The other chart shows that while the often-heard statement that “humans cause most wildfires” is true, that is not the case in all areas. In the Great Basin lightning is the primary cause of fires, and there are almost as many lighting fires as human caused fires in the Northwest, Southwest, and Rocky Mountains.
An arrangement has been made to write a movie script for John N. Maclean’s book The Esperanza Fire: Arson, Murder, and the Agony of Engine 57. Legendary Pictures has closed a deal with Sean O’Keefe to adapt the book about the 2006 entrapment and deaths of the five firefighters who were working on U.S. Forest Service Engine 57.
We talked with Mr. Maclean in February when he signed the movie rights deal with Legendary Pictures. He told us then that while the contract had been signed, including the stipulation that he will serve as a consultant, there are many steps that have to be completed before it appears on the big screen. The producers must arrange for someone to write the screenplay, financing has to be arranged, and actors have to be signed — just to name a few. So, the first of those three important steps has begun. But many scripts never become movies, Mr. Maclean said.
The arsonist who started the fire, Raymond Oyler, was found guilty of five counts of first-degree murder, 20 counts of arson, and 17 counts of using an incendiary device to start fires. He was sentenced to death.
The firefighters who died were engine Capt. Mark Loutzenhiser, 44, of Idyllwild; engine operator Jess McLean, 27, of Beaumont; assistant engine operator Jason McKay, 27, of Phelan; firefighter Daniel Hoover-Najera, 20, of San Jacinto; and firefighter Pablo Cerda, 23, of Fountain Valley.
Numerous lightning strikes, some of them without rain, started several dozen new fires in the Sierras and in southern California. On Sunday 24,681 strikes were recorded in the state, but so far firefighters have kept the fires small. Scattered mostly dry thunderstorms are predicted to continue through Monday followed by widespread thunderstorms with wetting rain in the Sierras Tuesday through Thursday.
The National Weather Service has issued a Red Flag Warning due to the possibility of dry lightning in combination with gusty winds for most of the foothills and mountains of Northern California.
Aviation
There are three new articles over at Fire Aviation.
Tanker 910, a DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker, experienced an engine failure coming off of a drop on the Beaver Creek Fire in Idaho on Thursday, August 15.
Minden Air Corp has made a video available of the takeoff for the first flight test of their Tanker 46, a converted BAe-146, which occurred June 9, 2013.
An Air Tactical Group Supervisor (ATGS) has completed a detailed comparison of the use of a DC-10 Very Large Air Tanker (VLAT) and P2V Large Air Tankers to complete the same task of creating 4.6 miles of retardant line on the Colockum Tarps Fire,
Atlanta evacuated (not THAT Atlanta)
Residents of Atlanta, Idaho have been ordered to evacuate by noon today, Monday, because of the 2,000-acre Little Queens Fire burning about four miles north of the town. The majority of the fire is in the Sawtooth Wilderness and Sawtooth National Forest.
The Great Basin Type 2 Team 5 (Wilde) is being reassigned to the fire.
From InciWeb, on August 17:
Jason Greenlee is the Incident Commander, “We will manage the Little Queens Fire as a long term fire. We will monitor the fire to ensure that it does not burn into Atlanta, Idaho and plan and prepare to defend the community if the fire changes direction and moves to the south”. This strategy is being used due to the shortage of resources to fight the fire due to other fires in the area.
In case you’re not familiar with Atlanta, it is 37 miles northwest of Ketchum, ID, and 23 miles northwest of the 104,000-acre Beaver Creek Fire.
Firefighters in New Mexico and Colorado have enough on their hands right now, but today they have to be concerned about the forecast for dry thunderstorms — lightning with little or no rain. A Red Flag Warning has been issued that is in effect from 1 p.m. until 9 p.m. MDT today for low humidity and gusty winds to accompany the lightning.
The National Weather Service’s Red Flag Warning web page is broken and will not display the warning areas, so we substituted this “Fire Weather Outlook” from the Storm Prediction Center.
We inquired about the broken web page and Corey Pieper of the NWS told us there was a database outage Wednesday night and the site should be functioning soon.
(Originally published at 11:12 a.m. MT, June 11, 2013; updated at 12:30 p.m. MT, June 11, 2013)
The U.S. Forest Service has released the following statement:
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“US Forest Service wildland firefighter dies in Northern California
Release Date: Jun 11, 2013
VALLEJO, Calif. – A 28-year-old firefighter from Susanville, Calif., died Monday afternoon [June 10] as a result of injuries received on a wildfire on the Modoc National Forest in northeast California. Luke Sheehy was a member of the California Smokejumpers, based out of Redding.
Sheehy was struck by a falling portion of a tree on the Saddle Back Fire in the South Warner Wilderness about 15 miles southeast of Alturas, Calif. The incident occurred just before 5 p.m. Efforts to resuscitate Sheehy were not successful. He was flown by helicopter to a hospital in Alturas where he was pronounced dead.
“Our hearts go out to the family and friends of this brave young smokejumper who lost his life yesterday working with his team to control a blaze on the Modoc National Forest,” said U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell. “We are launching a full review into the cause of his death to learn everything we can to prevent future tragedies like this.”
Pacific Southwest Regional Forester Randy Moore echoed Chief Tidwell’s sentiments. “We are deeply saddened by this tragedy. It’s a devastating loss and is being felt throughout the entire Forest Service.”
The Saddle Back Fire is one of several dozen lightning-caused fires that began on multiple national forests throughout northern California on Sunday and Monday. It was first reported to the Modoc Interagency Communications Center about 3 p.m. Monday. Several U.S. Forest Service firefighters remain on scene suppressing the fire.”
Lightning at Wind Cave National Park, July 23, 2012, Photo by Bill Gabbert.
(Originally published at 4:40 p.m. PT, June 10, 2013; updated at 11:45 a.m. PT, June 11)
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Sunday and Monday much of the Northern California foothills and mountains including the Sierra experienced significant thunderstorms with dry lightning. Nearly 6,000 8,000 lightning strikes were recorded. Over 50 60 small fires have been discovered that were ignited by lightning. Though most of the storm systems have moved out, CAL FIRE crews continue to respond to additional fires.
Below is a summary of some of the fires in four northern California CAL FIRE units as of Monday afternoon:
Sonoma-Lake-Napa Unit: 21 fires, largest fire 4 acres
Lightning, Chapmanville, WV, May 21, 2012. Photo by Aaron Newsome
We understand that Aaron Newsome took this photo May 21, 2013 in Chapmanville, West Virginia. I can’t vouch that it is real, but if it is, it’s amazing.
