Sunday night CAL FIRE released the following additional information about the four fighters that sustained burns on July 26:
Early [Sunday] evening, two CAL FIRE and two U.S. Forest Service firefighters suffered burn injuries while battling the Lowell Fire in Nevada County. The firefighters were airlifted from the fire and transported to UC Davis Burn Center in Sacramento.
The two CAL FIRE personnel and one of the U.S. Forest Service firefighters are likely to be treated and released [Sunday] evening. The remaining U.S. Forest Service firefighter is being admitted with serious burn injuries.
CAL FIRE has activated one of its Serious Accident Review Teams to review the incident.
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(Originally published at 9:17 p.m., July 26, 2015)
Four fighters sustained burn injuries on the Lowell Fire 46 air miles northeast of Sacramento on Sunday. CAL FIRE Public Information Officer Daniel Berlant said they were airlifted and paramedics were assessing their condition.
The Lowell Fire started July 25 and CAL FIRE is calling it 1,500 acres.
We will update this article as more information becomes available.
The Cutca Fire has burned 200 acres since it was reported at 4:00 pm Friday July 24. Firefighters on the ground and in the air have been holding it to that size since Friday night. It is in steep, inaccessible terrain east of Cutca Valley and south of Long Canyon, 2 miles north of the Palomar Observatory in the Cleveland National Forest.
Before nightfall on Friday, two hotshot crews flew in by helicopter and worked through the night. Supported by the night flying water-dropping helicopter from the Angeles National Forest the crews were able to make good progress fighting the fire by using direct attack.
No structures, including the Palomar Observatory with the 200-inch telescope, are currently threatened and no evacuations are occurring.
These photos were taken Friday by Air Attack working the fire.
A P2V drops on the Cutca Fire.An Air Crane drops on the Cutca Fire.An S-2T supports firefighters on the ground.
Air Tanker 118, an HC-130H operated by the U.S. Forest Service, maneuvers through smoke over the Lowell Fire July 25, 2015 on one of its first missions as an air tanker. Photo by Matthew Rhodes.
The Lowell Fire 7 miles east of Grass Valley, California grew by another 500 acres to 2,233 acres on Monday, chewing up more ground on the north side as it continues to move through the Steephollow drainage approaching Long Point. Firefighters have been mostly successful so far in keeping the fire from crossing the high-voltage electrical transmission line on the ridge just east of Steephollow.
At a weather station near the fire on Monday the temperature reached 90 degrees, the relative humidity bottomed out at 16 percent, and the wind was 2 to 5 mph with gusts at 8 to 13. Conditions on Tuesday will not be extreme, but the temperature at the fire will reach the mid-90s and the relative humidity again will be in the mid-teens, but the wind will be moderate at 2 to 8 mph switching from the southeast to the west in the afternoon.
Early Wednesday morning between 2 a.m. and 7 a.m. the wind will increase to 14 mph with gusts to 20 out of the east, which could test some of the firelines on the west side of the fire or spread the north end of the fire in a different direction than we have seen since the fire started July 25.
Mandatory Evacuations are in effect for Red Dog Road East of Greenhorn Creek, You Bet Road East of Greenhorn Creek, Chalk Bluff, and Lowell Hill Roads. An evacuation advisory is in place for the Cascade Shores Community.
As of Tuesday morning 2,277 personnel were battling the fire.
Map of the Lowell Fire at 10 p.m. PT, July 27, 2015. The red line represents the perimeter then, and the white line is the perimeter 24 hours before.
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(UPDATED at 8:33 a.m. PT, July 27, 2015)
Tanker 60, a DC-7, drops on the Lowell Fire, July 25, 2015. Photo by Matthew Rhodes.
(More photos of air tankers working on the Lowell Fire are at Fire Aviation.)
The Lowell Fire northeast of Sacramento was very active on Sunday, spreading for another 1.4 miles to the north. The growth was accelerated by airborne burning embers that generated spot fires a quarter of a mile in front of the main fire. It continued to move up through the Steephollow drainage and crossed over Chalk Bluff Ridge into the South Fork Greenhorn drainage.
Access to the fire is difficult for the 1,424 firefighters working to suppress the blaze which has now burned 1,700 acres. Other firefighting resources on the fire include 104 engines, 42 hand crews, 14 helicopters, 39 dozers, and 6 water tenders. The number of air tankers varies throughout the day.
