(Originally published at 9:10 a.m. PDT October 13, 2018)
Significant amounts of rain accompanied by copious amounts of lightning fell in Southern California Friday night ahead of a predicted moderate Santa Ana wind event that is expected to begin Sunday afternoon and intensify on Monday and Tuesday.
Many areas from Los Angeles to San Diego received over half an inch and there is a chance it could continue on Saturday. Beneficial rains fell in most areas, but there was too much in some of the desert areas where flooding was reported in the Coachella Valley and Imperial County. Some of the highest totals included 1.54″ at Ocotillo Wells and 1.10″ at Indio.
Accumulated precipitation during the 24 hours ending at 7 a.m. PDT October 13, 2018. Click to enlarge.
Firefighting agencies have been preparing for the strong, dry Santa Ana winds by prepositioning air tankers in Southern California. They were heavily used Friday to quickly knock down the North Park Fire north of San Bernardino before it could burn more than 50 acres.
The forecast for wind gusts in Southern California at 11 a.m. PDT Monday October 15, 2018.
Sunday afternoon the strong winds will surface in the mountains, foothills, inland valleys, and Orange County, and will begin to dry the fuels Monday. Winds in these areas will range from 20 to 40 mph with gusts in the wind prone areas up to 60 mph. The rest of the week should be dry and breezy.
Forecast for wind, wind gusts, and relative humidity, Riverside, California. NWS.
The fire is north of San Bernardino on the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest
A DC-10 comes out of the smoke dropping retardant on the North Park Fire. Screen grab from @ABC7Leticia video below.
(Originally published at 3:49 p.m. PDT October 12, 2018)
Thanks at least in part to the prepositioning of several air tankers and an aggressive attack by firefighters on the ground, a fire that broke out Friday afternoon was hit with overwhelming force. As this is written at 3:49 p.m. Friday the North Park Fire has slowed considerably and the air tankers have returned to their bases.
The fire is north of San Bernardino, California on the edge of the San Bernardino National Forest. At 2:56 p.m. PDT the Forest Service reported that it was approximately 50 acres with a rapid rate of spread with no threat to structures. It was being fought by at least 150 firefighters and two helicopters. In addition, the air tankers working on the fire included a DC-10, a C-130, an MD87, and approximately three S-2Ts.
Map showing approximate location of the North Park Fire.
ABC7 reported that two individuals have been detained. It is not clear what role, if any, they may have had in regards to the fire.
Ms. Juarez’s video below is very impressive. She shrewdly began filming before the DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker was visible, and captured it as it emerged out of the smoke dropping retardant.
#NorthParkFire – 50 acres, no containment
– No threat to structures
– Rapid rate of spread heading north in med. to heavy, extremely dry vegetation
– 150+ personnel on ground, 2 helicopters, 3 air tankers
– Cause under investigation pic.twitter.com/T1u0Li60af
This brings the total to 17 of last fall’s wildfires attributed to the company’s power lines and equipment
File photo of Silverado Fire at 12:26 p.m. September 12, 2014.
(UPDATED at 6:20 p.m. PDT October 9, 2018)
Investigators looking into the cause and origin of the large wildfires that plagued Northern California last fall have determined that a Pacific Gas and Electric power line started the Cascade Fire in Yuba County. The blaze started on the evening of October 8 and burned a total of 9,989 acres, destroyed 264 structures, and resulted in four civilian fatalities and one firefighter injury.
“A high wind event in conjunction with the power line sag on two conductors caused the lines to come into contact, which created an electrical arc”, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) said in a news release. “The electrical arc deposited hot burning or molten material onto the ground in a receptive fuel bed causing the fire. The common term for this situation is called ‘line slap’ and the power line in question was owned by the Pacific Gas and Electric Company.”
The investigative report for the Cascade Fire was forwarded to the Yuba County District Attorney, which is the usual practice. The D.A. decided that no violations of the Public Utilities Code in regard to vegetation management were found and made no other recommendations regarding criminal action, including the offense of involuntary manslaughter.
In total, the October 2017 Fire Siege involved more than 170 fires and burned at least 245,000 acres in Northern California. Approximately 11,000 firefighters from 17 states and Australia helped battle the blazes.
Earlier CAL FIRE said an additional 16 fires during the siege were attributed to PG&E equipment, alleging violations of state law in 11 of those incidents. CAL FIRE still hasn’t released its report on the Tubbs blaze, the deadliest of last year’s fires, which killed 22 people, destroyed 5,643 structures, and burned 36,807 acres.
In a news release PG&E addressed the CAL FIRE report about the Cascade Fire:
We look forward to the opportunity to carefully review the CAL FIRE report to understand the agency’s perspectives.
The safety of our customers, their families and the communities we serve is our most important job. Without question, the loss of life, homes and businesses in these extraordinary wildfires is heartbreaking and we remain focused on helping communities recover and rebuild.
In the meantime, we are continuing to focus on implementing additional precautionary measures intended to further reduce wildfire threats, such as working to remove and reduce dangerous vegetation, improving weather forecasting, upgrading emergency response warnings, making lines and poles stronger in high fire threat areas and taking other actions to make our system, and our customers and communities, even safer in the face of a growing wildfire threat.
This article was updated to include a response from PG&E.
Copernicus Sentinel-3A satellite picture of smoke from Northern California wildfires, October 9, 2017.
