Wildfire Today

Tamarack Fire spreads five miles after being monitored for 13 days

Bill GabbertJuly 17, 2021August 3, 2021WildfireCalifornia, managed fire, Tamarack Fire63 Comments

Evacuations are in effect and structures have burned south of Woodfords, California

Updated at 5:03 p.m. PDT July 17, 2021

Tamarack Fire map, showing heat detected by a satellite as late as 2:12 p.m. PDT July 17, 2021.

We have a new map for the Tamarack Fire showing data from a satellite overflight at 2:12 p.m. PDT July 17.

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

Updated at 3:48 p.m. PDT July 17, 2021

The Tamarack Fire, like many of the other recent wildfires in California and Oregon is cranking Saturday afternoon. Photographer Craig Philpott has video of it moving east at a rapid rate of spread across Highway 89 north of Markleeville, south of Airport Road .

An update from Alpine County at 3:13 p.m. Saturday said 7,000 acres have burned and 2 structures were destroyed. Aerial firefighting is limited by dense smoke. Also:

Mandatory evacuations are in place for the following areas: Grover Hot Springs, Shay Creek, MarkleeVillage, Markleeville, Carson River Resort, & Poor Boy Road area, Wolf Creek Campground, Silver Creek Campground, ADDITIONALLY Sierra Pines, Upper and Lower Manzanita, Crystal Springs, Alpine Village, Diamond Valley Road and Hung-a-lel-ti are now under mandatory evacuations. “The Mesa” is under a voluntary evacuation but conditions are changing fast. Please stay out of these areas to allow emergency personnel to do their jobs.

It is my understanding that this time of year in this part of California fires are often pushed to the northeast. Out ahead of the Tamarack Fire in that direction there is not much recent history of fires. Under the present conditions of dry fuels, high temperatures, and low humidity, those 30+ year old fire footprints from the 1980s are not likely to provide much of a barrier.

The image below shows the track of an Air Attack aircraft which supervises other aerial firefighting aircraft and provides real time situational awareness about the fire to personnel on the ground. Presumably the fire, or at least the most dense smoke, is inside the U-shaped flight path.

Air Attack aircraft over the Tamarack Fire — An at 3:18 p.m. PDT July 17, 2021. FlightRadar24

9:07 a.m. PDT July 17, 2021

The Tamarack Fire spread for about five miles Friday after it had been in a monitoring status for 13 days while it was very small. It moved northeast and according to heat sensing data from satellites very early Saturday morning appeared to have come very close to the community of Markleeville and Highway 89.

The Alpine County Sheriff’s Office reported at about 8 a.m. Saturday that the fire was 6,600 acres, three structures had burned, and, “This is a serious situation. Please get out when advised to.” They also advised to not rely on Facebook for evacuation notifications.

The Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest updated InciWeb at 8 a.m. Saturday:

Highway 89, 88 and 4 are closed in the fire area. Evacuations are in place for Markleeville, Grover’s Hot Springs Park and Campground, Shay Creek, Markleeville Village and East Fork Resort. Residents can sign up for evacuation notifications at https://alpinecountyca.gov/204/Sheriff. Evacuees can report to Alpine County School in Paynesville.

According to satellite data at 3:42 a.m. PDT July 17, 2021, the fire was very close to Markleeville, 5 miles south of Woodfords, and 18 miles south of South Lake Tahoe.

Below is a still image of a Forest Service Facebook post with a video of the fire when it was a quarter acre on July 10, six days after it started. “Fire poses no threat to the public, infrastructure, or resource values,” they wrote.

The satellite photo below taken at 6:41 p.m. PDT July 16 shows a large smoke plume created by the Tamarack Fire.

Dixie Fire very active Friday near Tobin, California

Bill GabbertJuly 16, 2021July 22, 2021WildfireCalifornia, Dixie Fire1 Comment

Updated at 7:08 a.m. PDT July 17, 2021

The updated map of the Dixie Fire west of the Feather River in Northern California shows that it spread northeast for two to three miles Friday and Friday night. At 9:35 p.m. Friday CAL FIRE reported that it had burned 8,754 acres, but it may have grown for another 1,000 acres or so.

The weather forecast for the fire area Saturday afternoon calls for sunny skies and 92 degrees, 10 to 13 mph southwest winds, and relative humidity in the mid-teens. Sunday will look about the same but with partly cloudy skies in the afternoon and a chance of thundershowers in the evening.

