Eldorado Hotshots featured on Vice News

October 27, 2020   |   6 a.m. MDT

Eldorado Hotshots, Vice News
Eldorado Hotshots, screenshot from Vice News

Vice News produced an excellent introduction to the world of hotshot crews. In 12 minutes they interview the Superintendent of the Eldorado Hotshots, Ben Strahan, and others on the crew, as well as a few of their family members. And importantly, they ask a former hotshot why he felt he had to move on to another job, discussing the inadequate pay federal firefighters earn, and the effects on family life by constantly having to work overtime in order to make enough money to get by.

The camera crew spent some time on the fireline with the crew, capturing video that the public rarely sees.

Vice News also produced a 30-minute podcast with the crew.

Blue Ridge Fire grows to 15,200 acres near Yorba Linda, California

Structures on the east side of Yorba Linda are threatened

Updated October 27, 2020   |   5:33 p.m. PDT

map Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires
Map showing heat detected by satellites on the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires at 2:46 p.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020.

In a briefing late Tuesday afternoon Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 15,200 acres, and 2,500 homes have been evacuated; 10 homes have been damaged.  Some of those evacuated areas will be repopulated soon, the Chief said.

(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Blue Ridge Fire, including the most recent, click here.)

An Incident Management Team from CAL FIRE, Team 6, will assume command of both the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires Tuesday night.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department website has the latest information about evacuations.

The two fires had access to 14 helicopters and a variable number of fixed wing air tankers Tuesday.


Updated October 27, 2020   |   11:37 a.m. PDT

map Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires
Map showing heat detected by satellites on the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires at 3:27 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020.

Updated October 27, 2020   |   11:10 a.m. PDT

Blue Ridge Fire
Blue Ridge Fire, as seen from Sierra Peak at 10:48 a.m. Oct. 27, 2020. Looking northwest.

Monday at 9:57 a.m. Orange County fire authorities said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 8,000 acres, and 10 homes had been damaged. Approximately 1,000 personnel are assigned to the fire.

At about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday firefighters requested on an immediate need basis three Very Large Air Tankers, four Large Air Tankers, and four S-2 Air tankers. An “immediate need” request is usually reserved for circumstances where there is an imminent threat to lives or property. Requesting eleven air tankers at one time, however, is not common.

At 10:20 a.m. Tuesday the SCE weather station in the Santa Ana River area recorded 20 mph winds out of the northeast gusting to 31, with 9 percent relative humidity. The forecast calls for the wind to begin decreasing at noon and by 2 p.m. would be down to 10 mph out of the northeast, with the direction becoming variable between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., after which it will come from the east or northeast at about 6 mph.

There is a report that the BNSF railroad is sending one of their fire trains to the Blue Ridge Fire. The company has several variations of these firefighting machines that carry massive amounts of water which can be applied using master stream nozzles. We have written about them a number of times on Wildfire Today.


Updated October 27, 2020   |   5:50 a.m. PDT

map of the Blue Ridge Fire
The red and yellow dots on the map represent heat detected by a satellite over the Blue Ridge Fire at 2:28 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020.

The Blue Ridge Fire was active throughout the night, but less so than during the day due to a decrease in winds. Those winds began to increase around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning as expected. Flare-ups occurred near Butterfield Ranch, south Chino Hills, Bane Canyon Road, Soquel Canyon Road, and Pipeline Avenue.

Monday at 9:26 p.m. Orange County fire authorities said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 3,000 acres.

Blue Ridge Fire evacuation zones
at 5:30 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020. These zones can change on a minute by minute basis. Visit Orange County’s website for current information.

Updated October 26, 2020    |   4:57 p.m. PDT

At 4:30 p.m. on Monday Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the fire had burned 1,000 acres, and 70,000 homes have been evacuated.

Continue reading “Blue Ridge Fire grows to 15,200 acres near Yorba Linda, California”

Silverado Fire in Orange County, Southern California threatens structures

Most of the fire is between Santiago Canyon Road and Portola Parkway

Updated October 27, 2020   |    5 p.m. PDT

In a briefing late Tuesday afternoon Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the Silverado Fire had burned 12,600 acres, and 78,000 homes have been evacuated.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Department website has the latest information about evacuations.

