Map showing the approximate location of the “560 Fire” northwest of Cheesman Lake in Colorado, 2:24 p.m. MDT April 25, 2020.
Firefighters were able to stop the spread of the “560 Fire” after it burned 68 acres 30 miles southwest of Denver Saturday afternoon. It was reported in the Pike & San Isabel National Forest at 12:30 p.m. near the 560 Road (Stony Pass Road) 3 miles northwest of Cheesman Lake.
The fire did not grow overnight but smoke will be visible Sunday as dead trees continue to burn in the footprint of the Hayman Fire that blackened 137,760 acres in 2002. Crews and dozers will build fireline around the perimeter where it is accessible and can be done safely.
560 Fire, April 25, 2020. Photo courtesy of Kara Lee of Elk Creek Fire.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bean. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
The DFPC is requesting three additional air tankers and one helicopter
The CR34 Fire in southeast Colorado 10 miles south of Springfield, February 13, 2019. Baca County Sheriff’s Office photo.
(This article first appeared at FireAviation.com)
The Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control (DFPC) wishes to obtain additional aircraft for their firefighting fleet during the COVID-19 pandemic. In a letter to Governor Jared Polis and members of the General Assembly, the Director of the Division of Fire Prevention and Control, Mike Morgan, will be requesting $7.7 million to add three air tankers, a helicopter, and a fixed wing aircraft in order to provide aggressive initial attack and to supplement the limited number of ground resources available during the pandemic.
Currently the state owns two Multi-Mission Aircraft used for mapping reconnaissance. On contract they have two Exclusive Use (EU) Helicopters each with 12-person DFPC Helitack Crews, two EU Single Engine Air Tankers (SEATS), and three Call-When-Needed (CWN) SEAT contracts.
If approved by the Governor and the Assembly the additional aircraft, all on EU contracts, would include one large air tanker on a 120-day contract, two single engine air tankers (SEATs) on 150-day contracts, a Type 2 helicopter on a 120-day contract, and an Air Attack fixed-wing aircraft on a 180-day contract for aerial supervision and airspace coordination.
The 747 SuperTanker is on a CWN contract with Colorado but it needs to take and pass another grid test before it can be used on a fire in the United States. It has been certified by the Interagency Airtanker Board on an interim basis, but that has expired. After having made modifications to the retardant delivery system, the operator, Global SuperTanker, believes the aircraft will pass the test, but scheduling it during the pandemic has proved to be difficult.
The state’s Wildfire Emergency Response Fund (WERF), part of an effort to keep fires small, provides funding or reimbursement for the first air tanker flight or the first hour of a firefighting helicopter, and/or two days of a wildfire hand crew at the request any county sheriff, municipal fire department, or fire protection district.
The firefighting goals of the DFPC include:
Generating an incident assessment for every fire within 60 minutes of request or detection.
Delivering the appropriate aviation suppression resources to every fire within 60 minutes of the request.
Providing on-scene technical assistance and support within 90 minutes of request for support from a local agency.
Colorado has beefed up their ground resources this year, adding three additional 10-person modules (hand crews) which raises the total number of modules to four, with one in each quadrant of the state.
Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control
The DFPC continues to partner with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) to increase the availability of bulldozers, road graders, and other heavy equipment for wildfire suppression. To date, 75 CDOT equipment operators have received basic training.
Like other firefighting organizations, Colorado realizes that the pandemic is likely to reduce the availability and productivity of firefighters. Staffing of Incident Management Teams (IMTs) may be constrained by a reduced number of personnel who are available to leave their home jurisdictions. The DFPC is developing cadre lists of State and local personnel who can form multiple Type 3 IMTs for suppressing wildfires.
Map showing the location of the Bent’s Fort Fire in southeast Colorado, at 4:42 a.m. MDT, 4-12-2020. Satellites detected heat in each of the circles.
(UPDATED at 2:18 p.m. MDT April 12, 2020)
Sunday morning the Otero County Sheriff’s Office reported that the Bent’s Fort Fire had burned approximately 1,500 acres and was about 75% contained. Crews were still working on hot spots and on the southern edge where it jumped the river at the Otero/Bent County line and flared up at around 3 a.m. Sunday.
The most recent heat shown in the map above was detected by a satellite at 4:42 a.m. MDT Sunday.
(Originally published at 5:38 p.m. MDT April 11, 2020)
Bents Fort Fire, posted at 1:57 p.m. MDT 4-11-2020 by Colorado State Patrol.
