Map showing the approximate location of the “560 Fire” northwest of Cheesman Lake in Colorado, 2:24 p.m. MDT April 25, 2020.
Firefighters were able to stop the spread of the “560 Fire” after it burned 68 acres 30 miles southwest of Denver Saturday afternoon. It was reported in the Pike & San Isabel National Forest at 12:30 p.m. near the 560 Road (Stony Pass Road) 3 miles northwest of Cheesman Lake.
The fire did not grow overnight but smoke will be visible Sunday as dead trees continue to burn in the footprint of the Hayman Fire that blackened 137,760 acres in 2002. Crews and dozers will build fireline around the perimeter where it is accessible and can be done safely.
560 Fire, April 25, 2020. Photo courtesy of Kara Lee of Elk Creek Fire.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bean. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
The fire has blackened 18,000 acres in Crockett and Val Verde Counties
Map showing the location of the Holcombe Road Fire in Texas at 2:35 p.m. CDT 4-21-2020.
(Originally published at 6:25 p.m. CDT April 21, 2020)
A wildfire 32 miles north of the Rio Grande and 28 miles southwest of Ozona, Texas has burned 18,000 acres.
The Holcombe Road Fire started April 19, 2020 in Crockett County and has since spread into Val Verde County. The suppression of the fire is being led by the Lone Star State Type 3 Incident Management Team, with Incident Commander Shane Crimm in unified command with the two counties.
The prediction Tuesday morning was for active fire behavior, long range spotting, and very high growth potential. Currently, 6 occupied residences and 50 outbuildings are threatened, as well as oil and gas infrastructure.
Resources working the fire on Tuesday included 50 firefighters, 7 dozers, 24 engines and 2 air tankers. One of the air tankers was Tanker 910, a DC-10 that was flying out of and reloading at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Each sortie took about three hours, plus 50 minutes on the ground between the two loads for taxi and reloading. En route to the fire it was flying 450 mph at 11,300 feet, and returning, 400 mph at 16,400 feet.
The flight path of Air Tanker 910, a DC-10, working the Holcomb Road Fire in Texas. This was the second load of the day for the aircraft on the fire. The map was current at 6:25 p.m. CDT April 21, 2020.Holcomb Road Fire. Photo by Texas Forest Service.Holcomb Road Fire. Photo by Texas Forest Service.Holcomb Road Fire. Photo by Texas Forest Service.
Photo by Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation.
On April 17 an individual that was illegally camping in the Optima Wildlife Management Area in the Oklahoma panhandle and was asked to leave by an Oklahoma Game Warden. As the suspect was departing several fires were started by tracer rounds fired from the suspect’s semiautomatic rifle. As firefighters attempted to extinguish the fires they were shot at multiple times by the individual. The shooter wandered off into the lakebed, setting more fires.
Approximately five hours later and after some intense moments, he was located, talked out, and taken into custody by the Texas County Sheriff’s Office and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol.
On April 18 Game Warden Mike Baker returned to the scene to attempt to locate the firearm that was reportedly used by the suspect to shoot at the firefighters. The Game Warden talked to two of the firefighters involved in the incident who pointed him to an area where the suspect was last seen starting additional fires.
Game Warden Baker was able to locate tracks that he believed belonged to the suspect and followed them to a point where he located a semiautomatic rifle and two empty magazines that are believed to be the same weapon used by the suspect.
The fire has come to within about two kilometers of the abandoned nuclear reactor that exploded in 1986
The map shows heat detected by a satellite as late at 5:50 a.m. EDT April 12, 2020 on a wildfire burning in the exclusion zone near Chernobyl.
The wildfire burning through the radioactive forest in Ukraine has come to within about two kilometers of the “New Safe Containment” structure that covers the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in 1986 at Pripyat.
According to satellite imagery from 5:50 a.m. EDT April 12 the eastward-spreading fire has crossed the Pripyat River just north of the city of Chernobyl. Our very unofficial estimates conclude that the blaze has burned nearly 18,000 acres. An even larger fire is burning about 25 km to the west.
Elevated radiation levels have been detected recently near wildfires burning in the Exclusion Zone or Zone of Alienation around the abandoned nuclear power plant. People are not allowed to live within 19 miles of the closed facility, however about 200 have remained in the area despite orders to leave.
