The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings for areas in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico for Wednesday afternoon into the evening. In some areas the winds will gust at 35 to 40 mph and relative humidities will be in the single digits or teens..
The maps were current as of 8:50 a.m. MDT on Wednesday. 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 thisNWS site.
Forest ranger Keith Campbell succumbed to burn injuries sustained while fighting a wildfire along Lady Chancellor Hill, Port-of-Spain, on Friday afternoon, March 25.
Keith Campbell was a forester III in the Forestry Division of the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries in Trinidad (map). He became trapped in the fire after a change in wind direction caused the fire to spread rapidly around the firefighters. He died Friday night hours after sustaining third degree burns to 90 percent of his body.
Keith Campbell
Mr. Campbell and three other injured firefighters were rushed to the hospital where Mr. Campbell was admitted in critical condition. Of the other three, one has been released from the hospital, a second should be released soon, while the third remains hospitalized after suffering severe burns on his stomach and upper leg
Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat announced via social media that Mr. Campbell passed away around 11:45 on Friday night.
Mr. Rambharat said Mr. Campbell had received news of his mother’s death shortly before going to battle the blaze on Friday, but had decided to finish work with his team before going home.
Below are excerpts from an article at TriniBuzz:
…Co-worker Kishan Ramcharan, a Forester I, who worked with Campbell in the division since 2003, described the event as “a complete horror.”
He said Campbell remained in the raging fire for close to 30 minutes as he and other workers looked on in tears, unable to help.
Ramcharan said, “I never experienced anything so devastating and terrifying in my life.” He said Campbell was well-experienced in fighting fires and had a wealth of knowledge of fires habits and how fires operated in specific types of terrains.
He said, Keith was more or less on supervision duties but “everyone lends a helping hand in trying to suppress fires.” They arrived on the scene around 1 pm and conducted a fire assessment but decided it was best to wait on the Fire Service.
On realizing the fire had somewhat cooled down, they ventured in “since nothing was burning as much.” It was Campbell who went in first, equipped with full safety gear and a backpack water pump. Ramcharan said he then went in with his fire rake which Campbell advised him to use. Campbell was about 100 meters away and in his sight. Bain was also inside the forest. But as fate would have it, the winds intensified and it was suddenly “a furnace of fire blazing.”
Ramcharan said, “From a distance, the fire was raging from the valley and our drivers on the hills started screaming, get out! get out!”
He used the fire rake to pull himself out of the precipice and when he got to the top, he saw Bain badly burnt and screamed out for Campbell who was trapped. Satram then arrived on the scene and was joined by Carrington and Duprey who attempted to head down and await rescue from the Fire Service and ambulance who arrived ten minutes later.
Ramcharan said, “I was in a state of shock and disbelief. When they finally got to Campbell and I saw him, he was moving his head just a bit.”
He said Campbell was a dynamic human being with a range of skills and one of the best officers he had worked with.
Our sincere condolences go out to the friends, co-workers, and family of Mr. Campbell. And we hope for a speedy recovery for the three injured firefighters.
Oregon Public Broadcasting and Earthfix produced this three-minute video explaining how wildland fires are suppressed. It could be very useful for telling the uninitiated in very general terms how firefighters put out wildfires. It’s mostly accurate, but it would be possible to nitpick here and there. For example it highlights hot shot crews as the primary initial attack resource without mentioning engines.
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches for areas in Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. On the map below, the red areas are Warnings, while the yellow represents a Watch.
The maps were current as of 9:10 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.
The fire has burned 397,420 acres in Kansas and Oklahoma. It is the largest fire in the recorded history in Kansas.
The teams managing the huge Anderson Creek wildfire that burned from Oklahoma into Kansas were calling it 90 percent contained Sunday night. The organization running the fire is described by the Kansas Forest Service as a Unified Command comprised of the Kansas Forest Service Type 3 Incident Management Team, Kansas Type 3 All Hazard Incident Management Team, and Barber County.
The Blackhawk helicopters from the Kansas National Guard that were assisting by dropping water were released Sunday afternoon. The Temporary Flight Restriction was then terminated.
The Kansas Forest Service and the Kansas Incident Management Teams will both be transitioning their management responsibilities back to Barber County this week. Monday, crews will be in patrol status with four mutual aid fire departments and the Barber County resources. Warmer and dryer conditions will return to the fire area Monday and Tuesday.
The 38 Hutchinson Community College Fire Science students who were enrolled in Mitigation Project Training last week over spring break got more than they bargained for in hands-on training. They began the project with mechanical mitigation work at Sand Hills State Park, Dillon Nature Center, and the Prairie Dunes Country Club, but on March 23 the group was diverted to Medicine Lodge, Kansas along with their mentors and trainers to help fight the fire.
All photos were provided by the Kansas Forest Service.
Yesterday on the east-bound flights returning from the Aerial Firefighting conference in Sacramento I had selected window seats on the left side of the aircraft so the sun would be at my back, so to speak, illuminating the landscape with less glare from the usually dirty windows. The leg from Sacramento to Salt Lake City was routine, but when I arrived there was snow on the mountains east of the airport.
As I was boarding the next flight there was no enclosed jet bridge; instead we were outdoors using portable stairs. Just before walking into the aircraft door I stopped and took a cell phone photo of the snow-covered peaks (at the top of this article). The second photo of the same mountains was also taken with a cell phone.
