Wildfire Today

Counter Rotating Vortex Pair: the 2020 El Dorado Fire

Kelly AnderssonApril 28, 2023April 28, 2023Fire behaviorCharlie Morton, El Dorado Fire, vortex7 Comments

From: Mark Pieper
Subject: Counter Rotating Vortex Pair Technology Transfer Video Message
Body: Hello, I’m with the USDA Forest Service’s Innovation and Organizational Learning. We just released a 9 min. video about a fire behavior phenomenon called the Counter Rotating Vortex Pair. Investigators determined this occurred on the El Dorado Fire in 2020, killing Charlie Morton of the Big Bear Hotshots.
Here is the link to the video:
https://bit.ly/3LB1b79 Qcode

This QCODE will get you more info plus the video.

Editor’s note: The El Dorado Fire burned 22,744 acres in San Bernardino and Riverside counties of California in September to November 2020. It was ignited on September 5 by a pyrotechnic device at a gender reveal party in El Dorado Ranch Park, and quickly spread to the San Gorgonio Wilderness Area of the San Bernardino National Forest.

Burning over a 71-day period, the fire destroyed 20 structures and resulted in one firefighter fatality, for which the couple hosting the party were charged with involuntary manslaughter. Charlie Morton, an experienced squad boss from the Big Bear Hotshots, was killed by the Vortex Pair detailed in the excellent video linked above.

In a report by the Victorville Daily Press, Martin Estacio explained, “When asked by reporters in July how prosecutors will argue the couple’s actions were responsible for Morton’s death, San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson said the firefighter was “fighting a fire that was started because of a smoke bomb.”

“That’s the only reason he was there,” he said.

_______________________________________
A Superior Court judge in San Bernardino on Monday, Jan. 23, dismissed one felony count against the couple accused of setting the El Dorado Fire in 2020 but let stand 29 other charges, including the most serious, according to a January 23, 2023 report by the Mercury-News.

[Bill Gabbert’s El Dorado Fire story ARCHIVES]

Trial begins with Pacific Power over 2020 wildfires

Kelly AnderssonApril 26, 2023April 26, 2023WildfireBeachie Creek Fire, Pacific Power16 Comments

Opening arguments were heard yesterday in a lawsuit against PacifiCorp claiming that its negligence started several devastating 2020 wildfires that burned across western Oregon. KEZI-TV reported that the class action suit was filed in September 2020, not long after the fire’s containment, by Linn County residents who lost their homes in the Beachie Creek Fire. The suit grew to include plaintiffs from other Oregon wildfires.

The complaint alleges that Pacific Power and its parent company, PacifiCorp, did not deactivate certain powerlines during the heavy winds in the late summer of 2020. When those east winds brought down trees, they connected with live powerlines, igniting fires that destroyed hundreds of structures and killed several people.

“PacifiCorp chose not to protect Oregonians — it did not live up to its obligation, it didn’t take any action to prevent fires, and now, in this case, PacifiCorp should bear the consequences,” said Nicholas Rosinia, attorney for the plaintiffs. KOBI5 News reported that Pacific Power attorneys countered that a decision to de-energize powerlines is complex and can’t be based on fire risk alone. “The possibility of an ignition must be weighed against the dangers of de-energization when whole cities and towns can be blanketed in darkness just when they need power the most,” said Doug Dixon, an attorney for the defendants.

The attorneys acknowledged that both Portland General Electric and Consumers Power, Inc. decided to turn off power in parts of their service areas around the Labor Day storms.

The Beachie Creek Fire was reported August 16, 2020 in the Opal Creek Wilderness about six miles northwest of Detroit Lake in Oregon, some 38 miles east of Salem. According to records in the daily national Incident Management Situation Report and GIS data, the fire was:

- - 10 acres August 26, 10 days after it was reported
  - 23 acres August 31, 15 days after it was reported
  - 150 acres September 3, 18 days after it was reported
  - 469 acres September 7, 22 days after it was reported; (before the winds began that night).

