In 2016 some areas in Yellowstone National Park that burned in the 1988 fires unexpectedly burned again, and with surprising intensity
The Maple Fire burns at Yellowstone National Park in 2016. The fire affected forests recovering from the park’s historic 1988 fires. PHOTO: NATIONAL PARK SERVICE / JENNIFER JERRETT
By Kelly April Tyrrell, University of Wisconsin
In August 2016, areas of Yellowstone National Park that burned in 1988 burned again. Shortly after, in October 2016, ecologist Monica Turner and her team of graduate students visited the park to begin to assess the landscape.
“We saw these areas where everything was combusted and we hadn’t seen that previously,” says Turner, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison who has closely studied Yellowstone’s response to fire since 1988. “That was surprising.”
In a study published this week [May 20, 2019] in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Turner and her team describe what happens when Yellowstone — adapted to recurring fires every 100 to 300 years — instead burns twice in fewer than 30 years. Yellowstone as we know it faces an uncertain future, the researchers say, and one of the big questions they hope to answer is whether the forests can recover.
The pile of rocks with the nail in the middle signifies a long-term study plot Monica Turner and her research group established at Yellowstone National Park in 1990 following the park’s historic 1988 fires. This same plot burned again in 2016. Historically, fires burn in Yellowstone only every 100 to 300 years. PHOTO BY: MONICA TURNER
With Rapid Response Research funding from the National Science Foundation, Turner and her team returned to Yellowstone in the summer of 2017 to study the areas that re-burned. These include the Maple Fire, which burned 28-year-old lodgepole pines that regenerated following the 1988 North Fork Fire, and the Berry Fire, which contained 28-year-old lodgepole pines that had regenerated after the 1988 Huck Fire and 16-year-old trees that regenerated following the 2000 Glade Fire.
In each area, they compared to areas that burned in 1988 or 2000 but did not burn again in 2016.
In some areas the homes in High Level, Alberta are closer than the homes were in Paradise, California before the Camp Fire of November, 2018.
Satellite photo showing housing density in High Level, Alberta, which is threatened by the Chuckegg Creek fire. Note the graphic scale at bottom-left. The spacing between some of the homes is about 10 feet. Photo from Google Earth dated Sept. 19, 2019. Click to enlarge.
The entire town of High Level, Alberta is being evacuated today, May 20, 2019. If the Chuckegg Creek Fire burns close to or into the town while pushed by a strong wind, it could be a repeat of the nightmare scenario we saw last November in Paradise, California when the Camp Fire spread from house to house.
Map of the Chuckegg Creek HWF042 wildfire southwest of High Level, Alberta at 5:18 a.m. CDT May 20, 2019.
Monday at 3:12 p.m. MDT the Chuckegg Fire was about four miles southwest of High Level. Moderate or strong winds are expected to push the head of the fire toward the northwest this week, but spread on the flanks will most likely cause it to move closer to the town at the same time. By the weekend the forecast calls for winds out of the west that would seriously increase the threat to the town unless the 64 firefighters assigned on the 170,000-acre fire can perform heroic measures to stop the fire in that area.
(To see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Chuckegg Fire, including the most recent, click here.)
In some neighborhoods in Paradise last Fall the homes were about 18 to 20 feet apart according to the measurements we took using Google Earth. In High Level, that separation distance is about half that — in some areas the homes are about 10 feet apart.
When one structure is ignited by a burning ember that may have traveled a quarter of a mile or more from a fire (or a burning home) the radiant heat alone can ignite the homes on both sides. Then you can have a self-powered conflagration spreading house to house through a city. When the structures are that close together, the homeowners have not reduced the fuel in the Home Ignition Zone, and the home itself is not built to FireWise standards, a massive disaster can be the result. A strong wind exacerbates the problem. In Paradise the wind kept much of the heat and the embers close to the ground, preheating fuels ahead. The canopies of some of the trees survived, but virtually nothing near the ground remained unburned.
Seven firefighters and two pilots were killed in the 2008 helicopter crash
The former Vice President of Carson Helicopters is disputing a court order to pay $51 million in restitution related to his role in falsifying documents prior to the crash of a helicopter on the Iron 44 Fire (or Iron Complex) on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Weaverville, California in 2008. Steve Metheny, the former Vice President of Carson Helicopters, was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison in 2015 but he now claims he was not aware of the requirement to pay restitution.
Below is an excerpt from an article in the Mail Tribune:
[Metheny] says he wouldn’t have pleaded guilty had he known he’d have to pay a restitution of more than $51 million, according to documents filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Medford.
Metheny claims that his defense lawyer assured him that he wouldn’t have to pay any damages because by June 2013, Carson’s contract “was canceled and never re-bid” and “the resultant cost and subsequent loss would equal zero dollars,” according to an affidavit Metheny typed from Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc and filed in court May 7.
Metheny claims he was “repeatedly promised” ahead of his sentencing that the loss amount would be “zero dollars.”
Metheny was accused of falsifying performance charts and the weights of helicopters his company had under contract to the U.S. Forest Service for supporting wildland fire operations. As of a result of his fraud, a Carson helicopter crashed while trying to lift off with too much weight from a remote helispot on the Iron 44 Fire in 2008. Nine people were killed, including the pilot-in-command, a U.S. Forest Service check pilot, and seven firefighters. The copilot and three firefighters were seriously injured.
