The Fort will be closed indefinitely while repairs are made.
Above: Some of the structures at Fort Osage National Historic Landmark were damaged by a wildfire. (Credit for all photos: Fort Osage NHL)
(Originally published at 2:55 p.m. MT February 23, 2018)
Several of the structures at Fort Osage National Historic Landmark near Sibley, Missouri were damaged by a wildfire February 18. The fire started along the bank of the Missouri River and ran up the steep slope causing damage to a number of historic buildings (map). Strong winds and dry conditions helped it spread to the replica of the fort that stood there in 1812.
Photos show the wooden shake shingles burning on at least two buildings. Jackson County spokesperson Marshanna Hester said county parks staff found that none of the structures will have to be demolished and can be repaired, but the officers’ quarters suffered significant interior damage.
From Wikipedia:
During their famous ascent up the Missouri River to find the Northwest Passage, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark noted the spot in June 1804, as they camped for the night just across the river:
“high commanding position, more than 70 feet above high-water mark, and overlooking the river, which is here but of little depth…”
William Clark led a team in September 1808 back to the site to begin construction of Fort Osage. In November 1808 Pierre Chouteau negotiated the Treaty of Fort Clark with certain members of the Osage Nation, for the fort to be built for the protection of the Osage.
Archaeologists rediscovered the foundations of Fort Osage in the 1940s. The station was rebuilt to portray Fort Osage as it was in 1812 by using the preserved surveys created by William Clark and others, making restoration to exact specifications possible. The rebuilt post is known as Fort Osage National Historic Landmark and is owned and operated by the Jackson County Parks and Recreation.
Satellite photo of Fort Osage National Historic Landmark. Google Earth.Satellite photo in 3-D, looking south. Google Earth.
A fire in the Bald Butte area started near Springfield, Oregon October 10 when a burning car ignited vegetation above Forest Service Road 23. Dry fuels and gusty winds left 24 acres of burnt timber and brush on national forest lands. Oregon Department of Forestry photo by Greg Wagenblast.
The Oregon Department of Forestry has declared the 2015 wildfire season to be over. Rain and the arrival of cool, moist weather patterns prompted the declaration as of 12:01 a.m. Saturday. Oregon experienced a third consecutive difficult wildfire season this year. As of Sept. 11, total wildfire costs totaled more than $211 million in Oregon, according to the Oregon Department of Forestry. (That figure may include costs incurred by all agencies in the state, including federal, not just the ODF.)
The Oregon state government has an insurance policy with Lloyd’s of London which provides up to $25 million of state government fire suppression costs that exceed $50 million. The $3.5 million cost of the policy is split between the state and private timberland owners.
Board approves design for Yarnell Hill Fire memorial
The Yarnell Hill Memorial Site Board has approved a conceptual design for a memorial to commemorate the site where 19 members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were entrapped by fire and killed June 30, 2013. According to the Daily Courier, the design by architect Bill Gauslow “consists of 19 white marble crosses, each placed where a man fell, surrounded by 19 low walls, spaced a short distance apart, and built of rip-rap rock.” The memorial would be placed at the fatality site which will be purchased by the Arizona State Parks department. Interpretive signs, one for each of the 19 firefighters, would also be placed every 1/10 mile along the 1.9 mile trail from the parking lot to the memorial site.
Researchers think fires were more common 300 million years ago
Scientists from the Department of Earth Sciences at Royal Holloway, University of London together with colleagues from the USA, Russia and China, have discovered that forest fires across the globe were more common between 300 and 250 million years ago than they are today. This is thought to be due to a higher level of oxygen in the atmosphere at that time.
Beneath the surface of a St. Louis-area landfill lurk two things that should never meet: a slow-burning fire and a cache of Cold War-era nuclear waste, separated by no more than 1,200 feet.
Government officials have quietly adopted an emergency plan in case the smoldering embers ever reach the waste, a potentially “catastrophic event” that could send up a plume of radioactive smoke over a densely populated area near the city’s main airport.
Although the fire at Bridgeton Landfill has been burning since at least 2010, the plan for a worst-case scenario was developed only a year ago and never publicized until this week, when St. Louis radio station KMOX first obtained a copy…
A fire that burned on both sides of the Missouri river forced residents to evacuate from an area in St. Joseph, Missouri on Sunday. Fire personnel believe the fire started in Elwood, Kansas and jumped the river, spreading over hundreds of acres and for about five miles along the river near St. Joseph. The fire is much less active today, but the area is under a Red Flag Warning.
The yellow, brown, and red dots represent the approximate location of heat detected by a satellite. The locations of the dots are accurate to within about a mile.
We checked Google Earth and found that the river in that area is about 0.16 miles (820 feet) wide. Depending on the vegetation, weather, and topography, it is not unusual for burning embers to start fires quite a distance from the main fire. There is a trial going on now in San Diego County that revolves around a fire that may have been ignited by an ember that traveled 0.44 miles and started a new fire that destroyed 36 homes in San Marcos, California. And last September on the King Fire near Pollock pines in California an ember started a spot fire approximately 2 miles ahead of the main fire front. There have been reports of spot fires starting even farther away.
