Wildfire Archives - Page 18 of 151

Colorado’s 2021 Marshall Fire investigation concluded

Kelly AnderssonJune 8, 2023June 8, 2023Wildfirecoal seams, Colorado, Marshall Fire, Twelve Tribes

Authorities today ended their year-and-a-half-long investigation into the cause of the 2021 Marshall Fire, concluding that Colorado’s most destructive wildfire in history actually had two separate ignition sources, one of which was six days before the fire grew out of control, with the other later originating from arcing power lines.

Boulder County Sheriff Curtis Johnson said the fire was first set on December 24, 2021 to burn branches and construction debris at a religious group’s compound on El Dorado Springs Drive. According to a Colorado Public Radio (CPR) report, that fire was inspected by the local fire department, which determined the fire had been extinguished correctly. But high winds six days later on December 30 uncovered hot ashes and reignited the fire. About an hour later, sparks from an Xcel Energy power line started a second fire about 2,000 feet away.

Boulder District Attorney Michael Dougherty said no criminal charges would be filed against either Xcel or the Twelve Tribes group. “We make our decisions based on evidence,” he said, “and not based on emotion. If we were to tell you we were filing charges today, it would be wrong and unethical.”

The Denver Post reported that the Marshall Fire was Colorado’s costliest; it destroyed $2 billion in property and killed two people.

High winds, even with occasional hurricane-force gusts, are not unusual in this foothills region of Colorado, where the eastern prairies meet the Rockies. According to a climate.gov report, the Marshall Fire ripped through suburban neighborhoods on the west side of the metropolitan area. Pushed by high winds and fueled by dry conditions, the fire burned more than 6,000 acres, killed two people, and destroyed over 1,000 homes. On the day of the windstorm, atmospheric pressure dropped sharply east of the Rockies, and strong downslope winds followed. At the base of the foothills west of Denver, wind gusts reached 100 miles per hour.

Johnson and Dougherty spent more than an hour Thursday morning laying out details of their investigation and how Dougherty came to the conclusion that no criminal charges would be filed.

Investigators found no evidence that members of the Twelve Tribes organization intended to start the Marshall Fire — or that Xcel Energy was negligent in maintaining its equipment, Dougherty said.

The Twelve Tribes Community is classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “Christian fundamentalist cult.” It has a local home in the foothills of the Rockies on Eldorado Springs Drive. “We gather every morning and evening to hear from our Creator through one another,” says the group’s website. “Devoted to the teachings and selfless life of our Master Yahshua the Messiah (Jesus of the Bible), we lay down our lives for one another (meeting each other’s needs first) to see His kingdom come to the earth. We work, rest, dance, laugh, and eat together as a family, enjoying one another’s fellowship.” The Denver Post published an in-depth look at the group a year ago.

At the request of the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention & Control, a Facilitated Learning Analysis on the fire was completed. The lengthy and detailed document is in a “storymap” format, which in this case includes many illustrations, photos, and maps.

Xcel, incidentally, is disputing the investigation’s findings, arguing that fires in underground coal deposits (not uncommon in Colorado) near their power lines may be responsible for the start of the second fire. “We strongly disagree with any suggestion that Xcel Energy’s power lines caused the second ignition, which according to the report started 80 to 110 feet away from Xcel Energy’s power lines in an area with underground coal fire activity,” said Xcel spokesman Tyler Bryant. “Xcel Energy did not have the opportunity to review and comment on the analyses relied on by the Sheriff’s Office and believes those analyses are flawed and their conclusions are incorrect.”

~ Thanks and a tip of the hat to Rick

PacifiCorp trial wraps up and goes to jury

Kelly AnderssonJune 8, 2023June 8, 2023WildfireLabor Day Fires, Pacific Power1 Comment

After seven weeks of detailed analysis about topics as far-ranging as fire plumes, fire behavior, firebrands, and metallurgy, jurors will now determine whether the electricity provider PacifiCorp should pay out for thousands of properties destroyed after an extreme east wind event during the 2020 Labor Day fires in western Oregon. The trial started back in April and wrapped up on Wednesday, June 7 in Multnomah County Circuit Court in Portland.

