Two Single Engine Air Tankers operated by Air Spray and contracted to the state of Oregon dropped 195,906 gallons of retardant in 2015. That is about a fourth of the 838,000 gallons dropped by all air tankers working for the state this year. The two SEATs were primarily based in Prineville.
Continue readingOregon’s fire insurance did not kick in this year
The fire insurance policy that the state of Oregon purchased from Lloyd’s of London did not kick in this year since the net expenses of suppressing state-responsibility wildfires did not exceed the $50 million policy deductible. If it had, their additional costs could have been covered up to $25 million. Premiums for this coverage were split between state and private timberland owners, who agreed to pay $3.75 million into the policy.
Below is an excerpt from an article in the La Grande Observer:
…As of Oct. 19, the ODF had recorded 1,001 fires, 73 more than their 10-year average, according to a letter from [Oregon Department of Forestry State Forester Doug] Decker sent to the co-chairs of the Oregon Joint Committee on Ways and Means last month. Those fires burned 91,487 acres of ODF-protected land, 63,948 acres more than the 10-year average.
The Forestry Department estimates that its large-fire costs for this season sit at $76.7 million, compared to the 10-year average of $22.3 million, Decker wrote in the letter.
Decker said about $19.5 million will be reimbursed by FEMA’s grant program. Another $25.5 million is expected to be recovered from other partners. Still, the ODF is requesting more than $19.5 million of general fund dollars to cover the state’s portion of large-fire costs, according to the letter.
Wildfire briefing, October 26, 2015
Oregon declares wildfire season to be over
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.
Full text of the research article.
Landfill near nuclear waste site has been burning for six years
From the Chicago Tribune:
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…
Blue Mountain Rappellers
From the Blue Mountain Rappellers website:
“The Blue Mountain Rappel Crew is a 14-18 person crew of aerially delivered wildland firefighters. We host a Bell 205A++ Helicopter that can deliver 4 rappellers to remote areas anywhere in the nation that has the need. Formerly the Frazier Rappel Crew, the Blue Mountain Rappel Crew has recently moved locations from Ukiah OR, to La Grande OR in 2012. The Base is located at the La Grande airport near the Blue Mountain Interagency Fire Center and the Union and La Grande IHC fire shops. The Base organization consist of a Base Manager, two Assistant Foremen, Two Squadleaders and Two permanent Senior Firefighters in addition to 6 to 10 seasonals. Since 1997 the crew has been delivering firefighters via ropes and helicopters to incidents around the country. As a National fire resource, we respond locally to Initial Attack in North East Oregon as well as mobilize to large fire support and Initial Attack in the lower 48 and Alaska.”
Introduction to the Logistics Section on the Canyon Creek Fire
This video, an introduction to the Logistics Section on the Canyon Creek Fire, was uploaded to YouTube by Karen Roganov September 5, 2015. This complex of fires burned over 110,000 acres in eastern Oregon this summer.
Reporter from VICE embeds with a fire crew
In this video Thomas Martin, a reporter from VICE, gets a close-up look at what it’s like to thin trees and construct fireline as he embeds with a crew from Grayback Forestry for a day, and gets outfitted with gear and swings a Pulaski for a few minutes.
At then end he sums up his impression of the work wildland firefighters do. And keep in mind during his time with the crew, it appears they were nowhere near a fire.
Firefighters around the world are universally acclaimed, and considered heroes. Forest firefighters, though, are in a league to themselves. They basically go into one of the deadliest situations in nature, something that we have all been instinctively hard wired to avoid on site or smell, no matter what. And get right up against the flames, and then do one of the hardest jobs imaginable, which is digging a ditch. It’s some of the hardest work I think that exists.
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Precipitation last 7 days
The above map shows precipitation during the seven days preceding September 5, 2015. Some areas in Montana, Idaho, Washington, and Oregon received over an inch.
The map below is the observed precipitation today, September 5, 2015. This rainfall over the last week, and in some cases snow, probably will not put out the large fires, but will certainly slow them down.
Ride with a SEAT pilot on the Windy Ridge Fire
Fred Johnson of AirRailImages sent us a link to this video that captures images through the windshield and audio from the radios as a Single Engine Air Tanker prepares to drop retardant on the Windy Ridge Fire. The Cornet/Windy Ridge Fire, four miles west of Durkee, Oregon, has burned over 102,000 acres of BLM and Oregon Department of Forestry protected private lands. The fire was turned back over to local units on August 26, probably as a result of this successful SEAT drop. 😉
And below is a unique viewpoint of a crew at Ontario, Oregon loading retardant into a seat. The video is from Aug. 14, 2015, by Larry Moore, BLM Vale.
Crescent Fire closes north entrance to Crater Lake National Park
Firefighters have closed the north entrance road to Crater Lake National Park in southwest Oregon due to activity on the Crescent Fire. The blaze is part of the National Creek Complex that also includes the National Fire on the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.
Both fires started during a series of lightning strikes on August 1, 2015. They are being managed under a full suppression strategy although the tactics may differ between the Park and Forest.
Canyon Creek Complex of fires in central Oregon
(UPDATED at 5:47 a.m. PT, August 19, 2015)
On Tuesday the Canyon Creek Complex of fires grew by over 4,000 acres and has now burned 48,200 acres (see the map below). Most of the growth was on the south side, but it also expanded west of Highway 385.
The Grant County Sheriff’s office reports that 36 residences have burned and 50 structures have been damaged.
The firefighting resources battling the fire include 826 personnel, 18 hand crews, 7 helicopters, 46 fire engines, 14 dozers, 5 skidgines, and 16 water tenders.
The fire is being managed by the Great Basin Incident Management Team (Incident Commander Lund) and the Oregon State Fire Marshal Red Team (Incident Commander Walker).
The south and southwest sides of the fire were very active Tuesday. Fire crews and dozers worked in the area, while heavy air tankers dropped fire retardant. The fire has burned south of the Dry Soda Lookout, along the 3925 Road and across Thompson Gulch on the Forest.
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(Originally published at 6:24 p.m. PT, August 18, 2015)
Since the Canyon Creek Complex of fires started in central Oregon on August 12 it has burned 36 structures and over 43,738 acres. Currently it is one mile south of Canyon City and 2.5 miles south of John Day, Oregon. (see the map below)