Firefighters on the Falls Fire at Lake Elsinore, California today are wrapping up the incident. It is in the same location as the Decker Fire exactly 54 years ago today that killed six firefighters. This morning a moment of silence was observed on the fire in memory of those six. Three of them were members of the El Cariso Hotshots.
On August 8, 1959 the Hotshots and engine crews were on the Ortega Highway above the fire firing out along the highway. The bowl where the fire occurred has an unusual but predictable diurnal wind pattern, with downslope breezes during the afternoon that stop at about 8 p.m. With the fire below them, the wind stopped at 8 p.m. and several large fire whirls developed on the fire that traveled up the slope, entrapping the firefighters.
The diagram below is from a report about the fire and shows the tactics being used just before the blowup. Click it to see a larger version.
The maps below are from our article about the Falls Fire. The red squares represent heat detected by a satellite before the fire spread east across the South Main Divide and down through the bowl where the Decker Fire fatalities occurred. Click on them to see larger versions.
Map of Falls Fire at 1:47 p.m. PDT, August 5, 2013, showing heat detected by a satellite. The red squares indicating heat can be as much as a mile in error. (click to enlarge)3-D Map of Falls Fire at 1:47 p.m. PDT, August 5, 2013, looking northwest. The red squared represent heat detected by a satellite; they can be as much as a mile in error. (click to enlarge)
A current map of the Falls Fire is on InciWeb.
This article was corrected on 8/8/2013 to show that a total of six firefighters were killed. Five died during or shortly after the incident, and a sixth passed away five weeks later from his burn injuries. The fire report referenced above indicates that only five were killed but must have been prepared before the sixth person died.
The Falls Fire burned close to many homes. August 6, 2013 photo by Marc Peebles
Information Officer Marc Peeples told us that the evacuations have been lifted for LakeLand Village and Rancho Capistrano. Decker Canyon remains under a mandatory evacuation order.
One of the factors that slowed the fire activity late in the day on Monday was the rising relative humidity. At 6:41 p.m. on Monday at the Temescal weather station 10 miles north of the fire it was 38 percent which is fairly high to sustain rapid fire spread in southern California brush. At 6:41 a.m. Tuesday it was 87 percent and fell to 49 percent by 9:41 a.m.
In spite of the high humidity, Mr. Peeples said there was beginning to be a little fire activity in some of the canyons on the fire Tuesday morning.
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(UPDATE at 8:44 a.m. PDT, August 6, 2013)
DC-10 drop on Falls Fire, August 5, 2013,, from KCAL video
The Southern California Geographic Area Coordination Center reported at 8:30 a.m. PDT that the fire has burned 1,416 acres and is zero percent contained. The fire continues to move south and east and has established itself in the San Mateo Wilderness, but is holding at the ridge lines. They said the it has potential to move further north, resulting in additional structure threat and could also move into Morrell and Decker Canyons. LakeLand Village, Rancho Capistrano and Decker Canyon remain under mandatory evacuation orders, according to the Coordination Center’s 8:30 a.m. report.
Marc Peeples, an Information Officer on the Incident Management Team assigned to the fire, said at 8:45 this morning that the fire is 5 % contained and is being fought by 265 personnel. Other resources on the fire include 6 helicopters, 6 fixed wing aircraft, 16 crews, and 45 engines.
The Cleveland National Forest has not updated InciWeb since about 7 p.m. Sunday and it also says the evacuations are in effect for Lakeland Village, Decker Canyon and Rancho Capistrano residents, in spite of a report from KCAL saying some of the evacuations had been lifted.
The report from KCAL said the Ortega Highway may remain closed for days or weeks, due to firefighters working along the highway, guard rails that have to be replaced, and power lines that were damaged.
The video also has some footage of Tanker 910, a DC-10, making some impressive retardant drops adjacent to houses.
Wakoski’s Incident Management Team was scheduled to assume command of the fire Tuesday morning.
The fire was reported at 10:06 a.m. Monday west of El Cariso Engine Station in the Cleveland National Forest.
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(UPDATE at 9:25 p.m. PDT, August 5, 2013)
At 9:15 p.m. the Cleveland National Forest reported the fire had burned 1,500 acres. Mandatory evacuations for Lakeland Village, Decker Canyon and Rancho Capistrano residents. Ortega Highway is closed to non-residents. Closures are at Grand Ave in Lake Elsinore and Antionio Parkway in Orange County. The evacuation perimeter is for residences between Grand/Ortega Highway and Grand/Corydon on the west side of the lake.
Official information about evacuations can be found at InciWeb.
