3-D map of the Rum Creek Fire, looking south-southwest at 9:45 p.m. Aug. 28, 2022.
The Rum Creek Fire 14 miles northwest of Grants Pass, Oregon has grown to 10,709 acres since it started from lightning on August 17. The fire is burning in very steep, remote, rugged terrain on both sides of the Rogue River. It has spread upriver to Galice and east to Stratton Creek. Spot fires have occurred two miles down range.
Much of the work being done by firefighters is construction of indirect fire lines some distance from the fire and prepping structures to increase their chances of survival.
Map of the Rum Creek Fire. The red line was the perimeter at 9:45 p.m. Aug. 28, 2022. The white line was the perimeter about 24 hours before.
The fire is under a unified command with three incident management teams working together, Northwest 13, Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Blue Team, and Oregon Department of Forestry’s Team 1.
Two wildfires in Yosemite National Park are being managed without the intent to stop the spread. They are being allowed to replicate natural processes, restoring fire to the landscape.
It is a little too far out to predict with much certainty, but possibly by the first half of next week around September 4 or 5, temperatures much higher than average for the date could impact large sections of the Western United States. If it is accompanied by low humidity and strong winds there could be a significant increase in the spread of existing wildfires. We won’t get too excited about it now, but the situation bears watching as the forecasts become more certain.
Perhaps with that medium-range forecast in mind, or it could be unrelated, fire managers at Yosemite are taking steps to modify the spread of two fires. Both of them have large swaths of granite out in front, but the rock does not present a 100 percent impenetrable barrier. However under less than extreme conditions the granite would at least greatly slow the spread of the fires.
Red Fire
The Red Fire is in the southern part of Yosemite near Grey Peak and was mapped at 1,833 acres Saturday evening. The spread has been minimal in recent days as it chews through pockets of dead and and down vegetation. The plan is to use crews and hoselays to keep the fire south and east of the trail system and hold the fire from moving further into the Illilouette basin, which would result in increased smoke impacts to Yosemite Valley.
Rogers Fire
Rogers Fire 3-D map 10:09 a.m. Aug. 27, 2022.
The Rogers Fire, 10 miles east of Hetch-Hetchy Reservoir had burned 1,370 acres when it was mapped the morning of August 27. Fire managers intend to use helicopters to drop water in order to slow spread to the northeast. This is intended to enable hand crews to construct fire line between granite slabs. The next step is not specified, but depending on the intensity of the fire, which has been low, the line might stop the fire, or provide an anchor from which to start a backburn or backfire.
Rogers Fire, Yosemite NP, posted August 27, 2022. Inciweb.
Four Corners Fire 3-D map, looking northwest at 5:12 a.m. PDT Aug. 28, 2022.
The Four Corners Fire 24 air miles south of McCall, Idaho grew by about 1,000 acres Saturday as winds gusting up to 33 mph from a cold front caused more intense burning. The blaze is near the southeast side of Lake Cascade and Saturday night was about 0.3 miles from the shore and about 0.1 mile from Old State Highway/W. Mountain Road.
In spite of challenging winds and smoke, firefighters reported good progress in building firelines on the western and northern sides on Saturday. Crews constructing handline have reached Wilson Peak from the west side and will continue progressing to the east directly along the fire perimeter as long as it is safe, as they evaluate additional actions to limit the spread.
Four Corners Fire map 5:12 a.m. PDT Aug. 28, 2022.
On Sunday, crews will continue to maintain structure protection efforts on the east side. To the south, fire managers expect little fire spread to the west. Calmer winds will prevail across the area with drier conditions and light southwest winds up to 10 mph. Sunday and Monday fire activity is expected to be slower due to cooler temperatures in the 70s with light winds. Starting Tuesday fire activity will increase as temperatures and stronger winds gradually increase, peaking on Thursday. Fire managers expect critical fire weather conditions by the end of week.
Cal OES and California Military Department’s Type 6 engines. CAL OES photo.
This week the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) and the California Military Department announced the creation of the first all-hazards fire engine strike team operated by a state military department.
Cal OES is deploying a Type 6 strike team of wildland-style fire engines, named Team Blaze, to the State Military Department to enhance California’s Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid fleet.
These four-person engines complement the Military Department’s existing Task Force Rattlesnake hand crew program consisting of Soldiers and Airmen. Since the start of operations in 2019, Task Force Rattlesnake has cut, cleared and treated at-risk wildfire project areas in central and northern of California.
The State’s Military Department maintains a firefighting program at their military bases, with trained personnel providing firefighting prevention, mitigation and protection services to California and military bases and camps.
