Map showing heat detected on the Wolf Fire at 2:57 p.m. MST, March 4, 2017. The fire was reported at about 11:30 a.m. on March 4 and some portions of the fire, which is burning in grass, could have cooled and therefore not been detected by the satellite at 2:57 p.m. The fire could be larger than shown by the satellite, particularly on the southwest side. The perimeter shown here is about 1,600 acres, but Great Plain Fire Information said at 3:10 it was 7,000 acres.
(UPDATED at 6:15 p.m. MST March 4, 2017)
At 5:47 MST March 4 Jim Strain of South Dakota Fire said the Wolf Fire east of Wall was just about wrapped up and the estimated size was 5,000 acres.
(Originally published at 4:56 p.m. MST March 4, 2017)
The Wolf Fire has burned thousands of acres in South Dakota between Wall and Quinn. At 3:10 p.m. Great Plains Fire Information reported it had burned about 7,000 acres. The city of Quinn east of the fire was threatened at that time.
A weather station at Wall Saturday afternoon has been recording sustained winds out of the southwest at 30 mph gusting to around 40. At 4:35 p.m. it was 68 degrees with a relative humidity of 19 percent …. tough conditions for firefighters to be successful.
There is another fire 35 miles south of the Wolf fire, 3 miles northeast of Kyle, and a couple of fires in the Black Hills south of Keystone.
The GOES-16 satellite that was launched in November is still being tested and is not fully operational, but some of its new capabilities are being explored. It has new sensors, some of which have a much better resolution and are better at detecting smoke. And it can rescan an area as often as every 30 seconds compared to 15 to 30 minute intervals on the older GOES-13 satellite. This makes it possible to produce much better animations of wildfire activity and smoke plumes.
Below is the description provided by NOAA for the video above, which has the imagery from the new GOES-16 on the left, compared to the older GOES-13 on the right.
This comparison of GOES-16 ABI and GOES-13 imager shortwave infrared (3.9 µm) data shows a number of grass fires burning near Lake Okeechobee in southern Florida on February 20, 2017. In the left panel, GOES-16 imagery at 30-second intervals is shown, while the right panel displays GOES-13 imagery at routine 15-30 minute intervals. The warmest shortwave infrared brightness temperatures are enhanced with yellow to red colors (with red being the hottest). Note the many advantages of the 30-second GOES-16 imagery: (1) new fire starts are detected sooner in time; (2) the fire behavior (intensification vs dissipation) can be better monitored; (3) the intensity of the fires is more accurately depicted with the 2-km resolution GOES-16 data vs the 8-km resolution GOES-13 data; (4) numerous brief fires are not detected at all in the 15-30 minute interval GOES-13 imagery (especially south and southeast of Lake Okeechobee, during the 2100-2115 UTC time period).
Bill Line of the NWS has posted a fascinating animated gif on his website that shows wildfires and smoke in Oklahoma today, Saturday.
Below is a screengrab from Mr. Line’s gif. The yellow areas represent heat.
An excerpt from his description:
The 0.47 um band will have higher reflectance in the presence of atmospheric aerosols (such as smoke) when compared to the legacy 0.64 um visible band. Combining these two bands into one display gives a forecaster a very helpful, quick view of wildfire activity across the region. The 2.25 um band can also be utilized to detect fire hotspots (especially very hot fires), particularly at night when the hotspot contrasts nicely with the surrounding darkness.
The National Weather Service has posted Red Flag Warnings and Fire Weather Watches for areas in Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma. The Red Flag areas (in red) expire Saturday evening. Most of the Fire Weather Watch areas (in yellow) expire Sunday evening.
All areas are expected to have strong winds and low humidities.
The map was current as of 9:25 a.m. MT on Saturday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts.
Above: Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke rides to work on his first day escorted by the U.S. Park Police. DOI photo.
On March 2, his first day as the new Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke of Montana rode to work on a horse. Now having access to the horses used by the U.S. Park Police (part of the National Park Service), Secretary Zinke mounted a horse at the NPS stables on the Mall and rode about a mile to the headquarters of the Department of the Interior.
As you no doubt figured out, Secretary Zinke is the one in the photos rocking the cowboy hat.
In his new profession the 55-year-old former Navy SEAL supervises firefighters in the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and about 69,000 other employees.
Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke rides to work on his first day escorted by the U.S. Park Police. DOI photo.
Of course, some folks on Twitter had fun with this:
“i am sorry senator no body is allowed in here”
“wat about that guy on the horse”
“it is his first day on the job senator he is just lost” pic.twitter.com/sUzycN5ifP
— Shoshana Weissmann (@senatorshoshana) March 2, 2017
We should start an immediate investigation into Ryan Zinke and his ties to Russia and Putin. Not a horse of a different color! pic.twitter.com/uHFIb1LF2O
Trampus Haskvitz was entrapped and killed while fighting the Coal Canyon Fire in 2011.
Trampus Haskvitz
In this video Jim Strain, the Assistant Chief of Operations for the South Dakota Division of Wildland Fire Suppression, talks about how he and his department coped with the line of duty death of firefighter Trampus Haskvitz.
Mr. Haskvitz was killed while making an initial attack with an engine on a lightning caused fire approximately 9 miles north of Edgemont, South Dakota on August 11, 2011. One firefighter entrapped in the engine with Mr. Haskvitz survived but with serious burns and was admitted to a burn center in Greeley, Colorado. Another was injured while escaping from the engine and was admitted to a hospital in Rapid City, SD. Two others injured in a rescue attempt were treated at local hospitals and released.
This video, titled Wildfire, was published on YouTube by the New Media Film Festival. It was written and narrated by Walter Gallacher, and photographed and produced by Steven G. Smith.
