News and opinion about wildland fire
The map above shows the prediction for the distribution of wildfire smoke at noon PST November 9. Click on the map to see a larger version.
Below is a satellite photo taken Thursday, November 8 showing heat from the Camp Fire in red and the smoke being blown to the southwest, mostly north of San Francisco.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized9 Comments on Camp Fire burns hundreds of homes in Northern California Severe damage in Paradise, California
(UPDATED at 11:20 a.m. PST November 9, 2018)
The CBS station in Sacramento had this information Friday morning:
The Butte County Sheriff’s Office says at least five people have been found dead after the Camp Fire tore through the town of Paradise on Thursday. Investigators found the five people in the area of Edgewood Lane in Paradise inside of cars. It’s believed the victims were overcome by the Camp Fire when they were in their cars. No identification of the victims was able to be made due to the burn injuries, deputies say.
Investigators have been working to confirm reports of fatalities due to the destructive fire. Anyone with missing loved ones are encouraged to check http://safeandwell.org.
(Originally published at 7:45 a.m. PST Nov. 9, 2018)
In the first 12 hours the Camp Fire burned 54,000 acres as it roared through Paradise, California destroying large sections of the city.
(To see all articles about the Camp Fire on Wildfire Today, including the most recent, click here.)
The wildfire started at 6:33 a.m. November 8. A mapping flight at 6 p.m. determined it had spread 15 miles to the southwest pushed by winds that at times in the higher elevations gusted to 65 mph out of the northeast. At 6 p.m. it had come to within two miles of Highway 99, but at 1:48 a.m. Friday a heat-sensing satellite found that it had neared the highway in at least two places and was approaching the outskirts of Chico.
Fire officials are saying that hundreds of homes have burned but it could be days before accurate numbers are available.
Overnight the fire spread closer to Highway 70 on the east side, and on the west side it approached Highway 32 and moved through Magalia where heavy structure losses can be expected.
After sunrise Friday the fire was very active, as seen in the photo below.
The Feather River Hospital was evacuated, but there are conflicting reports on the status of the facility. Some say it burned, others say one or more structures at the site burned but the main building is intact.
The mapping flight at 6 p.m. Thursday determined that the fire had burned over 54,000 acres, but the satellite data from 8 hours later showed that it had increased substantially since then, possibly as much as an additional 15,000 acres. CBS in Sacramento reported at 7:02 a.m. that a spokesperson for CAL FIRE said the fire had grown to about 70,000 acres.
Heavy concentrations of smoke are affecting areas southeast of the fire. To see a map for the prediction of the distribution of smoke and a satellite photo showing the smoke, click here.
On the southeast side of the fire the Jarbo Gap weather station recorded overnight wind speeds of 28 mph gusting to 44 with 18 percent relative humidity. Those conditions should continue through the morning in the higher elevations on the fire but the winds will decrease substantially in the afternoon.
Update at 10:49 a.m. PST November 9, 2018. We found the following map on InciWeb, but there does not appear to be any further information on the site about the Camp Fire.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized31 Comments on Wildfire burns into Paradise, California, forcing evacuations Hundreds of structures have burned
(UPDATED at 7:03 p.m. PST November 8, 2018)
From an article in the Chico ER, updated at 6:36 p.m. Thursday:
Cal Fire-Butte County Chief Darren Read said in the afternoon that hundreds of structures in Paradise have burned, perhaps as many as 1,000. Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea said there are reports of multiple fatalities, and authorities are trying to verify how many.
The Sheriff’s Department estimates that 50,000 people have evacuated.
(To see all articles about the Camp Fire on Wildfire Today, including the most recent, click here.)
At 3:15 Thursday CAL FIRE estimated that the fire had burned 18,000 acres. Our very, very rough approximation of the size that is indicated by the heat detection in the map above from 1:30 p.m. puts it at around 28,000 acres. Those heat detections can sometimes be inflated when a very intensely burning fire carries a high concentration of burning embers into the smoke column downwind of the fire.
On Thursday afternoon the wind was out of the northeast at 17 mph gusting to 30, with 11 percent relative humidity. Friday night the wind should be similar, northeast at 16 gusting to 34, with 23 percent RH. The weather on Friday should be much more in favor of the firefighters — 68 degrees, RH 13 percent, and much lighter northeast winds at about 8 mph, decreasing to 2 mph by sunset.
