(Originally posted at 5:18 p.m. MT, June 11, 2013; revised at 8:20 a.m. MT, June 12, 2013)
There are at least three major fires burning in Colorado.
This first map shows the general locations of three fires: Big Meadow in Rocky Mountain National Park, Black Forest near Colorado Springs, and Royal Gorge at Canon City southwest of Colorado Springs. The red squares represent the approximate location of heat detected by a satellite at 2:40 p.m. June 11, 2013. Continue reading “Maps of Colorado wildfires, June 11, 2013”
Map of the Springs Fire near Camarillo, California in Ventura County. The red line was the perimeter at 10:30 p.m. PT, May 3, 2013. The white line is from 24 hours previously, the evening of May 2. (click to enlarge)
(UPDATE May 13, 2013)
Just to finish things up, the fire was 100 percent contained several days ago. The final size was 24,251 acres.
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(UPDATE at 7:23 a.m. PT, May 6, 2013)
It is raining in the Los Angeles area this morning. Some of the weather stations near the fire have received about a quarter of an inch since Sunday night.
The incident commander of the Springs Fire is calling the fire 28,000 acres and 80 percent contained. They expect full containment on May 7.
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(UPDATE at 6:50 a.m. PT, May 5, 2013)
Firefighters are continuing to make progress on the Springs Fire near Camarillo northwest of Los Angeles. The Incident Commander is calling it 60 percent contained and 28,000 acres. CAL FIRE reports that all evacuations have been lifted, with full containment expected on May 6.
There is minimal fire activity. The remaining firefighters continue to construct control lines, mop up, and patrol the fire perimeter. There is an increase in demobilization of firefighting resources.
Potrero Road is closed between Reino Road and Hidden Valley. Residents may return to their homes with proper identification. Residents are encouraged to access Hidden Valley from West Lake Boulevard.
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(UPDATE at 7:10 a.m. PT, May 4, 2012)
The weather that caused the Springs Fire to spread rapidly over tens of thousands of acres has moderated significantly with much higher relative humidites and lower wind speeds. By late Friday night there was much less activity on the fire than earlier in the day. At 7 a.m. Saturday morning the winds over most of the fire varied from zero to 5 mph with humidities ranging from 30 to 74 percent, a drastic change from 30+ mph and 3 percent.
During the day on Friday the fire spread east across Point Mugu State Park coming up to the edge of Hidden Valley, an area with many huge mega-mansions.
With the latest map, updated at 10:30 p.m. Friday (shown above), fire managers will probably fine tune yesterday’s estimate of 28,000 acres, most likely reducing it by several thousand. The incident commander is calling it 30 percent contained.
CAL FIRE reports that 25 outbuildings have been destroyed, and there are 15 damaged residences, 5 damaged commercial properties, and 15 damaged outbuildings. They also said the Pacific Coast Highway has “reopened but with closures at Deer Creek Road, Potrero Road, Reino Road, and Yerba Buena Road”.
The resources assigned to the fire include 1,895 personnel, 55 engines, 48 hand crews, 6 air tankers, and 11 helicopters.
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(UPDATE at 6:40 p.m. PT, May 3, 2013)
The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) is now estimating that the Springs Fire northwest of Los Angeles has burned 28,000 acres and is 20 percent contained.
At 5:15 p.m. they issued a correction of their earlier announcement. The Pacific Coast Highway has not reopened, due to possible rock slides.
CAL FIRE identified the following evacuations at 6:15 p.m. PT:
Mandatory evacuations effective immediately: South Newbury Park area, South of Potrero Road from Reino Road East to 930 West Potrero Road including Hidden Valley Road South.
Evacuations remain in effect for Potrero Road to Lewis Road, Yerea Buena Road and Deer Creek Road, Sycamore Canyon, Brrome Ranch and La Jolla Canyon.
Evacuations for the Cal State Channel Islands and Dos Vientos area have been lifted and reopened to residents only.
There has been no change in the reported number of structures damaged according to CAL FIRE: 15 damaged residences, 5 damaged commercial properties, and 15 damaged outbuildings.
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(UPDATE at 5:10 p.m. PT, May 3, 2013)
According to the Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD), the the Springs fire that started in Camarillo Springs northwest of Los Angeles, “is now being called 18,000 acres and 20% containment”.
The Pacific Coast Highway will reopen to traffic in both directions at 5:00 p.m. Many cross streets, however, will remain closed. Motorists are advised to drive carefully and watch out for emergency vehicles that may still be in the area.
For current information about evacuations, visit the VCFD web site. Additional road closures and evacuations were announced Friday afternoon.
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(UPDATE at 2:15 p.m. PT, May 3, 2013)
The Springs fire that started in Camarillo Springs northwest of Los Angeles continued to burn very actively overnight fanned by strong northeast winds. It progressed southwest all the way to the Pacific Ocean, about nine miles from the point of origin.
The map of the fire above shows the location of the fire detected by two different sources:
The red and yellow squares represent the approximate location of heat detected by a satellite hundreds of miles above the Earth at 11:50 a.m. PT, May 3, 2013.
The white line is the fire perimeter drawn by an Infrared Analyst who studied infrared data collected by a U.S. Forest Service fixed wing aircraft at 7 p.m. (PT or MT) Thursday evening, May 2. It should be much more accurate than the satellite data, but it is also about 17 hours older than the satellite information. The fire continued to spread after the fixed wing flight.
