Above: Tanker 55, a CV-580, drops water on the Bybee Creek Fire July 28, 2016. NPS photo. Click to enlarge.
The Bybee Creek Fire has burned close to the rim of the Crater Lake caldera in southwest Oregon. The 720-acre fire, when throwing out burning embers up to a half mile ahead, created one spot fire inside the caldera in Crater Lake National Park.
A spot fire inside the Crater Lake caldera on the Bybee Creek Fire. Undated NPS photo.
Information released by the Type 3 incident management team Wednesday morning reported that a fireline has been completed around the entire fire, but some of it is indirect. Firefighters will burn out the fuel between the line and the fire as soon as conditions are favorable.
A Type 1 incident management team has been ordered and some of its members were on scene Wednesday morning. A decision will be made, in light of the current state of the fire, if the Type 1 team will assume command of the fire.
3-D map of the Bybee Creek Fire in Crater Lake National Park. The red dots represent heat detected by a satellite at 3:06 a.m. PDT August 3, 2016; the yellow dots were from the previous six days. Click to enlarge.
The fire is burning in the scar from the 2006 Bibee Fire. One of the objectives of the incident management team is to keep the fire east of the Pacific Crest Trail, which is closed near the fire.
The Rim Village and National Park Headquarters are under a Level 1 evacuation notice — be ready to leave immediately.
Two water-scooping CL-415 air tankers, helicopters, and large air tankers have been assisting the firefighters on the ground. We asked spokesperson Lucinda Nolan if the helicopters were obtaining water from Crater Lake and she said “Gosh, no.” The scoopers are using water from Lost Creek Lake 27 miles southeast of the fire. Ms. Nolan said the air tankers have been dropping fugitive retardant which fades quickly to become nearly invisible, and water.
Secretary Jewell discusses the rehab of the Soda Fire and the illegal occupation of a National Wildlife Refuge.
In an interview with Rocky Barker of the Idaho Statesman, Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell talked about the rehabilitation of the Soda Fire that burned 279,000 acres in Oregon and Idaho southwest of Boise last August. She addressed some of the criticism about the rehab strategy and also talked about the illegal occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon and its effect on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employees.
Map of the Soda Fire (red line) at 9 p.m. MT, August 14, 2015. The brown and red dots represent heat detected by a satellite as late as 10:05 p.m. MT, August 14, 2015. The fire was actively spreading near the location of the red dots at that time — the red dots were the most current. (click to enlarge)
Photo above: Firefighters observe the Cougar Creek Fire southeast of Mt. Adams in southern Washington in 2015. From InciWeb.
The U.S. Forest Service has produced an exhaustive summary and review of the 2015 wildfire season in what they call their Pacific Northwest Region — what the interagency community calls the Northwest Geographic Area — Oregon and Washington.
The report is huge, 281 pages. In addition to general information about the fire activity, it includes sections about weather, air quality, technology, and summaries of 28 fires with 14 of those being covered in greater detail than the others.
The main 281-page report can be be found here (it’s a LARGE file). There is another version they call an “Interactive Story Journal” which provides summary information from the main report as well as interactive web maps, videos, and numerous photos as well as “time-enabled fire progression maps” for selected fires.
Below are some excerpts from the report:
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Most Severe Fire Season in Modern History
The 2015 fire season in the Pacific Northwest was the most severe in modern history from a variety of standpoints. Oregon and Washington experienced more than 3,800 wildfires (almost 2,300 in Oregon and more than 1,500 in Washington) that burned more than 1,600,000 acres (more than 630,000 acres in Oregon and more than 1,000,000 acres in Washington)—including 1,325 fires representing 507,000 acres on U.S. Forest Service lands (information as of September 30, 2015).
Initial Attack was successful in rapidly containing all but about 119 of these fires. This response represents an almost 97 percent Initial Attack success rate. Approximately 50 of these fire escapes occurred during a ten-day period in mid-August when numerous Large Fires (a wildfire of 100 acres or more in timber or 300 acres or more in grass/sage) were already burning in the Pacific Northwest. During this time, the Northern Rockies and Northern California were also experiencing unusually high numbers of wildfires. This situation limited the ability to rapidly obtain Initial Attack reinforcements as well as almost all types of firefighting resources needed for Large Fires.
Firefighters conduct a firing operation to protect homes on the Chelan Complex in Washington, 2015. Photo by Kari Greer.
Tragedy Strikes
Tragedy struck on August 19 when three U.S. Forest Service firefighters were killed while attacking a fire on private land near Twisp, Washington.
During this severe fire season, approximately 675 structures were lost. While well over 16,000 structures were threatened, most were saved from loss by aggressive suppression actions.
2015 Fire Season Milestones
In August, to help support Washington State’s fires, the Emergency Support Function 4 (ESF4) was activated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
The Emergency Conflagration Act—that authorizes the Oregon Office of the State Fire Marshal to mobilize structural firefighters and equipment to assist local resources battling fires—was invoked by the Governor of Oregon on July 30 in response to the Stouts Creek Fire, on August 13 for the Cornet Fire and Windy Ridge Fires, on August 14 for the Canyon Creek Fire, and on August 20 for the Grizzly Bear Complex.
The Washington State Fire Service Mobilization Plan is implemented to provide personnel, equipment, and other logistical resources from around the state when a wildland fire or other emergency exceeds the capacity of local jurisdictions. In mid-August, the Chief of the Washington State Patrol authorized such a state-declared mobilization on the Carpenter Road Fire, the Kettle Complex, and the Okanogan Complex.
The Pacific Northwest Region had the highest priority in the nation for firefighting resources during these dates: July 25 and 26, August 14-31, and September 8-13.
The Pacific Northwest Region was under a Preparedness Level 5 (the highest, most severe level) from August 13 through September 4.
The greatest number of uncontained fires occurred on August 18: 25 Large Fires totaling 822,512 acres in the Pacific Northwest Region (105 Large Fires totaling 2.2 million acres nationally).
Weather
The first six months of 2015 were the warmest first six months of any year over much of Oregon and Washington since record keeping began in 1895.
These record-warm temperatures observed during the winter and spring, coupled with below-average precipitation, led to an exceptionally poor snowpack throughout the winter and spring.
From June 1 through September 15, a total of 51,019 lightning strikes were recorded over Oregon and Washington. The average for fire seasons from 2000-2014 through September 15 is 78,775 strikes. While the number of the 2015 strikes was below this average, the background of drought in 2015 enhanced the ability for lightning strikes to ignite multiple fires in short periods of time.
Now that the terrorists who took over the facilities at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon have been arrested, there are new occupants in the fire lookout tower. Great Horned Owls.
Click on the photo a couple of times to see a larger version.
The wildland fire crew bunkhouse and all of the other buildings at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon have been freed from occupation by domestic terrorists. The last four remaining seditionists at the site were arrested today.
Prescribed fire at Malheur Nat’l wildlife Refuge. USFS photo by Shane Theall.
According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. their….
Malheur Fire Program and the Burns Interagency Fire Zone conducted a 2,250-acre prescribed fire on the Deer Park Unit of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge this week [late February, 2014]. Located in southeastern Oregon’s high desert, at the northern end of the Great Basin, the 187,000-acre National Wildlife Refuge is famous for its spectacular concentrations of wildlife. With its abundant water resources in an otherwise arid landscape, the Refuge hosts more than 320 bird species and 58 mammal species.
Prescribed fire at Malheur Nat’l Wildlife Refuge. USFWS photo by Carla Burnside.
