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Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park to open November 30

Bill GabbertNovember 20, 2016November 20, 2016UncategorizedYarnell Fire4 Comments

A 3.6-mile trail leads to the fatality site.

Above: the fatality site in Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park honoring the 19 firefighters. Arizona State Parks photo.

A new state park that honors the 19 firefighters who were killed on the Yarnell Hill Fire is set to open to the public on November 30, 2016.

On June 30, 2013 the Granite Mountain Hotshots were fighting the Yarnell Hill Fire near Yarnell, Arizona, 90 miles northwest of Phoenix. A passing thunderstorm created very strong outflow winds that suddenly changed the direction the fire was spreading, forcing it to make a right turn. The fire raced toward 19 men on the crew, trapping and killing them in a box canyon.

A bench at Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park. Photo by Arizona State Parks.

Legislation appropriated funds to purchase the 308 acres of land on June 30, 2015. The park came to life thanks to public donations, volunteers, staff from Arizona State Parks, and a generous donation from the Arizona Public Service Foundation.

From the trailhead on Highway 89 approximately two miles west of Yarnell, hiking 2.85 miles up a steep slope then along a ridge will take the visitor to an observation deck overlooking the fatality site. Another .75 mile downhill and you will be at the location where the Hotshots deployed their fire shelters. There is an approximate 1,200 foot elevation gain.

Along the trail are 19 stone plaques honoring each of the fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots and six interpretive signs that tell their story. At the end of the trail steel and stones now surround the barren earth to protect and preserve the area where the hotshots bravely made their last stand. A quiet path and benches offer a space to reflect.

Yarnell Hill Fire firefighters killed — The 19 firefighters that were killed on the Yarnell Hill Fire.

“The families and the communities of Prescott and Yarnell have worked hand-in-hand with the state to develop Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park,” said Sue Black, Executive Director of Arizona State Parks. “We truly want the memorial to be a place for healing and to honor the lives and legacy of 19 hotshots.”

A dedication ceremony for family members and involved officials is scheduled for November 29, and the park will open to the public the following day.

(Maps are below)

Continue reading “Granite Mountain Hotshots Memorial State Park to open November 30”

Red Flag Warnings, November 20, 2016

Bill GabbertNovember 20, 2016Uncategorizedred flag borders, Red Flag Warning3 Comments

The National Weather Service has posted Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches for areas in Florida, Georgia, Virginia, and Maryland.

VIRGINIA: Relative humidity minimums ranging in the upper 20%s to low 40%s. NW wind 10-20 mph, gusts to 40. High wind advisory for the Southern Blue Ridge: NW Gusts 30-60 mph.
GEORGIA: RH minimums low teens to low 20%s, NW winds 10-20 mph, gusts to 25.
FLORIDA: Western Panhandle: Long duration teens to low 20%s RH mins. Wind moderately gusty to 18 mph. A few Central and Southwest Coastal Counties: Min RH low 20%s, North wind 8 to 12 mph. lowering during the day. Similar conditions expected Monday.

The map was current as of 9:05 a.m. MT on Sunday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts and maps.

Harrowing story of wilderness rangers fleeing in canoes from a wildfire

Bill GabbertNovember 19, 2016November 20, 2016UncategorizedMinnesota, Pagami3 Comments

They paddled furiously through two to three-foot waves in the smoke-created darkness looking for a fire shelter deployment site.

This video is a must-see.

It is the enthralling story of how six U.S. Forest Service employees had near misses and entrapments in 2011 on the Pagami Creek Fire within the Superior National Forest in Minnesota.

The video is well done, with the wilderness rangers telling in their own words, very eloquently, how they fled in their canoes from the fire that had been managed, rather than suppressed, for 25 days, until it ran 16 miles on September 12, eventually consuming over 92,000 acres of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. If the video was a book I’d say you would not be able to put it down.

It tells how the USFS employees were caught out in front of the rapidly spreading fire in canoes while trying to evacuate the recreating public from the area. At one point when they were fleeing the fire, the smoke was so thick they could not see the fronts of their canoes.

Two people bailed out of a canoe to take refuge in the cold water, deploying a single fire shelter over their heads as they floated away from the canoe, suspended by their life jackets.

Two others were flown out at the last minute by a float plane when the pilot somehow found a hole in the smoke and was able to find them, land on the lake, and extract them. (These two were not mentioned in the video.)

