Map showing heat detected by a satellite on the Red Apple Fire as late as 2:36 p.m. PDT July 14, 2021 — the red and orange dots. The dark red dots are the most recent.
The Red Apple Fire in Chelan County, Washington north of Wenatchee has prompted evacuation orders (Leave Now) for 1,065 residences.
The homes being evacuated are in the Sunnyslope area of Wenatchee from Highway 2 and Burch Mountain Road to north of Easy Street and American Fruit Road. We are not aware of reports of any homes being destroyed.
The fire is in the wildland-urban interface where flammable vegetation is near dwellings.
It was reported at about 6:55 p.m. Tuesday near Red Apple Road outside Cashmere. The fire quickly grew overnight and was estimated to be about 4,000 acres Wednesday morning.
The blaze was aggressively attacked Tuesday evening but there was not much daylight left that would allow air tankers and helicopters to drop water or retardant.
Red Apple Fire. Tanker 260 reloaded many times in the Columbia River and made water drops on the Red Apple Fire. Map produced at 6:09 p.m. PDT July 14, 2021.
On Wednesday afternoon a flight tracking program noted that within a one hour period multiple helicopters and six air tankers were working on the fire including a DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker and two CL-415 scooping air tankers skimming water from the Columbia River.
Wyrick Fire in Arizona by Jeff Zimmerman, 7 p.m. June 20, 2021.
It has become common practice in a busy wildfire season f0r high-ranking people in D.C. to write letters to the field directing that red-carded employees, meaning they are qualified to assist on a fire in a specific capacity, be made available to be dispatched to a fire. This has been affectionally called the “Moses Letter.”
In a 2021 version of the letter signed July 14 by Forest Service Chief Victoria Christiansen she said, “We are seeing severe fire behavior that resists control efforts.”
As is the custom in years like this, she directed mission support supervisors to make all “red-carded” personnel available for fire assignments.
The Chief also asked regional and local Certifying Officials to consider granting a one-year certification for employees who hold expired red cards in non-operations and command positions where appropriate. But the request would not override the required medical or physical fitness standards. She also emphasized the “importance of wearing masks in fire camps where vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals are coming into contact with one another.” There was no mention of mandatory mask wearing.
Chief Christiansen also announced a significant change, increasing the required 2 days of rest after returning from a 14-day assignment to three days. In addition, “a two-day rest period for those working 14 continuous and extended days in support of local fire management.
[pdf-embedder url=”https://wildfiretoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/2021-Wildland-Fire-Priority-Letter.pdf” title=”2021 Wildland Fire Priority Letter”]
Here are the dates of some other Moses Letters that we happened to mention on Wildfire today. There are no doubt many others.
2020, May 5. BLM Director William Perry Pendley, the employee serving as the effective head of the agency since one was never nominated during that Administration, wrote what we called a preemptive Moses Letter.
2015, August 18: Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell distributed the anticipated letter.
In the Bible, Exodus 5:1, the Lord told Moses to tell the Pharaoh to “Let my people go” from bondage in Egypt. This phrase is the title of the one of the most well known African American spirituals of all time.
The video below was filmed at the Christmas concert at the town hall in Puteaux, France December 11, 2016. It begins at 2:44. The traditional words are:
When Israel was in Egypt’s land
Let my people go
Oppress’d so hard they could not stand
Let my people go
Refrain:
Go down, Moses
Way down in Egypt’s land
Tell old Pharaoh
Let my people go
Many of the vacancies are for senior firefighters on engine crews
Dolan Fire, Los Padres NF in Southern California, September, 2020. Photo by Kari Greer.
An article by Pew Charitable Trusts’ Stateline section combined their data with information from the Associated Press to present a bleak picture of hiring and retention among wildland firefighters in the Forest Service’s California Region.
Below are excerpts from the article published July 14, 2021:
The Forest Service’s California region had filled 3,820 of 4,620 planned permanent and temporary positions as of early July, agency spokesperson Regina Corbin wrote in an email to Stateline.
Thirty-one of California’s 44 hotshot crews are fully staffed, Corbin said.
Almost two-thirds of vacancies at the end of spring hiring were for senior firefighters on engine crews, the data reviewed by Stateline shows.
The agency sought to fill 781 vacant permanent positions in California during spring hiring this year, according to the data. But it ended the hiring period with 725 vacancies. That’s a net gain of just 56 employees.
In June 2015 the region’s leaders expected 96% of engines to be fully staffed, for instance. In June 2020, the share was 59%.
In a different article published the same day at Reuters, still another disturbing fact came to light about wildland firefighter vacancies:
20% of the federal government’s full time firefighting positions are currently vacant, according to Kelly Martin, president of the advocacy group Grassroots Wildland Firefighters.
This large number of vacancies, including hundreds of senior positions, can severely degrade the effectiveness of the Federal government’s ability to suppress wildland fires, which is a Homeland Security issue.
Bootleg Fire map. The white line was the perimeter at 10:39 p.m. PDT July 12. The red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 4:06 a.m. PDT July 13, 2021.
On Monday the Bootleg Fire in Southern Oregon was driven by strong winds out of the west, northwest, and north gusting at 20 to 30 mph while the temperature at Beatty, Oregon reached 95 degrees with 7 percent relative humidity. This pushed the east side of the fire another 2 to 4 miles to the east, increasing the size to nearly 202,000 acres.
It is burning on the Fremont-Winema National Forest 4 miles north of Beatty and Highway 140, 27 miles northeast of Klamath Falls, and 20 miles east of Chiloquin.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Bootleg Fire, including the most recent, click HERE.)
The weather forecast for Beatty, Oregon on Tuesday calls for a high of 95 degrees and 5 mph winds out of the north and west. They will shift at sunset with speeds growing to 15 mph with gusts of 23 mph out of the northwest with a relative humidity of 10 percent. This is likely to lead to increasing fire activity throughout the day.
Wednesday afternoon the prediction is for 91 degrees, late afternoon 14 mph northwest winds gusting to 22 mph, and 12 percent RH.
River Fire map. The white line was the perimeter mapped by an aircraft at 10:30 p.m. PDT July 12, 2021. The red areas represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:18 a.m. MDT July 13, 2021.
CAL FIRE reported Tuesday morning that the River Fire 6 miles west of Oakhurst has burned 9,500 acres and destroyed 5 structures.
As of 7:30 a.m Monday, mandatory (leave now) evacuation orders were in effect for Road 800, Road 810, Road 812, Road 600, Apache Road to 612 both sides, Road 600 between Apache Ranch and Blazing Saddle Trail, and JWP Ranch Road.
Resources on the fire include 161 engines, 24 dozers, 24 water tenders, and 30 hand crews for a total of 1,327 personnel. CAL FIRE Incident Management Team 6 has assumed command of the fire.
The River Fire started July 11 and is 10 miles southeast of Mariposa and 28 miles north of Fresno.
On Monday firefighters were working on the fire while the temperature was 99 degrees at the Grub Gulch weather station, with southwest winds gusting at 10 to 17 mph. The forecast for Tuesday is for 101 degrees, 15 percent relative humidity, and 8 to 10 mph southwest and west winds. These are not extreme conditions, but very conducive to continued fire spread with very dry fuels. The forecast for Wednesday is about the same but a bit cooler — 97 degrees.
