The blaze is north and east of October’s Silverado Fire
Updated December 4, 2020 | 12:57 p.m. PST
Map of Bond and Silverado Fires, December 3, 2020
The Bond Fire in Orange County, California is looking better today, Friday, December 4, but there is still much that needs to be done before it is contained.
More accurate mapping shows that 6,400 acres have burned. The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) reports that 11 aircraft are assigned to the fire. Air tankers and helicopters are working off Santiago Canyon Road between Modjeska Canyon and Silverado Canyon.
Some evacuation orders have been lifted. A map maintained by the Orange County Sheriff’s Department has the details.
The two forestry technicians based on the Angeles National Forest who were injured Thursday were treated and released from the hospital that night. One sustained a leg injury and the other suffered minor bruising. The person with the leg injury had been flown in an OCFA helicopter to the hospital, while the other was transported in a ground ambulance.
All roads have reopened except for Santiago Canyon Road, according to the OCFA.
Bond Fire as seen from Pleasants Peak, looking southwest at 9:51 a.m. PST Dec. 4, 2020
Still seeing tanker and helicopter drops for the Bond Fire
This is Tanker 104, an MD-87 aircraft doing a drop at around 9:50AM
Tanker 104 operated by Erickson Aero tanker is a former Iberia and SAS passenger aircraft, converted into a tanker#BondFirepic.twitter.com/CB86rO9AY0
Bond Fire as seen from Pleasants Peak. Looking southwest at 2:05 pm. PST Dec. 3, 2020.Bond Fire map showing heat detected by satellites as late as 2:30 p.m. PST Dec. 3, 2020. The gaps between the heat icons could be due to light vegetation burning then cooling quickly before the next satellite overflight, the fire burning into the October Silverado Fire, or inaccuracy of the sensors.
The images taken of the Bond Fire from nearby mountain tops have shown decreased activity in the hours after noon on Thursday.
Updated December 3, 2020 | 1:48 p.m PST
The Orange County Fire Authority reports the Bond Fire has burned 7,200 acres. Most of the spread over the last few hours has been to the west and it has reached Highway 241. Firefighters are working on suppressing spot fires across the highway.
Sentintel-2 satellite imagery of the bushfire in Namadgi National Park south of Canberra, Australia. February 4, 2020.
As we reported in February, a helicopter operated by Australia’s Army inadvertently started a bushfire January 27, 2020 in Namadgi National Park south of Canberra, in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It was caused by heat from the landing light on an MRH-90 Helicopter as it set down in the remote Orroral Valley for a crew break.
In the coming days, the Orroral Valley Fire grew very large, covered about 80 percent of the National Park, and crossed over into New South Wales where it burned homes. Wildfire Today’s very unofficial estimate based on satellite imagery is that the blaze burned over 250,000 acres.
New information uncovered by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reveals that the crew did not report the specific location of the fire until they landed 45 minutes later at Canberra Airport.
File photo of Royal Australian Navy NHI MRH-90 Helicopter. Photo by Duan Zhu.
From ABC:
When the blaze threatened to consume the aircraft, the crew took to the skies — only to watch as their helicopter downdraught fanned the flames into what would become a formidable firestorm.
But internal Defence reports on the incident, released to the ABC under Freedom of Information laws, show the helicopter’s pilot did not radio the coordinates in the timeit took to return to Fairbairn air baseat Canberra Airport.
That lack of information sowed confusion as ACT fire crews were dispatched to different parts of the park in a desperate scramble to locate and extinguish the blaze.
In documents obtained by the ABC under Freedom of Information laws, Defence made it clear the top priority for the helicopter crew was safety, given the aircraft had been damaged in the fire.
Today, in a statement from the Defence Minister’s office, Ms Reynolds defended the aircrew returning to Fairbairn air base at Canberra Airport before relaying the fire’s location to authorities.
She said the airport was the “nearest safe landing area with access to emergency services” for the fire-damaged aircraft.
“Defence advises that the crew were focussed on the immediate safety of the passengers and the flight emergency situation,” the statement from Ms Reynold’s office said.
“Defence advises that during the flight, the crew relayed the in-flight emergency situation to Canberra Air Traffic Control and their commanders.
“Immediately following an emergency landing at Canberra Airport, the aircrew passed the location of the fire to ACT Emergency Services Agency.”
The ACT’s Emergency Services Authority has said the Australian Defence Force’s actions were appropriate.
But others, including former ACT emergency services commissioner Peter Dunn, said the 45-minute delay robbed ACT emergency services of the crucial first hour to stop the fire from growing beyond control.
Today current ACT Emergency Services Commissioner Georgeina Whelan again defended the Army helicopter crew, saying they were following safety protocols.
But Ms Whelan acknowledged the 45-minute delay in firefighters being provided the location of the bushfire was “disappointing”.
“It is very disappointing and I know the entire Canberra community, as was I, we would love to have had information within seconds of that occurring,” she told ABC Radio Canberra.
“What we do know is the aircraft and the pilot focused on the safety of their team and got them back to the ACT airport very safely and we deployed our assets within a very short timeframe.
“It is very unfortunate, it was a really challenging season for all of us.
