Vice News produced an excellent introduction to the world of hotshot crews. In 12 minutes they interview the Superintendent of the Eldorado Hotshots, Ben Strahan, and others on the crew, as well as a few of their family members. And importantly, they ask a former hotshot why he felt he had to move on to another job, discussing the inadequate pay federal firefighters earn, and the effects on family life by constantly having to work overtime in order to make enough money to get by.
The camera crew spent some time on the fireline with the crew, capturing video that the public rarely sees.
Vice News also produced a 30-minute podcast with the crew.
Structures on the east side of Yorba Linda are threatened
Updated October 27, 2020 | 5:33 p.m. PDT
Map showing heat detected by satellites on the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires at 2:46 p.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020.
In a briefing late Tuesday afternoon Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 15,200 acres, and 2,500 homes have been evacuated; 10 homes have been damaged. Some of those evacuated areas will be repopulated soon, the Chief said.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Blue Ridge Fire, including the most recent, click here.)
An Incident Management Team from CAL FIRE, Team 6, will assume command of both the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires Tuesday night.
The two fires had access to 14 helicopters and a variable number of fixed wing air tankers Tuesday.
Updated October 27, 2020 | 11:37 a.m. PDT
Map showing heat detected by satellites on the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires at 3:27 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020.
Updated October 27, 2020 | 11:10 a.m. PDT
Blue Ridge Fire, as seen from Sierra Peak at 10:48 a.m. Oct. 27, 2020. Looking northwest.
Monday at 9:57 a.m. Orange County fire authorities said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 8,000 acres, and 10 homes had been damaged. Approximately 1,000 personnel are assigned to the fire.
At about 10:30 a.m. Tuesday firefighters requested on an immediate need basis three Very Large Air Tankers, four Large Air Tankers, and four S-2 Air tankers. An “immediate need” request is usually reserved for circumstances where there is an imminent threat to lives or property. Requesting eleven air tankers at one time, however, is not common.
At 10:20 a.m. Tuesday the SCE weather station in the Santa Ana River area recorded 20 mph winds out of the northeast gusting to 31, with 9 percent relative humidity. The forecast calls for the wind to begin decreasing at noon and by 2 p.m. would be down to 10 mph out of the northeast, with the direction becoming variable between 4 p.m. and 10 p.m., after which it will come from the east or northeast at about 6 mph.
There is a report that the BNSF railroad is sending one of their fire trains to the Blue Ridge Fire. The company has several variations of these firefighting machines that carry massive amounts of water which can be applied using master stream nozzles. We have written about them a number of times on Wildfire Today.
Updated October 27, 2020 | 5:50 a.m. PDT
The red and yellow dots on the map represent heat detected by a satellite over the Blue Ridge Fire at 2:28 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020.
The Blue Ridge Fire was active throughout the night, but less so than during the day due to a decrease in winds. Those winds began to increase around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning as expected. Flare-ups occurred near Butterfield Ranch, south Chino Hills, Bane Canyon Road, Soquel Canyon Road, and Pipeline Avenue.
Monday at 9:26 p.m. Orange County fire authorities said the Blue Ridge Fire had burned 3,000 acres.
at 5:30 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020. These zones can change on a minute by minute basis. Visit Orange County’s website for current information.
Updated October 26, 2020 | 4:57 p.m. PDT
At 4:30 p.m. on Monday Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the fire had burned 1,000 acres, and 70,000 homes have been evacuated.
Most of the fire is between Santiago Canyon Road and Portola Parkway
Updated October 27, 2020 | 5 p.m. PDT
In a briefing late Tuesday afternoon Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the Silverado Fire had burned 12,600 acres, and 78,000 homes have been evacuated.
(To see all articles on Wildfire Today about the Silverado Fire, including the most recent, click here.)
An Incident Management Team from CAL FIRE, Team 6, will assume command of both the Blue Ridge and Silverado Fires Tuesday night.
The two fires had access to 14 helicopters and a variable number of fixed wing air tankers Tuesday.
Both of the firefighters that were seriously burned Monday on the Silverado Fire are still in critical condition.
Update October 27, 2020 | 12:14 p.m. PDT
Silverado Fire as seen from Pleasants Peak at 12:11 p.m. Oct. 27, 2020. Looking southwest.
At 9 a.m. PDT Tuesday Orange County authorities said the Silverado Fire had burned 11,200 acres and 76,000 residents have been evacuated.
The weather forecast calls for decreasing winds after 2 p.m. PDT Tuesday, which should give firefighters a better chance to slow the spread of the fire.
Updated October 27, 2020 | 5:26 a.m. PDT
The map above shows the hot areas on the Silverado Fire at 11 p.m. PDT Oct. 26, 2020. The perimeter was not mapped because there was not enough heat for the sensors on the fixed wing aircraft to detect. Many areas that burned had cooled by the time the fire was mapped. You can zoom in and move around on the map.
At 9:26 p.m. Monday Orange County fire authorities said the Silverado Fire had burned 7,200 acres.
Silverado Fire as seen from Pleasants Peak at 5:21 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020, looking southwest.
The fire was active throughout the night, but less so than during the day due to a decrease in winds. Those winds began to increase around 3 a.m. Tuesday morning as expected and more flare-ups were occurring, including near Limestone Canyon Road and Limestone Ridge Road.
