Wildfire Today

Dixie Fire merges with Fly Fire southeast of Lake Almanor in Northern California

Bill GabbertJuly 25, 2021July 26, 2021WildfireCalifornia, Dixie Fire8 Comments

Grows to more than 197,000 acres

2:13 p.m. PDT July 26, 2021

Dixie Fire map. The white line was the perimeter at 10:30 p.m. PDT July 25, 2021. The red and yellow dots represent heat detected by satellites during the 24-hour period that ended 3:24 a.m. PDT July 26, 2021. Clouds prevented some heat being detected by satellites.

Firefighters on the Dixie Fire south of Chester, California had a better opportunity than they have seen recently to make progress on the blaze that has burned 197,000 acres. Dense smoke and occasional clouds shaded the area Sunday which put a damper on fire activity. The decreased intensity allowed crews to move closer to the fire’s edge to construct dozer and hand lines in some key areas including near Taylorsville, Crescent Mills, Quincy, Bucks Lake, and Greenville.

Similar weather conditions are expected Monday, but if the smoke clears there will be a significant increase in fire behavior. The forecast includes 20-30% chance of thunderstorms Monday night and Tuesday, which will be followed by increased winds and higher temperatures later this week.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Dixie Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.

Engines are deployed in Taylorsville, prepping for structure protection in the event the fire reaches the area as it continues moving northeast. Sunday night firefighters began strategic firing operations using the Mount Hough Road to strengthen the fireline north of Quincy.

Poor visibility created by the smoke limited assistance fire personnel could receive from air tankers and helicopters but drones are being to gather intelligence, monitor fire activity at night, watch for spot fires, and assist in igniting tactical burning operations.

With the inability to drop fire retardant from air tankers, on Sunday water tenders filled with the slurry pretreated areas along Humbolt Road and other locations where burning operations took place. The retardant was sprayed on the opposite side of roads from where the ignitions were occurring. Firefighters always have to be cognizant of burning embers being blown across a road in a firing operation, but the report Monday morning was that no spot fires occurred Sunday night on the project where the retardant was used. Most of the tactical firing is occurring at night when weather and fuel conditions are more moderate than in the daylight hours. Air tankers can’t be used at night to drop retardant but water tenders can be operated 24 hours a day.

The fire is extremely large, reaching “megafire” status a number of days ago when it exceeded 100,000 acres. Now it is almost twice as big, with three base camps, and has an outer perimeter of 82 miles all of which has to be secured by firefighters.

Below — fighting the Dixie Fire from a train, and keeping the tracks open.

Sometimes you gotta fight wildfires from a moving train. In this footage, firefighters are using a water cannon to soak the tracks and surrounding areas as protection from the Dixie Fire, which has burned more than 100,000 acres as of July 22. pic.twitter.com/KmJNBuAT8I

— NowThis (@nowthisnews) July 26, 2021

1:25 p.m. PDT July 25, 2021

Dixie Fire map. The white line was the perimeter at 12:01 a.m. PDT July 25, 2021. The red dots represent heat detected by satellites at 3:42 a.m. PDT July 25, 2021.

Saturday night the Dixie Fire south of Lake Almanor in Northern California merged with the Fly Fire near Highway 89 and the communities of Indian Wells and Paxton. At that time the Fly Fire was approximately 8,000 acres. With the additional growth over the last 24 hours it brings the combined size up to 190,625 acres.

The fire grew significantly Saturday in conditions that were very challenging for firefighters. The Fly Fire spread to the top of Mt. Hough and Crystal Lake and is now expected to back down the mountain to the northeast.

Saturday the east side of the fire burned into the Greenville Wye and across Highways 70 and 89. Firefighters engaged immediately in structure protection in nearby communities, with Paxton and Indian Falls being the most severely impacted. Several strike teams of engines were in the area fighting to protect structures as the fire intensified.

Extreme fire behavior is expected again Sunday, with unstable atmospheric conditions predicted that could lead to the development of large pyrocumulonimbus clouds, increasing the potential for spot fires and rapid fire growth.

This very large fire is being suppressed by two Incident Management Teams, with their areas of responsibility separated by the Highway 70 corridor.

Due to a massive smoke plume the street lights came on Saturday at 4:51 p.m. in Greenville, California, which at the time was about three miles northeast of the fire.

smoke Dixie Fire street lights Greenville California — Greenville, CA at 4:51 p.m. PDT July 24, 2021.

