Wildfire Today

News and opinion about wildland fire

Wildfire Today

Californnia lightning fires

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

Smoke grounds air tankers
Yesterday heavy smoke from the 40,000 acres burning near the north end of the Sacramento Valley kept air tankers on the ground.

Govenator: just say NO to fireworks
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenner asked residents not to buy fireworks this 4th of July. I’m with him on that. I have put out too many fireworks-caused fires. From Arnold:

“I know that the people that are selling all this stuff are going to go crazy now when I say this, but don’t buy any of the fireworks,” said Schwarzenegger, surrounded by dozens of firefighters, Monterey County law enforcement representatives and elected officials. “Don’t go out and do fireworks this year … . It’s just too dry and too dangerous to do those things.”

The governor spoke at the Basin Complex Fires incident command post at Andrew Molera State Park off Highway 1.

Courtesy of thecalifornian.com

Concow evacuated
Most of the community of Concow, east of Chico, is evacuated due to the Empire and Rim fires, part of the BTU Lightning complex which closed Hwy 70. The Empire and Rim fires will most likely burn together.

According to NCOCC: Fires in this complex are immediately threatening communities. The air was stable last night, so fire activity was minimized. The inversion layer still dominates the incident area. If the inversion layer lifts, fire intensity will greatly increase, causing additional evacuations and significant fire spread. Some of the fires are in remote areas making containment difficult and will require large numbers of hand crews.

The map below shows heat, in red, orange, and black, detected by satellites, with the red areas being the most recently burned. The yellow lines are the perimeters uploaded by the incident management teams. Click on the map to see a larger version.

InciWeb still broken
The InciWeb site, which should be the best place to go to get information about fires, is least likely to be working during multiple fire conditions due to very limited capacity. Not only is it frequently impossible for citizens to visit the site, but the fire managers are unable to upload critical information. The federal and state agencies that maintain this site need to install better servers.

Indians fire
The fire was relatively quiet yesterday due to higher humidities and shading from the smoke of the nearby Basin fire. The Team ordered evacuations in the Arroyo Seco area on the north side because of planned burnout operations, but the burn was limited due to weather conditions. It is 58,872 acres and 71% contained. (see the map below)

Basin Complex, Gallery fire
The Partington Ridge area has been evacuated. The fire is moving south into the South Fork of the Big Sur River drainage and north towards Manual Peak. The Basin and Gallery fires are within 1/2 mile of each other and are expected to merge soon. Highway 1 is still closed to non-residents. The complex is 20,600 acres and 3% contained. (see the map above)

California firefighter loses home while fighting another fire

Author BillPosted on Categories Uncategorized

From insidebayarea.com:

By Ben Aguirre Jr.
The Argus

Article Created: 06/24/2008 07:34:43 PM PDT

FREMONT — One of Fremont’s firefighters lost his Santa Cruz County home to a wildfire last weekend as he was battling another blaze in Monterey County, fire officials said.

Richard Simon, a 25-year veteran of the fire department, was fighting fires in King City when he got word of the Trabing Fire, which started Friday afternoon and destroyed 630 acres and several homes, including Simon’s, near Highway 1 north of Watsonville, said Fremont Fire Division Chief Geoff LaTendresse

Simon’s family, including his wife and sons, were home at the time, but they escaped unharmed.

Fremont Fire Capt. Gerry Fogel said the family was able to round up most of the livestock, including horses, but the family lost three goats during the fire on their 3-acre property.

“It just shows that it can happen to anyone, even us,” Fogel said.

Simon has fire insurance. He and his family are staying with a friend for the time being, the officials said.

Firefighters have held an internal fundraiser and a clothing drive for the family, but no public fundraising efforts have been organized, the officials said.

Send Barack Your Baby

Author BillPosted on Categories Uncategorized

There is a hilarious web site, SendBarackYourBaby.com that you will find useful if you’d like Obama to kiss your baby but find it too inconvenient to go to a rally and stand in line. The concept is, you ship your baby to Obama, being sure to complete the “Baby’s Packing Slip”, he kisses it according to your instructions (Kiss, Hug, Give Hope, or Other ___), then ships the baby back to you.

Be sure and check out the Shipping Instructions and the Frequently Asked Questions pages. For example:

How will you return my baby?

Most babies are back home within 14 business days. We send them via insured UPS Ground in a specially designed box, and to avoid mixups, we require that somebody sign for the delivery. Shipping to addresses outside the continental United States can take up to two additional weeks.

Incident logbooks

Author BillPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

I recently learned about a new company, InciDocs Publications, that is producing logbooks for Incident Command System positions. They are all 5.5″ x 8.5″ and fit into the cargo pocket of your Nomex pants.

All versions have sections for travel information, in-briefing notes, contacts, web sites, ICS-214 Unit Logs, and a fillable calendar. They have a heavy-duty front and back cover and holders for business cards and receipts.

Logbooks are then customized to distinct ICS positions by inserting a 14-day daily log section that collects information specific to that job function. They can even be further customized by printing the graphic of your agency or incident management team on the cover. They have dozens of logos on file already.

From the web site:

Carrie Dennett, owner of InciDocs Publications, spent 13 years in fire and resource management for the National Park Service. She was the Fire Management Officer for two national parks for the last 6 years and a Fire Ecologist for the previous 7 years at three national parks in Arizona. Though retired from the National Park Service, Carrie still holds a position on a federal type 1 incident management team as a Situation Unit Leader and has responded to many wildland fires and hurricanes with type 1 and 2 teams in the last 7 years.

Thanks, Dean, for the tip.