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

An Incident Management Team from CAL FIRE, Team 6, will assume command of both the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires Tuesday night.

The two fires had access to 14 helicopters and a variable number of fixed wing air tankers Tuesday.

Both of the firefighters that were seriously burned Monday on the Silverado Fire are still in critical condition.


Update October 27, 2020   |   12:14 p.m. PDT

Silverado Fire
Silverado Fire as seen from Pleasants Peak at 12:11 p.m. Oct. 27, 2020. Looking southwest.

At 9 a.m. PDT Tuesday Orange County authorities said the Silverado Fire had burned 11,200 acres and 76,000 residents have been evacuated.

The weather forecast calls for decreasing winds after 2 p.m. PDT Tuesday, which should give firefighters a better chance to slow the spread of the fire.


Updated October 27, 2020   |   5:26 a.m. PDT

The map above shows the hot areas on the Silverado Fire at 11 p.m. PDT Oct. 26, 2020. The perimeter was not mapped because there was not enough heat for the sensors on the fixed wing aircraft to detect. Many areas that burned had cooled by the time the fire was mapped. You can zoom in and move around on the map.

At 9:26 p.m. Monday Orange County fire authorities said the Silverado Fire had burned 7,200 acres.

Silverado Fire
Silverado Fire as seen from Pleasants Peak at 5:21 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020, looking southwest.

The fire was active throughout the night, but less so than during the day due to a decrease in winds. Those winds began to increase around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning as expected and more flare-ups were occurring, including near Limestone Canyon Road and Limestone Ridge Road.

Several helicopters worked the fire for most of the night, dropping water and assisting firefighters on the ground.

Silverado Fire evacuation zones
Silverado Fire evacuation and warning zones at 5 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020. These zones can change on a minute by minute basis. Visit Orange County’s website for current information.

Updated October 26, 2020   |   5:21 p.m. PDT

At 4:30 p.m. on Monday Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the Silverado Fire had burned 7,200 acres and 22,000 homes have been evacuated. There have been no reports of structures being destroyed, the Chief said.

Chief Fennessy said two firefighters working on the County’s hand crew were gravely injured on the Silverado Fire. They suffered serious burns and have been intubated.

“They were working near what we call the heel of the fire, where the fire started,” the Chief said. “We don’t have any information about what occurred. We have requested an accident review team from the state to come in and do the investigation… I was with them when their families arrived. We are giving them all the support we can, not only through our Chaplin program, but we have a very comprehensive peer behavioral health program.”

Continue reading “Silverado Fire in Orange County, Southern California threatens structures”

Firefighters stop East Troublesome Fire outside Estes Park, Colorado

Operations Chief said they had a “very good day” Saturday

October 25, 2020   |   8:10 a.m. MDT

Map of the east side of the East Troublesome Fire near Estes Park
Map of the east side of the East Troublesome Fire near Estes Park.

Firefighters on the Cameron Peak Fire tasked with handling the portion of the East Troublesome Fire threatening Estes Park did some serious firefighting Saturday, stopping the fire before it could spread into the wildland urban interface. They used existing fuel treatment areas where the vegetation had been thinned or removed, as an anchor from which to conduct a firing operation to widen the buffer between the fire and the community.

Paul Delmerico, the Operations Section Chief, Saturday night:

The fuels treatments helped significantly. Those fuels treatments are what gave us a really good defensive start to our day today when we saw that. It gave us something to work off of and to build off of.

The fire made a run just north of Moraine Park.Our firefighters picked up that [fuel treatment] and did a firing operation and held it just north of Moraine Park and then we had a couple of hand crews in there today and we picked that up with direct hand line. We were able to go up and over the ridge and back down and tie it in with existing road systems.

Our firefighters out there are doing a heck of a job. We had a really good day today, considering the fuel conditions and the weather conditions.

Hazardous Fuel Treatments near Estes Park
Previously constructed Hazardous Fuel Treatments near Estes Park, current October 24, 2020. It is not clear if the projects were prescribed fire, mechanical vegetation treatment, or both.