The Ventura County Fire Department (VCFD) reports that the fire has burned 10,000 acres with 10 percent containment, but that acreage figure is likely to increase substantially when they get a chance for more accurate mapping after sunrise. Firefighters spent the night protecting homes and cutting containment lines with hand tools and bulldozers. The air attack is scheduled to resume in the morning.
The VCFD said 2,000 homes have been threatened and 15 sustained damage, but none were destroyed.
CAL FIRE reports damage to 15 residences, 5 commercial properties, and 15 outbuildings. In addition they said 4,000 residences and 300 commercial properties are threatened.
The Red Flag Warning is still in effect until 5 p.m. on Friday, but the winds overnight at the nearby Cheeseboro weather station decreased substantially, from 25-30 mph with gusts to 45-50 mph on Thursday, to south-southeast at 8 mph with gusts to 14 mph at 1:38 p.m. PT Friday. The relative humidity remains extremely low, at 3 percent. The weather forecast for Friday calls for 18 mph winds with gusts to 25, decreasing at 11 a.m. to 10 mph with gusts to 16. The wind direction will change at 11 a.m. from northeast to southwest, a 180-degree switch, which could create problems for firefighters.
Resources on the fire include 925 personnel, 90 engines, 20 hand crews, 6 air tankers, and 8 helicopters.
DC-10 air tanker at Rapid City, April 23, 2013. Photo by Bill Gabbert
Summit fire, 3:49 p.m. PT, May 1, 2013 ABC7 screen grab. (Click to enlarge)
( UPDATED at 9:28 p.m. PT, May 2, 2013)
There was no change in the size of the Summit fire on Thursday, but by 8 p.m. firefighters called it 55 percent contained, up from 40 percent at 2:37 p.m. today.
This will be our last update of the Summit Fire, unless there is a significant increase in the size of the fire.
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(UPDATED at 3:41 p.m. PT, May 2, 2013)
The fire is still described by the Riverside County Fire Department as having burned 2,956 acres, which is the same size as Wednesday night. At 2:37 p.m. the incident commander said it is 40 percent contained and they “are making good progress on the fire line”.
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(UPDATED at 8:00 a.m. PT, May 2, 2013)
The Summit Fire east of Los Angeles near Banning and Beaumont has not grown significantly overnight, according to the Riverside County Fire Department, and remains at 2,956 acres. All evacuation orders have been lifted and the containment has increased to 40 percent.
The weather forecast for Thursday will be very conducive to rapid fire spread with winds expected to be out of the east at 26 to 30 mph with gusts to 48 mph. After 9 a.m. the relative humidity will drop below 10 percent, bottoming out at 5 percent. The Red Flag Warning for the area and the strong winds will affect the fire area until Friday at 6 p.m.
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(UPDATE at 11:30 p.m. PT, May 1, 2013)
The Riverside County Fire Department reports that the Summit fire near Banning and Beaumont east of Los Angeles has now burned 2,956 acres and is 35 percent contained. The rate of spread of the fire has slowed compared to how fast it was moving during the daylight hours. The winds measured at the Cabazon weather station have diminished to 10 mph, gusting to 13 out of the east, but the relative humidity remains very, very low, at 4 percent and should not exceed 10 or 11 percent overnight. The weather forecast for Thursday remains the same as we reported earlier, with east winds of 25 to 34 mph with gusts to 62 mph, along with single digit relative humidities and no chance of rain.
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(UPDATE at 4:27 p.m. PT, May 1, 2013)
The Riverside County Fire Department at 4:10 reported that the Summit Fire near Banning and Beaumont has grown to 1,500 acres.
If firefighters are not able to stop the spread of the Summit fire today (and that is going to be very tough to do) the weather on Thursday and Friday is not going to help. The very strong east-component winds are expected to continue and should be even stronger on Thursday at 25 to 34 mph with gusts to 62 mph, along with single digit relative humidities. Friday will be about the same with winds of 23 mph gusting to 41.
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(UPDATE at 4:16 p.m. PT, May 1, 2013)
Firefighters on the Summit Fire near the U.S. Forest Service fire station at Banning, few seconds after a retardant drop by a P2V air tanker. (screen grab from ABC7 video)
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(Originally published at 3:25 p.m. PT, May 1, 2013. Photo updated at 3:49 p.m. PT.)
Dozens of hand crews and dozens of engines are on order for a rapidly spreading wildfire in southern California near Banning. The fire is burning intensely and is growing very quickly. At least one home has burned as a 15 to 20 mph wind, with gusts above 30, push the fire through the California brush. As we reported earlier today, the area is under a Red Flag Warning for hot, dry, windy weather. Below are the 2:14 p.m. PT weather observations for the nearby weather station at Cabazon. Note that the relative humidity was 5 percent.
At 3:25 p.m. PT the Riverside County Fire Department (RCFD) said the fire, which was reported at 12:38 p.m. today, had burned about 200 acres and had no containment. That acreage figure is going to be much higher later in the day. The RCFD said six air tankers and six helicopters are working the fire or en route. Some communities are under evacuation orders. The RCFD has more information about evacuation.
As this is written, a local TV station, ABC7, is live-streaming large, excellent quality video images of the fire, however this service will probably come and go as the helicopter has to refuel and the news priorities of the station change. It’s the best live-streaming news video I’ve ever seen. Fox in LA also has intermittent live video.
We will update this article as this fire continues to grow.
Below is a map of the fire, as detected by a satellite at 1:47 p.m. PT May 1, 2013.
The red squares represent heat on the Summit Fire detected by a satellite at 1:47 p.m. PT, May 1, 2013. The fire is near Banning, CA