KGW-8 News reported that Pacific Power attorneys said the company shouldn’t be responsible for climate change, other wildfires’ spread actually ignited fires named in the lawsuit, and power shutoffs were both rare and a last resort. Lawyers for the plaintiffs who lost homes in the fires said Pacific Power had ample warning that windstorms could generate severe fire risk, including conversations with agency officials about power line de-energization.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys also said that the wildfire investigations are inconclusive because Pacific Power destroyed evidence of downed power lines and erased internal communications about its findings; the only skype messages that Pacific Power didn’t erase were found in discovery in a folder labeled “purges.”

Fire crew on the South Obenchain Fire -- Inciweb photo — Fire crew on the South Obenchain Fire — Inciweb photo

OPB reported that plaintiffs in the class-action case are requesting $1.6 billion in damages. They allege that PacifiCorp acted negligently by refusing to heed the extreme weather warnings and shut down its power lines. Attorneys have drawn connections between PacifiCorp’s decision to keep power on and the fires that ignited and burned across western Oregon. The Labor Day fires of 2020 burned more of the Oregon Cascades than had burned in the previous 36 years combined.

GOES 17 image Labor Day fires, September 8, 2020 — GOES 17 image of Labor Day fires, September 8, 2020 — click to view full-size NASA image.

“They have no real response to any of this,” attorney Cody Berne told the jury during closing statements. He said PacifiCorp started the fires. “They destroyed the evidence. And now they have come before you and are asking not to be held accountable.”

Beachie Creek Fire progression map. U.S. Forest Service map. Each line represents 24 hours of growth, but the map data begins on September 2, 2020 and does not show the preceding 18 days. It started in the black area.

Lawyers for those who lost their homes in the fires repeatedly asked the jury to hold the utility responsible for igniting the fires, according to the Statesman Journal. “This is a massive corporation that caused trauma to the state, destroyed entire parts of it, and they want you to find them responsible for nothing at all. They are taking no accountability — it’s unbelievable,” plaintiffs’ attorney Nicholas Rosinia told the jury on Wednesday. “They want you to say the survivors get nothing; their story doesn’t matter. Their homes and memories were erased … but to PacifiCorp that doesn’t matter.”

The full day of closing arguments wrapped up the trial in which jurors listened to testimony from witnesses and fire experts about whether PacifiCorp is liable for millions or even billions in damages after its power lines ignited the Santiam, Echo Mountain, South Obenchain, and 242 fires. Defense attorney Doug Dixon argued that the evidence showed limited reason to believe that the power lines caused the fires. PacifiCorp, which is owned by multinational corporation Berkshire Hathaway, took every reasonable precaution, Dixon said, and didn’t have the information to justify throwing entire communities into darkness during an emergency. “There’s no witness who came in and said based on the forecasts Pacific Power was receiving that it should have de-energized in this specific area of its service territory,” he said.

Jury to answer 23 questions: As the jury of 12 begin deliberations, they’ll fill out a form with 23 questions. The first and most important is whether PacifiCorp was negligent — defined as acting without reasonable care — for any or all of the fires. Jurors just check the “yes” or “no” box for all four fires.

Nine of the twelve jurors must agree for a ruling in favor of the plaintiffs, otherwise the ruling will be in favor of PacifiCorp. Additional questions ask whether PacifiCorp’s alleged negligence caused harm, and whether the utility’s actions rise to the level of gross negligence — a lack of care that demonstrates reckless disregard for the safety or lives of others. Jurors will also discuss other questions before considering economic and other damages for the 17 lead plaintiffs who lost homes or property in the fires.

Canadian wildfire smoke moves into Northeast U.S.

Kelly AnderssonJune 6, 2023June 7, 2023Wildfireair quality, Canada smoke7 Comments

New York City has some of the worst air quality in the country this week because of smoke that’s drifted south from wildfires in Canada. The city had an orange glow Tuesday morning, with the sun obscured by a smoky haze, reported by CNBC. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation issued an air quality health advisory Tuesday for several counties and surrounding suburbs. Ratings for air quality reached into the 150s on Tuesday, according to AirNow. Those levels are considered unhealthy for all people and significantly above exposure recommendations from the World Health Organization.

The sky over the city had an orange glow on Tuesday morning and the sun was largely obscured. Officials warned residents to limit time outdoors and emphasized that people with respiratory illnesses or heart disease are especially vulnerable to the dangerous air quality conditions. The New York Times reported that smoke brought hazy skies to parts of New York State and also Vermont on Tuesday, and air quality alerts were also issued across large swaths of Minnesota. Hundreds of wildfires burned across Canada, exacerbating an active wildfire season that is expected to worsen, and sending smoke into much of the U.S.

