Above: Clouds in the satellite photo obscure some of the smoke produced by wildfires in SC, GA, NC, and TN.
For the latest articles at Wildfire Today about wildfire smoke check out the articles tagged “smoke”.
This is the forecast for the distribution of wildfire smoke for 6 p.m. ET, Sunday, November 13, 2016. Courtesy of NOAA. It was produced at 1 p.m. ET, November 12, 2016.
For a satellite photo of actual wildfire smoke on Friday, click HERE.
For the latest articles at Wildfire Today about wildfire smoke check out the articles tagged “smoke”.
Above: The map shows the location of some of the larger wildfires in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia November 11, 2016.
(UPDATED at 4:59 p.m. ET November 11, 2016)
The intense wildfire activity that has been going on for weeks in the southeast United States ramped up a bit over the last 24 hours as extremely low relative humidities allowed some of the blazes to continue to spread aggressively Thursday night. A weather station southeast of Asheville, NC 9 miles northwest of the 977-acre Party Rock Fire recorded 9 percent RH early Friday morning. Night time humidities in that part of the country are usually far above 50 percent at night.
The good news is the conditions will moderate a little over the next several days after the passage of a cold front.
There are currently 31 uncontained wildfires in the Southern Geographic Area. Here some other numbers about the fires in the region (data from the National Interagency Coordination Center and the Southern Area Coordination Center):
Above: Party Rock Fire near Chimney Rock, NC. Photo by Cathy Anderson.
(UPDATED at 11:53 a.m. ET November 12, 2016)
The Party Rock Fire at Chimney Rock, North Carolina continued to spread on Friday and has now blackened 2,626 acres according to information from the Incident Management Team at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Areas under mandatory evacuation orders include the entire community of Chimney Rock, the Highway 74-A corridor west of Chimney Rock, Rumbling Bald Resort, and some areas in the Town of Lake Lure.
There are no reports of any structures being destroyed.
On Friday air tankers and helicopters dropped water and retardant to help slow the spread of the fire and to protect the communities.
A section of Highway 74-A was closed for a period of time Friday afternoon.
The weather has changed to be more in favor of the firefighters. After some single-digit relative humidities earlier in the week, on Saturday it should bottom out at 30 percent in the fire area after having risen to around 80 percent overnight. The wind will not be a major problem, and is predicted to be out of the northeast at 4 to 6 mph with gusts of 5 to 10 mph. The high temperature will be 53 degrees. Sunday will be about the same, but a little warmer and drier.
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(Originally published at 2:01 ET November 11, 2016)
The rapid spread of the Party Rock Fire overnight is causing evacuations for some areas within the community of Chimney Rock, North Carolina. The fire is just west of Lake Lure, on the north side of Chimney Rock, and is 18 miles southeast of Asheville.
Here is a link to a map with details about the evacuation.
The fire started November 5 in Chimney Rock State Park and is being managed by Dan Brandon’s North Carolina Type 2 Incident Management Team. As of Thursday evening it had burned 977 acres and was being fought by 165 personnel.
Part of the reason for the increased fire activity over the last 24 hours was the extremely low relative humidity. It is not uncommon for this part of the country to have the RH go up near 100 percent at night, but Thursday afternoon it got down to 10 percent, went up to around 30 percent at midnight, then dropped as low as 9 percent before sunrise. At 2:04 p.m. ET on Friday it was 27 percent, still low for North Carolina. Aggravating the situation was 10 to 20 mph wind gusts out of the west and southeast.
The forecast calls for the RH to rise into the 40s later Friday afternoon and into the 70s during the night. The wind Friday afternoon will be out of the north and northwest at 8 mph with 20 mph gusts. The temperature will be around 60. These conditions will be challenging for firefighters
Saturday the RH will be in the 40s under sunny skies.
Above: Satellite photo showing smoke from wildfires in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia, November 10, 2016.
Many wildfires are still burning in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and several other states in the southeastern United States. On Thursday much of the smoke was being blown into the northern half of Georgia, potentially causing health problems for sensitive people.
The primary culprit for the wildfire activity is a lack of precipitation. Many areas in the southeast have not received any significant rain in weeks. It has been more than 70 days for some locations in Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, and South Carolina. This has resulted in many wildfires breaking out in the last month.
The state with the most active fires is North Carolina, but the largest fire currently burning in the south is in Georgia, the 10,336-acre Rough Ridge Fire in the northern part of the state. Caused by lightning on October 16, it is being fought by 296 personnel, 9 hand crews, 2 helicopters, 7 engines, and 2 dozers.
Currently there are 38 fires in the south that have each burned at least 100 acres.