A year ago today more than 10 large very destructive wildfires were burning in Northern California. They started on October 8 and 9 pushed by very strong winds and eventually destroyed about 8,900 structures (including homes and outbuildings), burned at least 245,000 acres, and caused the deaths of 44 people.
Map showing the perimeters of the Pocket, Tubbs, Nuns, and Atlas Fires. CAL FIRE & Wildfire Today, October 15, 2017.
The fires instantly made thousands of residents homeless, and while rebuilding has begun, some are still struggling.
Many received no warning or alert on their telephones and were awakened during the night by neighbors pounding on their doors or the sirens of first responders.
The nine largest fires in Northern California, October 2017. Wikipedia. Click to enlarge.
One year ago today, I was immersed in the most destructive fire in California history. When I watched the #tubbsfire hop Hwy 128 at Bennet Lane and roar through Franz Valley, I knew #santarosa was in trouble. This clip is from Fountaingrove. @NorthBayNews pic.twitter.com/hQqikrL4yr
While fighting one of the largest wildfires in California’s recorded history, the company reduced the data rate for a fire department’s account to 1/200th of normal.
The Mendocino Complex of Fires. Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office photo.
Six weeks after the Santa Clara Fire Department said Verizon reduced their data rate for a command and control unit to 1/200th of normal while fighting a huge fire, the company has purchased time on television networks with a commercial titled “Enabling Heroes”.
The commercial which ran during a football game this weekend showing people that are represented as firefighters, has a spokesmodel saying, “In times of crisis their calls go through and they can get their jobs done”, and the company has “a dedicated lane on our network just for first responders”.
The fire department personnel staffing Santa Clara’s OES Incident Support Unit 5262 earlier this year while battling the Mendocino Complex of Fires, one of the largest blazes in the history of California, knew they had an unlimited data plan for the equipment used to track, organize, and prioritize routing of resources from around the state and country to the sites where they are most needed.
While fighting the fire the department discovered the Verizon data connection for the command and control unit was being throttled. Data rates had been reduced to 1/200th, or less, of the previous speeds. Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a court filing that the “reduced speeds severely interfered with the OES 5262’s ability to function effectively”. The County has signed on to a legal effort to overturn the Federal Communication Commission’s repeal of net neutrality rules.
While the fire was burning, the department explained to Verizon the problem and asked the company to restore their data capability, but it did not happen quickly. After going around and around for a while, eventually the department’s administrative section had to work with Verizon and sign up for a different plan.
In the last couple of years the four major cell phone providers have advertised “unlimited” data plans, but they ARE ALL LIMITED in various ways.
The department thought their plan described as “unlimited” actually meant that. Critics say they should have read the fine print in their contract, while others say Verizon should have immediately restored their data and worried about the contract issues later after the smoke cleared. A comment in one of our articles about this issue looked as if it could have been written by a lobbyist for Verizon.
The Branscombe Fire that began Sunday morning east of Fairfield, California destroyed one residence, one barn, and two vehicles, a spokesperson from the Solano County Sheriff’s office said Sunday evening.
After it started near Travis Air Force Base the fire ran south crossing Highway 12 and bumped up against Cutoff Slough near Grizzly Island Road and the larger Montezuma Slough. Those water courses stopped the spread in some areas but the Sacramento River farther south should serve as a more formidable fire break if it continues to grow in that direction. However, Sunday evening firefighters were starting to get a handle on it and released resources from outside Solano County.
The Red Flag Warning that was in effect for the area Sunday is slated to end Monday at 1 p.m., but following that, firefighters will still have to deal with fairly low humidity in the 20s and north winds of 14 gusting to 18.
Tune into the Solano County Sheriff’s Facebook to view FACEBOOK LIVE footage of information on the #BranscombeFire pic.twitter.com/zHFbhIk6pg
The Branscombe Fire at 5:42 p.m. PDT, October 7, 2018. From ABC7 live video. Click to enlarge.
A fire that broke out Sunday morning east of Fairfield, California had burned approximately 4,500 acres by 5 p.m. according to estimates from firefighters on scene. The Branscombe Fire started near Travis Air Force Base and spread south, crossing Highway 12 which was closed in both directions until about 1 p.m. It is 38 miles northeast of San Francisco and the smoke is spreading into the South Bay area.
The media reported that at least one structure was destroyed based on observations from a news helicopter.
Satellite photo showing the location of the Branscombe Fire east of Fairfield, California. The red dots represent heat. Smoke can be seen streaming south.
Live video from a helicopter is occasionally available at ABC7.
At 5:50 p.m. Sunday, judging from the helicopter video, the fire had spread across Cutoff Slough near the intersection of Grizzly Island Road and Joyce Island Road, but had not crossed over the larger Montezuma Slough. Beyond that is the Sacramento River which should serve as a more formidable fire break.
In addition to the firefighters on the ground, aircraft have been working on the fire, including air tankers, helicopters, and dozers.
The fire is burning in a sparsely populated area with few structures.
The area is under a Red Flag Warning until Monday at 1 p.m. On Sunday afternoon a weather station at Travis AFB recorded temperature in the low 80s, relative humidity of 14 percent, and winds out of the north at 20 to 24 mph gusting up to 38 mph. Conditions like that can present a serious challenge to firefighters.
