The fire is burning near Monchique in the southern Algarve region
The map shows heat in Southern Portugal detected by a satellite August 8, 2018. Other areas that burned in previous days have cooled and were not seen by the satellite’s sensors. Click to enlarge.
A fire that started August 3 has burned 52, 000 acres (21,000 hectares) in the southern Algarve region of Portugal.
Below is an excerpt from an article at Geo.tv dated August 9, 2018:
“MONCHIQUE: Wildfires scorched across Portugal’s southern Algarve region on Wednesday, threatening more villages as the country’s prime minister warned the blaze could burn for days before being brought under control.
“Over 1,400 firefighters and soldiers were battling the blaze around the mountain spa town of Monchique in one of Europe’s top tourist destinations.
“They were backed up by 13 water-dropping aircraft that scooped water from the sea at nearby beach resorts to battle the flames which were scorching a path towards more villages.
“Sweltering temperatures and strong winds kindled blazes that have whipped across the region as the Europe-wide heatwave sent the mercury above 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) in some areas of Portugal at the weekend.”
The fire has burned at least 4,129 acres northwest of Lake Elsinore, California
Above: The view of the Holy Fire from Santiago Peak at 10:40 a.m. PDT August 8, 2018.
(Originally published at 10:51 a.m. PDT August 8, 2018)
The Holy Fire was very active Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, moving east down the steep slope below the North Main Divide road in the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California. The fire started Monday afternoon in Trabuco Canyon about three miles west of the North Main Divide road. That road roughly follows the ridge top through the Santa Ana Mountains between the Ortega Highway (74) and Corona . The boundary between Orange and Riverside Counties also follows that ridge.
(To see all articles about the Holy Fire on Wildfire Today, including the most recent, click HERE.)
With the assistance of air tankers, firefighters had been able to minimize the growth on the east side of the ridge in Riverside County. But on Wednesday morning the fire has progressed quite a bit down the slope. At 10 a.m. Wednesday a spokesperson for the incident management team, Steve Rasmussen, said the fire is burning in Horsethief Canyon which runs east from the North Main Divide downhill to the communities near Alberhill southwest of Interstate 15. KTLA, a Los Angeles TV station, has been reporting on the fire from a helicopter and at 9 a.m. Wednesday estimated that the fire had approached to within a mile of the Lakeview neighborhood which is north of Lake Elsinore.
A damage assessment has confirmed a total of 12 structures have been destroyed as of Wednesday morning. The incident management team did not specify if those were homes, outbuildings, or a combination of both.
Photo by KTLA at approximately 9 a.m. August 8, 2018.
As of very early Wednesday morning fire officials said the fire had burned 4,129 acres, but due to the active fire behavior it could now be significantly larger.
As of 10:51 Wednesday morning the only evacuations orders in effect were for Holy Jim Canyon, Trabuco Canyon recreation residence tracts, and the Blue Jay and Falcon Campgrounds. Areas under voluntary evacuation included Sycamore Creek, McVicker, Rice, Horsethief, and Glen Eden areas, and along the Ortega Highway west of the Lookout Restaurant.
3-D map showing the approximate perimeter of the Holy Fire at 1:15 a.m. PDT August 8, 2018 as determined by a fixed wing aircraft. It is likely that by mid-morning on August 8 the fire has progressed farther downhill to the east.
With the other wildfires burning in California the incident management team has not been able to obtain all of the firefighting resources that they believe is needed. They are doing the best they can with what is available. As of Wednesday morning they had: 30 Fire Engines, 10 Helicopters, 7 Fixed Wing aircraft, 3 Dozers, 1 Water Tender, and 12 Hand Crews, for a total of 444 personnel. That are low numbers for the third day of a fire that is threatening many structures.
The view of the Holy Fire from Red Mountain looking northwest at 8:52 a.m. PDT August 8, 2018. SDG&E camera.
Together the two fires, which have not merged, have burned 290,000 acres
(Originally published at 12:39 p.m. PDT August 7, 2018)
The two wildfires that comprise the Mendocino Complex of Fires continue to chew up acres in three counties in northern California — Mendocino, Lake, and Colusa Counties.
The Ranch Fire, north and east of Clear Lake, has been expanding on all sides for the last two days except for the northwest side. Firefighters have slowed the growth near Upper Lake, Nice and Lucerne, but it has kept moving on the southeast side around Indian Valley reservoir and on the northeast side in the remote areas west of Lodoga.