Sunday night CAL FIRE released additional information about the four fighters that sustained burns on July 26:
Early [Sunday] evening, two CAL FIRE and two U.S. Forest Service firefighters suffered burn injuries while battling the Lowell Fire in Nevada County. The firefighters were airlifted from the fire and transported to UC Davis Burn Center in Sacramento.
The two CAL FIRE personnel and one of the U.S. Forest Service firefighters are likely to be treated and released [Sunday] evening. The remaining U.S. Forest Service firefighter is being admitted with serious burn injuries.
CAL FIRE has activated one of its Serious Accident Review Teams to review the incident.
Below is a 3-D map of the Lowell Fire at 11 p.m. on July 26.
The red line represents the perimeter of the Lowell Fire at 11 p.m. PT, July 26, 2015. The yellow line is the perimeter from 24 hours before. We are looking toward the northeast. (click to enlarge)
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(UPDATED at 9:02 p.m. PT, July 26, 2015)
Four firefighters on the Lowell Fire northeast of Sacramento sustained burn injuries on Sunday. They were flown to a hospital but very little other information is available. When we find out more we will post it HERE.
The fire was active again today, but the official acreage did not increase. CAL FIRE Public Information Officer Daniel Berlant distributed this information via Twitter Sunday evening:
While fire activity did increase last this afternoon the fire remains 1,500 acres & 15% contained. Over 1,100 firefighters at scene.
I’m not sure if this qualifies as a wildfire, but today, July 25, there was a fire on the 14th floor deck of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas. According to witnesses it spread quickly through palm trees and cabanas around the Bamboo Pool. News reports are saying two people were injured with one being transported to a hospital.
Several areas of the hotel, which has almost 3,000 rooms, were evacuated.
The Las Vegas Sun described the scene as the fire erupted:
The witness said the fire consumed half the cabanas around the pool in less than a minute. Guests were running and screaming as the fire spread “ridiculously fast,” and the entire pool deck area was quickly evacuated.
The Bamboo Pool on a better day to go for a swim. (click to enlarge)
A wildland firefighter might think — it had roads all the way around it, so, no problem.
It is interesting to consider what the primary carrier of the fire was, and why it spread “ridiculously fast”. You can click on the above photo to get a better look at the palm trees. I can’t tell if they are real or artificial, and the same goes for the clumps of vegetation around their bases. But they look like they could be authentic.
I don’t have much experience with palm tree fires, and certainly not with fake ones, but if a fire climbed to the top of one of these trees, I wonder how easily it could turn into a crown fire, with each one igniting its neighbor. If that “vegetation” around the base of the trees is flammable, then it could accelerate the spread significantly. In the video the trees are burning extremely well.
Those objects that look like upside down umbrellas are interesting. If the trees are real, those things could have accumulated some dead fuel as it fell from the trees, which would be good recipients for spot fires, adding to the fuel continuity and contributing to the rapid spread.
Another possible fuel is those mattresses. They are probably foam covered by plastic. In the video you can see some horizontal fuel fairly close to the ground burning furiously.
And you have to consider the Las Vegas summer weather. The fire started a little after noon on Saturday. At 4:20 MDT in Vegas it was 99 degrees, 11 percent RH, and the wind was out of the southwest at 7 mph. Almost Red Flag Warning conditions at the Bamboo Pool.
A wildfire started a yesterday in the hills by Lake Berryessa. I was lucky enough to live close and see the fire starting early. I quickly grabbed my camera gear and ran to go shoot some time lapses of the massive fire. I drove alls round Yolo county and parts of Winters to capture this footage.
Music by Blaise Douros.
The Wragg Fire started on July 22 and has burned 6,900 acres, one outbuilding, and a tent trailer.
Firefighting resources assigned on July 25 include 1,825 personnel, 157 engines, 45 crews, 13 helicopters, 28 dozers, and 19 water tenders.
All evacuation orders and road closures were lifted at 10:00 A.M. July 25.
Yes, it’s another wildfire started by someone trying to protect the environment by burning it — that is, by burning his soiled toilet paper and inadvertently starting a wildfire.
The Idaho Statesman reports it was a cyclist who accidentally started the 73-acre fire near Boise on Wednesday. There were many Tweets and media articles about the pooping cyclist.
This is not the first time burning toilet paper has started a wildfire. In fact, we have a tag for “toilet paper” that will take you to four articles about it — five now.
