At a 9 a.m. press briefing today a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County Fire Department said an updated size estimate of the Soledad Fire east of Santa Clarita is 1,300 acres but the number could grow a little, they said. The priority, as usual, is of course to put in a control line around the fire. The briefing did not include information about what the fire was doing, for example spreading rapidly or slowly, or if the spread had been stopped. Thus, it is probably safe to assume that the agency expects little additional spread of the fire.
This will be our final update on the fire unless the situation changes.
(UPDATED at 5:20 a.m. PDT July 6, 2020)
Caltrans announced at 10:46 Sunday night that SR-14 which had been closed due to the Soledad Fire east of Santa Clarita has been partially opened. All lanes southbound are open and the two left northbound lanes are open. (At 11:15 a.m. July 6 the lane closures were the same)
There has been no update on the size of the fire since officials said at 8:20 p.m. Sunday it was 1,100 acres.
(Originally published at 9:12 p.m. PDT July 5, 2020)
Map showing aircraft over the Soledad Fire at 7:15 p.m. PDT July 5, 2020. The flight path of an air attack ship circling the fire is seen in green. FlightRadar24.
The Soledad Fire spread quickly near Highway 14 and Agua Dulce Canyon Road east of Santa Clarita, California after it was reported at 3:28 p.m. PDT July 5. Helicopters and about half a dozen or so air tankers assisted firefighters until dark, after which night flying helicopters will likely continue to drop water. Some of the air tankers were reloading with retardant at Mojave Air and Space Port 40 miles to the northwest.
Evacuations are under way near Agua Dulce Road and Soledad Canyon Road. Highway 14 is closed in both directions.
The 400 firefighters on the incident are under unified command with Los Angeles County and the U.S. Forest Service.
At 8:20 p.m. Sunday fire officials estimated the size at 1,100 acres. During the first few hours strong winds of 20-30 mph were pushing the fire, but later decreased in speed.
The Soledad Fire has been burning south of Highway 14 but threatens to cross the highway.
Soledad Fire at 7 p.m. PDT July 5, 2020, looking south. @NBCLA.Firefighting aircraft reloading with retardant at Mojave Air and Space Port while working the Soledad Fire at 7:16 p.m. PDT July 5, 2020. FlightRadar24.
It was the only county-funded hotshot crew in the U.S.
Rio Bravo Hotshots in 2018. Kern County Fire Department photo.
The southern California-based Rio Bravo Type 1 Hotshot crew has been defunded. The Kern County Board of Supervisors announced in a press release earlier this month, “Rio Bravo Crew 7 will be unstaffed for 2020 due to budget constraints.” This was the only county-funded hotshot crew in the United States. All others are part of state or federal organizations.
Abby Bolt wrote about cutting the crew in her “Up in Flames” blog June 18. Here is an excerpt:
…Over the past few months rumors have been floating around in local firehouses with an assumption that Rio Bravo’s 2020 fate would be inevitable. The combination of low interest and motivation for KCFD firefighters to adapt to seasonal hotshot crew schedule and culture, low moral, and budget cuts created the perfect storm. Another important note is not just any Kern County Firefighter can supervise a Hotshot crew. There are a number of wildland qualifications that must be met by crew leadership which are not easy to attain.
Nine firefighters and pilots were killed when the Sikorsky S-61N crashed in 2008
(This article first appeared on Fire Aviation)
A judge has refused to reduce the sentence for Steven Metheny, 50, the former Vice President of Carson Helicopters whose falsification of records for a Sikorsky S-61N helicopter under contract to the U.S. Forest Service led to the deaths of nine firefighters and crew members.
Sikorsky S-61N helicopter operated by Carson
Metheny was accused of falsifying performance charts and the weights of helicopters his company had under contract to the U.S. Forest Service for supporting wildland fire operations. As of a result of his fraud, a Carson helicopter crashed while trying to lift off with too much weight from a remote helispot on the Iron 44 Fire on the Shasta-Trinity National Forest near Weaverville, California in 2008. He was sentenced to 12 years and 7 months in prison in 2015 for attempting to defraud the government out of more than $32 million and has been serving time in Lompoc, California.
