Tag: California
California: Spread of July Complex slowed by inversions
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized3 Comments on California: Spread of July Complex slowed by inversions 
Inversions have slowed the spread of the Log and Whites Fires in northwest California. The July Complex was made up 26 fires, now these two large fires are receiving the most attention from the incident management team led by Jerry McGowan. The fires were the result of 955 lightning strikes in Siskiyou County on July 29.
About 780 residences are threatened by the fires which are being fought by 1,910 personnel with 100 engines, 30 dozers, and 58 hand crews. Combined, the two fires have burned over 30,000 acres.
Evacuation orders are in effect for the communities of Sawyers Bar, Eddy Gulch, Little North Fork, Idlewild, Mule Bridge, Robinson Flat and Whites Gulch.
Last batch of photos from the Beaver Fire
More photos from the Beaver Fire
Yesterday we posted some photos that we took at the Beaver Fire, which has burned about 32,000 acres northwest of Yreka, California. Here are some more.
Retired Forest Service employee’s house is saved in Beaver Fire, but outbuildings burn
After working for the Six Rivers National Forest for 29 years, Beth Maplesden Strickland is familiar with wildfire. Her last job with the U.S. Forest Service was serving as a public affairs officer, frequently having to explain fire management to reporters and local residents.
Now evacuated from her home on Buckhorn Ridge near Klamath River, California, she is reduced to watching the fire from a turnout on Highway 96. Thanks to the fuel mitigation they accomplished around the house where the family has lived since 1909, firefighters were able to keep the home from burning. However several outbuildings and vehicles were consumed. As we watched the fire, which was still burning in and around the property, occasional black puffs of smoke would appear and loud pops or small explosions could be heard, indicating that man-made materials were on fire. A former CAL FIRE firefighter was still in the area near the house and has been giving her updates over a radio, so she knew that as of Tuesday afternoon, anyway, that the house was still standing.
We asked Ms. Strickland if we could take her picture, but she declined, saying she’s been “sleeping in dumpsters” for the last four days. (We are pretty sure she was joking about that.) It was hard for her to take her eyes off the fire as it continued to burn around her home that she has lived in since four months after she was born in Yreka. Knowing that the landscape around the property is going to be almost unrecognizable now, she said, “I don’t know if I can go back”.
California: Beaver Fire
On Tuesday we were at the Beaver Fire northwest of Yreka, California, watching it move down and across slopes above the Klamath River. Below are some photos we took. Over the next two days we will post more.
The Beaver Fire has already reached Highway 96 in several places along a 12 to 14 mile stretch of the road. On Tuesday it was backing, primarily, down the hill in the vicinity of the Klamath River School, and east of the school. Generally it was moving fairly slowly while we were there, with one to three trees succumbing to flames at a time, or torching as firefighters call it.
Firefighters are protecting structures up in the woods away from the road as best they can. Helicopters were assisting ground-based firefighters by dropping water from the river and fire retardant from a portable retardant plant. At Fire Aviation you can see photos of a Sikorsky Air-Crane reloading with retardant. During the three hours we were at the south end of the fire we did not see any air tankers.
The last size estimate from the Incident Management Team was a couple of days ago when it was mapped at about 28,000 acres. Clouds at night have interfered with the ability of the airborne infrared mapping crew to accurately provide a fire perimeter and current acreage. The Team is calling it 30 percent contained.
