News and opinion about wildland fire
The image above is a screen capture from a video of a C-130 Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) air tanker dropping on the Papoose Fire in Colorado this week. The drop was mostly complete at this moment — the shadow of the aircraft and the retardant is surreal. I wonder if it threw off or confused the pilots.
The video is at Fire Aviation.
Most people would say there are few things about wildfires that make life better, at least in the short term, but sunsets is one of them. This photo of smoke from the Lime Gulch Fire at sunset was sent in by one of our readers. It was taken by Vicki Barrett of Pau Hanna Studios and is used with permission.
The photo below was taken by Dave Treskin at a spike camp on the Red Rock Fire in the Marble Mountain Wilderness in 2009.
(UPDATE at 8:30 a.m. MDT, June 25, 2013)
There was no major change in the East Peak Fire over the last 24 hours. Below is a Monday evening update from the Incident Management Team:
In spite of high winds, low humidity and critical fuel conditions, growth on the East Peak Fire was minimal and containment increased to 50%. The estimated size of the fire is 13,388 acres. Due to the wind, helicopters were grounded for most of the day. Despite the challenge of high winds, firefighters made progress in mop up and patrolling the fire perimeter and engine crews ensured structure protection. Mop up and patrol will continue for the overnight shift and into tomorrow. Resources continue to arrive, totaling in 631 personnel assigned to this fire.
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(UPDATE at 8:25 a.m. MDT June 24, 2013)
Under overcast skies on Sunday there was not much change in the East Peak Fire. It was most active on the west and southeast sides and grew by a few hundred acres, bringing its total to about 12,800 acres.
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(UPDATE at 8:55 p.m. MDT, June 23, 2013)
Below is an update from the Incident Management Team at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday:
Overcast conditions set up a successful burnout operation on the East Peak Fire today. “I’m very pleased with the results of the burnout today. It went really smoothly”, said Craig Beckner, Operations Section Chief. Aided by favorable winds from southeast, the burnout operation helped to reinforce control line on the southern boundary of the fire.
On the western perimeter, a very large airtanker made a retardant drop that will assist firefighters with constructing handline tomorrow in very steep terrain.
Cooler conditions and overcast skies kept the fire from gaining much acreage and is now at 12,996 acres.
Mandatory evacuations are still in effect for a large portion of the fire area. However, Huerfano County Sheriff, Bruce Newmann, started letting residents back into some closure areas.
Air Tanker 910, a DC-10, dropped 46,400 gallons of retardant on the fire today in four sorties.
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(UPDATE at 8:24 a.m. MDT, June 23, 2013)
The East Peak Fire in southern Colorado grew by about 1,000 acres Saturday, bringing its total to approximately 12,000 acres. It is 11 miles southwest of Walsenburg and about 9 miles west of Aguilar.
There are an estimated 300 properties within the evacuation area. An American Red Cross shelter has been established at the John Mall High School in Walsenburg, Colorado. Evacuated animals, large or small can be taken to the Fairgrounds in La Veta, Colorado.
The Incident Management Team reports that 10 “primary” structures have burned along with 4 outbuildings.
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(UPDATE at 5:15 p.m. MDT, June 22, 2013)
The incident management team running the East Peak Fire sent this Tweet at 3:21 p.m. Saturday:
Walsenburg remains in a PRE-evacuation status – no evacuation notices are happening at this time. #EastPeakFire
— RMIMTeamC (@TeamC_FireInfo) June 22, 2013
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(Originally published at 9:47 a.m. MDT, June 22, 2013)
The East Peak fire has burned about 11,000 acres in the southern part of Colorado 25 miles from the New Mexico border. As you can see from the map above, at 11 p.m. Friday night it was approximately 7 miles west of Aguilar and about 10 miles southwest of Walsenburg, according to the data provided by the satellite. The location of the square icons can be as much as a mile in error.
Rocky Mountain Type 2 Incident Management Team C, with Incident Commander Jay Esperance, assumed command of the Fire at 6:00 pm, Friday, June 21.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized18 Comments on Map of Colorado wildfires, June 22, 2013 
The map shows the large wildfires in Colorado that are still active and spreading, and the acres burned for each. The Papoose and West Fork fires have now been combined into the “West Fork Complex”. We have more information about the West Fork Complex and the East Peak Fire.
Author Bill GabbertPosted on Categories Uncategorized4 Comments on Two fuels and fire behavior advisories for Colorado The Rocky Mountain Geographic Area and the Upper Colorado River Fire Management Unit on the Colorado Western Slope issued two Fuels and Fire Behavior Advisories today. Below are the complete texts of both:
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“Fuels and Fire Behavior Advisory
Western Slope of Colorado
06/21/2013
Subject: Western Colorado is in the third year of drought. The situation is predicted to persist or intensify through July. There is increased risk of large fire development and intense fire behavior. Dry, heavy fuels at higher elevations could pose a greater risk of active fire behavior.
Discussion: The wet spring pattern that occurred during April and May has provided a brief reprieve. Live and dead fuel moistures are quickly returning to a condition that will support large fire growth.
Forecasts do not offer the prospect of live or dead fuels conditions improving through July.
Difference from normal conditions: Fuels are described by fire managers as being deceptively green. The visual greenness being observed can lessen the sense of fire potential. Live fuels, which had shown some improvement from late spring precipitation, are drying. On the Western Slope of Colorado, 100FM fuels are setting historically low values for the date, nearing the 3rd percentile, and moving into the range associated with historic large fires. Long-term drying has made large, higher elevation fuels, available as well.
Concerns to Firefighters and the Public:
Mitigation Measures: Strategies for dealing with each of the specific circumstances listed above include using Predictive Service¡¦s forecasts of higher potential for large fire occurrence, rapid initial attack in those high risk areas, and daily fire and fuels briefings to suppression personnel.
Continue reading “Two fuels and fire behavior advisories for Colorado”
If you’re not keeping up with the status of the West Fork Fire in south-central Colorado which has forced the entire town of South Fork to evacuate, you have missed seeing these very impressive photos taken by the Colorado-based Pike Hotshots. If you’d like to comment on the photos or the fire, please do so at the main West Fork Fire article which is updated as conditions change.