Excellent photos of the Falls Fire.
The videos below are from the Press-Enterprise.
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Falls Fire as seen from LA’s NBC 4 at 5:13 p.m. PDT, August 5, 2013, looking southeast. (click to enlarge)
(Originally published at 5:54 p.m. PDT, August 5, 2013; we will update this article as needed.)
A wildfire that started Monday morning in southern California between Lake Elsinore and San Juan Capistrano spread east almost four miles and is threatening homes in the Lakeland Village community on the west side of Lake Elsinore. In the photo above captured from television at 5:13 p.m. PDT, the fire had moved across the South Main Divide road and was burning downhill at a moderate rate of spread. It appeared to be approximately 500 to 1,000 feet west of the homes in the photo in Lakeland Village south of the Ortega Highway.
Falls Fire, near Ortega Hwy and Grand, August 5, 2013. Photo by Ken.
As this was written at 5:54 p.m. PDT, the fire was even closer to the homes and can be seen occasionally on NBC 4’s live video feed. It was burning vigorously less than 200 feet from homes.
Several helicopters and air tankers, including a DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker, are assisting firefighters.
Referencing the map of the Falls Fire below, the fire has spread across the South Main Divide and is much closer to Lake Elsinore than shown in the heat data that was collected at 1:47 p.m. PDT today.
Map of Falls Fire at 1:47 p.m. PDT, August 5, 2013, showing heat detected by a satellite. The red squares indicating heat can be as much as a mile in error. (click to enlarge)
The media is reporting the fire has burned 1,200 acres.
It is burning near the location of the 1959 Decker Fire (see the map above) which entrapped seven firefighters. Five of them lost their lives; three were members of the El Cariso Hotshot Crew. The east-facing slope above the lake is infamous for unusual wind patterns, which was a factor in the fatalities.
3-D Map of Falls Fire at 1:47 p.m. PDT, August 5, 2013, looking northwest. The red squared represent heat detected by a satellite; they can be as much as a mile in error. (click to enlarge)DC-10 finishing a drop on the Falls Fire, August 5, 2013. Note from Bill: I examined the drop based on the known length of a DC-10, which is 180 feet, and calculated that this drop is approximately 1,620 feet long. The length of a drop from a P2V for coverage levels 4 to 10, ranges from 180 to 430 feet.
In a bizarre series of incidents, on August 3 a man committed suicide who had pleaded guilty to a second-degree murder charge for starting the 1997 Hemlock Fire in southern California which killed an aerial firefighter.
Cary Thomas Meeks admitting throwing an illegal firecracker into a grassy area of the San Bernardino National Forest in 1997 resulting in the 3,700-acre fire. In 1998 he received a sentence of three year’s probation for the crime. Since then he has been in and out of jail for other offenses.
Helicopter pilot Floyd Hiser was dropping water on the Hemlock Fire on July 6, 1997 when his helicopter lost power and crashed near Highland. He reportedly said “flame out” twice on the radio before his Bell 206 L-1 crashed. The National Transportation Safety Board said malfunctioning fuel-line valves caused the crash.
Mr. Meeks had a busy day on Saturday beginning with slashing the throat of a 67-year old man, who survived. U.S. Forest Service firefighters from the San Bernardino National Forest responded to that medical aid incident.
Mr. Meeks then carjacked a vehicle from a 73-year old man and led police officers on a chase at speeds up to 100 mph, with the vehicle’s owner in the car, who called 911 and described what was going on. Eventually the owner was let out of the vehicle, after which Mr. Meeks steered the car at high speed into a concrete bridge pillar without breaking. He died in the crash. He had previously told the vehicle’s owner he was going to kill himself.
Mr. Meeks had several other run-ins with law enforcement since starting the fire. The Riverside Press-Enterprise which always does an excellent job covering wildfires, has all of the details.
Map of Orleans and Salmon River Complexes of fires (click to enlarge)
Two complexes of fires in northern California, shown on the maps, are seven miles apart but are on different national forests, which could be one reason they have not been combined into just one complex.
3-D Map of Salmon River and Orleans Complexes of fires August 3, 2013 (click to enlarge)
Salmon River Complex
The Salmon River Complex on the Klamath National Forest consists of at least two fires that as of early Sunday morning were about a tenth of a mile apart, burning 6 miles northeast of Forks of the Salmon, 2 miles northwest of Sawyers Bar, and 64 miles northwest of Redding. The Type 1 California Interagency Incident Management Team One assumed command of the Complex at 6 p.m. Saturday.
