News and opinion about wildland fire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Wildfire smoke and air quality, August 31, 2021 
Above is the forecast for the distribution of smoke from wildfires at 12:01 a.m. PDT September 1, 2021.
Below is the current air quality status, obtained at 2:22 p.m. PDT August 31, 2021 from AirNow.gov. There is not much pollution in the East, due in part to Hurricane Ida.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Wildfire30 Comments on Caldor Fire burns across Hwy 89 near Meyers Four miles from South Lake Tahoe, California, and three miles from Nevada
7:57 p.m. PDT Sept. 1, 2021
A mapping flight at 4 p.m. Wednesday showed that the Caldor Fire at that time had not spread as much as it had in previous days. However there were several hours of daylight left. The blaze has also been active during the night, even creating spot fires some distance from the main fire when you would hope that every self-respecting wildfire would go to sleep as the wind is supposed to slow down and the humidity should increase. But the historically low fuel moisture is the wild card. The 100-hour and 1,000-hour time-lag fuels have no significant diurnal variation.
To see all articles about the Caldor Fire on Wildfire Today, including the most recent, click HERE.
The fire is still about the same distance from the shore of Lake Tahoe, about 4 miles, and it is 3 miles from the Nevada state line. Firefighters expect the northeast side to keep moving toward north and east. The head, or the far northeast area, has spread uphill to above 9,000 feet, where the sub-alpine vegetation should act to slow the movement, but the frequent spotting keeps it moving.
Near Kirkwood on the southeast side about 800 acres have burned south of Highway 88 west of the ski area. North and northwest of the ski area the fire continues to grow north of the highway even as it moves into locations with more granite than vegetation. One large finger of fire is a half mile north of Caples Lake.
The number of confirmed residences destroyed by the fire has risen to 595 and 185 other structures. On Tuesday the numbers were 486 residences and 183 others. A map is available showing the locations that have been surveyed for structure damage.
The Red Flag Warning ends Wednesday at 11 p.m.
8:46 a.m. PDT, Sept. 1, 2021
These maps show the extent of the northeast side of the Caldor Fire during a mapping flight at 5:35 a.m. PDT September 1, 2021. It appears that the fire came very close to structures on Highway 89 south of Meyers.
The fire is about four miles from South Lake Tahoe.
We will post more information and additional maps later today.
6:41 p.m. PDT, August 31, 2021
Mandatory evacuations have been ordered for some areas within two counties across the state line in Nevada; click for the details for Alpine and Douglas Counties. We were unable to find a usable map but there is a half-assed one at the Douglas County link for that county only. The previous very good map for the rest of the fire is still available, but it does not include the sections in Nevada. Maybe the new areas will get added. Continue reading “Caldor Fire burns across Hwy 89 near Meyers”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized7 Comments on California wildfire discussed briefly during White House press briefing A reporter asked if there were enough fire resources available
The Caldor Fire southwest Lake Tahoe in California and the availability of firefighting resources were very briefly discussed at the White House press briefing Monday afternoon. The video above should be queued up to where the topic began at 1:07:13.
In response to a reporter asking if there were enough fire resources, Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, “Well, that is our objective. We will continue to assess if additional resources are needed and again I would note that when the President came in he looked at the impact of wildfires and the fact that in the past there have been cases where we didn’t have the resources needed and he wanted to preemptively take steps to prepare for that, to make sure we had those resources as we went into fire season.”
Opinion-
It is unclear to me what steps were taken that made a big difference in the availability of firefighting resources during this Western fire season. However the President did apply pressure to help make all eight military Modular Airborne Firefighting Systems (MAFFS) available that can convert a C-130 into an air tanker. At the time only five were working and the Air Force apparently had difficulty staffing the MAFFS operation with trained and qualified flight and support crews.
And 200 soldiers are being trained now to serve as hand crews. But that does not make up for the fact that Pew Charitable Trusts reported in July the Forest Service’s California Region had not filled 725 of the planned 4,620 fire positions, illustrating a serious problem with retention and recruitment.
