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Wildfires continue to cause evacuations in Portugal

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 1 Comment on Wildfires continue to cause evacuations in Portugal

Above: screen grab from Wall Street Journal video.

(Published at 11:50 a.m. MDT June 19, 2017)

The wildfires in Portugal are continuing to spread, forcing residents to leave their homes. Approximately 1,000 firefighters are battling the fires that have killed at least 62 people, including a firefighter who died in a hospital.

weather forecast for Coimbra, Portugal
The weather forecast for Coimbra, Portugal. Weatherunderground.

Below is an excerpt from a BBC article:

Twelve people survived one of Portugal’s deadliest fires by seeking refuge in a water tank after access to their village was cut off by the blaze.

The residents, including a disabled 95-year-old woman, spent more than six hours in the tank as the fire prevented them from being rescued.

[In the village of Mó Grande] 30 bodies were found inside cars, with another 17 next to the vehicles, on the N-236 road, which leads on to the IC8 motorway. The N-236 was being described as the “road of death” in Portuguese media.

A few kilometres north of Nodeirinho, 11 people died in the village of Pobrais. Local reports said a third of the population had lost their lives, many as they tried to escape the fire. A survivor spoke of the roads being blocked and of no-one coming to their aid.

And from the Business Insider:

Despite government assurances that the first response by the emergency services was swift and adequate, many media and residents questioned the efficiency of the operation and the strategic planning in a country which is used to wooded areas burning every year.

“So what failed this Saturday? Everything, as it has failed for decades,” read a headline in the daily Publico, which blamed a lack of coordination between services in charge of fire prevention and firefighting and poor forestry reserve planning.

map fires wildfires Portugal
The red dots represent wildfire heat detected by a satellite over Portugal June 19, 2017.

Telescopes survive onslaught by Frye Fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,

Above: Thanks to efforts by firefighters on the ground and in the air the Frye Fire burned around the Mt. Graham Observatory on June 18, 2017.

(Published at 10:37 a.m. MDT June 19, 2017)

The Frye Fire 8 miles southwest of Safford, Arizona burned up to and around the International Observatory on Mt. Graham Sunday.  The site is the home of several very important telescopes, including the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope, the Large Binocular Telescope, & the Submillimeter Telescope.

Saturday afternoon as the fire approached the facility the Incident Management Team ordered 7 large (heavy) air tankers and one very large air tanker. Those firefighters in the air combined with others on the ground prevented any serious destruction of the instruments.

The view from the Mt. Graham Observatory at 10:12 a.m. MDT June 19, 2017, from a webcam at the facility.

Gila Valley Central reported that Eric Buckley, the Director at the Observatory, said, “The fire has come very close. It did come very close to the complex. We may have suffered a little heat damage but no actual fire damage.”

Mt. Graham Observatory fire
At 9:08 a.m. MDT on Monday fire retardant dropped Sunday afternoon can still be seen by a webcam at the Observatory.

As of 11 p.m. MDT on Sunday the fire had burned almost 10,900 acres, an increase of about 2,000 acres from the day before.

Frye Fire aerial photo
The Frye Fire as seen from an aircraft. It was posted at Inciweb June 18, 2017.

Monday morning the Type 3 Incident Management Team turned the fire over to Alan Sinclair’s Southwest Area Type 2 Team.

The fire is not being fully suppressed, but firefighters are taking action to prevent damage to private land and structures.

The rest of this week the temperature at the lower elevations in the fire area will be over 110 degrees and the relative humidity will be below 10 percent. Monday will be somewhat breezy, but the wind is predicted to exceed 15 mph on Thursday and Friday.

Frye Fire map
Map of the Frye Fire. The white line was the fire perimeter at 11 p.m. MDT June 17, 2017. The red area was the perimeter 24 hours later on June 18.
Frye Fire smoke
Satellite photo showing smoke from the Frye Fire June 19, 2017.

Dozens quarantined with strep throat at the Frye Fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,


EMT iconAs we reported earlier Sunday, on Saturday June 17 the Inciweb page for the Frye Fire in southwestern Arizona included this statement:

21 additional personnel with unknown illness were demobilized.