“We are proud to collaborate with Cal OES to ensure there’s another fleet of fire engines and expert staff at the ready,” said California Military Department Major General Matthew P. Beevers. “This Strike Team builds upon the state’s response efforts during times of need.”
Cal OES and California Military Department Type 6 engine. CAL OES photo.
These engines add to the existing California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System fleet of more than 270 engines across 60 local partners statewide that can respond to incidents of all types.
Cal OES facilitates the California Fire and Rescue Mutual Aid System, which moves local government resources across the state in support of all-risk emergency response on behalf of local, state, and federal government fire organizations. Cal OES assigns local government fire agencies with fire apparatus to maintain surge capacity during day-to-day duties and major events/emergencies.
The East Fire in the Angeles National Forest northeast of Glendora has been relatively quiet since the spread was stopped Thursday evening. It was last mapped at approximately 147 acres.
Updated at 6:18 p.m. PDT August 25, 2022
East Fire, looking northwest from Sunset Peak at 5:45 p.m. Aug 25, 2022.
The spread of the East Fire northeast of Glendora, California has slowed and is mostly holding at the ridges, thanks to the efforts of the firefighters on the ground and in the air. At about 5 p.m. Air Attack estimated the size at approximately 135 acres with about two-thirds of the fire above Shoemaker Canyon Road and one-third below the road. However that size estimate could change.
East Fire at approximately 3:50 p.m. August 25, 2022.
At 5:45, in addition to helicopters, a lead plane, and air attack, there were two large air tankers over the fire, an MD-87 and an S-2T.
3:53 p.m. PDT August 25, 2022
The red squares on the map represent heat detected by a satellite at 1:50 p.m. PDT Aug. 25, 2022 on the East Fire northeast of Glendora, CA.
Thursday afternoon the East Fire started eight miles northeast of Glendora, California east of San Gabriel Reservoir near East Fork Road and Shoemaker Canyon Road.
It received a typical Southern California aggressive initial attack with hand crews, engines, helicopters, water tenders, and air tankers, including a DC-10 that was based nearby at San Bernardino.
East Fire at 3:17 p.m. Aug. 25, 2022. ABC7.
At 3:29 p.m. the FIRIS aircraft mapped it at 73 acres.
Fire whirl on the Sam Fire in LA County, Aug. 10, 2022. KTLA-2
On August 11 we wrote about an impressive fire whirl (or fire tornado) that occurred on the Sam Fire in northwestern Los Angeles County August 10. Thankfully a helicopter from KTLA 5 was airborne and got compelling video, including a water drop from an Air-Crane helicopter that at least for a few seconds took most of the energy out of the rapidly rotating vortex of flame.
Here is the video:
Unfortunately the video stops immediately after the water drop so it is unknown if it regenerated.
In describing the event, we wrote, “Maybe a helicopter pilot can tell us how ballsy it was, or was not, to fly close enough to drop water on the fire whirl.”
Now we know who made the drop.
Erickson’s Pilot in Command flying the Air-Crane that is seen dropping water, Ed Montgomery, was quoted in Erickson Incorporated’s Twitter feed, @EricksonInc. Below is the text from a series of six tweets:
What I can tell you is that those types of situations are very intense, for not only the aircraft on the fire but also for the firefighters that are on the ground. Fire tornadoes can and often do throw fire balls out in front of the fire and the threat in this particular instance, was that the highway was the fire line, and the tornado was approaching the highway. If it had been allowed to advance it would have certainly spotted fire across the highway and turned a 140 acre fire into a much larger incident.
We were fortunate to have had N163AC as our aircraft – it has our new composite blades installed and we were at the last quarter of our fuel cycle. This means we were able to pick up 2,300 gallons of water for that drop.
As you can see from the video, fire tornadoes create a tremendous amount of inward air flow to its core. All I really needed to do was get in front of it while it was in the open, be away from the heat column, and high enough for the tornado to suck the entire water drop into its core.
The phenomenon was either a fire whirl or fire tornado. It is difficult to tell from the video the width or height of the vortex. It appears not to be huge, but the speed of the rotation was extremely swift and the area influenced by the strong indrafts was very large. At the one minute mark check out the spot fires that ignite and instantly grow much larger as they are drawn toward the vortex.
Fire whirls, much like dust devils, are not uncommon on a fire when the atmosphere is unstable, and are much smaller than fire tornados. In 1978 a researcher for the National Weather Service in Missoula, David W. Goens, established parameters for the two.
He said the average size of a fire whirl is usually 33 to 100 feet, with rotational velocities of 22 to 67 MPH.
But a fire tornado dominates 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.
