The American Red Cross of Los Angeles — I guess their heart is in the right place. They produced a video that tries to impress upon viewers the speed at which a vegetation fire spreads. They convinced an Inspector with the Los Angeles County Fire Department to say “…a wildfire can come at you like a freight train with a broken throttle.” Then they pump propane through a pipe with holes in it and ignite the escaping gas, while Red Cross volunteers try to outrun the flames coming out of the pipe. I’m not sure that this has anything in common with a vegetation fire, but what the hell.
The Angeles National Forest in southern California was the victim of a burglary at their Texas Canyon Station earlier this week.
From the U.S. Forest Service:
Firefighting Equipment Stolen during Station Burglary
SAUGUS, Calif.—More than $40,000 worth of equipment was stolen from storage containers at the Forest Service Texas Canyon Station here early this week, including about 30 chain saws, four generators, an arc welder and a variety of hand tools.
Forest Service law enforcement officers and Santa Clarita Sheriff’s deputies discovered the theft early Tuesday (March 5) after responding to a burglary reported by firefighters at the station. Upon arrival, the officers discovered that the chain-link fence surrounding the facility had been cut and the containers holding firefighting and recreation-crew equipment had been broken into.
To date, no suspects have been identified and the investigation is ongoing.
If you have any information regarding the burglary, please contact Forest Service, Law Enforcement and Investigations at (626) 574-5356.
The Wildland Fire Lessons Learned Center has published the video below featuring Gerald Smith, a survivor of the 1966 Loop Fire on the Angeles National Forest in southern California visiting the site of the tragedy. The video is very powerful. Mr. Smith reads a letter from one of the other victims that was written while he was in the hospital shortly before he passed away. Mr. Smith also talks about his 20-year struggle after the burnover, dealing with the lingering effects and the eventual positive outcome.
On November 1, 1966, the El Cariso Hotshots were trapped by flames as they worked on a steep hillside in Pacoima Canyon on the Angeles National Forest.
Ten members of the crew perished on the Loop Fire that day. Another two members succumbed from burn injuries in the following days. Most of the nineteen members who survived were critically burned and remained hospitalized for some time.
Lessons learned from the Loop Fire resulted in the checklist for downhill line construction, improved firefighting equipment, better fire behavior training, and the implementation of new firefighter safety protocols.
The El Cariso Hot Shots experienced another tragedy in 1959 when three members of the crew were entrapped and killed on the Decker Fire near Elsinore, California.
The Jurupa Fire is 80 percent contained and there has been no change in size, it is holding at 311 acres. Full containment is estimated for 8 p.m. this evening.
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UPDATE at 4 p.m. PT, March 1, 2013:
Riverside County FD reports the fire is 40 percent contained, has burned 311 acres, and the spread has been stopped. At 12:47 p.m. the temperature was 83 degrees, 5 percent RH, with northeast winds of 10-15 mph gusting to 25. Voluntary evacuations have been cancelled (if such a thing is possible).
The LA Times reports that fire officials said two structures burned, ignited by airborne embers. One was a residence and the other was an outbuilding. An RV also burned at another location after embers caused its awning to catch fire.
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UPDATE at 9:00 a.m. PT, March 1, 2013
Jurupa Fire, Photo by Brandy Carlos
The Jurupa Fire near Riverside, California has burned 200 acres and is 30 percent contained, according to Jody Hagemann of the Riverside County Fire Department. Firefighters worked through the night on Thursday taking advantage of winds that were less strong than the breezy conditions that pushed the fire earlier.
The Press Enterprise reports that Rick Mullins, who lives about a quarter-mile from the fire, said his neighborhood experienced an ember shower that ignited the awning of his RV which spread to the trailer engulfing it in flames. The heat from that fire slightly singed his house but it was not seriously damaged.
On Friday there will be 20 engines, 1 dozer, 1 helicopter, and 8 hand crews assigned to the fire.
Helicopter dropping on Jurupa Fire, Photo by Brandy Carlos
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Originally posted at 11:15 p.m. PT, February 28, 2013
Voluntary evacuations are taking place for the Jurupa fire near Riverside, California. At 11:15 p.m. local time on Thursday, the fire had burned 150 acres and was 20% contained according to the Riverside County Fire Department. Most of the fire is burning along both sides of the Santa Ana river bottom in areas that make access difficult for firefighters.
