News and opinion about wildland fire
This aerial photo of California shows smoke and heat (the red dots) from the Detwiler Fire. It was taken by NASA’s Terra satellite on July 18, 2017.
As of Wednesday morning the fire, which is very close to Mariposa and 23 miles northeast of Merced, had burned 45,724 acres.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized6 Comments on Detwiler Fire doubles in size, grows to over 45,000 acres Above: Map of the Detwiler Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 10 p.m. PDT July 18, and the white line was the perimeter 21 hours earlier.
(Originally published at 7:34 a.m. PDT July 19, 2017)
(UPDATED at 9:54 a.m. PDT July 19, 2017)
The Detwiler Fire continued to burn vigorously Tuesday evening. When it was mapped at 10 p.m. it had more than doubled, adding another 26,123 acres during the previous 21 hours to bring the total burned area up to 45,724 acres according to CAL FIRE. Satellite data acquired four hours later at 2 a.m. Wednesday showed the fire had still been spreading and may have added at least another 5,000 acres.
About 4,000 people are affected by evacuations, including the entire city of Mariposa. CAL FIRE and the Mariposa County Sheriff’s Office have more information about evacuations. Approximately 1,500 homes are threatened and 8 structures have been destroyed.
The Detwiler Fire has burned very close to Mariposa and is 23 miles northeast of Merced.
The fire has crossed Highways 49 and 140, which are now closed in the area of the fire.
Firefighters are worried about the power lines that supply electricity to Yosemite National Park which is 16 air miles east of the fire.
About 2,200 personnel are assigned or en route.
The video below shows a drop from a DC-10 air tanker.
Retardant drop: trying to protect the town of Mariposa as the #detwilerfire flames come towards downtown @FOX40 pic.twitter.com/RGEF9IUSkw
— Eric Rucker (@EricRuckerfox40) July 19, 2017
(All articles on Wildfire Today about the Detwiler Fire are tagged “Detwiler Fire” and can be found here, with the most recent at the top.)
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on Wildfire smoke map, July 18, 2017 The map shows the distribution of smoke from wildfires July 18, 2017.
(Originally published at 3 p.m. MDT July 18, 2017)
The Arrowhead Hotshots sent us these photos that were taken during their assignment on the Peekaboo Fire in northwest Colorado near Maybell. (Thanks guys!)
Arrowhead, first established in 1981, is a National Park Service crew based in Kings Canyon National Park in California.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Little change in Whittier Fire on Monday Above: The view from the HPWREN camera on Santa Ynez Peak in the middle of the Whittier Fire, looking south at 12:27 p.m. PDT July 18, 2017.
(Originally published at 12:54 p.m. PDT July 18, 2017)
There has not been much change in the status of the Whittier Fire northwest of Goleta, California. Over the last 24 hours satellites have not detected many large heat sources, and the size reported by fire officials has not changed since Sunday morning.
Below is an excerpt from information supplied by the Incident Management Team on Tuesday:
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“Crews working on the eastern perimeter completed a containment line in Bear Creek Canyon, preventing the fire from crossing the creek. The fire continues backing down-slope on the western and southern perimeters.
The northern perimeter is transitioning to patrol and mop-up. Crews on the eastern perimeter are using bulldozers and hand-crews to build line and construct contingency lines. The southern perimeter is backing and is heavily influenced by the marine layer.
Above the marine layer expect active fire behavior; below the marine layer, minimal fire spread is expected due to high humidity.
Fifteen water-dropping helicopters and four fixed-wing air tankers are supporting crews as needed to help cool hot spots.”
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All of the articles we have written about the fire are tagged “Whittier Fire” and can be found here, with the most recent at the top.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized2 Comments on Detwiler Fire spreads quickly, causes evacuation of Mariposa Above: Map of the Detwiler Fire. The yellow line was the perimeter at 1 a.m. PDT Tuesday July 18, 2017. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 1:48 p.m. PDT July 18. The satellite detections can’t be relied upon to be 100 percent accurate. The very intense smoke plume over the fire on Tuesday may have contained enough heat to trip the sensors on the satellite, giving the impression that the fire was larger than it actually was.
(UPDATED at 9:13 p.m. PDT July 18, 2017)
(All articles on Wildfire Today about the Detwiler Fire are tagged “Detwiler Fire” and can be found here, with the most recent at the top.)
The Detwiler Fire continued to be very active Tuesday afternoon. CAL FIRE, the agency responsible for suppressing the blaze, estimated at 7 p.m. that the size had increased to about 25,000 acres, up from 19,601 at 1 a.m. on Tuesday. They reported that 8 structures have been destroyed, but did not specify if they were residences or outbuildings.
The CAL FIRE web site sometimes has information about evacuations.
The fire spread to the south Tuesday, pushed by a wind out of the north. Winds from the north are expected to continue through the night and into Wednesday morning at 6 to 9 mph, shifting to come out of the west in the afternoon. Wednesday’s temperature in the fire area will top out at 98 degrees, with the relative humidity hitting 14 percent in the afternoon.
3 hour #GOES16 loop w/ fire temp imaging shows the scale of the #DetwilerFire w/ pyrocumulus casting shadows. #CAwx #CAFire @CAL_FIRE pic.twitter.com/DIQFvVqg36
— Rob Mayeda (@RobMayeda) July 19, 2017
(UPDATED at 5:34 p.m. PDT July 18, 2017)
The Detwiler Fire has been very, very active Tuesday afternoon, spreading very quickly and putting up a huge smoke plume. For a while at mid-afternoon at least one air tanker working the fire, a DC-10, was diverted to a new fire 6 miles southeast of Redding. During that time the KCRA live video did not show any air tankers on the Detwiler Fire, but after a while there were two DC-10s, an MD-87, a C-130, and at least one S2T working the fire again.
The camera operator for KCRA has no trouble finding action to film — air tankers dropping, massive flames, or a towering convection column.
LiveCopter3 on the way to the #DetwilerFire . Mariposa has been evacuated. Coverage starts at 4 on KCRA3 pic.twitter.com/A8MVgjys61
— Mark Finan (@kcraFinan) July 18, 2017
(UPDATED at 1:24 p.m. PDT July 18, 2017)
The Detwiler Fire has grown explosively since it started less than 48 hours ago during the afternoon of July 16. At 1 a.m. PDT on July 18 it was mapped at 19,610 acres, an increase of 16,192 acres over the previous 24 hours.
The fire is 6 miles northwest of Mariposa.
The maps of the Detwiler Fire below were current at 1 a.m. PDT July 18, 2017.
It is already causing evacuations in areas of Mariposa County, according to the Sheriff’s office. At 12:30 p.m. PDT Tuesday CAL FIRE revised their information about the fire to indicate that the city of Mariposa is being evacuated, but by 1:18 p.m. PDT the Sheriff’s Office had not stated it like that on their web site. However, the Sheriff’s site lists about 19 locations that ARE evacuated, without providing a map, so it can be a little difficult to get the entire picture.
Highway 49 is closed. Power lines that supply electricity to Yosemite National Park, which is 19 air miles to the east, could be impacted.
The time-lapse video below was filmed by Toney Gorham between 7:30 and 8:30 p.m. on Sunday July 16.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to JW.
Typos or errors, report them HERE.
