Claremont-Bear Fire, Sept. 8, 2020. By Lori Mallory Eckhart.
Lori Mallory Eckhart took these remarkable photos of the Claremont-Bear Fire September 8, 2020, the day it made a massive run west to Oroville, California increasing in size by more than 100,000 acres in 24 hours. The camera she used was a Nikon D7100 with an f/3.5-6.3 18-300 mm lens.
The Claremont and Bear Fires burned together and are now managed as part of the 252,000-acre North Complex organization.
The white cloud above the smoke is a pyrocumulus cloud produced by the intense heating of the air over a fire. This induces convection, which causes the air mass to rise to a point of stability, where condensation occurs. If the fire is large enough, the cloud may continue to grow, becoming a cumulonimbus flammagenitus which may produce lightning and start another fire.
Claremont-Bear Fire, Sept. 8, 2020. By Lori Mallory Eckhart.Claremont-Bear Fire, Sept. 8, 2020. By Lori Mallory Eckhart.Claremont-Bear Fire, Sept. 8, 2020. By Lori Mallory Eckhart.Claremont-Bear Fire, Sept. 8, 2020. By Lori Mallory Eckhart.
And, an update on the shelter deployment at the Dolan Fire
Map of the North Complex, Claremont & Bear Fires 11:12 a.m. PDT Sept 11, 2020.
A firefighting hand crew was overrun by the fire they were fighting September 9 and had to deploy their fire shelters. It happened on the Claremont/Bear Fire, two merged blazes that are part of the North Complex.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection explained that the fire became unpredictable due to erratic weather and dry fuel conditions. The agency said the personnel were “virtually unharmed except for two minor injuries.” The incident is under review.
Fire Shelter Tests in Canada, June, 2015.
Fire shelters are small foldable pup tent-like fire resistant devices that a wildland firefighter can unfold and climb into if there is no option for escaping from an approaching inferno. The shelters can resist radiant heat, and if the person inside can seal the edges under their body, convective heat as well, but there are limits. Many firefighters have used the devices successfully, but others have been killed inside them.
The North Complex has burned 252,534 acres east of Oroville, California. Approximately 1,000 structures have been destroyed and 10 civilians have been killed. Resources assigned include 73 hand crews, 18 helicopters, 254 fire engines, 76 dozers, and 98 water tenders for a total of 3,108 personnel.
On September 5, three firefighters on the Bridger Foothills Fire northeast of Bozeman, Montana were forced to deploy and take refuge in their fire shelters when their safety became compromised by the proximity of the blaze, fire officials said.
September 8 on the Dolan Fire south of Big Sur, California, another crew of firefighters was entrapped and deployed their fire shelters. Updated information from the U.S. Forest Service is slightly different from what was originally released shortly after the incident. Andrew Madsen, an information officer for the fire, explained that of the 14 that were entrapped, three were flown to Community Regional Hospital in Fresno. One was initially in critical condition and the other two were in serious condition. As of today, September 11, the two that were serious have been released, and the critically injured individual is much better and is expected to be released in a day or two. Mr. Madsen said some of the other 11 members of the crew had “smoke inhalation” issues, but were evaluated at the scene and are OK. The crew was attempting to protect the Forest Service’s Nacimiento Fire station as the blaze approached.
Nacimiento Station, satellite photo, September 7, 2018.
North Complex of Fires, 11:36 p.m. PDT Sept. 8, 2020. The Claremont/Bear Fire, two fires that merged.
One of the fires on the North Complex of fires east of Chico, California apparently grew by about 100,000 acres Tuesday. Operations Section Chief Jake Cagle said Wednesday morning that 45 mph winds pushed the Claremont/Bear Fire to the southwest for miles until it reached Lake Oroville east of the city by the same name. But it didn’t stop there. According to the map produced by the incident management team it worked its way around the south side of the lake and may have even spotted across the lake.
With the extremely rapid growth, firefighters were unable to have the luxury of containing the fire’s edge, their time had to be spent on the urgent matters of firefighter and public safety, notifying citizens of mandatory evacuations, and protecting structures.
Evacuation information can be found at the Plumas National Forest’s Facebook page. A virtual community meeting will be available there at 6 p.m. PDT today (Wednesday).
The exact location of the fire’s edge was not certain at mid-day Wednesday because an aircraft scheduled to map the fire Tuesday night became unavailable due to a maintenance issue. Without the more accurate mapping system, the incident management team used heat-sensing data collected by satellites to evaluate the size, which is far less reliable. Mr. Cagle estimated Wednesday morning that the fire at that time was about 45 miles long and 30 miles wide.
The incident management team believes the North Complex of fires has burned approximately 254,000 acres, an increase of about 104,000 acres over the figure released earlier in the day.
The North Complex is comprised of multiple fires, most of which were suppressed, but remaining were the Bear and Claremont blazes. The map below shows where they were on August 20 before they burned together. The team fighting the fire now is referring to it as Bear Fire, or the North Complex.
The Claremont and Bear Fires, August 20, 2020.
The map below is not an accurate perimeter. It is an estimate from satellite heat sensors that may have detected heat in the smoke a distance from the fire, in addition to the fire itself. It may show the fire as being much larger than it actually is. This can happen during explosive growth of a fire that is burning very intensely and putting up a very large column of smoke containing a great deal of ash and debris.
North Complex of Fires. Early morning Sept. 9, 2020. Not an accurate perimeter. It is an estimate from satellite heat sensors that could have detected heat in the smoke a distance from the fire. It may show the fire as much larger than it actually is. This can happen during explosive growth of a fire.