Four people paddled furiously in the strong winds, dense smoke, darkness, and two to three-foot waves. Unable to find a fire shelter deployment site on the shore and heavily forested islands, the four finally located a small, one-eighth acre barren island where they climbed inside their shelters as they were being pounded with burning embers.

You have to watch this video.

There is an excellent facilitated learning analysis about this incident.

We have written many articles about the Pagami Fire.

Rapidly spreading fire west of Gatlinburg, TN

Bill GabbertNovember 19, 2016March 18, 2021UncategorizedEast Miller Cove Fire, Tennessee

map East Miller Cove Fire — Map showing the location of the East Miller Cove Fire at 10:30 p.m. ET November 18, 2016.

The East Miller Cove Fire 16 air miles west of Gatlinburg, Tennessee spread very rapidly Friday night as a cold front passed through with winds shifting from south to west gusted at 12 to 23 MPH. However the nearby Indian Grave weather station in Great Smoky Mountains National Park recorded 0.12 inches of rain after 6 a.m. on Saturday.

When a mapping aircraft overflew the fire at 10:30 p.m. Friday the fire had burned 700 acres and was very active. Data from a heat sensing satellite at 3:04 a.m. Saturday indicated that it was more than 1,000 acres.

The East Miller Cove Fire is just east of Walland, Tennessee, five miles north of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and 16 air miles south of Knoxville.

On Friday hundreds of students at the Walland elementary school were ordered to evacuate.

At least one Blackhawk helicopter from the Tennessee National Guard assisted firefighters on the ground by dropping water.

The area is under a Red Flag Warning on Saturday for strong winds and low humidities. The forecast calls for temperatures on Saturday in the high 40s, 45 percent relative humidity, 60 percent cloud cover, 15 mph west to northwest winds gusting at 23 mph, and the probability of rain decreasing to 4 percent by 1 p.m. Sunday should be cooler, drier, and with 8 mph winds out of the northwest.

Many locations in the South have had very little rain over the last two months, leaving the live and dead vegetation very dry. Below is an excerpt from a Saturday morning article at Knoxnews:

…Nothing in the weekend weather looks as if it will be much help to firefighters, according to regional safety officer James Gregory, who is also up from Florida to help fight the Tennessee wildfires. He is a Maryville native who knows east Tennessee parks and wilderness well.

“The ground cover, the layer of twigs and branches and grass and vegetation that normally helps keep trees upright during a fire, is so dry and brittle, it can’t hold the trees in place so they fall over,” Gregory explained. “When a burning tree falls over, of course that spreads the flames. Even live trees that aren’t on fire fall over because the drought has dried out the forest so much.”

The article also said the rain “had almost no impact” on the fires in east Tennessee.

Southern states under a Red Flag Warning, November 19, 2016

Bill GabbertNovember 19, 2016November 19, 2016UncategorizedRed Flag Warning

Eight states expected to have enhanced wildfire danger.

The National Weather Service has posted Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches for areas in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and California.

Following the passage of a cold front in the southeast the relative humidity is expected to fall into the upper 20s to the low 40s, along with increasing northwesterly winds gusting at 25 to 42 mph.

The map was current as of 8:15 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 and maps.

Firefighter killed after being struck by tree limb

Bill GabbertNovember 18, 2016Uncategorizedhazardous tree, Kentucky, lodd1 Comment

We regret to pass along the news that a firefighter in Kentucky has been killed while fighting a wildland fire. Rodney Collett served on two departments, the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department in Pineville, Kentucky and the Redbird Volunteer Fire and Rescue Department in Manchester, Kentucky.

On October 29th Firefighter Collett was working with Red Bird VF&R on a wildfire in Clay County when a tree limb fell striking the fire apparatus and Firefighter Collett causing him to suffer head and arm injuries. He was airlifted to Pikeville Medical Center for treatment. Tragically, Firefighter Collett succumbed to his injuries Thursday evening, November 17.

Firefighter Collett was 44 years and is survived by his parents — Ted and Shirley, and his sister — Connie. Funeral arrangements are pending and will be posted on SupportingHeroes.org.

Between 1990 and 2014 18 firefighters were killed by hazardous trees.

Our sincere condolences go out to Firefighter Collett’s family, friends, and co-workers.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Chris.