Gap Fire – Wildfire Today

Progression maps for 5 currently active fires

At least five very large fires are currently active in the United States:

Gap in northern California,
Pioneer in central Idaho,
Maple in Yellowstone National Park,
Soberanes on the central coast of California, and,
Beaver Creek in northern Colorado and southern Wyoming.

Below we have progression maps of these fires (in that order).

We recently found out about a new website that has developed a very impressive mapping service for wildfires. It was the source of these maps. The site not only shows the locations, but in some cases for large fires it displays the perimeters — which can be animated to see the growth or progression of the fire over time. They have this information going back to 2003. It is on the EcoWest website and was created by a collaboration of the Sea to Snow company and the Bill Lance Center for the American West at Stanford University.

The perimeter data is dependent on what is made available by the agencies managing the fire, so there is not always a perimeter for every day.

You can minimize the Description box by clicking the down arrow at the top-right of the box.

(Update Sept. 22, 2020: the data from EcoWest previously posted below is no longer available.)

Firefighters beginning to get a handle on the Gap Fire in northern California

Above: The Gap Fire as seen from the Klamath River. Undated photo from InciWeb.

The Gap Fire has been burning in Seiad Valley 20 miles northwest of Yreka, California for 11 days. It grew quickly during that time to now cover almost 28,000 acres, but firefighters are beginning to get a handle on the blaze. That effort is helped by barriers on at least two sides — the Klamath River on the south, and the two-year old scar from the Beaver Fire.

map Gap Fire California — Satellite photo showing smoke from the Gap Fire Sept 5, 2016. NASA image with text by Wildfire Today.

The Gap Fire has burned into the footprint from the Beaver Fire. Burning operations along the river and on the north side are likely to hold those areas. And, the west flank is also looking good.

The photo below was taken August 12, 2014 at the Beaver Fire north of the Klamath River.

Advisory evacuations are in place for some areas along the Klamath River.

On Tuesday firefighters will continue to work on the firing operations on the north and south sides and provide structure protection along the river.

The incident management team reports that two structures were destroyed near Hick’s Gulch on the north side of the Klamath River, but have yet to be assessed on the ground.