Montana Congressman blames wife for lawsuit against fire department

Rep Denny Rehberg
Rep. Denny Rehberg

Montana Congressman Denny Rehberg appears to be trying to distance himself from the lawsuit he filed against the Billings Fire Department for the way they handled a wildfire that burned some undeveloped land that he and his wife own. His lawsuit calls for the City to pay for damages on his property to “trees and ground cover” that occurred during the 1,100-acre fire in 2008.

Rehberg has announced that he is running for the Senate seat currently occupied by Senator Jon Tester.

Here is an excerpt from an article in the Billings Gazette:

Rehberg said in an interview Thursday that his wife runs the business and decided to file the lawsuit because the city would not extend the deadline for an insurance claim for the 1,200 scorched acres. He said the lawsuit is not against firefighters as his opponents claim, but rather challenges the decisions of city managers.

“It was never intended to be anything more than trying to protect her business, our business,” Rehberg said. “We are not blaming the firefighters in any way, shape or form.”

Tester’s campaign said Rehberg, if he wins the “frivolous lawsuit,” will reap a settlement paid for by Billings taxpayers. Tester told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that the lawsuit illustrated Rehberg’s self-interest.

“I think it fundamentally speaks to who he is: Somebody who is looking after himself,” Tester said.

Here is a list of articles at Wildfire Today that have previously covered this lawsuit.

 

Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires continue to rage in Arizona

Updated at 10:25 a.m. MT, June 5, 2011 (added links to live web cams)

Horseshoe2 fire, smoke plume
Smoke plume over the Horseshoe 2 fire as seen from an airplane. Photo: Todd Abel, Southwest Incident Management Team

The two very large fires in eastern Arizona were very active on Saturday, putting up large convection columns of smoke and adding thousands of acres.

Wallow fire

The largest of the two fires, the Wallow fire at Alpine, Arizona, has now burned 144,000 acres and has caused the evacuation of several communities, including Alpine, Blue River, and Nutrioso. Other areas are under a pre-evacuation advisory. There is no estimate of containment of the fire.

Firefighters conducted burnouts ahead of the Wallow fire Saturday and Saturday night, completing over 30 miles on the north half of the fire. Much of the burning was done near Nutrioso and along Highways 191 and 180. The west side of the fire has burned into the San Carlos Apache Reservation, where more burnout operations may occur on Sunday.

Maps of the Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires are below. Some of the red and yellow squares representing heat detected by satellites are probably burnout operations being conducted by firefighters.

Continue reading “Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires continue to rage in Arizona”

Wallow fire update, 9:30 p.m. June 4

 

Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires satellite photo smoke 1932, 6-4-2011
Smoke from the Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires, photographed by NASA weather satellite at 7:32 p.m., MT June 4, 2011. Notations added by Wildfire Today. Click to enlarge.

Judging from the smoke in the satellite photo above, both the Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires were extremely active Saturday afternoon.

Map of Wallow fire, data 1450 6-4-2011
(Click to enlarge.) Map of the Wallow fire, showing new heat (the red squares) detected by satellites at 2:48 p.m. MT June 4. An earlier perimeter, mapped at 12:25 a.m. MT 6-3-2011, is in red. MODIS/Google

The imagery in the map of the Wallow fire was obtained at 2:48 p.m. MT Saturday. It is very likely that the fire spread significantly between that time and dark on Saturday.

Joe Reinarz Southwest Area Type 1 Incident Management Team has assumed command on the north side of the fire. The Eastern Arizona Type 2 team will now command the south side of the fire.

There has been no update from the incident management team on the size of the fire since this morning; they are still calling it 140,000 acres, and there is no report on the containment percentage.

A call center has been established by the White Mountain Joint Information Center for information, including evacuations, regarding the Wallow fire. Their phone number is (928) 333-3412, and their web site is 593.org. InciWeb is another source.

Our earlier report on the Wallow fire, from Saturday morning June 4.

Our report on the Horseshoe 2 fire, Saturday morning, June 4.

And here is Sunday morning’s, June 5, report about the Wallow and Horseshoe 2 fires.

Monday, June 6, report on the fires.

Tuesday, June 7, report on the fires.