Mr. Metheny went to great lengths after the crash to attempt to conceal the fraud. When he knew that investigators would be examining the company’s operations, he directed other employees to remove weight from other similar helicopters, including taking off a fuel cell and replacing a very heavy battery with an empty shell of a battery. Some of the employees refused to participate in that deception, with one explaining that he was done lying about the helicopter’s weight.
Defense lawyer Steven Myers argued that the helicopter pilot could have avoided the crash by doing a standard maneuver on takeoff, where the pilot hovers and checks his gauges.
Ann Aiken, a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Oregon, dismissed that argument, noting her father had flown helicopters in the Korean War, crashing 13 times. “Whether the gauges were right or not, the pilot didn’t have the right information,” Aiken told Metheny.
The Forest Service awarded contracts to Carson, including option years, amounting to over $51,000,000. Carson received $18,831,891.12 prior to the FS canceling the contracts.
Levi Phillips, 45, the former maintenance chief of Carson Helicopters, agreed to cooperate with authorities in the case against Mr. Metheny and pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud. He was sentenced to 25 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised probation.
The fire is seven miles southwest of High Level, AB
Map of the Chuckegg Creek HWF042 wildfire southwest of High Level, Alberta at 5:18 a.m. CDT May 20, 2019. Click to enlarge.
(UPDATE at 2:39 p.m. MDT May 20, 2019)
Mandatory evacuation order issued for an area near High Level, Alberta, due to the Chuckegg Creek Fire. At 11:40 a.m. May 20 Mackenzie County declared a State of Local Emergency and issued the order for residents living south and southeast of the Town of High Level, Alberta. All evacuees must register at the High Level Arena (10101 105 Ave). Crews will be going door to door to notify affected residents. Manned barricades will be set up on all roads to prevent unauthorized entry into the evacuated areas.
(To see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Chuckegg Fire, including the most recent, click here.)
(UPDATED at 11:31 a.m. MDT May 20, 2019)
The Chuckegg Creek Fire southwest of High Level, Alberta continued to spread rapidly to the north Sunday afternoon and into the night, running across and becoming well established north of Highway 58.
The Town of High Creek advised their residents Monday morning:
As of 9:00 a.m. May 20, 2019, the town remains in no immediate danger, but residents are recommended to remain vigilant and be prepared to evacuate if conditions change. The eastern flank of the fire had slow growth over night. The HLFD will begin Sprinkler protection operations today May 20, 2019, in town and at the Tolko mill.
Our very unofficial estimate of the size, based on satellite imagery at 5:18 a.m. May 20, is that the Chuckegg Creek Fire has burned approximately 150,000 acres (60,700 ha). (UPDATE at 11:26 a.m. MDT May 20: Alberta Wildfire said the fire has burned 69,000 ha (170,500 acres).
Strong gusty winds are in the forecast again for Monday, which should produce continued growth of the fire.
Alberta Wildfire has 64 firefighters, heavy equipment, and helicopters and air tankers working to contain the fire. Additional resources have been requested.
(Originally published at 3:44 p.m. MDT May 19, 2019)
Chuckegg Creek Fire southwest of High Level, Alberta. Photo by Alberta Wildfire (around noon May 19, 2019).
A very large wildfire in northern Alberta almost doubled in size Sunday due to low humidity and 20 km/h southeast winds gusting to 40. The strong winds are expected to continue until dark Sunday but will become lighter Sunday night through Tuesday.
The fire is approximately seven miles southeast of High Level and is spreading toward the northwest.
The most of the fire is west of Highway 35 and south of Highway 35, but there is active fire east of 35. On Sunday it crossed Highway 58, 17 miles west of High Level.
Satellite photo of the wildfire southwest of High Level, Alberta at 12:14 p.m. CDT May 19, 2019.
Officials said Sunday that neither the Town of High Level or Norbord Plant are under immediate threat. There was no Evacuation Alert in effect Sunday at noon, but residents were advised to remain vigilant.
Map of the wildfire southwest of High Level, Alberta at 12:14 p.m. CDT May 19, 2019.
On Sunday morning May 19 Alberta Wildfire reported the fire, named Chuckegg Creek HWF042, was 25,334 ha (62,600 acres). Our very unofficial estimate of the size when it was overflown by a satellite at 12:14 p.m. MDT May 19 is 40,000 ha (99,000 acres). This measurement was based on heat detected by the satellite. Generally a fire can be described as a “megafire” when it reaches 100,000 acres.
The fire is being fought with heavy equipment and 53 firefighters, along with air support from helicopters and air tankers.
Wildfire danger in Alberta, May 19, 2019. By Alberta Wildfire.
Dowens 2 Fire. Oregon Department of Forestry photo by Marcus Kauffman.
Marcus Kauffman, a Public Information Officer with the Oregon Department of Forestry, sent us this excellent photo (above) that he took May 10 on the Dowens 2 Fire about 15 miles south of Eugene, Oregon. We looked for more information about blaze and found more very good photos on one of the ODF’s Facebook pages — those images are below.
The fire started at 4 p.m. on May 10 and burned 76 acres east of Cottage Grove. The ODF led a response that included three helicopters, two dozers, more than 25 structural and wildland engines, and 130 personnel. The early season fire, burning in brush, logging slash and timber, destroyed one home. Rain on May 13 aided firefighters during mopup. It was declared contained on May 14, 2019.
Dowens 2 Fire. A firefighter digs into burning duff. Oregon Department of Forestry photo.Dowens 2 Fire. Oregon Department of Forestry photo.Dowens 2 Fire near the Row River. Oregon Department of Forestry photo.
