula. Puerto Rico is also showing developing drought across the southern portion of the island.

“Looking forward, an active but compressed season is expected across the West as the southwestern monsoon becomes more active in August. While this will effectively end the season across the Southwest, lightning-induced fire activity is expected to increase elsewhere. Wind events, which have been largely absent thus far, will increase in frequency by mid to late month as dry frontal passages become a more common occurrence. The occurrence of both wind events and low humidities will influence an increase in fire behavior and growth. Activity in Alaska will continue to diminish as the frequency of frontal passages increases and as temperatures begin to cool. By mid-September the seasonal transition out of the core fire season will be underway as the seasonal transition begins to bring wetting systems to most regions.

“By October and November, however, California will reenter the fire season as Foehn Wind events begin to develop. Concerns this year are higher than average due to the presence of an abundant crop of fine fuels in the lower to middle elevations.”

September wildfire outlook

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