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

The Dixie Fire is west of Highway 70 in Feather River Canyon, 13 air miles northeast of Paradise and 24 miles north-northeast of Oroville.

6:42 p.m. PDT July 16, 2021

Since the Dixie Fire started at 5:12 p.m. on July 13 near the community of Merlin west of the Feather River in Northern California, it has burned 7,947 acres. As you can see in the satellite photo below it has been very active Friday afternoon, sending a large plume of smoke northwest which may be heavily affecting Chester, Caribou, Westwood, and possibly Susanville.

CAL FIRE reported Friday morning that terrain and winds pushed the fire further north into Tobin Ridge, but the west and south sides of the fire were at that time holding within containment lines.

Satellite Photo, wildfires in Oregon and California, 5:17 p.m. PDT July 16, 2021.

The Dixie Fire is west of Highway 70 in Feather River Canyon, 13 air miles northeast of Paradise and 24 miles north-northeast of Oroville.

Resources assigned to the fire Friday morning included 39 hand crews, 10 helicopters, 86 engines, 18 dozers, and 9 water tenders for a total of 1,018 personnel.

Aircraft Dixie Fire — An S2T drops on the Dixie Fire in Butte County, California July 13, 2021 shortly after it started. Photo by CAL FIRE.

It looks like an inmate crew got a ride on a Union Pacific Fire Train:

#DixieFire pic.twitter.com/3tAWzNplwa

— David Swanson (@SwansonPhotog) July 16, 2021

If you want to go down a rat hole to learn more about fire trains, jump in to see all articles on Wildfire Today tagged Fire Train.

Two all-women fire crews at Yosemite and Grand Teton national parks

Bill GabbertJuly 16, 2021December 3, 2021UncategorizedGrand Teton National Park, women, Yellowstone National Park10 Comments

Funded by a grant from REI Co-op and the National Park Foundation

All women crew — Still image from the video below.

A National Park Foundation grant helped launch a pilot program working with conservation corps in California and Montana to create two women’s fire corps crews in Yosemite and Grand Teton National Parks. Much of the funding is a result of a very large donation from the REI Co-op.

The first video was filmed near the beginning of the fire season and the second checks in on the crews later. To change the resolution of the video, click on the screen-like icon at lower-right.

Update December 3, 2021:
A new video is available about Yosemite’s first Women’s Fire Corps Crew.

So far the drought is far worse than last year

Bill GabbertJuly 16, 2021July 16, 2021Uncategorizedstatistics4 Comments

Drought monitor comparison, 2020 & 2021 — Drought monitor comparison, similar dates in 2020 & 2021.

As @NOAANCElclimate pointed out, the Drought Monitor shows that the severity of the drought is far worse than it was at about the same date in 2020. Most of the areas in the 11 western states are in Severe, Extreme, or Exceptional Drought.

So far this year the 49 states outside Alaska have burned almost 2.2 million acres, about the same that burned in all of 2019. The 10-year all-year average for those 49 states is 6.4 million acres. In 2020 9.9 million acres burned in the lower 49 states.

A year-to-date average would be helpful. The National Situation Report gives a number, but unfortunately it includes Alaska which is extremely variable. Fires there can be very large, burning for weeks or months usually with little to no suppression. In the last 10 years the acres burned in Alaska ranged from 181,169 in 2020 to 5,111,404 acres in 2015, with the higher number being 28 times the lower. In 2015 more acres burned there than in the other 49 states combined. Therefore, a year to date average that includes Alaska is virtually meaningless if you want to draw conclusions about the status of the wildfire season in the lower 49 states.

Alaska acres burned — Alaska Acres burned, 2011 – 2020. Raw data from NIFC, processed by Wildfire Today.

Firefighters pulled off sections of the Bootleg Fire

Bill GabbertJuly 16, 2021July 16, 2021WildfireBootleg Fire, Oregon10 Comments

Extreme fire behavior made it too hazardous to remain on the north side

7:40 a.m. PDT July 16, 2021

Bootleg Fire map — Map of the Bootleg Fire. The red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:12 a.m. PDT July 16, 2021. The white line was the perimeter at 7:09 a.m. July 15, 2021.

In Southern Oregon on Thursday firefighters were pulled off some areas of the Bootleg Fire for their own safety. With extreme wildfire behavior causing large fire growth on the north side, it became too hazardous for crews, engines and heavy equipment so they relocated and regrouped.