The burning operation underway south of Lake Almanor is going well. Crews started from Canyondam working west and are circling around the north and northwest sides of the fire working toward Butte Meadows. As of early Sunday morning crews had progressed approximately 12 miles from Canyondam, burning the fuels along a road system to create a barrier to the main fire to protect the Lake Almanor area. The objective is to tie in the burning operation with crews constructing direct fire line on the southwest side of the fire.

The prescription for the firing calls for it to be done at night, conditions that make it easier for firefighters to control the fire intensity. The ignition and prescription are similar to conducting a prescribed fire. The project can be seen on the map above, appearing as a strip of white lines south of Highway 89, with red dots signifying heat from their burning operation.

In case you missed the Congressman calling firefighters “unskilled labor”

Bill GabbertJuly 25, 2021July 31, 2021UncategorizedRep. Tom McClintock, unskilled labor51 Comments

A video on the topic has received nearly 130,000 views

Smokejumper Burro Fire — Smokejumper landing near the Burro Fire in Colorado on the San Juan National Forest.

A United States Congressman calling wildland firefighters “unskilled labor” is something that many of us current and former firefighters will remember for a long time.

The comment appeared July 2 in an article in the Union Democrat that included an interview with U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock, whose Congressional District Four includes the Mother Lode area of California and all of the Stanislaus National Forest. As an example of how the U.S. Forest Service is having difficulty in hiring and retaining wildland firefighters, the article quoted Traci Allen, the acting public affairs officer for the Stanislaus National Forest, as saying their fire staffing was 25% short at that time.

When asked about the issue, Rep. McClintock said, “enhanced unemployment benefits are causing a severe labor shortage in entry-level positions.”

He went on to say,“Wildfire firefighting is hot, miserable work, but it is not skilled labor.”

Even the basic newly hired wildland firefighter immediately receives 40 to 80 hours of training. If they continue beyond the first year, the formal and on the job training they receive over the rest of their career builds up. To work in any of the dozens of positions on fires recognized by the Incident Command System above the level of Type 2 Firefighter requires additional structured courses and proving your skills which are documented in writing in Task Books at every step. It can take 10 to 20 years to acquire the skills, knowledge, and abilities to serve in the higher level jobs on complex incidents.

An “unskilled laborer” attempting to serve as Division Supervisor or Operations Section Chief, for example, would most certainly get scores of their subordinates killed.

An Illinois-based YouTube vlogger who posts videos on his “Fire Department Chronicles” channel weighed in with strong opinions on the issue in a video that has received nearly 130,000 views.

Photos of Fly Fire approaching fire monitoring camera

Bill GabbertJuly 24, 2021UncategorizedCalifornia, Dixie Fire, Fly Fire4 Comments

Near the Dixie Fire north of Quincy, California

4:46 p.m. PDT July 24, 2021

The AlertWildfire camera on Indian Ridge photographed the Fly Fire Saturday afternoon as it spread vigorously toward its location. The camera is north of the community of Keddie and northwest of Mt. Hough and Crystal Lake.

These first four pictures were shot during a five-minute period, 2:22 p.m. to 2:26 p.m. on July 24, 2021.

Judging from the photo below taken from the same camera almost two hours later at 4:10 p.m., the camera survived but the lens needs a little cleaning.

The Fly Fire was reported Thursday, July 22 near Keddie in Butterfly Valley about four miles north of Quincy. At first there was a question whether it was a spot fire from the Dixie Fire several miles away, or if it was unrelated. A fire behavior analysis determined the spot fire option was unlikely, but at times this year the behaviors of wildfires are off the charts. Regardless, the cause is being investigated and it is being suppressed by the Dixie Fire Incident Management Team. As of early Saturday morning it had burned more than 4,000 acres.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Dixie Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.

The Fly Fire is in the lower-right section of the map below.

CNN on fire whirls, fire tornadoes, and “pyro” clouds

Bill GabbertJuly 24, 2021July 24, 2021UncategorizedJanice Coen4 Comments

Satellite photo, wildfires, — As the sun begins to set on the west coast, gray smoke from wildfires can be easily distinguished from white clouds. In the photo, the largest smoke plume is coming from the the Dixie Fire in Northern California. Smoke from other fires was being generated in northeast Washington, Southern Oregon, British Columbia, Northern Idaho, and Western Montana. NOAA, GOES 17.

A reporter for CNN, Rachel Ramirez, wrote an “explainer” article about some of the phenomena associated with wildfires that are part of the common parlance among wildland firefighters, but might seem strange to normal people. Some of the topics covered are fire whirls, fire tornadoes, pyrocumulus clouds, and fires “creating their own weather.”