It turns out that the illness was strep throat. According to the Tucson News 45 people at the fire have been treated for the disease, also known as streptococcal pharyngitis.

This is being handled as an “incident within an incident”, with a separate Incident Commander and staff managing the situation, which allows the primary firefighting personnel to continue to perform their usual duties.

Below is an excerpt from the Tucson News, dated June 18:

…A medical group was created with doctors and nurses being brought to the Safford area to help with the strep throat outbreak.

[Information Officer Evan] Burks said antibiotics were administered and the affected fire personnel were quarantined, but will not be sent home.

“We have not released those resources. They’re still here. But we have separated them from the healthy firefighters,” Burks explained. “The antibiotics start working within 24 hours, and it looks like the firefighters are getting healthy pretty quickly here. Once they’re healthy, and good to go, they’ll be back to work [on the Frye Fire].”

Medical personnel have identified those with strep throat and they are taking “extra precautions to wash hands, and stay healthy,” Burks explained. “That’s always the number one priority, to keep our firefighters healthy. But there is always that risk out there.”

If the statement in the June 17 Inciweb report is true, that 21 personnel were released with an unknown illness, possibly strep throat, they could be unknowingly infecting their families or coworkers.

Strep throat affects about 3 million people in the U.S. each year. It is treatable by a medical professional and often requires lab tests or imaging. With treatment it is usually resolved within days or weeks. Common symptoms include sore throat, fever, and swollen lymph nodes in the neck. Rarely, complications can involve the heart or kidneys. Treatment is important to reduce complications.

As of Saturday night the Frye Fire had burned about 9,000 acres 8 miles southwest of Safford.

More information about the Frye Fire.

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

Frye Fire threatens international observartory

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , ,

Above: A 3-D map of the perimeter of the Frye Fire at 11 p.m. MDT June 17, 2017. The base satellite image is from June, 2011 and appears to show in the foreground, east of the fire, a previously burned area.

(Originally published at 8 p.m. MDT June 18, 2017; updated at 11:25 p.m. MDT June 18, 2017.))

The Frye Fire grew close to the Mt. Graham International Observatory 62 miles northeast of Tucson, Arizona Sunday afternoon. The Southwest Geographic Area Coordination Center reported that in mid-afternoon the Type 3 Incident Management Team ordered 7 large (heavy) air tankers and one very large air tanker.

Large Binocular Telescope
Large Binocular Telescope, Mt. Graham.

Photos from the webcam at the observatory showed evidence of retardant drops near the facility, which is the home of the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) and other very expensive instruments.

As of Saturday night the fire had burned about 9,000 acres, but by Sunday afternoon we estimate that it has grown by at least another 2,000 acres.

Mt. Graham International Observatory fire
A webcam at the Mt. Graham International Observatory captured this photo at 6:53 p.m. MDT June 18, 2017.

Until late Saturday the fire had been burning mostly uphill on the very steep mountain slope 8 miles southwest of Safford, Arizona, but it has now slopped over onto the west side of the mountain range.

Critically low relative humidity and extreme high temperatures continue to contribute to increased fire activity. On Sunday the temperature was well over 100 at the lower elevations, and it is predicted to reach 110 to 112 each day through Friday June 23. The relative humidity will be 8 to 10 percent. It will be very breezy through Friday except for Wednesday.

photo smoke from the Frye Fire
A satellite photo of smoke from the Frye Fire in southeast Arizona, at 5:45 p.m. MDT, June 18, 2017.

The lightning-caused fire is not being completely suppressed according to the Team:

An indirect strategy is being taken to confine and contain the fire within the previous burn scar, to provide firefighter safety from the numerous snags, rough terrain and numerous downed logs. Fire personnel are assessing values at risk and options to limit high-severity fire effect to forest resources. Firefighters are monitoring fire behavior and growth and will take appropriate action if fire threatens any values.

Firefighting resources assigned to the fire on Saturday included 9 hand crews, 11 engines, 6 helicopters and a total of 306 personnel. Approximately $1.1 million has been spent to manage the fire.

The Team reported on June 17 that “21 additional personnel with unknown illness were demobilized.” UPDATE: 45 people were diagnosed with strep throat at the Frye Fire.