The state of California has activated their State Operations Center.
A very eye-opening interview with a Paradise evacuee who describes the scene of the #CampFire @ActionNewsNow pic.twitter.com/E4ncB41srZ
— Laura Eng (@LauraEngNews) November 8, 2018
(UPDATED at 1:50 p.m. November 8, 2018)
Air Attack has requested seven air tankers for the Camp Fire: four S-2s, two large, and one very large air tanker (DC-10). Apparently the wind speeds have decreased, making it possible to use the fixed wing air tankers.
At 12:13 p.m. a weather station southeast of Paradise recorded sustained winds at 13 mph with gusts up to 33 mph with a relative humidity of 13 percent.
At 1:13 p.m. Friday KRCR published a video interview with “John”, a CAL FIRE PIO, who said the estimated size of the Camp Fire was 17,000 acres. Our very, very rough approximation of the size that is indicated by the heat detection in the map above puts it at around 25,000 acres. Those heat detections can sometimes be inflated when a very intensely burning fire carries a high concentration of burning embers into the smoke column downwind of the fire.
(UPDATED at 12:14 p.m., November 8, 2018)
The winds have been too strong on the Camp Fire at Paradise, California for air tankers and water-dropping helicopters to assist firefighters on the ground. The wind speed increased dramatically at about sunset on Wednesday with gusts out of the northeast up to 50 mph. The wind has slowed on Thursday with sustained speeds at 6 to 18 mph and gusts at 22 to 30 mph.
Continue reading “Wildfire burns into Paradise, California, forcing evacuations”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized9 Comments on Major damage to an engine on a prescribed fire in California An engine that was working on a prescribed fire near Covelo, California was burned over and appears to be destroyed.
Below is the summary from a “Green Sheet” report released by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
On October 22, 2018, a CAL FIRE fire engine staffed with one Fire Apparatus Engineer and two firefighters were participating in a Vegetation Management Program (VMP) hazardous fuel reduction burn near Covelo, CA. While the crew was away from the engine assisting with containment of several spot fires, the parked, unattended engine was impacted by spot fires burning outside of containment lines, and sustained major damage. No personnel were injured during the incident.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Burning tumbleweeds flew forty feet above the ground The Texas/Oklahoma/Kansas fire storm of March, 2017
Wildfires that started March 6, 2017 in the Southern Great Plains burned about 1.8 million acres — 781,000 in Oklahoma, 608,000 in Kansas, and 482,000 in the Texas Panhandle. Residents whose families had lived there for generations said they had never seen anything like it. There was much more fire than there were firefighters to handle it.
Ian Frazier, a writer for the New Yorker who spent time in the area in recent months talking with many of the locals, has published a fascinating, gripping account of how the residents and firefighters dealt with the rapidly spreading, wind-driven blazes.
Attacking the flanks or head of the fires was not an option. They were moving too fast, so protecting structures and saving lives was their only choice.
The article is extremely well written. It tells not only the firefighting story, but also the immediate and long-lasting effects on everyone else in the area. If you appreciate great writing, and especially great writing about wildland fire, read it — and thank me later.
Below is a brief excerpt:
…Still the fire came on. Burning tumbleweeds flew forty feet above the ground, and the red cedars in the hollows roared as their resinous boughs ignited like kerosene. The wind swept up the dry grass until the air itself was on fire. Ashland’s firefighters had never seen a blaze that could not be outflanked and subdued. “But what could you do against this monster?” Millie [Fudge, Clark County’s head of emergency-management operations], asked. Like the Englewood firemen, Ashland’s tried to save structures and people. In outlying areas, they hosed houses with a flame-retardant foam. Some houses could not be saved. Here on the prairie, fires are fought from trucks, not on foot. Bumping over rough ground, the trucks threw the firemen around, banging them up and bruising them as burning sparks went down their necks. Several times, the fire’s front line jumped over the trucks, and the firemen kept from burning by spraying a mist around themselves.
(We wrote several articles about the fires; they are tagged “Kansas”.)
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Prescribed fire at Tallgrass Prairie Firefighters from the National Park Service and the US Fish and Wildlife Service conducted prescribed fires last week on two units of the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve in Kansas.
The treatments with fire maintain the ecological integrity, promote forage for cattle, and sustain the cultural history of the preserve.