Ms. Ramirez has quotes from Janice Coen, a scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and at least one other name that will be familiar to our readers.

Here is a brief excerpt from the article:

And as climate change accelerates, these wind patterns will continue to shift.

“With the changing climate, the projected change is that the jet stream will shift towards the north,” Coen told CNN, which means that “we might see fewer of these events in California, and see more in Oregon and Washington if these wind events, the regional weather pattern, coincide with underlying dry periods in fortuitous ignitions.”

Engine crew injured in burnover in Montana

Bill GabbertJuly 23, 2021Wildfireinjury, Montana13 Comments

Firefighters were taken to a burn center in Utah

Five firefighters were injured July 22 when their fire engine was burned over while they were working on a wildfire in northeast Montana. They were constructing fireline on the Devils Creek Fire in Garfield County when a passing thunderstorm created erratic winds that blew the fire over their position.

At least three of the firefighters were taken to a burn center in Salt Lake City.

The lightning-caused fire is burning in rough, steep terrain near the Pine Grove School, about 36 miles northwest of Jordan, east of the Devils Creek Road which accesses the south shore of Fort Peck Reservoir.

Personnel on site continue to fight the blaze, which has burned about 375 acres of BLM and private land.

Devils Creek Fire, Garfield County, MT. Wildfire Today/Google.

Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Al, Dick, and Tom.

Dixie Fire grows rapidly, prompting more evacuations

Bill GabbertJuly 23, 2021August 4, 2021WildfireCalifornia, Dixie Fire5 Comments

Expands to 181,000 acres

9:35 a.m. PDT July 24, 2021

The Dixie Fire, six air miles south of Chester, California, was very active Friday, but not as much as on Thursday due to a decrease in wind speeds. While it still created convection columns of smoke topped by white pyrocumulus clouds, they were not as large and the fire did not increase in size as much as in previous days, but it still grew by tens of thousands of acres, expanding to 181,289 acres by Saturday morning.

The east side near Caribou, Twain, and Paxton, as well as the nearby Fly Fire at Kiddie, spread one to two miles further east. The Fly Fire is a new fire that started Thursday.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Dixie Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.

Wednesday night firefighters began a firing operation north of the fire to create a burned area south of Lake Almanor intended to stop the northward progress of the fire. They are working from a road system south of and parallel with Highway 89, starting from Canyondam working west and then plan to circle around the northwest side of the fire toward Butte Meadows. The prescription for the firing calls for it to be done at night, conditions that make it easier for firefighters to control the fire intensity. This is similar to conducting a prescribed fire. By early Saturday morning crews had initiated firing along approximately nine miles of roads, working toward the west-northwest. The project can be seen on the map above, appearing as a strip of white lines south of Highway 89.

Dozer assisting firefighters on a firing operation, July 22, 2021. InciWeb.

The fire has been split into two zones organizationally, East and West, each with its own Incident Management Team.

The weather forecast for Saturday calls for warmer and drier conditions with relative humidities in the upper single digits and temperatures ranging from 80 to 100 degrees depending on the elevation. Wind speeds will be in the 10 to 15 mph range. The very low humidity, high temperatures, and wind, combined with the very low fuel moistures will present difficult conditions for firefighters.

4:56 p.m. PDT July 23, 2021

Dixie Fire map the white line was the perimeter 330 a.m. PDT July 23, 2021 — Dixie Fire map. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:30 a.m. PDT July 23, 2021. The white line was the perimeter 6 to 18 hours earlier.

The 143,000-acre Dixie Fire south of Chester, California was extremely active Friday afternoon, at times creating multiple smoke columns topped with pyrocumulus clouds. The growth on Thursday and Friday has been described as explosive.

The fire is being fought by 70 hand crews, 355 engines, and 31 helicopters for a total of 4,005 personnel.

Dixie Fire detected on radar — The Dixie Fire smoke columns were detected by radar at 5:31 p.m. PDT July 23, 2021.

Thursday evening the Dixie Fire was 6 air miles south of Chester, 14 miles northeast of Paradise, and 25 miles northeast of Oroville. A new fire nearby, the Fly Fire, was 4 miles north of Quincy.

Evacuations are occurring in three counties, Butte, Plumas, and Tehama. Evacuation notices for Butte and Pluma are posted at a website maintained by the counties. Tehama also recently established a similar service.

Below is a summary of the evacuation notices published by Plumas County at 1 p.m. PDT July 23, 2021. Keep in mind it is a very dynamic situation and changes occur frequently.