There are still only 18 large air tankers on exclusive use contracts, and many of them are working on absurd one-year contracts. On May 17, 2021 Fire Aviation was told by a spokesperson for the US Forest Service that this year they would have 34 large air tankers (LATs) if needed — 18 on Exclusive Use Contracts guaranteed to work, 8 “surge” LATs guaranteed to work for a shorter period of time, and another 8 on Call When Needed (CWN) contracts. Of those 16 surge and CWN aircraft, only 5 could be produced.
COVID has had an effect on the number of federal firefighters available. We asked the five federal land management agencies for the number of firefighters that have tested positive for COVID or had to quarantine after exposure. 1All five refused to release any information on the topic and would not explain their reasoning for keeping it secret. This is ridiculous for organizations that say they care about the health and safety of their employees who have a right to know the severity of the additional risks they are taking on while in a job already recognized as being hazardous.
It tends to indicate that a pandemic can be politicized to the point where the Park Service, Forest Service, BIA, BLM, and FWS will not even discuss to what degree it is degrading their fire preparedness, if at all. What is next? Refusing to acknowledge injuries and fatalities caused by vehicle accidents and hazardous trees?
In the 12-step program for AA, the first is important, admitting to yourself and others that you have a problem. I’ll very loosely paraphrase it, bending it just a bit for this situation: “We admitted we were powerless over [confessing to problems with COVID, recruitment, and retention] and that our [fires] had become unmanageable.”
The act of keeping it secret leads one to believe it is a very serious issue. Welcome to 2021.
The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center recently issued information about six examples of COVID exposure on fires. Here is a portion of one about a hotshot crew that was affected in July, 2021, when 18 of them were exposed to a crewmember who tested positive. Two crewmembers left the fire early and were not exposed:
Of the 18 crewmembers who returned from assignment on June 22nd, 3 were fully vaccinated and returned to work on June 25th. The remaining employees (15) have not returned to work; the sick employee was put into isolation and the remaining close contacts on the crew were told to self-quarantine for 14-days by unit leaders. The 2 crewmembers who returned early (1 vaccinated) were not impacted. None of the vaccinated employees got sick while 6 of the unvaccinated employees have tested positive.
(If you would like to leave a comment about this topic, great — as long as it is on the topic of wildfire management, and does not veer into politics or personal attacks. Offending comments will be removed, as stated in our policy, or comments will be turned off.)
1Wildfire Today asked the National Interagency Fire Center several questions last week about the availability of resources, working through Candice Stevenson of the National Park Service whose turn it was last week to serve as PIO for NIFC. Generally, clear answers were avoided or not given, including one about the effects of COVID on the firefighting force. When I asked for more information Ms. Stevenson offered to ask each of the five agencies for the numbers of firefighters affected by COVID. I accepted the offer. She responded much more quickly than expected, saying, “I received notification from DOI and USFS and they are declining to provide further input.” I asked her by email on August 27 what the reason was for them not making the information available. There was no reply.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Former Colfax, Washington Fire Chief dies while fighting wildfire He had served with the department for 52 years
The Fire Department in Colfax, Washington released information about a line of duty death that occurred over the weekend:
Longtime Colfax Fire Chief Jim Krouse, who had served as Colfax chief for 40 years and a volunteer in Colfax for 52 years, died from an apparent heart attack Saturday afternoon while responding to his fourth call of the day.
Krouse was responding around 3 pm to a wildfire on Green Hollow Road and was pulling hose at the fire scene when he collapsed.
Colfax ambulance quickly responded and emergency medical care was given to Krouse on the scene and immediately transported to Whitman Medical Center in Colfax. Assistant Chief Craig Corbeill, who responded with the ambulance, said physicians worked on the former chief but they were not able to revive him.
Crews from several fire departments managed to control the fire.
Word quickly spread of Krouse’s passing. When the firefighters were finished they assembled at Whitman Medical Center and started the procession with the ambulance that carried Krouse’s body draped in an American flag to the Bruning Funeral Home escorted by Whitman County Sheriff’s Department and the Washington State Patrol.
Chief Michael Chapman met with his firefighters at the fire station, many of whom served with Krouse for a number of years, to help them debrief from the situation and to share stories about the former chief.
Chapman said there will be a critical incident debriefing in the next 24-72 hours for those on the scene today and those who served with Krouse for some of those 52 years.