Below is an excerpt from a New York Times article published April 11:
…Over time, radiation has settled into the soil, where its half-life ticks away mostly harmlessly. But the roots of moss, trees and other vegetation have absorbed some radiation, bringing it to the surface and spreading radioactive particles in smoke when it burns. Wildfires break out there often but the blazes burning through dry grass and pine forests this spring, after a warm and dry winter, are far larger than the typical brush fires in the Chernobyl zone.
By Saturday, about 400 firefighters, 100 fire engines and several helicopters had been deployed to the exclusion zone.
According to the state center of radiation and nuclear safety, contaminated smoke is expected to reach Kyiv this weekend. However, the radiation level in the air, once smoke has disbursed far from the fires, is considered safe. It is expected to be about a hundredth of the level deemed an emergency.
The Exclusion Zone Management Agency is trying to protect critical infrastructure in the Chernobyl zone, such as the plant itself and the so-called “graves,” or parking lots of abandoned, highly contaminated trucks and tracked vehicles that were left from the original disaster, officials said.
“We have been working all night digging firebreaks around the plant to protect it from fire,” said Kateryna Pavlova, the acting head of the agency that oversees the area.
Map showing the location of the Bent’s Fort Fire in southeast Colorado, at 4:42 a.m. MDT, 4-12-2020. Satellites detected heat in each of the circles.
(UPDATED at 2:18 p.m. MDT April 12, 2020)
Sunday morning the Otero County Sheriff’s Office reported that the Bent’s Fort Fire had burned approximately 1,500 acres and was about 75% contained. Crews were still working on hot spots and on the southern edge where it jumped the river at the Otero/Bent County line and flared up at around 3 a.m. Sunday.
The most recent heat shown in the map above was detected by a satellite at 4:42 a.m. MDT Sunday.
(Originally published at 5:38 p.m. MDT April 11, 2020)
Bents Fort Fire, posted at 1:57 p.m. MDT 4-11-2020 by Colorado State Patrol.
A fire described as “massive” by the Twitter account for the Otero County Sheriff ignited Saturday about 9 miles east of La Junta, Colorado. The Sheriff’s office said at 3:05 p.m. MDT, “Fire units from almost [all] of southeast Colorado responding.” (see map below)
Map showing the general location of the Bent’s Fort Fire in southeast Colorado, 4-11-2020.Map showing the location of the Bent’s Fort Fire in southeast Colorado, at 2:36 p.m. MDT, 4-11-2020. Satellites detected heat in each of the circles.
At 5:34 p.m. MDT the fire had burned approximately 1,167 acres according to the Otero County Sheriff’s office.
Bents Fort Fire, posted at 2:12 p.m. MDT 4-11-2020 by Otero County Sheriff.
The weather conditions are very conducive to rapid fire spread. At 5:30 p.m. at the La Junta Municipal Airport: 75 degrees, 6% relative humidity, with wind out of the south at 12 mph gusting to 22.
On April 10 a large wildfire was within a few kilometers of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in 1986
Sentinel-2 satellite photo showing the wildfire burning in the exclusion zone near Chernobyl, Ukraine. April 10, 2020.
(UPDATED at 4:11 p.m. EDT April 11, 2020)
The Sentinel-2 satellite photo above was taken April 10, showing the wildfire approximately 3 kilometers south of the New Safe Containment structure that covers the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in 1986 at Pripyat. The area in the photo is similar to that shown in the map below which includes heat detected by a satellite.
(Originally published at 10:59 p.m. EDT April 10, 2020)
The map shows heat detected over the previous seven days, as late at 7:42 a.m. EDT April 10, 2020 on a wildfire burning in the exclusion zone near Chernobyl. Heat was detected somewhere within each of the circles on the map.
A wildfire that started April 4 in Ukraine has spread rapidly in the last two days to come within approximately 3 kilometers of the New Safe Containment structure that covers the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor that exploded in 1986 at Pripyat.
Satellites detected heat from the fire at 7:42 a.m. EDT April 4 showing the fire extending to the Pripyat River just north of the abandoned city of Chernobyl.
Our very unofficial estimates based on the satellite data put the size at about 7,000 hectares (17,300 acres) as of Friday morning. The fire has been spreading east and southeast.
In recent days elevated radiation levels have been detected near wildfires burning in the exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. People are not allowed to live within 19 miles of the closed facility, however about 200 people have remained in the area despite orders to leave.
New Safe Containment structure over the remains of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor. Photo by Tim Porter.The map shows heat detected as late at 8 a.m. EDT April 9, 2020 on a wildfire burning in the exclusion zone near Chernobyl, approximately 24 hours before the map at the top of the article.
