News and opinion about wildland fire
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized1 Comment on Thousands of lightning strikes in southern California (Above: lightning strikes in the 24 hours before 1 p.m. PDT October 24, 2016.)
Thousands of lightning strikes have occurred in southern California between Sunday afternoon and Monday afternoon.
Total #Lightning strikes since Sunday. Updated total shows 2149 total strikes over forecast area (including San Diego coastal waters). pic.twitter.com/tV8kS60oq7
— NWS San Diego (@NWSSanDiego) October 24, 2016
Jeff Zimmerman of Zimmerman Media took some excellent photos at a fire in Lake View Terrace north of Los Angeles last week. The fire spread quickly during Santa Ana wind conditions and burned about 60 acres before several hundred firefighters from Los Angeles County and the U.S. Forest Service contained it after a two-hour battle.
Thankfully for Jeff, California has a different, some would say more enlightened, way of handling the media at emergencies and disasters than some other areas. There are few restrictions as long as the reporters do not interfere with incident operations. Their rights are protected by California Penal Code 409.5d.
All photos are by Jeff Zimmerman.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on Rainfall in western states slows wildfire season in many areas 
Rainfall over the last two weeks has slowed or in some cases, ended the wildfire season in some areas.
On October 19 we ran the numbers for the accumulated precipitation for the last 14 days in the western states. These maps show amounts that exceeded 0.05 inches at some of the Interagency Remote Automatic Weather Stations (RAWS).
Washington, Oregon, and northern California have received a good soaking and I would imagine that local fire officials may be declaring an end to the fire season. Of course this is not unusual for these areas this time of the year, and some locations had already seen their season end. But what IS unusual, is the high amount of moisture that occurred in just two weeks.
You can click on the images to see larger versions.
Continue to see maps for the other western states.
Continue reading “Rainfall in western states slows wildfire season in many areas”
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized4 Comments on Impressive photo from the Sacata Fire The #SacataFire is now 97% contained and has burned 2,100 acres. pic.twitter.com/Ia3A0Bxm3B
— Sierra Ntl. Forest (@Sierra_NF) October 17, 2016
It took me a few seconds to figure out what I was seeing in this very interesting photo taken by Marta Kroger at the Sacata Fire. It appears to be the shadow of a fire lookout tower projected onto smoke, presumably from the fire, and probably very late in the day or just after sunrise. But I’m at a loss to explain the rainbow effect around the shadow. It’s almost like the tower acted as a prism.
The fire is on the Sierra National Forest 26 air miles northeast of Fresno, California. More information about the fire is here.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized6 Comments on Hazardous tree on the Emerald Fire Above: Hazardous tree on the Emerald Fire. CAL FIRE Amador-El Dorado photo.
CAL FIRE described this as one of the “many enormous hazard trees on the Emerald Fire. This tree has nearly an eight-foot diameter.”
The Emerald Fire burned 176 acres on the south end of Lake Tahoe near Emerald Bay in California when it started on October 14. After being pushed initially by very strong winds gusting up to 55 mph the spread has been stopped by firefighters — and heavy precipitation. The removal of hazardous trees from Highway 89 and around residences is ongoing. Debris continues to impact the roadway due to the high winds and torrential rains.
The Emerald Fire was reported at 1:28 a.m. PDT October 14 on the south end of Lake Tahoe in California near Emerald Bay. Pushed by 20 to 25 mph winds gusting up to 55 mph it quickly spread through the night and by daylight was estimated at 200 acres by CAL FIRE. Mandatory evacuations were ordered affecting 500 residences and another 500 were listed as voluntary.
However by 6 a.m. on Friday light rain began as a wet air mass moved into the area. As of 11 a.m. a quarter inch of precipitation had been measured at the South Lake Tahoe weather station.
The weather forecast for the area of the Emerald Fire includes 1.8 inches of precipitation over the next 48 hours.
Web cams for the area can be seen at Alerttahoe.seismo.unr.edu. Click on the Diamond Peak and Heavenly Ski Area cams.
