Four years ago today, on June 30, 2013, 19 wildland firefighters were overrun by the Yarnell Hill Fire outside Yarnell, Arizona. One way to honor the service of the Granite Mountain Hotshots is for firefighters on this day to take 15 minutes and select one thing — one act, one task, one decision, one directive, or one action — that happened that day and discuss what it means to them. Just one. Don’t be tempted to point fingers, not today. Make it a positive learning experience.
Below is a short documentary produced by the Weather Channel that features the incident.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Perry. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Above: Brady Fire, June 29, 2017. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
(Updated at 2:09 p.m. MDT July 1, 2017)
The updated size of the Brady Fire is 172 acres. The increase from 95 acres reported yesterday is due to more accurate mapping — the fire has not grown.
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(Updated at 12:40 p.m. MDT June 30, 2017)
The size of the Brady Fire 7 miles southeast of Edgemont, SD has been revised to 95 acres. Firefighters are estimating that about half an inch of rain fell on the fire Thursday night. In Hot Springs, 15 miles northeast of the fire, there was 0.12 inches overnight in addition to lots of lightning in the southern Black Hills.
Approximately 70 firefighters are on scene today, Friday, mopping up.
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(Updated at 9:14 p.m. MDT June 29, 2017)
The Brady Fire, discovered Thursday afternoon, has burned dozens of acres southeast of Edgemont, South Dakota. We’ll post more information as it becomes available. The fire is burning in timber and grass on fairly steep slopes on the north side of the Cheyenne River.
The Great Plains Interagency Dispatch Center reported at 5 p.m. Thursday it had burned 25 acres. The fire continued spreading slowly after that time, but received rain from a thunderstorm at 8:15 p.m.
Map showing the location of the Brady Fire, 7 miles southeast of Edgemont, SD.Brady Fire, June 29, 2017. Photo by Bill Gabbert.Brady Fire, June 29, 2017. Photo by Bill Gabbert.Brady Fire, June 29, 2017. Photo by Bill Gabbert.
Above: Map of the Brian Head Fire in southwest Utah. The red line was the perimeter at 2:30 a.m. MDT June 29, 2017. The white line was the perimeter 24 hours earlier.
(Originally published at 12:52 p.m. MDT June 27, 2017)
The spread of the Brian Head Fire in southwest Utah slowed on Wednesday, thanks to weather less conducive to extreme wildfire behavior, but it still continued to grow on the northeast side. In that area there are large expanses with much lighter vegetation (or fuels), possibly due to past fires, but a couple of spot fires east of those locations are in heavier fuels and have expanded during the last two to three days progressing to within six miles of Panguitch.
On Wednesday the fire consumed another 4,117 acres, bringing the total to 58,318 acres.
On Thursday firefighters will be assessing structure protection needs in Walker and Potato Patch as well as continuing efforts in Breezy Pines. Tactical options are being developed on the north side of the fire.
An illegally operated drone flew into the fire area Wednesday, forcing all firefighting aircraft to be grounded for safety reasons. Law enforcement responded and is investigating the incident. Hobbyist drone operators are reminded that “if you fly, we can’t fly.” There is a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) over the fire area and it is against federal law to fly a drone within the restricted area. This also happened on the Goodwin Fire in Arizona Wednesday, as well as the Lightner Fire in Colorado.
Resources assigned to the fire include 48 hand crews, 82 engines, 14 helicopters, a variable number of air tankers, and 1,729 personnel. The suppression costs to date have totaled $14.9 million.
Evacuations are still in place for several communities.
Above: Goodwin Fire, June 27, 2017. Photo by Christina Montiel, U.S. Forest Service.
(Originally published at 10:50 a.m. MDT June 29, 2017)
Firefighters were successful Wednesday in halting the spread of the Goodwin Fire near Mayer, Arizona. There was very little movement of the fire yesterday except for the southwest corner and the north side.
The southwest side spread about a quarter mile to the south, while the north side was very active, moving in some areas about 1.5 miles north along 5 miles of fire perimeter.
The growth added about 4,100 acres to the fire, bringing the total size to 24,828 acres.
