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Wildfire Today

Lightning leaves behind many fires in Oregon

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , 1 Comment on Lightning leaves behind many fires in Oregon

Approximately 2,800 lightning strikes since Friday have caused 163 wildfires in Oregon

Above: The red dots represent wildfire heat in Oregon detected by a satellite at 3:34 a.m. PDT July 18, 2018.

(Originally published at 3:56 p.m. PDT July 18, 2018)

Thunderstorms over the weekend have created a great deal of work for firefighters in Oregon. At least 163 wildfires were detected in the state after 2,800 lightning strikes peppered the area since Friday. By Wednesday morning the numbers have settled down to 47 fires that have burned over 22,000 acres, according to the Department of Forestry Wednesday morning. However since those numbers were released the Substation Fire (see below) has been mapped at 36,000 acres. Dozens of fires are burning in the southwest corner of the state on the Umpqua, Rogue River, Winema, and Siskiyou National Forests.

The lightning was predicted days in advance. Many of the land management agencies proactively imported additional firefighting resources to deal with the anticipated workload following the lightning bust.

In Central Oregon firefighters are battling the 1,300-acre lightning-caused Cemetery Fire 12 miles southwest of Paulina. It started July 16 and is burning on the Ochoco National Forest and lands protected by the BLM and the State of Oregon.

Substation fire Deschutes River
The Substation Fire has jumped the Deschutes River in Oregon at least twice. Photographer unknown. Uploaded to Facebook July 18, 2018.

In north-central Oregon a few miles south of the Washington state line and The Dalles, the Substation Fire that started Tuesday has blackened about 36,000 acres and has jumped the Deschutes River at least twice. Evacuations are taking place in Sherman County. Officials have not released the cause of the fire.

The video below, described as “incredible, horrifying” by KATU News, shows a fire engine on the Substation Fire making an “inside-out attack”, or “attacking from the black”. This is a well known tactic and can be less hazardous than driving in flammable vegetation while making a mobile attack.

Ferguson Fire spreads south, adds 5,000 acres

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 2 Comments on Ferguson Fire spreads south, adds 5,000 acres

The fire has burned 17,319 acres northeast of Mariposa, California

Above: Map showing the perimeter of the Ferguson Fire at 11:34 p.m. PDT July 17. The red shaded areas represent intense heat at that time. The yellow line was the perimeter two days before.

Again Tuesday the Ferguson Fire spread in all directions. On the north side firefighters are attempting to tie it in with one of the routes that leads into Yosemite National Park, Highway 140. The highway has been closed west of El Portal since the fire started on July 13 and there’s no indication when it will reopen. Other routes into the park are open, but Yosemite Valley has severely degraded visibility due to heavy smoke from the fire.

Most of the growth Tuesday and Tuesday night was on the southeast and southwest sides. The high pressure that has been dominating the area is causing an inversion that has been preventing the smoke from blowing out of the area, holding it close to the ground. This makes it difficult or impossible to use fixed wing air tankers until the inversion breaks in the late afternoon when the inversion lifts.

CLICK HERE to see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Ferguson Fire, including the most recent.

On Tuesday the fire backed down Ferguson Ridge and became well established in the Sweetwater Creek drainage and behind Cedar Lodge. Crews worked Tuesday night to secure line around Cedar Lodge and Indian Flat. The power line has been repaired, and electrical service has been restored to the area. Work on Tuesday involved improving containment lines, as well as protecting the communities of Jerseydale, Mariposa Pines. and Yosemite West.

Judging by the number of resources assigned, the Ferguson Fire is becoming a very large incident. There are a total 1,850 personnel, including 158 engines, 5 water tenders, 5 helicopters, 44 hand crews, and 16 dozers. A mapping flight Tuesday night determined it has burned 17,319 acres.

The weather on Wednesday will again be hot and dry, and the inversion will most likely keep air tankers grounded until late afternoon.

Ferguson Fire grows to over 12,000 acres

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , 2 Comments on Ferguson Fire grows to over 12,000 acres

The fire has caused evacuations west of Yosemite National Park in California

(Originally published at 8:07 a.m. PDT July 17, 2018)

map Ferguson Fire
Map produced by the Incident Management Team, July 17, 2018. The line with the dots and plus signs represents a proposed dozer line. Click to enlarge.

For days the Ferguson Fire has been marching across the remote, steep terrain west of Yosemite National Park. On Monday it grew on all sides to some extent, with most of the additional blackened acres being added on the south and east sides.