Several helicopters worked the fire for most of the night, dropping water and assisting firefighters on the ground.
Silverado Fire evacuation and warning zones at 5 a.m. PDT Oct. 27, 2020. These zones can change on a minute by minute basis. Visit Orange County’s website for current information.
Updated October 26, 2020 | 5:21 p.m. PDT
At 4:30 p.m. on Monday Orange County Fire Authority Chief Brian Fennessy said the Silverado Fire had burned 7,200 acres and 22,000 homes have been evacuated. There have been no reports of structures being destroyed, the Chief said.
Chief Fennessy said two firefighters working on the County’s hand crew were gravely injured on the Silverado Fire. They suffered serious burns and have been intubated.
“They were working near what we call the heel of the fire, where the fire started,” the Chief said. “We don’t have any information about what occurred. We have requested an accident review team from the state to come in and do the investigation… I was with them when their families arrived. We are giving them all the support we can, not only through our Chaplin program, but we have a very comprehensive peer behavioral health program.”
Storm Prediction Center forecast for Sunday. Extreme fire danger.
A major weather event that will affect wildland fire danger begins in California Sunday morning. NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center does not often predict extreme fire weather, but they have done just that to warn of a wind event with very low humidities for parts of California Sunday through Tuesday. At times the wind will be very strong and the relative humidity will drop below five percent in some locations.
Check out the forecast for Red Bluff in Northern California — on Sunday, 29 mph north winds with gusts to 40, and 10 percent relative humidity. On Monday, 18 gusting to 25 with 5 percent RH.
Weather forecast for Red Bluff, CA Sunday and Monday
The extreme weather will begin in Northern California on Sunday then work its way to the southern part of the state on Monday and Tuesday.
Fire weather Sunday and Monday, Northern California
The forecast for Riverside in Southern California beginning early Monday morning: 26 to 30 mph north winds gusting to 45, with 8 percent RH; then Tuesday, 18 to 20 mph gusting to 30 with 10 percent RH.
Weather Forecast Riverside, CAFire weather Sunday and Monday Los Angeles and Ventura Counties.
With five to nine inches of snow beginning tonight on three fires in Colorado, I wonder if they can spare any crews or overhead personnel in case they are needed in California? Of course the 192,000-acre East Troublesome Fire after burning for 11 days only has 5 crews and 336 personnel, but the 206,000-acre Cameron Peak Fire next door has 42 crews and 1,903 personnel. The 10,000-acre Calwood Fire that has not spread for days now has snow, 10 crews, and 495 personnel. The National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group may have already made decisions along these lines.
As we wrote earlier today, of the 113 Interagency Hotshot Crews in the U.S., only about 35 are still funded and available for fighting fire. In two weeks that number drops to around 13 according to projections in a September 30, 2020 planning document compiled by an Area Command Team (ACT).
The map above shows the perimeter of the Creek Fire collected by a mapping aircraft (N170WL) at 10:30 p.m. PDT Oct. 17, 2020. The red shaded areas represent intense heat. During the last 24 hours there was growth on the east side northwest of Mono Hot Springs. The preliminary updated size is 348,085 acres.
October 17, 2020 | 11:40 a.m. PDT
We are trying something new on Wildfire Today — creating a Google Map containing the perimeter of the Creek Fire. One of the main differences from our usual maps is that you can zoom in to see more detail. But keep in mind the perimeter is the approximate location, and can rapidly change as the fire spreads. The data came, as usual, from an overnight USFS fixed wing mapping flight. Let us know your thoughts about this type of map.
The 346,477-acre Creek Fire is the largest fire in the recorded history of California, when comparing fires that are not part of a complex or multiple fires that merged. It is about 22 air miles northeast of Fresno.
Most of the spread of the fire over the last two days has been on the northeast side, which compared to the overall size of the blaze seems like a relatively small area, but it is generating large quantities of smoke affecting much of Central California.
Forecast for wildfire smoke at 2 a.m. MDT October 18, 2020.
Firefighters make firelines by removing vegetation, so that the fire will burn up to the line and stop, since there is nothing left to burn. Roads and natural barriers can also be used. On October 12 there were 600 miles of fireline on the Creek Fire:
Dozer Lines: 363
Handline (constructed by hand crews): 87
Roads as Line: 150
Resources assigned to the fire include 19 hand crews, 43 fire engines and 13 helicopters, for a total of 983 personnel.
The incident management team reports that 105 residences and 508 other structures have been destroyed.
Fire Weather Watch for Northern California and heat advisory for the southern part of the state
Southern California fire weather this week. NWS.
Firefighters in California could face another round of wildfires this week as the weather turns hot, dry, and windy in some locations.
In Southern California a heat advisory has been issued for Tuesday through Friday for highs in the lower elevations approaching 100 degrees.
A Fire Weather Watch for Northern California is in effect Wednesday through Friday for breezy conditions, with the strongest winds expected Wednesday and Thursday.
There is a possibility of electrical power being preemptively being shut off by PG&E due to windy and dry conditions.
Possibility of electrical power being preemptively being shut off this week by PG&E due to windy conditions.Northern California Fire Weather Watch this week.Sacramento area fire weather this week. NWS.