Saturday evening rain followed by snow put at least a pause on the fire activity. Six to twelve inches are in the forecast through Monday. The final status of the fire will depend on the weather over the next several weeks. If it continues to be wet, it could be the demise of the fire; however, fires can sometimes survive for months under a blanket of snow. If the humidity continues to be very low with no additional precipitation much of the snow could evaporate (or sublimate) reducing how much water moves into the vegetation and the soil.

Estes Park weather forecast
Forecast at 9 a.m. MDT October 25, 2020.

Firefighters were also successful on the portion of the East Troublesome Fire west of the Continental Divide before the rain and/or snow began Saturday evening. The strong winds did not result in any major catastrophic runs.

Map of the East Troublesome Fire
Map of the East Troublesome Fire, 8:09 p.m. MDT October 24, 2020.

Very high to extreme fire danger in store for parts of California Sunday through Tuesday

October 24, 2020   |   6:46 p.m. PDT

Extreme fire danger
Storm Prediction Center forecast for Sunday. Extreme fire danger.

A major weather event that will affect wildland fire danger begins in California Sunday morning. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center does not often predict extreme fire weather, but they have done just that to warn of a wind event with very low humidities for parts of California Sunday through Tuesday. At times the wind will be very strong and the relative humidity will drop below five percent in some locations.

Check out the forecast for Red Bluff in Northern California —  on Sunday, 29 mph north winds with gusts to 40, and 10 percent relative humidity. On Monday, 18 gusting to 25 with 5 percent RH.

Weather forecast for Red Bluff, CA
Weather forecast for Red Bluff, CA Sunday and Monday

The extreme weather will begin in Northern California on Sunday then work its way to the southern part of the state on Monday and Tuesday.

Fire weather Sunday and Monday
Fire weather Sunday and Monday, Northern California

The forecast for Riverside in Southern California beginning early Monday morning: 26 to 30 mph north winds gusting to 45, with 8 percent RH; then Tuesday, 18 to 20 mph gusting to 30 with 10 percent RH.

Weather Forecast Riverside, CA
Weather Forecast Riverside, CA
Fire weather Sunday and Monday
Fire weather Sunday and Monday Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.

With five to nine inches of snow beginning tonight on three fires in Colorado, I wonder if they can spare any crews or overhead personnel in case they are needed in California? Of course the 192,000-acre East Troublesome Fire after burning for 11 days only has 5 crews and 336 personnel, but the 206,000-acre Cameron Peak Fire next door has 42 crews and 1,903 personnel. The 10,000-acre Calwood Fire that has not spread for days now has snow, 10 crews, and 495 personnel. The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group may have already made decisions along these lines.

As we wrote earlier today, of the 113 Interagency Hotshot Crews in the U.S., only about 35 are still funded and available for fighting fire. In two weeks that number drops to around 13 according to projections in a September 30, 2020 planning document compiled by an Area Command Team (ACT).

Very few fires have burned in Rocky Mountain National Park in the last 40 years

There is plenty of fuel available for the East Troublesome Fire

October 24, 2020   |   2:56 p.m. MDT

Map of the Fire history of Rocky Mountain National Park
Map of the wildfire history of Rocky Mountain National Park from 1980 through October 23, 2020. The east and west boundaries of the park are close to highways 34 and 7.

Very few large wildland fires have burned in Rocky Mountain National Park in the last 40 years. Official records show only one that has exceeded 1,000 acres — the Fern Lake Fire that covered 3,330 acres in 2012. There were a couple of fires in the late 1970s west of Allenspark that each burned less than 1,000 acres.

To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the East Troublesome Fire, including the most recent, click here.

There is an unofficial report that the East Troublesome Fire burned through the footprint of the Fern Lake Fire before noon today, October 24. The 643-acre Big Meadows Fire of 2013 has also been burned over.

Hazardous Fuel Treatments near Estes Park
Hazardous Fuel Treatments near Estes Park, current October 24, 2020. It is not clear if the projects were prescribed fire, mechanical vegetation treatment, or both.

The bottom line is, most of the vegetation in the park has not been visited by fire in recorded history. This means a fire burning in a fire-starved forest under the current drought conditions and a strong wind, would be virtually impossible to stop until those conditions change. And a big change is due after sunset today with rain followed by snow which will continue through Monday.

At 10 a.m. Saturday the East Troublesome Fire was mapped at 191,000 acres and was spreading to the east.