2021 wildfire season: wildfires in western U.S. (July 21st edition)

Living on the east coast of the United States, and being someone who reads the news feed and reads my newspapers (print and digital), I can not help but notice the news of the extreme and devastating wildfire out west. My heart goes out to those affected and living in the path of these wildfires as well as all the wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air working these wildfires.  Among the wildfires that Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has covered recently are the Dixie Fire in Northern California and the Tamarack Fire, also in Northern California. On July 18th Bill posted a quick summary of wildfires in Washington and Oregon.

Inciweb information on the Bootleg Fire in Oregon, the Dixie Fire CA), and the Tamarack Fire (CA).

I think that best way that I can offer my concern and thoughts for what those of you in the west are experiencing during this devastating wildfire season is to offer these two videos. The first video is from ABC10 in Northern California with a July 20th report on some of the major wildfires in that part of California.

Direct link to video from ABC10

The last video that I will share with you is July 20th report from the PBS Newshour. You will hear an interview with  Carrie Billbao of the National Interagency Fire Center discussing the extreme fire behavior in the western United States.

Direct link to video from PBS Newshour 

2021 wildfire season: wildfires out west (July 19th)

I must start with offering my kudos to all who report on what may be yet another catastrophic wildfire season in the western United States. On a regular, if not daily basis, my two go two sources of wildfire and fire aviation reporting are Bill Gabbert's Wildfire Today and Fire Aviation and Mike Archers Wildfire News of the Day e-mail newsletter (five days a week). Without them, what I try to do would be a lot harder. I myself do not "report" and I may not always write a post about the wildfire season in the western United States, but I do try to be aware of what is going on. There are also various and sundry over the air, cable, print/online news media, various state and federal agencies, and a myriad of social media sites. 

A conversation with a friend of mine about the major wildfire out west led me to offer this article to acknowledge that I am troubled by the extreme drought, heat waves and the major wildfires burning out west. More importantly, I care about our wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air fighting wildfires. Thank-you firefighters for your service, I pray for your safety.

According the the National Interagency Fire Center in their National Wildfire News for July 19th:

Wildfire activity continues in 13 states where 80 large fires have burned 1,174,486 acres. More than 19,600 wildland firefighters and support personnel are assigned to incidents. To date, 35,086 wildfires have burned 2,537,744 acres in the United States. 

Over the weekend, fuels and fire behavior advisories were issued for south/central Idaho, Northern California, Northern Rockies, and south/central Oregon. Many of these advisories describe extraordinarily dry fuels, resulting in elevated fire potential and fire activity. 

What I offer here are four videos which offer only a brief glimpse into what is going out west. Many, but not all of these fires may be found on inciweb. Included in the wildfires that Bill Gabbert is covering are the Tamarack Fire (CA) and the Bootleg Fire (OR).

Direct link to video from CBS Evening News (July 17th)

Direct link to video from KPIX CBS in San Francisco

Direct link to video from The Oregonian

Direct link to video from KGW News