A fire described as “massive” by the Twitter account for the Otero County Sheriff ignited Saturday about 9 miles east of La Junta, Colorado. The Sheriff’s office said at 3:05 p.m. MDT, “Fire units from almost [all] of southeast Colorado responding.” (see map below)
Map showing the general location of the Bent’s Fort Fire in southeast Colorado, 4-11-2020.Map showing the location of the Bent’s Fort Fire in southeast Colorado, at 2:36 p.m. MDT, 4-11-2020. Satellites detected heat in each of the circles.
At 5:34 p.m. MDT the fire had burned approximately 1,167 acres according to the Otero County Sheriff’s office.
Bents Fort Fire, posted at 2:12 p.m. MDT 4-11-2020 by Otero County Sheriff.
The weather conditions are very conducive to rapid fire spread. At 5:30 p.m. at the La Junta Municipal Airport: 75 degrees, 6% relative humidity, with wind out of the south at 12 mph gusting to 22.
Lion Fire. Photo by Rio Blanco Co. Sheriff’s Office April 7, 2020.
The Lion Fire burned 229 acres near Lions Canyon Road 1.5 miles west of Meeker, Colorado on Tuesday. After being reported at about 1:30 p.m., it was attacked by the Meeker Volunteer Fire Department, BLM, and the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control.
By Tuesday evening firefighters had stopped the spread and were expected to be back on Wednesday to mop up.
Investigators determined that it started near a mobile home which was consumed in the fire. Several outbuildings and vehicles were also destroyed, according to Meeker Fire Chief Luke Pelloni.
At Wildfire Today we are giving a trial to a new mapping system created by Orora Technologies. It collects fire detection data from a growing list of satellites, eight at last count, and identifies heat generated by fires. On the map below the circles indicate that heat was detected somewhere within the circle. The red line automatically circumscribes a collection of detections, but is probably larger than the actual size of the burned area. In this example the heat was detected by the SUOMI-NPP satellite. We suggested that the size of the red polygon be automatically calculated, and they added it to their things to do list. The company has plans to launch their own satellites which would produce fire data more frequently.
Map showing the approximate location of the Lion Fire 1.5 miles west of Meeker, Colorado. Data from Orora Technologies detected from 2:12 p.m. MDT April 7, to 2:30 a.m. MDT April 8, 2020.
One person in Colorado’s State Emergency Operations Center has tested positive for COVID-19. The information was revealed April 4 in a press release by Public Information Officer Micki Trost.
Daily medical screenings as used at the Center can only detect someone who is already infected, at which point they may have been shedding the virus for days. This is probably the tip of the iceberg. Without widespread and repeated testing there may be many infected but asymptomatic individuals working in emergency services.
Share with us in a comment how your workplace is attempting to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Below is the information from the Colorado State Emergency Operations Center.
Unified Command Group Member Tests Positive to COVID19
Centennial, Colo. – April 4, 2020 – Today a member of the Colorado Unified Command Group (UCG) working at the State Emergency Operations Center tested positive for COVID-19. The staff member went through daily medical screenings and was asymptomatic until April 4 when symptoms started. The staff member then contacted executive leadership and self-isolated pending testing arrangements. Test results are positive.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) is conducting a full epidemiological investigation to evaluate the level of exposure in the UCC. Staff members at the facility were notified tonight. All staff were asked to:
1) Evaluate whether or not they worked in the same area of the facility in the last 48 hours following public health guidance for possible exposures. 2) Inform supervisors if they had contact or worked near the person before transitioning to remote work following CDPHE guidelines to self-quarantine and monitor for symptoms twice daily (including measuring your temperature) for 14 days. 3) If staff were not in close contact with the member they will monitor symptoms daily for the next 14 days. Asymptomatic staff will report to work as previously assigned. Symptomatic staff will stay home and inform supervisors at the UCC.
For the protection of all staff members the UCC has a decontamination service clean the facility each evening. The decontamination has been in place for the last two weeks. This will continue.
Monday the UCC will conduct twice daily medical screening, once in the morning and again mid-day. Daily health screenings were implemented at the beginning of March.
Three fires occurred March 17 along SW Platte River Road near Foxton in Jefferson County, Colorado. Jefferson County Sheriff photo.
Three fires that started Tuesday afternoon caused evacuations on SW Platte River Road near Foxton in Jefferson County, Colorado about 20 miles southwest of Denver.
At least 50 acres burned, but evacuations were lifted by 7:13 p.m. MDT except for River Road and Resort Creek Road.
The cause of the fires is under investigation.
Three fires occurred March 17 along SW Platte River Road near Foxton in Jefferson County, Colorado. Screenshot from CBS4 video in Denver.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Bean. Typos or errors, report them HERE.