Map of the Goodwin Fire. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 4:17 a.m. MDT June 29. The Red line was the perimeter at 11 p.m. MDT June 28, while the white line was the perimeter at 2:30 a.m. MDT June 28, 2017.
Over 150 firefighters worked Tuesday night creating dozer lines between the fire and Mayer. Those lines were burned out Wednesday which prevented any significant growth toward the town. Firefighters were able to contain the 500 acres that burned east of Highway 69 between Poland Junction and Mayer. Wednesday morning the fire spread into a basin toward Poland Junction, but winds were lighter and the relative humidity did not drop to the low levels that contributed to Tuesday’s expansion.
Evacuations are still in place for several communities and Highway 69 is closed. There has been no change in the number of structures reportedly destroyed — it remains at nine, and it is unknown if they are residences or outbuildings.
Three very large air tankers, DC-10’s that carry 11,600 gallons of fire retardant, assisted firefighters on the ground Wednesday, reducing the fire’s intensity around endangered structures. The DC-10’s are often used on wildfires, but there are only three of the “Very Large Air Tankers” on contract with the federal government, and it is unusual for all of them to be working the same fire. They were reloading with retardant at Phoenix Mesa-Gateway airport 80 miles southeast of the fire.
Rick Hatton, President and CEO of 10 Tanker Air Carrier, said their three DC-10’s completed a total of 14 sorties to the Goodwin Fire during 16 total hours of flying Wednesday. He said the facilities and crews at the air tanker base accommodated the three huge aircraft very well.
Two of the aircraft are on exclusive use contracts with the U.S. Forest Service, and a third is on a call when needed contract.
Even though $2.4 million was spent in 2014 to improve the apron and plumbing at the air tanker base at Prescott, 15 miles from the fire, it was not designed to handle Very Large Air Tankers. But it can handle the “large” or “heavy” air tankers, such as the 2,000 to 3,500 gallon P2V, BAe-146, RJ85, MD-87, 737, and C-130.
And, as you can see below, Prescott makes a good temporary home for the helicopters working the Goodwin Fire.
An illegally operated drone flew into the fire area Wednesday, forcing all firefighting aircraft to be grounded for safety reasons. Law enforcement responded and is investigating the incident. Hobbyist drone operators are reminded that “if you fly, we can’t fly.” There is a Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) over the fire area and it is against federal law to fly a drone within the restricted area.
In the video below you will see what appears to be a privately owned Blackhawk helicopter, a Firehawk, dropping retardant. Most of the time helicopters drop water directly on the flames, but the long term retardant can be effective when applied ahead of the fire.
Above: On the map above the red line was the perimeter of the Brian Head Fire at 2:30 a.m. MDT June 28, 2017. The white line was the perimeter about 26 hours earlier.
(Originally published at 10:18 a.m. MDT June 28, 2017)
(Updated at 10:24 a.m. MDT June 28, 2017)
The Brian Head Fire continued to spread to the northeast and east on Tuesday, reaching Indian Hollow, and as of 2:30 a.m. Wednesday had burned 54,202 acres, an increase of over 4,500 acres. At that time it was within 6 miles of Panguitch.
Firefighters have made progress on the spot fires and slopovers on the south and east sides of Highway 143. Those areas showed very little if any growth on Tuesday.
An Inciweb photo of the Brian Head Fire described as “Yankee Meadow”.
The additional spread of the fire Tuesday was on the northeast and southwest sides.
The weather will again be a problem for firefighters on Wednesday with a Red Flag Warning being in effect for the area. The forecast calls for wind out of the southwest and west at 13 to 15 mph with gusts up to 22 mph. The temperature should reach 69 degrees with a relative humidity bottoming out at 10 percent. Conditions are expected to moderate on Thursday and Friday.
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings for areas in Idaho, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, and Colorado.
The map was current as of 7 a.m. MDT on Wednesday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts.
Four years ago today, on June 30, 2013, 19 wildland firefighters were overrun by the Yarnell Hill Fire outside Yarnell, Arizona. One way to honor the service of the Granite Mountain Hotshots is for firefighters on this day to take 15 minutes and select one thing — one act, one task, one decision, one directive, or one action — that happened that day and discuss what it means to them. Just one. Don’t be tempted to point fingers, not today. Make it a positive learning experience.
