News and opinion about wildland fire
Jennifer Brown, who has produced at least six excellent short films featuring wildland fire, partnered with the former Fire Management Officer at Everglades National Park, Rick Anderson, to make this video, Burning Florida. The footage was gathered at a prescribed fire last week in the Florida Dry Prairie at Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park. The film has shots from the air (quadcopter) and ground along with the dedication from Mr. Anderson.
Fire photographer Jeff Zimmerman sent us this photo of the Casitas Fire near Highway 33 in Ventura County in southern California. It started on April 28 and burned 50 acres before being contained.
Jeff wrote:
Another fast moving brush fire in Ventura County forced crews for a short time to retreat into a safety zone on a ridge top, in very steep terrain along Highway 33 at Casitas Vista Dr. and Ventura Ave. Approximately 60 acres were charred as crews raced to cut off the lateral spread. As the afternoon winds increased in speed from the west the fire jumped control lines, forcing crews into the black on top of the ridge line. The spot fire jumped the ravine and came up canyon in a steep bowl covered in grass and sage. I don’t think anyone was injured but it is a reminder that fire season is here in Southern California. Numerous agencies from Ventura County, Santa Barbara County, Kern County, Los Angeles County and the United States Forest all worked in unison to control the blaze.
More information from Twitter about the fire:
The image below, which seems to be a photo of a computer screen, appears to show not only the fire perimeter but also the location of firefighting units. Click on it a couple of times to see a larger version.
#CasitasIncident #BrushFire photo of the perimeter officially 50 acres @VCFD pic.twitter.com/bhVZtjAuQG
— Capt Mike Lindbery (@VCFD_PIO) April 29, 2016
#CasitasIncident: Standing @ 50% contained & 50 acres. Cause under investigation. More info @ noon. Photo: @KPCC pic.twitter.com/mhT9SnZQy9
— Ventura County Fire (@VCFD) April 29, 2016
Arial look @ 40 acre #CasitasIncident #BrushFire @VCAirUnit. Fire burning away from structures previously threatened pic.twitter.com/iAF9C51LH1
— Ventura County Fire (@VCFD) April 29, 2016
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized4 Comments on Alberta: Fort McMurray fire continues spreading southeast THIS ARTICLE WILL NO LONGER BE UPDATED. We started a fresh thread on May 16 and will update it as needed.
(UPDATE at 9:41 p.m. MDT, May 9, 2016)
On Monday evening Alberta Wildfire Management updated the size of the huge fire in the Fort McMurray area, now saying it is 204,000 hectares, which is over half a million acres (504,000 acres) and 788 square miles.
The cooler and more humid weather in the forecast for the next few days should give firefighters a better chance to make some progress in slowing the fire down in certain areas. A few locations received some light rain over the last day or two.
Watch how the Fort McMurray fire has spread since last week: https://t.co/IHMErG2XYJ pic.twitter.com/IirfKYHu41
— National Post (@nationalpost) May 9, 2016
#Airlines Let #Dogs #Fly Coach As Massive #Wildfire Displaces Thousands Of People And #Pets https://t.co/Ai7IStFRIv pic.twitter.com/OXzMcj1DD0
— Maple Casino (@themaplecasino) May 9, 2016
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(UPDATED at 3:45 p.m. MDT, May 8, 2016)
Alberta Wildfire Management revised the reported size of the Fort McMurray fire to 161,000 hectares, an increase of 4,000 over this morning’s figure.
The Alberta government has not responded to an offer from Russia to supply ground and aerial resources to assist with the fire.
Below is an excerpt from an article at ctvnews:
…The offer involves sending converted Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes — the kind occasionally leased by the Canadian military — that can dump as much as “42 tons of fire retardant into fire spots,” according to a statement on the web site of Russia’s Civil Defence, Emergencies and Elimination of Consequences of Natural Disasters.
In addition, Moscow said it has “rescuers and specialists with necessary equipment” ready to help on the ground, if need be…
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(UPDATED at 10 a.m. MDT, May 8, 2016)
The fire at Fort McMurray, Alberta did not grow a much as expected on Saturday. The satellite detections of heat Saturday night showed some expansion on the southeast side but there were no major additions to the footprint. Sunday morning Alberta Wildfire Management is reporting the same size as 24 hours before, 157,000 hectares (387,000 acres). Perhaps they will show a revised figure when they get a chance for a mapping flight.
In the video below Wildfire Manager Chad Morrison gave an update on the fire as of Saturday.
The weather on Sunday could promote more growth of the fire on the east and northeast sides. The high at Fort McMurray will be 65 °F under partly cloudy skies, with 20 percent relative humidity and 18 mph winds out of the west-southwest.
Aerial footage, below, of Fort McMurray looks at the destruction in the Abasand and Beacon Hill neighborhoods.
The Alberta Government will use drones this week to help narrow down the point of origin of the fire. More information is at Fire Aviation.
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(UPDATED at 10:15 a.m. MDT May 7, 2016)
Alberta Wildfire Management reported Saturday morning that the fire near Fort McMurray has burned 157,000 hectares (387,000 acres). That is almost double the size reported Friday morning, but many of those additional hectares were acquired on Thursday.
On Friday the fire continued to spread to the southeast and is now on both sides of Highway 881 southwest of Anzac. There was also significant growth north of Fort McMurray on the east side of Highway 63.
The weather on Saturday will be conducive to additional spread of the fire to the east and northeast. The temperature at Fort McMurray will reach 80 °F, with 19 percent relative humidity and west-southwest winds of 6 to 13 mph.