To see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Mendocino Complex, including the most recent, click HERE.
The River Fire west of Clear Lake has only spread substantially in recent days on the north side east of Talmage. In spite of reports that the two fires have merged, as of Monday night they were more than two miles apart.
If the size of the two fires are considered together, they have burned 290,692 acres, which would make the complex of two fires, which are managed together, the largest in modern recorded state history. But if added to the list, it would need an asterisk since it is two fires. The Ranch Fire has blackened 241,772 acres, and considered alone it qualifies as the 5th largest in modern California history. To reach the number one position it would have to exceed the 281,893 acres attributed to last December’s Thomas Fire near Santa Barbara. The River Fire has burned 48,920 acres.
Map showing the perimeter, in red, of the Mendocino Complex of Fires at 9 p.m. MDT, August 6, 2018. The white line was the perimeter two days before. The red shaded areas represent intense heat. Click to enlarge.
Crystal Easter of Spring Valley used a pot filled with water to fight spot fires from the #MendocinoComplexFires#ranchfire around her home (another home burns in the background) near Clearlake Oaks, then calmed her animals after crews doused flames in the area. @NorthBayNews pic.twitter.com/tXmlBAjAxe
(Above: The Holy Fire as seen from the 747 Supertanker August 6, 2018. Credit: Hiroshi Ando, Drop System Operator, Global SuperTanker)
The photo above and the next three photos of the Holy Fire in Orange County, California were taken August 6 from the 747 Supertanker by Hiroshi Ando, Drop System Operator, Global SuperTanker.
The Holy Fire as seen from the 747 Supertanker August 6, 2018. Credit: Hiroshi Ando, Drop System Operator, Global SuperTanker.The Holy Fire as seen from the 747 Supertanker August 6, 2018. Credit: Hiroshi Ando, Drop System Operator, Global SuperTanker.
The Holy Fire is in Holy Jim Canyon in Orange County 6 miles northwest of Lake Elsinore, California
Above: the view from the Nevada Seismological Laboratory camera on Santiago Peak looking southeast at 6:52 p.m. PDT August 6, 2018.
(UPDATED at 6:44 a.m. PDT August 7, 2018)
Late Monday night the U.S. Forest Service estimated that the Holy Fire in the Cleveland National Forest east of Rancho Santa Margarita, California had burned approximately 4,000 acres, but that figure could change with more accurate mapping.
The fire started in Trabuco Canyon east of Holy Jim Canyon and rapidly ran up the very steep slopes to the North Main Divide Road at the top of the ridge. The latest rough mapping by the incident management team indicates that very little of the fire has crossed the road which is primarily on the top of the ridge. But better mapping in daylight will provide better information. That road is also near the boundary between Orange and Riverside Counties, and so far most of the blaze is in Orange County.
(To see all articles about the Holy Fire on Wildfire Today, including the most recent, click HERE.)
3-D map, looking east, showing the approximate location of the Holy Fire Monday night August 6, 2018. Click to enlarge.
(Originally published at 7:27 p.m. PDT August 6, 2018)
A brush fire in Trabuco Canyon in the Cleveland National Forest in Southern California has burned at least two cabins. The blaze started around 1:30 p.m. Monday near the intersection of Holy Jim Canyon Road and Trabuco Creek Road. In mid-afternoon fire officials estimated it had burned about 1,200 acres.
Holy Fire at 5:11 p.m. PDT August 6, 2017. Screen grab from ABC7 video.
It is spreading up very steep slopes in the canyons on the west side of the Santa Ana Mountains, running up to the North Main Divide Road, an elevation change of about 2,600 feet. A Los Angeles TV station, ABC7, has had intermittent live video from a helicopter showing fairly intense fire behavior, with frequent fire whirls on the flaming front.
The fire is two miles east of the community of Trabuco Canyon, three miles southeast of Temescal Valley, and six miles northwest of Lake Elsinore.
Map showing the approximate location of the Holy Fire at 2:11 p.m. PDT August 6, 2018, based on heat detected by a satellite.
This map illustrates the prediction for the distribution of wildfire smoke at 6 p.m. MDT August 6, 2018. It was produced by the Earth System Research Laboratory, a division of NOAA.
It looks like the air will be somewhat less than pristine in areas of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, and Utah.