Plaintiffs are asking for more than $1.6 billion in damages, according to court documents. The trial is scheduled to last until at least mid-June.

2020 Labor Day fires — GOES-17 photo of smoke from wildfires in Washington, Oregon, and California at 5:56 p.m. PDT Sept. 8, 2020. This image was captured during a very strong wind event. NASA photo

The Oregonian reported that the Labor Day fires burned more than 1.2 million acres in Oregon, destroyed upwards of 5,000 homes and structures, and claimed nine lives. PacifiCorp is the primary defendant in litigation from the fires; the Portland-based utility, Oregon’s second largest, did not shut down power to any of its 600,000 customers during the windstorm. Its lines have been implicated in six separate fires, one of which started in its California service territory and burned across the state line into Oregon.

Jurors will determine PacifiCorp’s responsibility, if any, in four of those fires: the Santiam Canyon fires east of Salem, the Echo Mountain Complex near Lincoln City, the South Obenchain Fire near Eagle Point, and the Two Four Two Fire near the southwest Oregon town of Chiloquin. This is a historic trial and will likely reshape the way Pacific Northwest electric utilities respond to increasing wildfire risks influenced by climate change, persistent drought conditions, and increasing numbers of acres burned each year.

In November 2022, PacifiCorp settled another case out of court with two families who sued over the Archie Creek Fire, which burned more than 130,000 acres in Douglas County in 2020.

A bit of Bill Gabbert history

Kelly AnderssonApril 25, 2023April 26, 2023Hotshot historybill gabbert, hotshots6 Comments

We got a note yesterday from Marty Parish, who knew Bill Gabbert years ago. He was amazed to see names here from his IHC days; he said he met Bill when he was with the Laguna Hotshots in the early 1980s, when Bill was working in Prevention and lived at Camp Ole, near the Laguna IHC camp.

Marty sent us this photo that was sent to him by another firefighter. He does not know where or when it was taken. But that’s for sure Bill Gabbert at far left. Who can identify more of the guys in this photo?

“At 17 I became a Young Adult Conservation Corps (YACC) member in late 1978,” wrote Marty. “We were based out of a work camp located off the same highway (Sunrise Hwy) about two miles north of Camp Ole (Al Bahr Shrine Camp, now gone after the 2013 Chariot Fire). We worked closely with the USFS as part of the program. I was hired in ’79 as an Engine Crewman (Corral Canyon) while working as a YACC with Mert Thomas in Recreation (Mert got me the job!) and I finished the second half of the season that year ending in early January of 1980. I returned in the spring to Camp Ole for my first Hotshot season.”

“I didn’t really know Bill well,” added Marty. “We had lived for a short time in the same USFS realm on the Cleveland National Forest-Descanso District; he had left suppression before we met and was working in Prevention. He lived in one of the USFS employee residences at Camp Ole (on Mt. Laguna, San Diego County).”

“I was a Laguna Hotshot for three years, but not sure he was there all three years (we relocated for a year to Descanso, then returned to Camp Ole, only to relocate back to Descanso permanently after I left for FHS).”

Marty, who was also with the Flagstaff Hotshots 1983-1985, added this. “Not sure who is in this photo, but that’s definitely Bill on far left side. Again, my condolences for your loss. A couple of others from that era recently passed too, including my dear friend Brian Connelly from LHS and MCB/Camp Pendleton Fire. Let me know if you pick up other names of people in the pic.”

Hit us up if you recognize any of the other guys in this photo or can provide other details — just click “Leave a comment” under the headline above. THANKS!

Oregon cancels its long-held policy with Lloyd’s of London

Kelly AnderssonApril 25, 2023April 25, 2023WildfireLloyd’s of London, Oregon, suppression costs

The Oregon Department of Forestry has cancelled an insurance policy that has over the years reduced the cost of fighting wildfires; it had acquired sky-high deductibles over the last few years.