Haze blanketed much of Ottawa and Toronto, while all of New York City was under an air quality alert; by the afternoon, the Manhattan skyline was obscured.

The Oregonian reported that smoke is also causing unhealthy air quality across Oregon, but just two sentences of the report by Gosia Wozniacka were available to non-subscribers. The Seattle Times, however, reported that Canada’s intense wildfires now spread from the western provinces to Quebec, with hundreds of active fires. On Tuesday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a poor air quality alert for New England, a day after parts of Illinois, Wisconsin, and Minnesota received similar advisories. Last week, U.S. officials as far south as Maryland, Virginia, and Pennsylvania reported being affected by the wildfires.

The EPA said the smoke will linger for a few days in New England.

“It’s not unusual for us to get fire smoke in our area. It’s very typical in terms of northwest Canada,” said Darren Austin, a meteorologist and senior air quality specialist with the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management. But the smoke usually has remained aloft and doesn’t affect people’s health, he said.

The Quebec-area fires are both large and relatively close, about 500 to 600 miles (roughly 800 to 970 kilometers) away from Rhode Island. And they followed wildfires in Nova Scotia, which caused a brief air quality alert on May 30, Austin said.

In Connecticut, smoke from Canadian wildfires lingered overnight on Monday and covered the entire state by Tuesday morning. WTNH-TV News reported that the smoke boosted fine particulate levels starting Monday evening, pushing them into the “unhealthy for sensitive groups” category, according to the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection.

Smoke map, Northeast U.S., by fire.airnow.gov

The Northeast smoke is the result of more than 150 fires in Canada; it has drifted toward Connecticut and stalled in the Northeast U.S. by an upper-level, low-pressure system, according to Connecticut’s DEEP.

Those with asthma or lung disease, and/or the elderly are at risk if they spend a long time outside. Last week, the American Lung Association issued an air quality alert for increased fine particulate matter levels. Check the Fire and Smoke Map at fire.airnow.gov for detailed information about your area, and map.purpleair.com is another excellent source for air quality warnings.

Fires in Germany burn near Königsberg and Wernigerode

Kelly AnderssonJune 5, 2023WildfireCopernicus, Germany3 Comments

In Germany, the Harz Mountain Fire has forced tourist evacuations; the fire reportedly started at the Königsberg peak in northern Germany on Sundayl Another fire was ignited in the eastern state of Brandenburg on Wednesday and it is still growing. Deutsche Welle (DW) reported that near the town of Wernigerode in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, a fire in the Harz mountains had been contained. About 100 people were evacuated from the Brocken peak, the highest point in northern Germany and a popular attraction famed for its literary connections.

A Canadair CL-215 water bomber plane dropping a load of water on a forest fire. Wikipedia Commons photo — A Canadair CL-215 waterbomber dropping a load on a fire. Wikipedia Commons photo

ABC News reported that the wildfire on the German military training site is “contaminated” with ammunition. Officials say strong winds have fanned flames at the fire near Jueterbog, south of Berlin, and because the area contains large amounts of ammunition, the fire has doubled in size. Firefighters are working to contain the fire but are avoiding the training grounds where explosions were heard Monday, according to ABC News.

Weeks of dry weather have increased the risk of wildfires in eastern Germany, with some regions on the second-highest alert level. A fire near Jueterbog, south of Berlin, was burning for days as authorities scrambled to keep it from reaching surrounding villages.

Meteorologists say that rain predicted for the coming days may lower the threat of wildfires. CTIF, the Internation Association for Fire and Rescue Services, reported that Europe is expecting that 2023 will be extremely hot, with droughts and record forest fires. 2022 was a year of weather records in Europe; the summer was record-hot, with temperatures above 45°C (113°F) with numerous heat-related deaths, along with the drought and fires.

The 2022 annual report from the EU’s environmental monitoring program Copernicus shows that scientists believe the extreme heat will get even worse in southern Europe. Britain recorded summer temperatures exceeding 40°C for the first time ever in July 2022. Britain’s heatwave was only one of many; the highest temperature measured was in Portugal at 47°C.