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As most areas in the western states are winding down or have already closed out their wildfire season, the fall fire season in the South is appearing on the radar as leaves fall off the trees and frost kills the herbaceous vegetation, providing additional fuel.
The Southern Geographic Area’s daily report includes nine fires over the last couple of weeks that exceeded 100 acres.
The Nantahala National Forest in western North Carolina has five active blazes that have burned 40, 100, 33, 11, and 374 acres. Elevated fire activity on the Forest has prompted fire management officials to transition from district management to a Type 3 organization. Effective Sunday, this enables more effective management of several fires simultaneously under the umbrella of one incident commander.
Additional resources have arrived to assist in suppressing ongoing fires as well as any new starts. Crews from California, New Mexico, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida and Oregon have joined forces with local firefighters.
None of these fires show up on InciWeb.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Perry.
Airmen of the North Carolina Air National Guard load the Modular Airborne FireFighting System into a C-130 belonging to the Nevada Air National Guard. Photo September 7, 2016 by 1st Lt Monica Ebert.Earlier this month in Charlotte the 145th Airlift Wing of the North Carolina Air National Guard finalized the transfer of their Modular Airborne FireFighting System (MAFFS) mission to the Nevada Air National Guard’s 152nd Airlift Wing. On September 7 the equipment was loaded into a C-130 from Nevada Air National Guard and arrived at Reno the next day.
The previous week the Nevada Airlift Wing had completed its first training activation operating the U.S. Forest Service’s MAFFS. The other MAFFS units are at Cheyenne, Colorado Springs, and Channel Islands in California.
Airmen of the North Carolina Air National Guard load the door to the Modular Airborne FireFighting System into a C-130 belonging to the Nevada Air National Guard. Photo September 7, 2016 by 1st Lt Monica Ebert.The USFS has 8 MAFFS units that can be slipped into a C-130 in just a few hours, converting it to a 3,000-gallon air tanker. Usually two of the units are at each of the four bases, but one is now being temporarily used in an HC-130H that was transferred from the Coast Guard to the USFS.
Airmen of the North Carolina Air National Guard load the Modular Airborne FireFighting System into a C-130 belonging to the Nevada Air National Guard. Photo September 7, 2016 by 1st Lt Monica Ebert.
The first 152nd C-130 equipped with U.S. Forest Service’s Modular Airborne Fire Fighting System arrived September 8, 2016, at the Nevada Air National Guard Base in Reno. The unit completed its first fire fighting mission as co-pilots augmented with the Air Expeditionary Group the previous week. The 152nd was selected to become the new MAFFS unit in April.
Above: A burnout operation on the Silver Mine Fire, April 26, 2016. InciWeb photo.
When we saw the photos below of the Silver Mine Fire burning very close to Hot Springs, North Carolina we had to share them. It’s the only time we have seen photos taken of a fire at the same spot just a few hours apart but one is in daylight and the other was after sunset. The first in each pair was taken between 7:30 and 8:00 p.m. on April 26 and the other was at 9:45 to 10:30 p.m. The photos were taken by a resident of Hot Springs, Kevin Reese.
The fire started April 21 and since then has burned 3,000 acres. On Tuesday firefighters ignited a burnout operation on the north side of the fire using a helicopter. If all of the burnouts go as planned, the fire perimeter could be as large as 4,600 acres when the fire is contained.
Above: Whipping Creek Fire, April 20, 2016. IMT photo.
(UPDATED at 4:07 p.m. EDT, April 25, 2016)
The Whipping Creek Fire in eastern North Carolina has grown by almost a couple of thousand acres, to 15,449, since we wrote about it yesterday.
On Sunday, two CL-415 water-scooping air tankers made 126 rounds dropping a total of 203,112 gallons of water to strengthen control lines. Firefighters continue to construct and improve containment lines to support and monitor the fire perimeter for flare-ups. There are now 153 personnel assigned to the fire, primarily from the North Carolina Forest Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Below is an excellent map showing the daily progression of the fire.
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(Originally published at 10:13 a.m. EDT, April 24, 2016)
The Whipping Creek Fire has burned 13,773 acres in eastern North Carolina six miles northeast of Engelman and 75 mile east of Greenville. On April 18 two fires on private land merged, and the next day spread onto the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and the Dare Bombing Range.
On Sunday US Highway 264 will be closed to enable two CL-415 water-scooping air tankers from Minnesota to work on the northeast perimeter of the fire. The aircraft will scoop water from the Alligator River and deliver it to the fire every six minutes, according to the Incident Management Team. Some of the water drops delivered on each run will occur adjacent to US 264.