Orleans Complex
The Orleans Complex comprises two fires on the Six Rivers National Forest. The Dance Fire is right at the community of Orleans and is burning on both sides of Highway 96. It started July 29 and is contained. The other is the Butler Fire 7 miles east of Orleans and about 49 miles northeast of Eureka. It was detected July 31, is listed at 3 percent containment, and has burned 1,463 acres. Northern California Interagency Team Two is managing the incident.
Salmon River Road, also known as Highway 93, is adjacent to three of these four fires and is closed.
Below is an update from the incident management team:
The fire reached the Morehouse Mine area, where structures are threatened. As of this morning, the fire lines are holding around those structures. The fire continues to burn mostly on the south side of the Salmon River in the area east of Butler Flat. Efforts to reach a spot fire on the north side of the river continue to be hampered by poor visibility and steep terrain. The fire was active around the perimeter yesterday and progressed across Lewis Creek (on the southern side) and into Grant Creek drainage (on the northeastern side). The fire is burning in the fire scars of the Hog Fire (1977). Difficult terrain, heavy vegetation, snags and poor access to the fire have continued to limit firefighting strategies. Crews are working today to open and utilize lines from the Somes Fire (2006).
Smoke issues
All of these fires are burning in an area that is infamous for long-duration fires subject to frequent inversions that trap wildfire smoke, sometimes creating air quality and health issues for sensitive residents. The incident management teams are referring residents to these websites for more information about the smoke:
On Saturday dense smoke limited the use of aircraft and the ability of fire managers to get an aerial view of the fires. A USFS fixed-wing aircraft using infrared equipment mapped the Salmon River Complex Saturday night.
Aspen Fire, July 27, 2013. Photo by Fire Behavior Analyst John Smith. (click to enlarge)
Even though we posted the excellent photo above of the Aspen Fire in our main article about the fire HERE, we wanted to place it here as well, in case you are not keeping up with that fire — which is in California 16 miles south of Yosemite National Park and 5 miles northwest of Huntington Lake. Click the photo to see a larger version. The photo, which we believe is looking toward the northeast, shows Mammoth Pool Reservoir and the steep terrain the firefighters are working in.
The photos below, of a Sikorsky helicopter dropping water and retardant, were also taken on the Aspen Fire. Bob Martinez, a Volunteer in Prevention Photographer for CAL FIRE/Fresno County Fire, took them from Stump Springs Road July 26, 2013.
In 2010 and 2012 Mr. Martinez also sent us photos he took of military helicopters training for wildland fire season.
On the map of the Aspen Fire above, the red line is the perimeter at 1 a.m. July 30; the pink line is from about 24 hours before. On Monday the fire continued to spread on the south and east flanks, and moved over a mile on the north side.
Businesses remain open in the Shaver Lake, Huntington Lake, Lake Thomas Edison, Florence Lake and the Mono Hot Springs areas.
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(UPDATE at 8:10 p.m. PDT, July 29, 2013)
Some of our web site visitors have told us the maps of the Aspen Fire on InciWeb are not very useful to them. So until that changes, we will at least occasionally post a map here that we hope fits the needs of the general public.
In the maps below, the red line is the fire perimeter at 10 p.m. PDT July 28, 2013. The pink line is the perimeter about two days before that.
Map of Aspen Fire at 10 p.m. PDT, July 28, 2013 (click to enlarge)3-D Map of the Aspen Fire, looking northeast at 10 p.m. PDT, July 28, 2013 (click to enlarge)
The fire has burned 11,000 acres. Monday, east winds promoted increased growth along the northern, eastern and southeastern perimeter of the fire. Helicopters worked the southern edge of the fire in the Aspen Creek drainage and other areas of heat. Fixed wing aircraft, including a Very Large Air Tanker (a DC-10) are pre-treating with retardant the Kaiser Creek area.
We have a photo of the DC-10, which is reloading at Santa Maria Air Tanker Base.
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(UPDATE at 7:45 a.m. PDT, July 28, 2013)
Aspen Fire, July 27, 2013 Photo by Fire Behavior Analyst John Smith (click to enlarge)
Over the past two days fire activity has been increasing in the late afternoon on the Aspen Fire when the smoke inversion layer lifts. It is expected to dissipate earlier on Sunday. On Saturday the smoke kept aircraft grounded until 3 p.m. Continue reading “California: Aspen Fire”
The maps below are from our article about the Falls Fire. The red squares represent heat detected by a satellite before the fire spread east across the South Main Divide and down through the bowl where the Decker Fire fatalities occurred. Click on them to see larger versions.
