The Walker Fire in Grimes Creek, October 12, 2015. InciWeb photo.
The Walker Fire has burned about 4,200 acres since it started on October 10, 5 miles southwest of Idaho City, 5 miles east of the Bogus Basin Mountain Recreation Area, and 14 miles northeast of Boise.
Strong winds on the day it started spread it across 2,500 acres by the next morning on lands managed by the Idaho Department of Lands, Southwest Forest Protective District, and the Boise National Forest. It is burning on both sides of Grimes Creek Road. Three cabins and one outbuilding have been destroyed.
The fire was very active on the north side on Tuesday.
Evacuations have been ordered for residents in Macks Creek, Wolf Creek, and Pine Creek.
Smoke from the fire has caused air quality alerts in the Treasure Valley area.
A C-130 air tanker working on the Walker Fire near Idaho City, ID flies past Chair #6 in the Bogus Basin ski area. Photo by @Auroreanowl.3-D map of the Walker Fire at 8 p.m. MT, October 13, 2015, looking northeast. Idaho City and Placerville are in the distance.
Station Fire near Evansville, WY, Oct. 11, 2015. Photo by MyWyomingAdventure
The Station Fire has burned approximately 16 homes and 9,000 acres just east of Casper, Wyoming in the community of Evansville. It started in a landfill on the north edge of town Saturday afternoon during a strong wind event, laid down overnight, but took off again Sunday afternoon. At 3:15 p.m. Monday, Wyoming State Forester Bill Crapster said the fire had been mapped at 7,000 Monday morning, but strong winds later in the day caused it to continue spreading and he estimated it had grown to about 9,000 acres.
Mr. Crapster said 536 homes are under evacuation orders affecting 1,350 residents. Two large air tankers assisted the ground-based firefighters. The MD-87 and BAe-146 were reloading at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport (JeffCo) 219 miles southeast of the fire.
He confirmed the name of the fire is Station, in spite of media reports calling it the Cole Creek Fire.
Map showing heat detected by a satellite over the Station Fire up through 11:36 a.m., October 12, 2015. The dots represent heat, but most of the vegetation is grass which can burn and then cool off before the next satellite overflight.
Two helicopters are working the fire, a Type 1 and a Type 3, in addition to 50 to 60 engines, Mr. Crapster said.
While returning from a motorcycle trip to the national parks in northwest Wyoming Saturday evening, we happened to stop overnight in Evansville at a hotel 1.8 miles southeast of the burning landfill. As the sun was setting we watched the fire which was burning vigorously in the landfill and had spread a bit beyond it. Sunday morning as we left at 8 a.m. we did not notice any smoke there at all.
But the wind in the area Saturday night and Sunday morning was very, very strong, steady at 30 mph at least, with much stronger gusts. I was worried about the wind Saturday night blowing over my 600-pound bike in the hotel parking lot. When I checked in, the desk clerk noticed my attire, asked if I was on a motorcycle, and said that because of the wind I could park it near the front door … which I did. Thankfully it was still upright Sunday morning. As I departed the area on Interstate 25 heading east and then south there was an electronic sign over the Interstate warning of winds gusting to 55 mph, and said light trailers should not attempt travel. It was a battle on the motorcycle trying to stay in only one lane as I was rudely pushed around by the very, very strong wind.
The RAWS weather station at Fales Rock west of Casper recorded a wind gust Sunday morning of 61 mph with sustained winds above 30 mph between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. By afternoon the relative humidity dropped to 10 percent.
At 3:10 p.m. on Monday the Fales Rock station showed 69 degrees, RH of 13 percent, and a southwest wind of 16 mph gusting to 27.
The weather forecast for the fire area calls for southwest winds decreasing Monday night to 17 mph with gusts to 24, an overnight RH of 42 percent and a low temperature of 44 degrees. Tuesday should bring 73 degrees, winds out of the southwest at 13 gusting around 20, and an RH of 14 percent.
UPDATE December 22, 2015: The Star Tribune has more information about how the fire started and how the initial attempts by landfill personnel to suppress the fire were not successful. The correct name of the fire is Station, not Cole Creek.
A fire that destroyed 14 homes in rural Evansville began after smoldering debris from a grinder at the Casper landfill ignited a woodchip pile at the facility, a state report concluded.
High winds the following day spread the embers to the surrounding prairie, sparking the Cole Creek Fire, which burned over 10,000 acres and temporarily displaced more than 1,000 people in October.
Landfill workers tried twice to extinguish the smoldering debris from the grinder, first with water extinguishers and later by stomping on them, according to the report, which was produced by the Wyoming Department of Fire Prevention and Electrical Safety.
The debris was pushed back into the woodchip pile after the second attempt by employees who believed the debris was no longer burning. However, the debris was still smoldering and ignited wood in the brush pile. Firefighters responded and kept watch overnight but lost control of the fire the following afternoon.
The report, which the Star-Tribune obtained Monday using a public records request, concludes the fire was an accident. The document does not address whether any workers at the landfill acted negligently….
The U.S. Forest Service has released a preliminary report for the fatality of Dave Ruhl on the Frog Fire. Mr. Ruhl went missing the evening of July 30, 2015 while scouting the fire on foot, serving as incident commander during the initial attack in a very remote area of the Modoc National Forest 46 air miles east of Mt. Shasta, California. His body was found about 14 hours later approximately one-quarter mile from where he was last seen.
(Click on the image below, the timeline of the fire, to see a larger version.)
On August 4 the USFS said the autopsy determined that Mr. Ruhl’s death was attributed to “carbon monoxide poisoning and smoke inhalation”.
Not much information is in the report that sheds light on what led to his being entrapped by the fire, or what decisions were made or not made that led Mr. Ruhl to be in that spot at the wrong time. The wind direction did shift, which drove the fire in different directions, possibly resulting in his location becoming compromised.
The report’s narrative ends with this:
Although much will remain unknown about Dave’s decision making and complete route of travel, the final 100 feet of his route were accurately established. It appears he was cut-off and overcome by fire during the period of time that the fire spread shifted dramatically toward the west-southwest. Dave’s fire shelter was not deployed.
This document, called by the USFS a “learning review, preliminary report — narrative”, was released a little over two months after the fatality, a remarkably short amount of time for the agency. It comes after the USFS was extremely secretive during the first five days after the accident, refusing to divulge if a fire shelter was deployed, where the remains were found, or if the fatality was caused by a burnover, vehicle accident, lightning, or another type of accident.
The report confirms something that could be occurring at many fires — behind the scenes communications via cell phones. The Zone Duty Officer sent two text messages to Mr. Ruhl confirming that he was a TRAINEE Type 3 Incident Commander, and ordering him to clarify that over the radio to the others on the fire. The next text message sent to Mr. Ruhl was, “And I won’t text anymore. Sorry for that.” And finally, an hour and a half later after it became obvious he was missing, “I need you to call or text ASAP, we are very concerned on your status.” The screen shot of those four messages from the Zone Duty Officer’s iPhone did not include any replies from Mr. Ruhl.
Premier Christy Clark said Tuesday that 60-year-old John Phare exemplifies the purpose of the new medal, which recognizes commendable contributions to community life.
The contract tree faller died last July while fighting the Old Sechelt Mine blaze.
Clark said Phare was one of thousands of firefighters who displayed courage and sacrifice during this year’s extensive and sometimes life-threatening forest fire season.
Phare’s fiancee, Kimi Hawkes, accepted the medal at a ceremony at the B.C. legislature.
