This map shows a portion of the 96 large uncontained fires in the western United States as of the morning of August 19, 2015. There are 245 active fires.
Below is another representation of the current situation.
Map of wildfires in the West
Category: Uncategorized
Three firefighters killed in Washington wildfire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized8 Comments on Three firefighters killed in Washington wildfire (Originally published at 6:12 p.m. PT, August 19, 2015; updated at 8:12 a.m. PT, August 20, 2015)
Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters were killed Wednesday, August 19, while they were fighting the Twisp River fire west of Twisp, Washington. The agency confirmed that they were “engaged in initial attack operations and were involved in a vehicle accident when it is believed that the fire overtook the vehicle.”
According to Okanogan County Sheriff Frank Rogers, the three Forest Service deaths occurred in a fire on Washington Department of Natural Resources land.
Four additional firefighters were injured: one USFS, two DNR, and one DNR contractor.
Evacuations of the 3,000 residents of two nearby towns were ordered, Twisp and Winthrop.
The names have not been released, pending notification of next of kin.
“We are devastated by the tragic loss of three of our Forest Service firefighters,” said Mike Williams, Forest Supervisor on the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. “We are working with County and State partners to notify the families of those lost. Our hearts and prayers go out to the families and fellow crewmembers of these brave firefighters.”
The Forest Service said a national incident management team has been ordered.
Q13 Fox reported that the county “sheriff said the wind suddenly shifted and the firefighters became trapped as the fire was turned back on them”.
The rapidly spreading new fire that caused the evacuations is represented by the six red dots in the map below, 6 miles northwest of Twisp. Heat from the fire was detected by a satellite at 1:05 p.m. PT, August 19. Click on the map to see a larger version.
Evacuation information can be found at the Okanogan County Emergency Management Facebook page.
The first articles to report the fatalities were time-stamped shortly before 6 p.m. PT, August 19. The reports say shifting winds may have contributed to the entrapment of the firefighters. The weather station between Twisp and Winthrop, NCSW1, between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Wednesday recorded winds from all directions, starting from the north at 8 a.m., the wind direction changed going clockwise until they were from the north-northwest at 5 p.m. The wind speeds were light, at 1 to 6 mph until 5 p.m. when they increased to 10 with gusts to 20 mph. The relative humidity was in the mid-teens and the high temperature was 95 degrees.
Our sincere condolences go out to the families of the injured and deceased firefighters.
New law allows temporary federal firefighters to apply for permanent jobs
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on New law allows temporary federal firefighters to apply for permanent jobs One of the many challenges federal land management agencies face when recruiting to fill wildland firefighter positions, in addition to low pay, is the difficulty in filling seasonal or “temporary” positions. A law recently signed by President Obama, the Land Management Workforce Flexibility Act, P.L. 114-47, puts a different perspective on that issue. Temporary firefighters can now apply for permanent positions if a few conditions are met:
1) the employee was initially appointed under competitive procedures;
2) the employee has served under one or more time-limited appointments in a land management agency for a period or periods totaling more than 24 months without a break of 2 or more years;
3) the employee’s performance was at an acceptable level throughout the service period/s; and
4) the employee’s most recent separation was for reasons other than misconduct or performance.
While the law is official, it can’t be implemented until new rules are issued by the Office of Personnel Management and the six agencies — Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service, Fish and Wildlife Service, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Bureau of Reclamation.
Nearly 29,000 firefighters battling fires in western U.S.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Nearly 29,000 firefighters battling fires in western U.S. 
(The above data is from the National Interagency Fire Center. We added the descriptions on the right in order to decode the acronyms for the Geographic Area Coordination Centers. Click the image above to see a larger version.)
An update of the wildfire situation in the western United States reveals that almost 29,000 personnel are currently working on active fires. The numbers from the National Interagency Coordination Center’s Incident Management Situation Report for August 19 show 573 hand crews, 1,811 fire engines, and 194 helicopters assigned to fires.
In addition, 46 incident management teams are deployed:
- 2 Area Command Teams
- 16 Type 1 IMTs
- 27 Type 2 IMTs
- 1 National Incident Management Organization team
There were 4 new large fires reported on Friday, to bring the total of uncontained large fires to 96.
Almost all of these numbers are higher than we last reported on August 15.
Red Flag Warnings and smoke, August 19, 2015
The National Weather Service has issued Red Flag Warnings or Fire Weather Watches for areas in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, and Colorado.
The map was current as of 5:30 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 this NWS site or this NWS site.
The map below shows the locations of wildfires and the smoke from those fires.
Wildfire smoke maps, August 18, 2015
To see the most current smoke reports on Wildfire Today, visit the articles tagged “smoke” at https://wildfiretoday.com/tag/smoke/