Horseshoe 2 fire in Arizona continues to grow, 90,200 acres blackened

Updated at 10:20 a.m. June 4, 2011

Map of Horseshoe 2 fire north half, 0745, 6-4-1011
Map of the north half of the Horseshoe 2 fire, showing new heat detected by satellites within a 12-hour period sometime prior to 7:45 a.m. June 4. An earlier perimeter, mapped at 5:36 a.m. 6-3-2011, is in red. MODIS/Google

The townsites of Paradise and Whitetail remained evacuated on Friday as the Horseshoe 2 fire near Portal, Arizona continued to spread to the north, adding another 4,000 acres bringing the total blackened acres to 90,200 making it the fifth largest wildfire in state history.

Here is an excerpt from a 9:00 a.m. June 4 update from the incident management team:

The fire reached Paradise yesterday. Fire crews protected the community with no loss of property. Structure protection in and around Paradise and East Whitetail Canyon will continue to be the priority today. Line construction has been completed along East Turkey Creek Rd north and south of Paradise and crews initiated burnout along these lines as the fire approached. Burnout operations have been stated north of West Turkey Creek Rd as the fire backs slowly to the west.

A mandatory evacuation order continues for the communities of Paradise, East Whitetail Canyon and nearby residences. The Chiricahua National Monument is closed to visitors.

A new tactic includes an expanded planned indirect perimeter on the north and northwest perimeter.

The fire is 50% contained and is being suppressed by 859 firefighters. The other large fire burning in Arizona is the Wallow fire.

Firefighters could be busy for a while. The fire season in the southwest United States could last another five to six weeks.

Wallow fire spreads to the north, forcing more evacuation notices

Updated at 12:22 p.m. June 4, 2011

Map of Wallow fire 0700 6-4-2011
(Click to enlarge.) Map of the Wallow fire, showing new heat detected by satellites within a 12-hour period sometime prior to 7:00 a.m. June 4. An earlier perimeter, mapped at 12:23 a.m. 6-3-2011, is in red. MODIS/Google

The Wallow fire in southeastern Arizona, one of two huge fires burning in the area, spread an additional four to eight miles to the north on Friday partially due to long-range spotting, forcing more evacuation notices. The residents in the communities of Alpine and Nutrioso had been previously forced to leave and those in Greer were given a pre-evacuation notice on Friday. The residents of Blue River have been evacuated by Greenlee County officials. Inciweb has more information about evacuations.

An 8:30 a.m. update on June 4 from the incident management team included this information:

The fire advanced to the north and north-west and impacted Big Lake Lookout but not the Big Lake Recreation area. The has fire crossed the 249 road. The perimeter of the fire is close to Nutrioso and Mongollon rim but has not gone over yet.

Making some rough measurements based on the map showing heat detected by satellites early Saturday morning, the fire at that time was approximately 4 air miles from Nutrioso, 9 miles from Greer, 15 miles from Eagar, and 11 miles from Luna, NM. These distances are estimates based on satellite data.

The Wallow fire burned an additional 14,600 acres on Friday, bringing its total to 120,600 an estimated 140,000 acres according to InciWeb. This makes it the third largest in state history, behind 2002’s 469,000-acre Rodeo-Chediski and 2005’s Cave Creek fire which burned 248,000 acres. The Willow fire now stands at number four, having burned 120,000 acres in 2004.

Below is a zoomed-in map showing the north half of the Wallow fire.

Map of Wallow fire, north half 0645 6-4-2011
Map of the northern portion of the Wallow fire, showing new heat detected by satellites within a 12-hour period sometime prior to 7:00 a.m. June 4. An earlier perimeter, mapped at 12:23 a.m. 6-3-2011, is in red. MODIS/Google

A call center has been established by the White Mountain Joint Information Center for information, including evacuation information, regarding the Wallow fire. Their phone number is (928) 333-3412, and their web site is 593.org. InciWeb is another source.

There are two “weather cams” that may occasionally have a view of the smoke. One is at Springerville near Eagar, about 15 miles to the north, and the other is at Greer, about 9 miles north of the fire. Click the “Time-Lapse” buttons to see earlier images.

The other large fire burning in Arizona is the Horseshoe 2 fire, near Portal.

Weather

The weather forecast for the Nutrioso area just north of the fire does not look favorable for the firefighters. On Saturday afternoon the winds should be out of the southwest at 21 mph with gusts up to 30 and a relative humidity of 8%. The winds are expected to decrease to 1-3 mph during the night but on Sunday afternoon increase to 17 with 26 mph gusts along with a RH of 6 to 25 percent. There is a chance of thunderstorms Sunday afternoon through Monday afternoon.

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We posted updated information about the Wallow fire at 9:30 p.m. on June 4.

Thanks Dinos