Strong winds are predicted again for Saturday evening.
Above: Whittier Fire as seen from Santa Ynez Peak, at 5:47 p.m. July 14, 2017.
(Published at 5:30 a.m. PDT July 15, 2017)
The Whittier Fire was very active on the south and southwest sides Friday and Friday night, adding another 4,000 acres to bring the total burned area up to 17,364 acres. Between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. the winds increased, blowing at 6 to 15 mph in San Marcos Pass with gusts up to 31 mph. The direction was variable but the strongest speeds were measured out of the southwest and northwest.
The weather conditions should moderate during the day on Saturday with higher humidities but after 6 p.m the forecast predicts lower humidities and strong winds out of the northwest until 11 p.m.
Map of the Whittier Fire at 11:20 p.m. PDT July 14, 2017. The red shaded areas were the most active at that time. The white line was the perimeter about 24 hours before. Click to enlarge
Evacuations are in effect for several areas. Residents can receive alerts on their mobile phones by texting their ZIP CODE to 888777, or call the fire information line at 805-699-6451.
Highway 154 is closed from Highway 246 to Foothill Road (Highway 192).
Resources assigned to the fire include 38 hand crews, 103 fire engines, 22 water tenders, 3 masticators, 6 fixed wing aircraft, 14 helicopters, and 18 bulldozers, for a total of 1,612 personnel.
Whittier Fire as seen from Santa Ynez Peak, looking west at 4:07 a.m. July 15, 2017.
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All of the articles we have written about the fire are tagged “Whittier Fire” and can be found here, with the most recent at the top.
Above: map showing the location of the North Delphia Fire east of Roundup, Montana. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 12:37 p.m. MDT July 14, 2017.
(UPDATED at 10 p.m. MDT July 14, 2017)
At about 9:50 p.m. on Friday the Musselshell County DES reported that there was a dozer line around the entire fire, which has burned about 3,700 acres. No homes were destroyed but five outbuildings were damaged.
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(Originally published at 4:22 p.m. MDT July 14, 2017)
The North Delphia Fire is causing evacuations between Roundup and Musselshell Montana Friday afternoon. At about 3:30 p.m. Friday the Musselshell County DES estimated it had burned around 2,000 acres. As far as they knew at that time, no structures have been destroyed. It was reported about mid-morning on Friday off Buckhorn Land north of the North Delphia Subdivision.
It is north of Highway 12 and 13 miles northeast of Roundup.
Multiple aircraft are working the fire and crews are reporting progress. At about 4 p.m. the BLM reported that approximately 16,000 gallons of fire retardant had been pumped into air tankers heading to the fire.
Billings Air Tanker base has used approximately 16,000 gallons of retardant so far today on the North Delphia fire. #mtfirepic.twitter.com/siKvpNXcM4
The Red Cross is establishing a shelter at the Roundup Community Center for evacuees.
Smoke from the fire was showing up on radar but by 3:30 it was no longer visible on radar.
It is dry and breezy at Roundup this afternoon. At 3.55 p.m. a weather station near the town recorded 98 degrees, 13 percent relative humidity, and NNW winds at 10 mph gusting to 18.
The map below shows the track of what is probably an air attack ship orbiting over the fire.
The map shows the track of an aircraft over the North Delphia Fire during the mid-afternoon July 14, 2017. It is a Rockwell International 690A, and is probably being used as an air attack ship.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Al. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Above: 3-D map of the Whittier Fire current as of 10 p.m. PDT July 13, 2017. The red shaded areas had more intense heat than other locations.
(UPDATED at 9:18 p.m. PDT July 14, 2017)
Here is a map showing some of the expansion of the Whittier Fire that was detected by a satellite at 1:24 p.m. PDT on Friday July 14. It is likely that the fire continued growing after that time.
Whittier Fire map, showing the area in yellow that was growing at 1:24 p.m. PDT July 14, 2017. Click to enlarge.
The weather forecast for Friday night indicates that the fire on the upper section of the south-facing slope below Santa Ynez Peak above the marine layer could remain active at least until sunrise. In that area the relative humidity will be in the low 20’s with a wind out of the northeast at 12 to 15 mph gusting at 18 to 23. There could be gusts above 30 mph from 10 to 11 p.m. Friday night.
On Saturday the winds will decrease during the day on that upper slope but pick up again after 6 p.m. with north-northwest winds of 23 mph gusting to 35.
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(UPDATED at 3:48 p.m. PDT July 14, 2017)
The Whittier Fire has been extremely active on Friday, putting up large columns of smoke. Evacuations are in effect in several areas.
If you put the video below on full screen you’ll see a DC-10 making a retardant drop low on the slopes northwest of Goleta, CA.
Firefighters on the Whittier Fire northwest of Goleta, California have made some limited progress in constructing fireline around the blaze over the last two days. Approximately half of that task is done, but the remaining sections are in steep, difficult terrain. A large flare-up south of Santa Ynez Peak that started after sundown Thursday and continued until about 1 a.m. had some residents of Goleta and Santa Barbara worried. It occurred on the upper slope above fuels that have been influenced by the marine layer.
A weather forecast that includes the possibility of sundowner winds Friday afternoon concerns firefighters since they could produce wind gusts of 25-30 mph through passes and gaps in the vicinity of the fire. The forecast for Friday for the upper slope below and south of Santa Ynez Peak, updated at 10 a.m. on Friday, is for 88 degrees, 31 percent relative humidity, and winds out of the west at 12 mph gusting to 18. After 6 p.m. the winds should become out of the northwest at 19 gusting to 29. The incident management team is bringing in additional firefighters for this wind event.
Map of the Whittier Fire current as of 10 p.m. PDT July 13, 2017. The red shaded areas had more intense heat than other locations. Click to enlarge.
The fire was mapped Thursday night at 13,199 acres. Resources assigned include 1,240 personnel, 92 fire engines, 23 hand-crews, 16 dozers, 12 helicopters, and 23 water tenders.
The video below by KEYT was streamed live on YouTube, showing and explaining the activities at a facility set up at the Whittier Fire for mixing retardant for helicopters that could draft to refill their tanks; that is, through a hose on the helicopter they pumped retardant from a tank on the ground while hovering. The 11-minute video did not show any ships with buckets — just Type 1 helicopters with internal or external tanks.
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All of the articles we have written about the fire are tagged “Whittier Fire” and can be found here, with the most recent at the top.
Congratulations to the firefighters involved in this rescue.
Since it started on July 8, the Whittier Fire has burned over 13,000 acres northwest of Goleta, California.
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UPDATED January 30, 2018:
A U.S. Forest Service employee is being honored by attending the President’s State of the Union Address scheduled for 9 p.m. ET Tuesday.
Dave Dahlberg, a Fire Prevention Technician on the Los Padres National Forest working out of Pine Canyon Fire Station, helped rescue 62 children and staff members at the Circle V Ranch Camp during the Whittier Fire July 8, 2017.
This is a big deal. Congratulations to FPT Dahlberg!
Mr. Dahlberg will be one of 12 special guests of President Trump and will be seated with First Lady Melania Trump.
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings for areas in Montana, Nevada, Oregon, and California.
The map was current as of 7 a.m. MDT on Friday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts.
