The fire activity on the 3,000 acre fire in Minnewaska state park 40 miles northwest of New York City has decreased significantly over the last two days. Cooler temperatures, higher humidities, and fog have worked in favor of the firefighters.
They have the use of four water-dropping helicopters–two from the NY National Guard and two from the state police, each carrying 100-500 gallons. Personnel and equipment from 30 fire agencies have been assigned to the fire which is 75-80% contained. The map shows heat sources as detected by satellites within the last 24 hours. This shows much less heat than the map 24 hours earlier.
UPDATE: April 22 The fire acreage has increased to 3,500, primarily due to a 400-acre burnout the firefighters conducted. But other than the burnout, the fire is not increasing in size. They are putting in dozer lines, sometimes up to 100 feet wide on the west side. Today firefighters are calling the fire 100% contained.
The funeral services for Gert (Jerry) Marais, the pilot who died when his single engine air tanker crashed April 15 on the TA-25 fire near Fort Carson, Colorado, will be in Fort Benton, Montana, on April 25th at 11:00 AM. The service will be at the Montana Agricultural Center, 1205 20th Street.
Two days ago a 30-acre fire about 40 miles northwest of New York City was reported to be under control, but today it spread to over 3,000 acres. Most of the fire is in Minnewaska state park. This is the largest fire in the state park in the last 50 years. Approximately 250 firefighters from 27 local and volunteer departments are working on the fire.
More information from the Daily Freeman:
The 20,000-acre park and part of U.S. Route 44/state Route 55 have remained closed, and over 245 personnel from various state and local agencies were on the scene Saturday, trying to beat back the blaze.
The forest fire is almost entirely contained within the boundaries of the park, but residents of the small Kerhonkson Heights community, which has about 40 homes, were told to prepare for evacuation if necessary, according to Department of Environmental Conservation spokesman Yancey Roy. Although no evacuation order has been issued, firefighters are taking precautions to protect residents.
“We have virtually a fire truck in every driveway,” Roy said.
The fire began Thursday afternoon, and was reportedly contained at about 30 acres that night. But the flames continued to spread, reaching 200 acres Friday afternoon, 1,000 acres Friday night, and 2,300 acres by Saturday morning, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The map shows heat sources as detected by thermal satellites.
The Firegeezer blog, which always has excellent information about the broad topic of firefighting, had a recent post about a cancer cluster in Queensland, Australia. In part:
” […] Firefighters assigned to the station have a 62% higher rate of brain cancer than the rest of the state.”
Coincidentally, two days ago there was a news story containing preliminary research findings that linked brain cancer with polluted air, and specifically diesel exhaust. Firefighters have a hard time avoiding both.
Here is an excerpt from the story about the research:
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Dr. Julia Ljubimova found something disturbing when she probed the brains of rats exposed to air pollution: The dirty air appeared to trigger changes indicating the earliest stage of brain tumors.
Ljubimova, an oncologist and researcher at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, stressed that she is not ready to say air pollution is a cause of brain cancer.
“I don’t want to scare anyone, because this is preliminary data,” she said. “But we found something very important.”
Her work suggests that fine particles like those found in diesel soot can switch on the tumor genes that many people inherit, jump-starting the disease process that results in brain tumors.
Hundreds of studies have linked air pollution to early deaths, heart attacks, reduced lung function, lung cancer and various other health problems. Ljubimova is among a handful of scientists who are focused on finding out what air pollution does to people’s brains. Photos by Bill Gabbert
Information about the final services for the two firefighters who died at the fire near Ordway, Colorado on April 15 is now available.
A joint memorial service for John Schwartz, 38, and Terry DeVore, 30, will be held at Crowley County High School on Saturday, at 602 Main Street in Ordway at 10:00 a.m. (See the map below.)
DeVore and Schwartz were volunteer members of the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department.
Anyone planning to attend the joint service should arrive at least one hour before it starts. The road damage on Highway 96 has been temporarily repaired, but an alternate route is strongly recommended.
The officers died when their engine crashed on a collapsed bridge on Highway 96 while responding to the fire near Ordway. Two other vehicles also crashed at the same location but their occupants were able to walk away.
As far as we know, information about the services for Gert Marais of Fort Benton, Montana, the pilot of the single engine air tanker who died when his air tanker crashed on the TA25 fire in Colorado on April 15, have not been released. We will post the information here when it becomes available.
The map below shows the location of the joint memorial service for the firefighters from the Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department:
The Denver Post has more information about the deaths of the two firefighters on the fire near Ordway, Colorado April 15. An excerpt:
Wildfires: Duty’s fatal call Lives of 2 fast-responding firefighters cut short at burned-out bridge By Erin Emery and Tom McGhee The Denver Post Article Last Updated: 04/17/2008 06:03:41 AM MDT
ORDWAY — Olney Springs Fire Chief Terry DeVore and firefighter John Schwartz heard the distress call Tuesday afternoon from their neighbors in Ordway and didn’t hesitate. They suited up and zoomed east on Colorado 96.
Right behind them was DeVore’s father, Bruce, a fire department volunteer for 36 years. The fire was bearing down on Ordway, 11 miles away. People were in serious danger. Structures were on fire. The town of 1,200 people was under orders to evacuate.
“We were moving hard,” Bruce DeVore said Wednesday. “Like everybody says, we had the hammer down and we were blowing it by.”
In the dense smoke, he and the firefighters in his truck could barely see the taillights of the firetruck up ahead, but as they approached the intersection with Lane 15, Bruce DeVore told his driver to slow down. They couldn’t see. The taillights ahead had vanished.
“They went out of sight,” Bruce DeVore said. “We hit the heavy smoke. I told Johnny we got to slow this thing down. I don’t feel right.”
Johnny stopped the truck. Only 15 feet ahead, a stretch of Colorado 96 was gone. The bridge over a drainage ditch — an asphalt roadway held up by wooden railroad ties — had collapsed. Terry Devore and John Schwartz were gone, having fallen 15 feet into in a raging inferno.
Bruce DeVore joined his buddies in fighting the fire, pumping everything on board onto the flames. But he knew it was hopeless.
“It was such an inferno,” he said. “It was just a ball of fire. The truck and everything was a ball of fire.”
For the next four hours or so, Bruce DeVore stayed with the fire and prayed that the Lord had taken his son quickly.
“I know he did,” he said. “I know the good Lord was looking over him. No pain. He was gone on impact.”
Crowley County Coroner Karen Tomky said Wednesday that DeVore, 30, and Schwartz, 38, died instantly.
Colorado Department of Transportation spokesperson Stacey Stegman said the bridge that collapsed was a 40-foot-long, two- lane timber structure built in 1937.
“The bridge was structurally sound,” she said. “It was a wooden bridge that burned.”
The fire burned the bridge from underneath, and a pickup fell into the ravine. That driver escaped.
The Olney Springs Volunteer Fire Department truck carrying Terry DeVore and Schwartz was right behind the pickup.
Photo courtesy of the Pueblo Chieftan. “Workers begin the task of repairing a bridge on Colorado 96 west of Ordway, which collapsed during a massive grass fire Tuesday.”