A travel trailer about a quarter-mile from the fire burned freely for several minutes until a helicopter dropped water on the blaze. It may have been caused by burning embers from the main fire.
The fire started at about 4:45 p.m. at Jurupa Regional Park at Rio Road and Calle Hermosa. At 7:30 p.m. one helicopter was still dropping water on the flames.
CAL FIRE expects to fully contain the River Fire on Thursday which has burned 407 acres east of Lone Pine, California. Thick brush and winds measured at 25 mph challenged the 500 firefighters that initially fought the blaze after it started on Sunday. Remaining on the fire Wednesday morning are 234 personnel, 11 engines, 6 crews, and 2 water tenders. CAL FIRE is calling it 85 percent contained.
Oregon may regulate exploding targets and sky lanterns
A bill has been introduced in the Oregon legislature, HB 3199, that would prohibit the use of sky lanterns (or fire balloons), exploding targets, and tracer ammunition on land within the boundaries of a forest protection district. (UPDATE: the bill was signed by the Governor and will take effect January 1, 2014.)
“Concealed carry is a right, target shooting is not”
Those were the words of Utah state senator Margaret Dayton who resurrected her bill that would give the state forester the authority to ban target shooting on state lands during periods of enhanced wildfire danger. Earlier she withdrew the bill after it received criticism from some shooting enthusiasts. The bill passed the Senate this week along with another that would allow firefighters to access water on privately owned land to aid them in fire suppression efforts.
A bill is speeding through the Colorado Senate that would add safeguards to prescribed fires conducted in the state. Senate Bill 13-083 would:
Establish control over prescribed burning within the Division of Fire Prevention and Control in the Department of Public Safety;
“Prescribed Burn Managers” must be certified by the Division for prescribed fires occurring on state lands or conducted by state agencies on private lands. This does not apply to “burning conducted by an agency of the federal government”;
A Prescribed Burn Manager must be on site during a prescribed burn “until the fire is adequately confined to reasonably prevent escape”;
Allows the Division to collect fees for providing training and certifications.
Getting manufactured crisis fatigue?
While the people we send to Washington to conduct the nation’s business have not passed a federal budget in four years, and they propel us from one manufactured crisis to another, some of us may tire of the hype as we reel from one ridiculous deadline to another. Unfortunately the impacts on the land management agencies from the budget cuts required by the sequester will be significant unless they are reversed within the next few weeks.
On October 13, we first wrote about the sequester, which will require federal wildland fire programs to be cut by at least $218 million, or 8.2 percent.
Here are some excerpts from an article at the Union Democrat with examples of impacts on the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service in California:
The Associated Press obtained a Park Service memo Friday that detailed some of the planned Yosemite cuts. Staff reductions would end guided ranger programs at Wawona and the Mariposa Grove of Giant Sequoias, eliminate a program in which 3,500 volunteers provide 40,000 hours of activities and mean less frequent trash pickup due to loss of campground staff.
Park administrators fear that less frequent trash pickup would potentially attract bears into campgrounds.
Seasonal road closures like that of Tioga Road may be extended later than usual because there will be less staff available to clear snow.
“The reductions would limit the National Park Service’s ability to sustain a full complement of seasonal employees needed for interpretive programs, maintenance, law enforcement and other visitor services as we are preparing for the busy summer season. Local communities and businesses that rely on recreation to support their livelihoods would face a loss of income from reduced visitation to national parks.”
In the Stanislaus National Forest, cuts could reduce funds available for fuels reductions that help prevent catastrophic forest fires. About $134 million in lost wildland fire management funds would lead to as many as 200,000 fewer acres treated nationwide, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack wrote in a letter dated Feb. 5 to U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The Forest Service is also prepared to close up to 670 of 19,000 developed recreation sites nationwide, such as campgrounds, picnic areas and trailheads, according to Vilsack.
Webinar today: Debunking Myths in Wildland Fire
Today from 1 until 2 p.m. MT:
Sarah McCaffrey will present findings from recent research on social issues of fire management with particular emphasis on the accuracy of various accepted truths about the public and fire management and the variables that actually are associated with approval of different fire management practices.
SYLMAR, CALIFORNIA – Investigators from the Los Angeles Fire Department are seeking the public’s help in identifying the person responsible for igniting at least a dozen fires in the northeast San Fernando Valley.
The intentionally set blazes – involving Italian Cypress trees, took place in Sylmar, California between November 4, 2012 and February 18, 2013 as seen on an interactive map.