In 2003, lightning induced by a pyrocumulus cloud started fires in the Snow River National Park, 25 km [15 miles] ahead of the fire front. These fires did develop into a significant area. Other examples exist of this phenomenon.
Caylym continues to develop containers for dropping retardant
Caylym system dispersing a liquid after exiting an aircraft. Photo credit: Caylym
Since Wildfire Today last covered their disposable container for delivering retardant over wildfires,the Caylym company has continued to develop and promote their concept. The system consists of containers constructed of cardboard, plywood, a plastic bladder, and dozens of yards of straps. They hold 264 gallons each and are designed to be carried in military aircraft such as the C-130 or C-27 using the standard cargo system. The containers when empty weigh 100 pounds.
South Africa: Firefighter Man killed fighting a fire near Clanwilliam
(UPDATE January 26, 2013: It turns out the man that was killed was not a trained firefighter, volunteer or paid. As so frequently happens in remote areas of South Africa, he lived nearby and was doing what he could to fight the fire while hoping that firefighters might show up.)
A man has died fighting a wildfire near Clanwilliam in South Africa (map). Christo Fourie, a retired bank manager, had been missing since Wednesday and his body was found Thursday in a burned area near his vehicle. A police spokesperson said Mr. Fourie was caught in the fire but the exact circumstances of his death were being investigated. A news report described the man as a volunteer firefighter.
The fire has burned 24,000 hectares (59,305 acres) and is being fought by firefighters supported by helicopters and four air tankers.
Missouri: Fire destroys Mammoth-area home
A wildfire destroyed a home on County Road 527 off the T Highway near Mammoth, Missouri on Monday. The fire was fought by the Timber Knob and Pontiac VFDs for several hours but the home was a total loss.
Utah: fire baloons may become illegal
Fire Balloon — a screen grab from a Mercedes commercial on CBS, November 4, 2012.
Proposed legislation in Utah would outlaw fire balloons, sometimes called Chinese lanterns or sky lanterns. These devices are small, lightweight, inexpensive hot air balloons powered by burning material at the base. They can be made out of common household materials or purchased in large quantities online.
We first wrote about fire balloons in November after seeing the concept promoted by Mercedes in a car commercial on network television. An article in the Deseret News quotes Coy Porter, the Utah State Fire Marshal, as saying, “The biggest problem is just if they’re slightly damaged, there’s a small rip, they don’t get the elevation, they can still come down while the flame is still going in there.”
These incendiary devices are sometimes released by the hundreds at weddings or in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
More information from the article:
During the wedding rehearsal for former BYU and current NBA basketball player Jimmer Fredette last May, hundreds of lanterns were released into the Denver sky. One of those lanterns landed in a neighbor’s yard and lit a tree on fire. Fortunately, it didn’t do too much damage.
Last summer, Porter said a wildland fire in St. George was also started as a result of a sky lantern.
Links to information about a few fires that have been caused by these devices: here, here, and here.
Los Angeles: law firm has Wild Land Fire Litigation Practice Group
I guess there should be no surprise that a law firm has a “Wild Land Fire Litigation Practice Group”. In our litigious society there are probably lawyers that specialize in every conceivable niche. The Murchison and Cummings law firm in Los Angeles has such a group chaired by Friedrich W. Seitz. They are representing the Bluebonnet Electric Cooperative in defending them against the numerous lawsuits that have been filed relating to the September 2011 fire in Bastrop County, Texas that burned 34,000 acres and destroyed 1,600 homes. In an effort to try to get in on the action, a law firm in Texas created a web site in order to recruit clients to sue Bluebonnet for another fire in Bastrop County, the Wilderness Ridge fire, which burned 26 homes, 20 businesses, and 1,491 acres in Bastrop County, Texas in February, 2009.
Murchison and Cummings has defended Southern California Edison and Breitburn Energy Partners against litigation arising out of wild land fires for many years.
The ice storms that swept through parts of Missouri and Oklahoma this winter damaged trees to the point where now the fallen trees and broken branches have, in some places, increased the fuel load from 3 tons per acre to over 30 tons per acre.
From the Joplin Globe:
……. “That’s because repeated ice storms have put more fuel on the ground in timbered areas than at any time in recent memory, officials say. The ground is crisscrossed with limbs and downed trees that not only provide fuel, but limit access and mobility for firefighters.
Andy Nimmo, chief of the Redings Mill Fire Protection District, experienced what the future could hold on March 2, when a small fire broke out on Reinmiller Road, southeast of Joplin. It became a large wildfire in a matter of seconds.
“We got our first glimpse of the danger then,” Nimmo said. “Fifty mile per hour winds in a heavily timbered area with lots of fuel on the ground made it 10 times more difficult to fight. We had to drop back and punt. We had to go to the nearest road we had access to to stop it.”
Duane Parker, a fire-protection consultant with Southwest Missouri Resource Conservation and Development, said a wooded area normally has 3 tons of fuel from leaves and fallen limbs per acre.
The average now is 30 to 34 tons per acre because of ice storms in 2007, and that does not include “hangers,” those limbs that are broken but still hanging in trees, he said.
Parker predicted the threat of serious fires this spring will be high in Southwest Missouri.”