Areas that are under mandatory evacuation orders include Incline Road from Clearing House to the last BLM campground; Jerseydale/Mariposa Pines; Cedar Lodge/ Indian Flat Campground, Savage’s Trading Post and Sweetwater Ridge.

CLICK HERE to see all of the articles on Wildfire Today about the Ferguson Fire, including the most recent.

Many areas are under an advisory or potential evacuation order should conditions change. A few examples are Yosemite West, National Park Service El Portal Complex, and Old El Portal. The Mariposa County Sheriff’s office has more current details about evacuation orders.

map Ferguson Fire
Map with red shaded areas indicating areas of intense heat at 9:08 p.m. PDT July 16, 2018.

Monday morning the incident management team announced that overnight mapping flights determined that 12,525 acres have burned in the Ferguson Fire.

Road closures:

  • Highway 140 from Abbie Rd in El Portal to 14 miles north of Mariposa;
  • Incline Road;
  • River Road from Briceburg to the gate at Railroad Flat;
  • Hites Cove / Jerseydale Road.

Approximately 1,486 personnel are assigned to the fire, including 118 engines, 5 water tenders, 4 helicopters, 39 hand crews, and 16 dozers. Air tankers are assigned as needed and as smoke and visibility allow. We have seen up to eight being used at the same time, ranging from the 1,200-gallon S2T’s to the 11,600-gallon DC-10’s.

Smoke forecast for Monday, July 16

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags

The map shows the prediction for the distribution of smoke from wildfires at 6 p.m. MDT July 16, 2018. Much of it is generated at the Ferguson Fire west of Yosemite National Park in California.

Fire whirl, or waterspout, or fire tornado?

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , 2 Comments on Fire whirl, or waterspout, or fire tornado?

Spectacular video at a fire near Blythe, California

Above: screenshot from the video below.

Chris Mackie posted this video on July 15, 2018 of spectacular fire behavior at a wildfire on the Arizona side of the Colorado River near Blythe, California. It is not uncommon to see dust devils and fire whirls during unstable weather conditions on a fire, but as you can see beginning at about 1:10 the rotating vortex over this fire intensifies into what some might call a fire tornado (or “firenado”) as trees are uprooted and debris is thrown into the water as it moves over the river (and transforms into a waterspout?).

We have written about similar phenomenons several times on Wildfire Today. Here is an excerpt from a 2016 article, “Defining fire whirls and fire tornados”:

“The news media sometimes calls any little fire whirl a “fire tornado, or even a “firenado”. We found out today that these and related terms (except for “firenado”) were, if not founded, at least documented and defined in 1978 by a researcher for the National Weather Service in Missoula, David W. Goens. He grouped fire whirls into four classes:

  1. Fire Devils. They are a natural part of fire turbulence with little influence on fire behavior or spread. They are usually on the order of 3 to 33 feet in diameter and have rotational velocities less than 22 MPH.
  2. Fire Whirls. A meld of the fire, topograph, and meteorological factors. These play a significant role in fire spread and hazard to control personnel. The average size of this class is usually 33 to 100 feet, with rotational velocities of 22 to 67 MPH.
  3. Fire Tornadoes. These systems begin to dominate the large scale fire dynamics. They lead to extreme hazard and control problems. In size, they average 100 to 1,000 feet in diameter and have rotational velocities up to 90 MPH.
  4. Fire Storm. Fire behavior is extremely violent. Diameters have been observed to be from 1,000 to 10,000 feet and winds estimated in excess of 110 MPH. This is a rare phenomenon and hopefully one that is so unlikely in the forest environment that it can be disregarded.”

Report released for entrapments on Horse Park Fire

Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories UncategorizedTags , , , ,

Above: photo from the report.

Additional information has been released about the entrapments that occurred on the Horse Park Fire May 27 in a remote area of Southwest Colorado. Earlier we posted two videos that were shot when firefighters hurriedly retreated as the fire advanced, plus information from a “72-hour report”.

Now a 56-page Facilitated Learning Analysis and a 12-minute video are available that break down the incident in even more detail.

To very briefly summarize what happened, while scouting a road for a potential burnout operation, a hotshot crew superintendent and foreman encounter a wall of flames and attempt to retreat. Their truck becomes stuck, forcing them to flee on foot, narrowly escaping the rapidly advancing fire front. Just as they reach safety, they learn that their crew lookout is missing. After nearly 40 agonizing minutes, the lead plane pilot locates her after she ignited an escape fire. It is a compelling story, which is pretty well summed up in this video.

The 56-page report only has one recommendation:Recommendation horse park fire