Nine people were killed, including the pilot-in-command, a U.S. Forest Service check pilot, and seven firefighters. The copilot and three firefighters were seriously injured.
Below is an excerpt from a June 16, 2020 article in the Mail Tribune:
…[Metheny] argued last year that he wouldn’t have pleaded guilty in November 2014 to a count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud in U.S. District Court in Medford for lying about helicopter weight limits — which caused the Aug. 5, 2008, Iron 44 crash near Weaverville, California — had he known crash victims were going to be allowed to testify at his sentencing, or that he’d be ordered to repay tens of millions of dollars in restitution upon release from prison.
In a 13-page court order filed May 27, U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken denied Metheny’s motion to vacate or correct his June 2015 sentence, saying it doesn’t match Metheny’s allegations of ineffective counsel by his defense lawyer, Steven Meyers, nor does it match the court record.
Judge Aiken also presided over Metheny’s trial.
Metheny went to great lengths after the crash to attempt to conceal the fraud. When he knew that investigators would be examining the company’s operations, he directed other employees to remove weight from other similar helicopters, including taking off a fuel cell and replacing a very heavy battery with an empty shell of a battery. Some of the employees refused to participate in that deception, with one explaining that he was done lying about the helicopter’s weight.
During the trial defense lawyer Steven Myers argued that the helicopter pilot could have avoided the crash by doing a standard maneuver on takeoff, where the pilot hovers and checks his gauges.
Judge Aiken dismissed that argument, noting her father had flown helicopters in the Korean War, crashing 13 times. “Whether the gauges were right or not, the pilot didn’t have the right information,” Aiken told Metheny.
The Forest Service awarded contracts to Carson, including option years, amounting to over $51,000,000. Carson received $18,831,891.12 prior to the FS canceling the contracts.
Levi Phillips, 45, the former maintenance chief of Carson Helicopters, agreed to cooperate with authorities in the case against Mr. Metheny and pleaded guilty to a single charge of fraud. He was sentenced to 25 months in prison to be followed by 3 years of supervised probation.
According to the National Transportation Safety Board, there was “intentional wrong-doing” by Carson Helicopters that under-stated the weight of the helicopter and over-stated its performance in the documents they provided to the U.S. Forest Service when bidding on their firefighting contract. The NTSB estimated that the actual empty weight of the helicopter was 13,845 pounds, while Carson Helicopters stated in their contract proposal that the weight was 12,013 pounds. For the purpose of load calculations on the day of the crash, the pilot assumed the weight to be 12,408 pounds, which was 1,437 pounds less than the actual weight estimated by the NTSB. According to the NTSB, for the mission of flying the firefighters off the helispot that day, the helicopter was already over the allowable weight even without the firefighters on board.
In Mr. Metheny’s plea agreement there was an admission that the helicopters had not actually been weighed.
Killed in the crash were pilot Roark Schwanenberg, 54; USFS check pilot Jim Ramage, 63; and firefighters Shawn Blazer, 30; Scott Charlson, 25; Matthew Hammer, 23; Edrik Gomez, 19; Bryan Rich, 29; David Steele, 19; and Steven “Caleb” Renno, 21. The copilot and three other firefighters were seriously injured.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Kelly. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
Map showing heat detected on the Walker Fire by a satellite at 2:12 a.m. PDT June 17, 2020.
The relative humidity at a weather station on Hogan Dam Road near the Walker Fire increased early Wednesday morning, climbing to 74 percent. That will change later in the day under a Red Flag Warning with predictions for 12 to 17 percent in the afternoon with northwest winds increasing to 15 mph on ridgetops with gusts to 24 mph.
As you can see in the photo above taken Wednesday morning there was much less activity on the fire compared with Tuesday evening.
The Walker Fire as seen from Upper Bear at 6:50 a.m. PDT June 17, 2020.