The southeast side of the fire moved two to four miles east Thursday and crossed into Lake County.

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

Satellite photo showing smoke from wildfires at 6:41 p.m. PDT July 15, 2021.

In the video below, retired smokejumper and Bootleg Fire Public Information Officer Jacob Welsh narrates from the front lines Thursday afternoon as equipment was relocating.

An overnight mapping flight determined that the Bootleg Fire had burned over 236,300 acres.

The Incident Management Team is also managing the Log Fire. It was active on its east side Thursday when the gap between the two narrowed to four miles.

Evacuation information for the fire is available HERE.

Pyrocumulonimbus cloud over the Bootleg Fire July 14, 2021.

Bootleg Fire grows to a quarter of a million acres

Bill GabbertJuly 15, 2021July 15, 2021WildfireBootleg Fire, Oregon

17 miles northeast of Klamath Falls, Oregon

Map of the Bootleg Fire at 10:14 p.m. PDT July 14, 2021.

To say the Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon was active Wednesday is an understatement. It exhibited extreme fire behavior for hours as winds out of the southwest and west gusted at 15 to 23 mph from 11 a.m. until 10 p.m. while the relative humidity was in the low teens.

I have never seen anything like the satellite photo below. The orange colors are a representation of heat from the very active fire. The eastern two-thirds of Oregon are covered in smoke and a large dark gray oval plume is east of the Bootleg Fire. The white plume stretching to the east appears to be a very, very large pyrocumulus cloud — condensation after the smoke has reached a high altitude. The very unusual feature is the sheer size of the pyrocumulus, which is about 130 miles long.

Bootleg Fire Satellite photo — Bootleg Fire satellite photo at 7:11 p.m. PDT July 14, 2021. GOES 17, NASA.

The fire was mapped at 10:14 p.m. Wednesday at 232,760 acres.

Wednesday evening the Safety Officer and Incident Meteorologist assigned to the Bootleg Fire took the unusual step of issuing a special weather statement to firefighters:

At 8:18 PM PDT, Doppler radar and GOES West Satellite was tracking a pyrocumulonimbus over the Bootleg Fire. Preliminary indications are showing that the smoke plume could possibly collapse over the next hour. Although confidence in the collapse is low, this would be a serious event with strong and quickly shifting winds. Winds in excess of 40 mph will be possible with this collapse. Firefighters and all other persons in and around the Bootleg Fire should prepare for DANGEROUS WEATHER CONDITIONS and seek shelter immediately.

The extreme fire behavior we have been seeing on a regular basis is placing firefighters and the public at increasing risk. Wildland firefighting has always been dangerous, but the “new normal” is a level up on that scale. Firefighters and the public need to recalibrate their thinking about how vegetation fires move across the landscape.

Pyrocumulus clouds, before the last five to 10 years, were not nearly as common as they are today, and are one of the most obvious visual examples of how climate change is affecting wildland fires.

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

The information below about the Bootleg fire is from the Incident Management Team, July 14:

“Power distribution is interrupted in SE Oregon from Fields, OR to Winnemucca, NV with power to pumps supplying agricultural ranches out. There are significant impacts to the CA power grid, causing strain on their power distribution system, which is a very sensitive issue. Smoke has already caused arcing due to the conductivity of the carbon particles in smoke, which impacts power distribution lines well ahead of the fire. Klamath and Lake County Sheriff and Emergency Managers are handling evacuation planning.

“Fire remains very active with significant acreage increases due to hot, dry, breezy conditions, and plume dominated fire behavior. Poor humidity recovery at night is contributing to active fire spread through the night time period. Robust spread rates are being generated by drought effected fuels. Expecting similar conditions for the next several days.

“Although it is predicted to have slightly cooler temperatures in the next couple days, temperatures remain above normal and RH values are expected to be in the lower teens. These conditions paired with gusts winds at times will test control lines, and are expected to contribute to active/extreme fire behavior. Unstable conditions will exist over the area, but smoke thickness will dictate fire weather conditions.”

The weather forecast for Thursday morning in the Beatty, Oregon area calls for 88 degrees, 15 percent relative humidity, and 6 mph winds out of the southwest. After 5 p.m. the wind will be out of the west and northwest at 11 to 14 mph gusting to 21 mph. Another day of active fire behavior.

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