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Wildfire Today

Long Valley Fire burns hundreds of acres on Calif/NV line north of Reno

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags ,
Long Valley Fire, August 25, 2019
The sun rises on the Long Valley Fire, August 25, 2019. Photo by Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District .

(UPDATED at 9:42 a.m. PDT August 25, 2019)

At 8:37 a.m. PDT August 25 the Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District reported that the Long Valley Fire had been mapped at 2,438 acres and all evacuations had been lifted.

HERE is a link to a map of the fire produced Sunday morning.

(UPDATED at 7:03 a.m. PDT August 25, 2019)

As the sun was rising Sunday morning the camera at Fort Sage looking south to the Long Valley Fire did not show any significant columns of smoke. The fire is north of Reno, Nevada between Highway 395 and Red Rock Road. (see map below)

Long Valley Fire
The Long Valley Fire, looking south from the camera at Fort Sage at 6:38 a.m. PDT August 25, 2019.

The Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District reported at 7:10 p.m. PDT Saturday that one primary structure and multiple outbuildings burned. At 8:38 p.m. PDT the District said the fire had burned about 1,500 acres and “at least 50 to 75 homes have been impacted” by the fire.

The closure of Red Rock Road was lifted by 12:30 a.m. Sunday. Electrical power may still be shut off in some areas.

At 12:31 a.m. Sunday the evacuation order was still in effect.

The video below shows a Very Large Air Tanker, a DC-10, making  a downhill retardant drop Saturday evening on the fire.

(Originally published at 6:49 p.m. PDT August 24, 2019)

Long Valley Fire
Long Valley Fire as seen from the camera at Fort Sage at 5:23 p.m PDT August 24, 2019.

The Long Valley Fire started Saturday afternoon north of Reno along Highway 395 about two miles south of the north end of Red Rock Road. Pushed by a strong wind it spread to the northeast toward Red Rock Road. The Truckee Meadows Fire Protection District is working to keep the fire west of the road.

Continue reading “Long Valley Fire burns hundreds of acres on Calif/NV line north of Reno”

Traffic camera keeps recording while surrounded by fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 1 Comment on Traffic camera keeps recording while surrounded by fire
Utah traffic camera fire swept over
The Utah DOT camera at milepost 122 continued to transmit while it was engulfed by a wildfire. Screenshot from the video below.

A highway traffic camera kept transmitting as the Milepost 122 fire swept over the site. It happened 10 miles north of Beaver, Utah on August 22 as the Milepost 122 Fire burned across Interstate 15.

The fire burned about 1,200 acres and closed the Interstate for a while.

Utah milepost 122 wildfire
Milepost 122 fire. Photo credit: Stephanie Schenck.

This is why you don’t want to be under a retardant drop

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 10 Comments on This is why you don’t want to be under a retardant drop

If that video does not convince you — last year a firefighter from Utah who was working on a fire in California was killed when a retardant drop uprooted an 87-foot tall tree that fell on him.

How would you handle this spot fire scenario?

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags 19 Comments on How would you handle this spot fire scenario?

This photo of the Cow Fire in Eastern Oregon was uploaded to InciWeb August 20, 2019. It appears that there are at least one and possibly two spot fires near the bottom of the photo.

During this very slow fire season in the West, there may be some wildland firefighters that have time to think about a tabletop exercise.

How would you deal with the spot fires?

Assumptions:

  • You are the Division Supervisor.
  • Time and date: 4:40 p.m. August 24.
  • The fire has been burning for 24 hours.
  • The strategy is full suppression.
  • Location: Eastern Oregon, at 6,000 feet.
  • Two spot fires were just discovered by Air Attack about 75 feet apart on a west-facing slope 300 feet below the 50-acre main fire. The photo is looking toward the east.
  • The main fire has a slow to moderate rate of spread with occasional multiple tree torching.
  • Wind: a general wind is not a factor, however typical local diurnal slope and canyon winds can be expected for the next two days.
  • Relative humidity for the next two days: high of 45% at night, low of 28% in the afternoon.
  • Temperature for the next two days: high 85, low 62.
  • The main fire is 1/4 mile from the nearest road.
  • Firefighting resources on the fire now include one Type 1 hand crew, four Type 2 hand crews, four 3-person engine crews that are dismounted and working as a hand crew, one Firehawk helicopter with bucket, and one Huey helicopter with bucket.
  • The two helicopters, the Type 1 crew, and one of the Type 2 crews have been working on protecting critical habitat for the endangered Blue-Spotted Achilles Butterfly on the east side of the fire.
  • Additional ground resources are available that could be on scene at noon tomorrow. A BAe-146 air tanker could be over the fire, if ordered, within 90 minutes. A Type 1 helicopter, a K-MAX, could be on scene at 7 p.m. if it was ordered.
  • The drainage bottom, which has a very small creek with water, is 600 feet below the spot fires.

Goose Point Fire burns over 6,000 acres southwest of Provo, Utah

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

Firefighters fought fire with fire

Goose Point Fire Provo, Utah burnout
Firefighters burn out from a dozer line on the Goose Point Fire southwest of Provo, Utah. Screenshot from KSL 5 TV video.

The Goose Point Fire grew quickly when it started late Wednesday afternoon on West Mountain 11 miles southwest of Provo, Utah. After it burned through the night, firefighters on Thursday worked with dozers to fight fire with fire — burning the fuel between dozer lines and the main fire. At 11:00 a.m. Thursday firefighters using GPS equipment mapped it at 6,451 acres and soon thereafter stopped the spread.

The preliminary cause is machinery that was operating in the area, according to Dave Vickers, an area fire management officer with the Utah Division of Forestry, Fire and State Lands.

Goose Point Fire Provo, Utah
Goose Point Fire on West Mountain. Photo by Jocelyn Marie Cooley.
map Goose Point Fire Provo, Utah
Map showing the location of the Goose Point Fire southwest of Provo, Utah.

The KSL 5 TV video footage below has some excellent shots of the Goose Point Fire.

Mountain Fire causes evacuations northeast of Redding, California

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 1 Comment on Mountain Fire causes evacuations northeast of Redding, California

The fire is 4 miles east of the community of Shasta Lake

map Mountain Fire Redding California
The red dots represent heat detected on the Mountain Fire by a satellite at 1:38 p.m. PDT August 22, 2019. Click to enlarge.

The Mountain Fire is causing evacuations in Northern California, northeast of Redding. The fire is 4 miles east of the community of Shasta Lake and is north of Highway 299.  At 1:38 p.m. PDT most of the fire was between Bear Mountain Road and Dry Creek Road, an area with many structures.

It was reported at noon on Thursday and by 2:40 p.m. had burned approximately 600 acres. Later in the afternoon Air Attack estimated the size at 820 acres.

Pacific Gas and Electric shut off the power to about 1,200 customers.

By 5:50 p.m. PDT the radio traffic on the incident had slowed considerably, which often indicates the spread of the fire has slowed as well. It was first burning in timber and other heavy fuels but some portions moved into lighter vegetation that provided less resistance to control, and where aircraft could be more effective.

The Shasta County Sheriff’s Office has a lengthy list of areas under evacuation orders. The evacuation center is at Crosspointe Community Church, 2960 Hartnell Road, Redding CA. According to the Sheriff’s  Office, 1,110 structures are threatened and 3,885 residents have been evacuated.