Corbeill said that “Krouse was like a kid in a candy store” when he was making his fourth run Saturday, driving a water tender to the Green Hollow Road fire. Krouse who served as Colfax Chief from 1972 to 2010, followed his father, Earl, who was chief prior to Jim.
Because there was a fatality with the wildfire, fire marshal Chris Wehrung and Assistant Fire Marshal Tony Nuttman investigated the fire and to help determine the cause. At the time of this release, Nuttman, who is serving as the lead investigator, said the cause remains under investigation.
Final arrangements for Chief Krouse are pending at the Bruning Funeral Home in Colfax.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Dan.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Wildfire21 Comments on South Lake Tahoe under evacuation order due to Caldor Fire Monday afternoon the fire was less than a mile west of Highway 89
7:41 p.m. PDT Aug. 30, 2021
The northeast and east sides of the Caldor Fire were very active again Monday. The northeast side has reached Lower Echo Lake, the community of Echo Lake, and Echo Summit. Where Highway 50 makes a 180-degree turn at the Summit it had crossed the highway twice when it was mapped by a fixed wing aircraft at 4 p.m., including two spot fires east of Echo Lake. At that time the fire was spreading south and east of the Sierra-At-Tahoe resort and also west of Nebelhorn. It was less than a mile west of Highway 89.
To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Caldor Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.
The southeast side crossed Highway 88 north of Kit Carson and west of Kirkwood. There were numerous spot fires west of Tragedy Spring.
The following is part of a description of Monday’s activities from the Incident Management Team Monday afternoon:
Fire behavior increased in the northeast and eastern divisions early in the morning due to the expected southwest flow returning and poor overnight humidity recovery. The current RED FLAG WARNING has been extended to 9/1/21 ending at 23:00. Wind speeds continue to accelerate through the steep drainages resulting in gusty and erratic winds. Spotting distances have been between 0.75 and 1 mile with the Probability of Ignition at 90%. Active crown fire runs were observed in multiple divisions with rates of spread above 165 ft/min.
South Lake Tahoe is now under a mandatory evacuation order.
A detailed zoomable map showing the areas under evacuation orders is available.
10:015a.m. PDT August 30, 2021
The Caldor Fire southeast of Lake Tahoe ran to the east and northeast Sunday spreading along the Highway 50 corridor for five miles past Sierra-At-Tahoe, and Phillips. Spot fires were occurring up to a half mile ahead of the fire south of Echo Lake and Nebelhorn.
Additional evacuations were ordered. South Lake Tahoe is in evacuation warning status, meaning be prepared to immediately leave if ordered. Several areas were placed under mandatory evacuation including Meyers.
KCRA reported that the South Lake Tahoe police confirmed that Barton Memorial Hospital is being evacuated.
Continue reading “South Lake Tahoe under evacuation order due to Caldor Fire”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Wildfire3 Comments on Firefighters on Caldor Fire work to protect Strawberry Sunday the fire ran five miles to the east along Highway 50
10:40 p.m. PDT August 29, 2021
The northeast side of the Caldor Fire was extremely active Monday. With the topography of the Highway 50 corridor aligned with the wind direction the fire ran for about five miles to the east-northeast past the community of Strawberry according to data from an 8 p.m. fixed wing mapping flight. It burned on both sides of Highway 50 and through the Sierra-At-Tahoe Resort. At that time it had come to within a quarter mile of Echo Lake and was about two miles southwest of the southern junction of Highways 50 and 89 near Meyers. The fire was 7 miles south of Lake Tahoe.
To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Caldor Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.
The fire behavior increase Monday morning on the northeast and eastern sides was due to the southwest flow returning and poor overnight humidity recovery. Wind speeds accelerated through the steep drainages resulting in gusty and erratic winds. Spot fires occurred between .75 and 1 mile in front of the main fire. Active crown fire runs were observed in multiple areas that were in alignment with the up-canyon southwest flow.
A map showing the areas under evacuation orders is available.
The Red Flag Warning on Monday will still be in effect Tuesday with dry, windy weather.
6:28 p.m. PDT August 29, 2021
Continue reading “Firefighters on Caldor Fire work to protect Strawberry”