The Copernicus program collects and transforms data from multiple sources (e.g. satellites and in-situ or non-space measurements) into operational services to provide information about the earth’s land, oceans, and atmosphere, and to monitor climate change, support European emergency management, and safeguard civil security.

Nova Scotia battles its largest fire in history

Kelly AnderssonJune 1, 2023June 1, 2023WildfireNova Scotia9 Comments

Canadian firefighters are fighting the biggest wildfire in the history of the Atlantic province. The fire on the southern tip of the province has burned over 17,000 hectares (42,000+ acres), with flamelengths reaching nearly 100m (328 feet). And another fire near Halifax has forced the evacuation of thousands of residents. Smoke has drifted south, triggering air quality warnings in the U.S., according to BBC News reports.

Nova Scotia officials said the fire’s burning in Shelburne County and about 50 homes have been destroyed. Dave Rockwood with the Nova Scotia Department of Natural Resources told reporters that the fire’s very fast-moving. He said about 5,000 people were evacuated, according to reports from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). A smaller fire near Halifax earlier burned about 200 homes and evacuated over 16,000 people.

According to an ALJAZEERA report, the fires were causing poor air quality hundreds of kilometers away, but federal help was coming — along with about 100 firefighters from the U.S. — after local authorities appealed for outside assistance. Canada’s federal government had already provided airlifts, aerial surveillance, crew comfort trailers, and food at the emergency shelters, said Sean Fraser, a cabinet minister and parliament member from Nova Scotia.

“We’re in a crisis in the province and we want and we need and we will take all the support we can get,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told a news conference on Wednesday. “Unprecedented resources are being used because these fires are unprecedented.” Additional resources have been shipped in from Ontario, and a dozen water bombers from neighboring regions and the Coast Guard have been engaged. Houston said he has also asked for military assistance.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the wildfires “heartbreaking” and promised unlimited support.

On Wednesday, Nova Scotia officials increased the fine for breaking the provincewide burn ban — a restriction on outdoor fires — to $25,000 CAD (almost $19,000 USD). Officials said rain is not forecasted for the region until Friday, and they remain unsure on when residents can return to their homes.

Canada’s federal government announced today that it will be sending more resources to help Nova Scotia. This includes military personnel, as well as additional firefighters to help relieve those who have been working on the ground for days. More than 300 firefighters from the U.S. and South Africa are en route to Canada in the coming days. Some will be sent to Nova Scotia, while others are headed for Alberta.

State Farm: No new California homeowners’ policies

Kelly AnderssonMay 29, 2023June 2, 2023WildfireCalifornia, Insurance, State Farm7 Comments

UPDATE 06/02/2023 — Allstate and Farmers join State Farm in denying new homeowner policies in California. State Farm quit selling new homeowner policies on Saturday, and now a second major carrier, Allstate Insurance, has confirmed it ended new homeowners’ policies in the state last year. On top of that, ABC-7 News reported that Farmers Insurance is now limiting policies for new customers. All three companies are still serving existing customers, and more than 100 other companies are still issuing new homeowners’ policies, but homeowners across the state will have a tougher time buying coverage.

State Farm will no longer provide home insurance to new California customers because of wildfire risks and increased construction costs. The company quit accepting new applications for business and personal lines and casualty insurance in California, USA TODAY reported.

California construction costs — Estimation QS
Building Cost Estimating, Construction, Outdoor Projects and Activities

State Farm said it will still work with the California Department of Insurance and lawmakers and will still serve existing customers.

The Oregonian reported that last year, California became the first state to require insurance premium discounts for those with wildfire protection safeguards at homes or businesses. That change was in response to soaring insurance costs for customers in high-risk areas.

“State Farm General Insurance Company made this decision due to historic increases in construction costs outpacing inflation, rapidly growing catastrophe exposure, and a challenging reinsurance market,” the company said in a statement.

Top ten states by acres burned, 2016-2020.

CNN reported that scientists and California officials blame the climate crisis for the intensity of fire seasons. About 25 percent of the state’s forestland burned in the last 10 years — more than triple the previous decade.

The factors behind Illinois-based State Farm’s move are beyond the agency’s control, Michael Soller with the California Department of Insurance said. State Farm, with its affiliates, is the largest provider of auto and home insurance in the U.S.

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