Firefighters planned for a substantial effort on Wednesday, placing an overnight order for 45 fire engines, 20 hand crews, four air tankers, and several helicopters.
There has been no update from CAL FIRE since Tuesday evening when they said the fire had burned 1,000 acres.
(Originally published at 8:01 p.m. PDT June 16, 2020)
Air Tanker 137, a B-737, maneuvers over the Walker Fire at 7:28 PDT June 16, 2020.
The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is battling the Walker Fire that broke out Tuesday afternoon about 10 miles northwest of Angels Camp and 29 miles east-northeast of Stockton.
The fire grew rapidly and by 7:30 p.m. firefighters estimated it had burned approximately 1,000 acres and described the rate of spread as “critical”, but were optimistic about making good progress in the coming hours. Numerous hand crews, engines, dozers, air tankers, and helicopters have been requested or are on scene.
Map showing the approximate location of the Walker Fire in Calaveras County, California.
The fire was stopped after burning 5 to 10 acres near Gloleta, California
A firefighter makes a mobile attack just ahead of a fire engine on the Mockingbird Fire — Santa Barbara County Fire Department, June 12, 2020. SBCFD photo.
Quick action today by Santa Barbara County Fire Department firefighters stopped the Mockingbird Fire before it could burn more than five to ten acres, which made it possible to lift the evacuation warnings in Goleta.
Mockingbird Fire — Santa Barbara County Fire Department, June 12, 2020. SBCFD photo.
The video below by the Santa Barbara County Fire Department is excellent. You can almost feel the smoke stinging your eyes! And turn on the audio so you don’t miss the WHOP – WHOP – WHOP of the Huey.
VegetationFire- #Mockingbird Fire. On More Mesa area off Mockingbird Ln in Goleta. Mockingbird IC reports 3-4 acres at this time. C/T 10:52 **Call Newsline ** pic.twitter.com/dYB7Mo0BAs
Map showing heat detected by a satellite on the Lime Fire at 3:12 a.m. PDT June 11, 2020. The fire is probably larger than indicated because light fuels could have burned and cooled, making it impossible for the sensors to detect heat in those areas.
Ventura County Fire Department reported at 7 a.m. on Thursday that the Lime Fire west of Lake Piru has burned 450 acres. There were two minor injuries last night.
The county’s web site still shows a mandatory evacuation in effect, but reduced in size.
Lime Fire. Screenshot from Ventura County FD video at 6:50 a.m. PDT June 11, 2020.
Night-flying helicopters dropped water until about 1:45 a.m. Thursday and as the fire activity decreased significantly, all aircraft were released including an air attack fixed wing.
(Originally published at 7:47 p.m. PDT June 10, 2020)
Map showing the approximate location of the Lime Fire west of Lake Piru in southern California June 10, 2020.
Mandatory evacuations are in effect for a wildfire that started late Wednesday afternoon west of Lake Piru in southern California. The fire, estimated at about 200 acres, is about three miles north of the town of Piru which is on the north side of Highway 126 between Castaic and Fillmore.
Evacuation map for the Lime Fire west of Lake Piru, valid at 7:15 p.m. PDT June 10, 2020. Ventura County Emergency Operations Center.
At one point at least four air tankers were assigned and due to life threat they were designated as “no divert” to another fire. Later, air attack which was directing the air show had to leave to refuel, so all air tankers were told to return to base until a replacement air attack arrived on scene.
Structures near Lake Piru are threatened.
An MD-87 air tanker drops on the Lime Fire. Ventura Co. Fire Dept. photo, June 10, 2020.
At 7:10 p.m. a nearby weather station recorded 84 degrees, 15 percent relative humidity, with 14 mph west-southwest winds gusting to 19.
We will update this article as more information becomes available.
The Lime Fire as seen from a camera at Oat North, 6:59 p.m. PDT June 10, 2020
Helicopter drops on the Lime Fire. Ventura Co. Fire Dept. photo, June 10, 2020.