ODF said it will not renew its policy with Lloyd’s of London, a UK-based insurance market, in the 2023-2024 policy year. Longer, more complex, and costlier fire seasons over the last decade have led to higher premiums and deductibles, which in turn made the policy less attractive to Oregon officials. The policy was first acquired in 1973, according to KEZI-TV, to reduce the impacts of wildland fire suppression costs for Oregonians.

The decision was made after an April 3 meeting of the Emergency Fire Cost Committee (EFCC), which oversees the Oregon Forest Land Protection Fund (FLPF). After an extensive review, the EFCC recommended to the State Forester Cal Mukumoto that he cancel the insurance policy, and he decided not to renew it, explaining that the funds that would have paid for the policy can be better used directly paying for wildfire suppression efforts.

According to the EFCC, the 2023-2024 insurance policy would have had a deductible of over $78.5 million – 57 percent higher than in the 2021-2022 policy. Oregon’s historic fire season costs did not meet that threshold, so the policy was very unlikely to actually trigger this year and provide any financial benefit to the state. The 2023-2024 premium was quoted at $4.1 million for $25 million in coverage.

Virginia deputy chief dies of heart attack after wildfire response

Bill GabbertApril 24, 2023April 24, 2023Uncategorizedfatality, lodd, Virginia

A Virginia firefighter, Deputy Chief Chester T. Lauck with Frederick County Fire and Rescue, suffered a heart attack hours after responding to a wildfire and died the following morning.

The notice from the Frederick County Government Facebook page on Sunday announced “On behalf of Fire and Rescue Chief Steven A. Majchrzak, it is with profound sadness that we announce the Line-Of-Duty Death of Deputy Chief Chester T. Lauck, who passed away this morning at 8:09 a.m. at Winchester Medical Center surrounded by family and friends.”

In his most recent position, Lauck was responsible for the Emergency Management Division. Prior to that he had worked for the Winchester (Virginia) Fire and Rescue Department and had retired He retired from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) Fire and Rescue Department as a Battalion Chief of the Special Operations Division. He’d also worked as an Aircraft Rescue and Fire Fighter (ARFF) for the Air National Guard and began service in 1984 as a patrolman for the Virginia Department of Forestry, where he worked on wildland incidents and events.

Another Earth Day voice … MSNBC’s Velshi: ‘Time to get creative on wildfires – fast’

Guest WriterApril 23, 2023June 25, 2024Uncategorizedinnovative, media, XPRIZE

by Ron Steffens

Ali Velshi, a business correspondent and analyst for MSNBC, focused on wildfires for his Earth Day commentary. He introduces his concerns by noting that “More than half of the most destructive wildfires in US history have occurred since 2018,” with annual acres burned doubling in the past 30 years and forecast to double again in the next 30. The intro to his report continues … “Meanwhile, wildfire fighting tactics for detection and suppression haven’t changed in decades – and as the fires get bigger, faster, and deadlier, firefighters can’t keep up. New technologies are needed – soon – to save ecosystems, property, and lives.”

His report expands on the recent years of record fires and the impact this has had on communities and the firefighters who work to meet this daunting challenge. His key point … after 53 years of protesting and calling for action and significant changes, we’re now amid the “behemoth challenges” of climate change. On this Earth Day, Velshi suggests for us all to face and address the wildfire crisis with new technology and approaches.

Screenshot from a broadcast by Ali Velshi on MSNBC. Click the image to watch the video.

That technology and business approaches are a component of Velshi’s call may reflect his reporting focus. And it’s worth noting that Velshi sits on the board of the XPRIZE, and his Earth Day report echoes the XPRIZE’s recent challenge focused on wildfire.

Details on Velshi’s broadcast were also tweeted on Earth Day.

On this 53rd annual #EarthDay, we’re focusing in on #wildfires. Their growing intensity is far outpacing our ability to combat them, and it’s only going to get worse. New methods are needed asap in order to save ecosystems, property, and lives.

[Bill Gabbert’s El Dorado Fire story ARCHIVES]

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: