These photos are samples of those being uploaded by incident management teams to InciWeb over the last few weeks. If no date or photographer’s credit is listed, it means they were not provided on InciWeb.
Sampling of photos from recent fires
Kari Greer’s photos from Chelan fires
Many firefighters have seen Kari Greer on firelines in the western United States. She is a NIFC contract photographer with a Red Card which enables her to take assignments where she shadows firefighters as they work. These photos were taken within the last few weeks on fires near Lake Chelan, Washington. You can see more of the photos she has taken this summer here.
Articles on Wildfire Today tagged Kari Greer.
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.
Coroner’s report for Twisp River Fire fatlities
From the Seattle Times:
The three firefighters killed in a wildfire near Twisp, Okanogan County, last week died from smoke inhalation and “thermal injuries,” or burns, Okanogan County Coroner Dave Rodriguez said Friday.
The firefighters were driving up a steep gravel road and crashed down a 40-foot embankment, where the fire consumed them. The manner of death was classified as accidental.
Those killed Aug. 19 were Richard Wheeler, 31, Andrew Zajac, 26, and Tom Zbyszewski, 20.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Carl.
Unidentified smiling firefighter, identified
This photo was posted on the Idaho Magazine’s Facebook page on August 31, and on September 1 Nickie Cronauer identified herself. Another post where the photo appears has received almost 2,000 likes.
Thanks and a tip of the hat go out to Barbara.
Unmanned aircraft system goes on test flight over Paradise fire
The National Park Service announced on its Facebook page on Friday than an unmanned aircraft system, otherwise known as a drone, took a test flight over the Paradise fire at Olympic National Park to gather infrared data.
Here’s the park’s statement from the Facebook page:
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An operational test of UAS on the Paradise fire at Olympic National Park took place recently. Learn more about the purpose of the flights and check out the footage.
Unmanned Aircraft System was a Success on the Paradise Fire
For the past week an unmanned aircraft system (UAS) was utilized on the Paradise Fire. The system was demonstrating possible applications in wildland fire management and suppression. UAS’s can supplement manned aircraft, especially at times of reduced visibility due to smoky conditions and at night when manned firefighting aircraft may be limited in flying.
The primary goal of the UAS on the Paradise Fire was to gather infrared information. This information assisted fire officials in pinpointing the fires perimeter and identifying areas of intense heat. The extremely large old growth trees in the area of the Paradise Fire create a thick canopy that makes mapping the perimeter and observing hotspots from the air very difficult without infrared capabilities.
This was an operational demonstration provided by Insitu, Inc. with no direct cost to the government. The demonstration was one of a series of ongoing missions to further UAS use on wildland fire in national parks and is part of an interagency strategy for UAS integration into wildland fire support. The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) allowed the use of their land for the aircraft launch and recovery site. The purpose of the demonstration was to show the capabilities and effectiveness of unmanned aircraft technology on wildland fires. The ultimate goal for UAS use on wildland fire is to supply incident management teams (IMT) with real-time data products, and information regarding fire size and growth, fire behavior, fuels, and areas of heat concentration. Additional applications, such as search and rescue and animal surveys, may be explored.
As the fire season continues and more wildfires burn throughout the west, manned aviation resources are spread thin across the country and have become very difficult to acquire. In addition to supplementing aerial resources, UAS’s are quieter than manned aircraft, use less fuel, and present a much lower risk to employees.
This was not the first UAS to be flown in the Olympic National Park. The park partnered with the U.S. Geological Survey in 2012 to monitor sediment transport in the Elwha River as part of the Elwha restoration project using a Raven UAS.
The ScanEagle UAS that was flown on the Paradise Fire weighed approximately 50 lbs with a wingspan of 10.2 feet. The UAS was only operated within the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) temporary flight restriction (TFR) area. The TFR has been lifted.
Google Earth flyover of Washington complex fires
Kenji Kato has been posting daily Google Earth flyover updates on the Washington wildfires on his youtube.com channel. It’s a long video but worth the trip — using data from the U.S. Forest Service, Kato’s video looks at fire perimeters, hot spots, evacuation zones and homes burned among the series of large fires in Washington.
Large helibase sets up in Colville, WA
Tom Story, who is in Washington documenting some of the wildfire activity, spent time on Monday at the Hopps Helibase near Colville, WA. While in Washington, Tom also spent time with 200 U.S. Army soldiers who were training to assist in the firefighting effort.
Here is his dispatch from the Hopps Helibase on Aug. 25, 2015.
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Walker’s Area Command, based in Colville, WA, in August of the 2015 fire season, has setup a large helibase on farmland south of town. The property is owned by the Hopps family, thus giving the base it’s name. The facility allows both civilian contract helicopters a base and a location for military ships to stage until needed on the numerous fires in the area.
At Hopps this morning; August 25th, were a pair of Bell 205 A1++, two AStar A350s, one Bell 206 L4 as well as one of Columbia Helicopters Boeing Vertols joined by a couple of Blackhawks and a Chinook flying in from their overnight base at Fairchild A.F.B outside of Spokane.
The Federal Aviation Administration is operating a temporary tower at the helibase since up to 20 helicopters are anticipated to be using the base as the fire season continues in northeast Washington.
Okanogan complex largest fire in Washington history
The Okanogan complex fires have grown into the largest wildfire in Washington history at more than 256,567 acres, surpassing last year’s record-setting Carlton complex fires, which burned 256,108 acres.
The complex is now made up of what were five fires — the Twisp River fire, the Lime Belt fire, the Beaver Lake fire, the Blue Lake fire and the Tunk Block fire. The Lime Belt, Beaver Lake and Blue Lake fires have merged, according to the latest perimeter information from the U.S. Forest Service.
The two main branches of the fire — the merged Lime Belt fires and the Tunk Block fire — have burned more than 100,000 acres each.
The latest perimeter maps for the complex, taken from infrared data on Aug. 24, do not include the Twisp fire.
As of Aug. 24, more than 500 utility customers remain without power in Okanogan County, since the fire complex has destroyed more than 500 utility poles, according to the Okanogan County Public Utility District. It will take a week to restore power to some areas, while it could take a few weeks to restore power to others.
The Chelan complex fires (see below) also continued to rage south of the Okanogan complex. Infrared flights on Aug. 24 showed that the fire had grown 509 acres, expanding the fire perimeter to 87,830 acres.
Overall, the fire’s heat has dropped, particularly in the perimeter’s southern and eastern quadrants (highlighted blue area on the map). These quadrants were not scanned by IR flights on Aug. 24, since there has been little heat in those areas for several nights, according to flight information.
Army soldiers in Washington get their first fireline assignment
Tom Story, who is in Washington documenting some of the wildfire activity, has been spending time with some of the 200 soldiers that were trained last week to assist on the fires. These are his photos, and below is his report.
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Three crews from the freshly fire-trained Army Task Force First Round, from Joint Base Lewis-McChord near Tacoma, Washington, made their first trip to the fireline August 24, 2015 when they traveled north of the Kaniksu Complex’s Tower Fire in eastern Washington to the 300-acre Onata Fire. The Incident Management Team welcomed the additional help and gave the soldiers two tasks for the day: put in some hand line and help plumb, or install fire hose, on the bottom edge of the fire along a road the team wanted to use to halt the fire’s spread.
Like most things in fire, the plans changed on the scene and the hand line assignment was cancelled and the crews were put to work putting in a 1,500 foot hose lay in preparation for a burnout. Not only did the crew haul and lay a bunch of hose, they tied in with the Forest Service’s McKenzie River Hand Crew who were doing chain saw work, prepping for the burnout, lending a hand with swamping the cut material.