On many recent days the temperature in this area of Alberta has been far higher than average. Historically the average high at Fort McMurray in April is 49 °F, and in May is 63 °F. On Tuesday the high temperature set a new record, eight degrees above the record high for that date.
Tuesday’s weather in Fort McMurray was 8 degrees above record high for the date https://t.co/CnzyWGYIcm pic.twitter.com/ec5DYQWRch
— Wildfire Today (@wildfiretoday) May 6, 2016
On Friday about 1,200 vehicles with residents who had fled north from Fort McMurray and then became stranded were escorted south back down Highway 63 through the fire and the heavily damaged city. They will relocate at least temporarily in emergency shelters or with friends or family far from the fire. Helicopters hovered overhead to watch for flare-ups along the highway, one of which halted the convoy for an hour.
Others are being airlifted out of the fire zone, as were 7,000 on Thursday, according to authorities. About 15,000 people remain stranded north of the devastated city, but not all will leave, Alberta Premier Rachel Notley said.
The fires in Alberta continue to send smoke into Saskatchewan, Manitoba, the central United States, and many areas in the eastern U.S. To see the most current smoke reports on Wildfire Today, visit the articles tagged “smoke” at https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
Continue reading “Alberta: Fort McMurray fire continues spreading southeast”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on Wildfire potential, May through August On May 1 the Predictive Services section at the National Interagency Fire Center issued their Wildland Fire Potential Outlook for May through August, 2016. The data represents the cumulative forecasts of the ten Geographic Area Predictive Services Units and the National Predictive Services Unit.
If their forecast is correct, the Northwest and Rocky Mountain areas will avoid unusually high wildfire activity while Hawaii and some locations in the Southwest, California, Nevada and southern Idaho could be busy in June, July, and August.
UPDATE May 2, 2016. NIFC took the unusual step of producing a video version of the outlook. It was released today.
Here are the highlights of the written report issued May 1. Following that are maps for June through August.
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“Conditions in the mid-Atlantic and Appalachian region were dry enough through April to see increased fire activity at the end of the month. Greenup and increases in precipitation will decrease much potential through May.
“Heavy fine fuel loadings are expected across the Southwest and Great Basin, and lower elevation areas of southern and central California. This will likely increase fire activity in these areas throughout fire season especially when associated with dry and windy periods. Fire activity will begin in May and June across the Southwest and transition northward as usual throughout the June and July.
“Warm April conditions depleted some of the mountain snowpack. Remaining snowpack should continue to melt off but remain long enough for a normal to slightly delayed onset of higher elevation fire activity. Nearly all higher elevation timbered areas are expected to see normal fire activity throughout the Outlook period.
“Poor seasonal snowpack and early snowmelt in South Central Alaska will likely to lead to above normal conditions in May, especially in the populated corridors.
“Significant moisture across the Central U.S. is expected to produce below normal significant fire potential, especially coupled with green-up occurring throughout this area.
“Most other areas of the U.S. are expected to see normal significant fire potential throughout the summer fire season. It is important to note that normal fire activity still represents a number of significant fires occurring and acres burned.”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized4 Comments on Member of Parliament protests cuts to Alberta’s firefighting budget In this video, Member of Parliament Arnold Viersen speaks out against the $15 million reduction in Alberta’s provincial budget for wildfire suppression. The funds allotted for air tankers was cut by $5.1 million while the base wildfire management budget was slashed by $9.6 million.
Paul Lane, the vice president of the air tanker company Air Spray said the company’s contract was cut by 25 per cent in the recent budget.
From CBCnews:
“The province has reduced the operating contracts, for not just us but the other air tanker operator, from 123 days to 93 days,” [Mr. Lane] said.
“Effectively that will mean that all the air tanker assets in Alberta will come up contract by August 16. The province has no guarantee of availability after that period of those air tanker assets.”
From the Edmonton Journal:
With dry conditions and dozens of blazes already burning across Alberta, Premier Rachel Notley said Tuesday her government’s decision to slash the wildfire budget by $15 million this year won’t impact the province’s firefighting efforts.
Notley chalked the matter up to simple budgetary practices that has the province earmark base funding, with the understanding firefighting efforts are covered in the province’s emergency budget.
“In no way, shape or form are we suggesting that we wouldn’t put every bit of resources that are required to ensure that fires are appropriately fought as they arise,” Notley told reporters at a Red Deer news conference. “This is the way these kinds of emergent and non-predictable costs are typically budgeted.”
Last year, the province spent $375 million fighting wildfires; none of that money was earmarked in the budget, but instead came directly from emergency funding.
After [the air tanker] contracts expire Aug. 16, the province will hire planes on case by case basis as needed, but critics say that could leave the government in a vulnerable position if companies look for longer-term contracts elsewhere.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on Mexican citizens fighting America’s fires Above: a screen grab from The Atlantic’s documentary about a fire crew from Mexico that assists a U.S. National Park.
The Atlantic produced this seven-minute documentary about Mexican citizens, Los Diablos, that help Big Bend National Park in southern Texas conduct prescribed fires and suppress wildfires. The crew assisted with the Powerline Fire that burned about 1,800 acres in Big Bend in February.
Here is how The Atlantic describes the video:
In Texas, Mexican firefighters are saving the Rio Grande. Known as Los Diablos, or “the devils,” the elite firefighting crew is hired by the National Park Service to fight wildfires and conduct controlled burns along the border. The river provides water to more than 5 million people in the U.S. and Mexico, and sustaining its flow is vital. The water in the Rio Grande is already 150% over-allocated. In this short documentary, The Atlantic follows the group’s conservation efforts to rid the river of giant cane, an invasive plant that narrows the river and threatens native plants and fish.
Below are more screen grabs from the video.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bill.