Sentintel-2 satellite imagery of the bushfire in Namadgi National Park south of Canberra, Australia. January 30, 2020.
Weather forecast for San Bernardino, California December 2 through 7, 2020.
Wildfire danger described as “very critical” by the National Weather Service is in the forecast for Southern California this week. Strong winds gusting at 55 to 70 mph in the mountains is predicted for Wednesday night and Thursday, which will be followed by warm temperatures and single-digit relative humidities into the weekend.
Very critical fire danger for the Los Angeles area. NWS.Red Flag Warning for Southern California, December 2, 2020.
A Red Flag Warning is in the forecast for San Bernardino Wednesday through Saturday.
The Hot-Dry-Windy Index will be increasing Tuesday through Monday.
Hot-Dry-Windy Index for the Santa Clarita, California area, December 1 through 7, 2020.
The National Significant Wildland Fire Potential Outlook issued December 1 by the Predictive Services section at the National Interagency Fire Center predicts wildfire potential will be higher than normal in the Southern Plains through March, 2021. This will include portions of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. Most of the southwest one-quarter of the United States is currently experiencing abnormally dry or drought conditions.
The data from NIFC shown here represents the cumulative forecasts of the ten Geographic Area Predictive Services Units and the National Predictive Services Unit.
Below:
An excerpt from the NIFC narrative report for the next several months;
More of NIFC’s monthly graphical outlooks;
NOAA’s three-month temperature and precipitation forecasts;
Drought Monitor;
Keetch-Byram Drought Index.
“La Niña and current fuel conditions remain the principal drivers of significant fire potential into spring. Drought conditions are expected to continue for much of California, the Great Basin, and the Southwest into the winter with drying expected to increase across portions of the southern Plains and Southeast. Offshore wind events will continue to be a concern across southern California in December given the dry fuels and lack of forecast precipitation through early December. Wind events may also drive short duration large fire activity in portions of the Great Basin, Southwest, and northern California, especially at lower elevations.
“Warmer and drier than normal conditions are expected across the southern tier of the US this winter and into spring due to La Niña and other large-scale climate forcing. As a result, drought intensification and expansion across portions of the Plains, Southwest, southern California, Texas, and along the Gulf coast into Georgia are likely. Above normal significant fire potential is forecast in portions of the Southwest, southern and central Plains, and the Southern Area, especially near the Gulf and Atlantic coasts this winter into spring due to these warmer and drier conditions. Strong wind and low relative humidity (RH) events could occasionally increase significant fire potential in portions of the Great Basin as well.”
After Jason Phillips worked for three weeks fighting the Cameron Peak Fire in Colorado, he then spent more than five weeks on a ventilator. Mr. Phillips is a firefighter based in Washington state and works for a wildfire contractor, Choleta Fire Services.
On August 25 he came down with COVID-19 symptoms.
“By that afternoon, my life was turned upside down. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t keep [anything] down. My whole entire body was shaking so bad, I couldn’t hold a pencil to write my own name,” Mr. Phillips said.
According to 9News, he tested negative for COVID-19 at the Poudre Valley Hospital emergency room. He left, then came back later, tested positive and was put on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. Doctors said at the time he had a 50-50 chance of surviving.
After being released from the ICU he was sent to an acute care and rehab facility. He hopes to return home this week but is partially paralyzed from the waist down.
There are reports that during the course of the Cameron Peak Fire dozens of personnel were quarantined after possible exposure to COVID-19.
In early November a spokesperson for the U.S. Forest Service said 219 of their firefighters had tested positive for COVID-19 this year. CAL FIRE said at the time 141 of their employees had tested positive.
Since it started August 13, 2020 the Cameron Peak Fire, the largest in the recorded history of Colorado, has burned 208,913 acres, destroyed 444 structures, and has cost over $133 million to suppress. There are still 271 personnel assigned including 3 hand crews, 10 engines, and 1 helicopter.
Map of Cameron Peak Fire, December 1, 2020. NIFC.
Update at 4:10 p.m. MDT December 1, 2020. This article originally mentioned that Mr. Phillips was a U.S. Forest Service firefighter, based on reporting by 9News. Subsequently, we found that he was not a USFS employee and works for a contractor, Choleta, instead. 9News will be editing their article.
Firefighters backed off, suppressed the fire that spread into dry rice field
Colusa Incident. CAL FIRE photo.
A truck carrying 2,000 gallons of propane crashed, burned, and ignited the leaking gas Monday morning in Northern California seven miles west of Gridley on the Colusa Highway near Schohr Ranch Road.
For hours, firefighters were forced to stay back and evacuations were ordered within a one mile radius of the incident. The fire spread to a dry rice field which was suppressed at a distance from the burning truck.
Large pressurized flammable gas tanks exposed to extreme heat can create a very powerful explosion called a “BLEVE“, or boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion. These can be deadly within thousands of feet, depending on the quantity of flammable gas involved.
Colusa Incident. The fire spread into a dry rice field. CAL FIRE photo.
The incident was reported around 9 a.m. Monday and at 2 p.m. the firefighters stopped the propane from leaking and arranged for the owner of the truck to remove the remaining propane. The firefighters expected to finish the suppression and overhaul by about 4 p.m. Monday.
