News and opinion about wildland fire
The image above is a screen grab from an animated graphic showing the wind speed and direction in the United States at 1:35 p.m MDT today. This image does not do it justice. Go to the Wind Map site and become mesmerized by the animation.
The map gives us a clue that firefighters working on the fire in Woodward County in northwest Oklahoma might be challenged to keep up with it.
Above: The National Weather Service issued this map at 1:45 p.m. today, saying: “Wildfire north of Woodward. People in outlined area should evacuate per county emergency management.”
(UPDATE at 4:37 p.m. MDT, April 5, 2016)
Very strong winds are leading to extreme fire behavior in northwest Oklahoma.
I just watched a replay on NEWS9.com of a road grader that had been putting in fire line get stuck as it tried to go up a slope to get on a road. The operator spent several seconds trying to get the machinery unstuck as the fire bore down. The flames were actually impinging on the grader as the operator jumped out the door and ran over to a reporter’s vehicle and got inside. By then the flames were pouring over the hood of that vehicle as the reporter quickly backed away. Apparently the grader operator was not injured.
Below is the video of the grader burnover.
News9.com – Oklahoma City, OK – News, Weather, Video and Sports |
New9 occasionally has live reports from the multiple fires.
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(Originally published at 2:14 p.m. MDT, April 5, 2016)
Authorities in Oklahoma are warning residents northeast of Woodward to evacuate. A fire between Woodward and Freedom is spreading quickly toward the northeast pushed by a strong wind.
The fire is about 122 miles northwest of Oklahoma City and 134 miles southwest of Wichita, Kansas.
OFS has dispatched two SEATS and two CL-415 (Super Scoopers) to multiple large fires located in Woodward County. …
Posted by Oklahoma Forestry Services on Tuesday, April 5, 2016
I believe the green line that the fire crosses in the map below is the southeast corner of Harper County. Most of the fire is in Woodward County. Click on the map to see a slightly larger version.
#OFSFireResponse Map of the Woodward Co fire.
Posted by Oklahoma Forestry Services on Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Massive #wildfire north of Woodward, OK. #OklahomaWeather pic.twitter.com/hkd4pEz9HJ
— Cameron Carver (@watch4bears) April 5, 2016
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Texas firefighters busier than last year The Texas Forest Service released this graphic showing that more acres have burned this year compared to the same period in 2015. The brown (or orange) bars and line are acres burned in 2016, while blue represents 2015.
This article first appeared at Fire Aviation.
Firefighters in Minnesota say the video provided by a drone gave them critical information and situational awareness at a propane fire near Callaway on March 24. The 200-person town was evacuated when a propane tanker truck collided with a freight train, causing a major derailment and fire.
Propane fires can be extremely dangerous. A BLEVE — Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion — can kill anyone nearby.
Below is an excerpt an article at DL-online:
…Piloted by a Perham firefighter, the drone flew over the scene of a derailment and propane tanker truck fire last week, giving firefighters a critical bird’s-eye view of the dangerous situation, said Callaway Fire Chief Keith Heinlein, who was in charge at the scene.
“My decisions are only as good as the information I have,” he said.
Information from the drone was invaluable, letting firefighters see “what was burning and where,” including areas that were blocked from view because of overturned grain cars, he said.
Emergency responders watched the live video feed from the drone on a screen inside their on-site command center.
Heinlein said they were joined in “the war room” by Cenex Harvest State Propane professionals who, thanks to the drone video, could see the propane tanker burning, including close-ups of valves and other parts, “and tell us exactly what was happening,” he said.
The propane tanker truck burned for about 10 hours, all the while being cooled by a steady stream of water shot by firefighters, before the liquid propane had burned off and was replaced by more volatile propane gas, Heinlein said.
The propane fire got too hot at one point and the tanker vented, causing a visible flare-up before firefighters cooled it down again, Heinlein said.
Later it heated up again in spite of firefighter efforts to keep it cooled down. “We got behind it,” couldn’t keep it cool enough, and it exploded, Heinlein said…
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Steve.
Red Flag Warnings are in effect for much of the central United States on Tuesday. Most of the areas should expect winds gusting to around 50 mph with relative humidities in the teens or single digits.
The maps were current as of 9:15 a.m. MDT on Tuesday. Red Flag Warnings can change throughout the day as the National Weather Service offices around the country update and revise their forecasts and maps. For the most current data visit this NWS site.
Here is the description from NASA of the images below of the Anderson Creek Fire that burned almost 400,000 acres in Oklahoma and Kansas last month:
“In late March 2016, wildfire raged across rural areas of Kansas and Oklahoma. Local authorities and media outlets are calling it the largest grass fire in Kansas history. The Anderson Creek fire started in northern Oklahoma on March 22 and proceeded to burn more than 620 square miles (1600 square kilometers) of prairie and cattle grazing land. No human deaths have been reported, though 600 cattle were killed by the fires. At least 16 homes and 25 structures were lost, as were countless miles of fencing.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired these two natural-color images of the fire. The first shows the extensive smoke plumes as winds whipped the fires on March 23, 2016. The second image shows the scarred land as it appeared on March 27. Turn on the image comparison tool to see the change.
The wildfire spread quickly due to dry conditions in the region; rainfall has been below normal this spring. By March 31, the fire was close to 90 percent contained, thanks to work by fire crews, the National Guard, and a few inches of snow. Click here to view drone footage of the fire at its peak.”
