2019 wildfire season: Sheep Fire at Idaho National Labs, late evening update

July 26, 2019 3:15 PM

Normal operations resumed at INL on Thursday, July 25. It is anticipated the Sheep Fire will be at 100 percent containment this evening. No INL structures were damaged, there were no injuries, and there were no radiation releases. At the time I am writing this, the INL Emergency Operations Page still has information on the Sheep Fire.


July 24, 2019 10:15 PM
I am writing to provide a late day update on the Sheep Fire that is burning on lands owned by the Idaho National Labs (INL), please see the article on the Sheep Fire that I wrote earlier this morning. I was out and about today enjoying a nice summer day in New Jersey. Even so, I found myself checking out the INL Emergency Operations Page as well as Bill Gabbert's Wildfire Today. I was waiting for INL to post their July 24th afternoon press conference about the Sheep Fire and looking for any updates by Bill Gabbert. Bill did not disappoint as he updated his reporting on the Sheep Fire at 6:37 MDT. He has a good report and I hope that you take the time to review his updated article with links to photos and videos of the fire as well as some information about weather conditions impacting fire operations this afternoon. Finally, He shared the video of INL's afternoon press conference, I will get to that in a minute. Briefly, important take-aways from Bill's latest update confirmed by INL Emergency Operations are:

• INL continues to monitor radiation and air quality. There are no radiation releases. 
• Commercial power at INL is not affected by the Sheep Fire. Repairs are underway to electrical infrastructure damaged in the fire without affecting power to INL.
• Normal operations at INL are expected to resume on Thursday, July 25th.

As I was preparing to write this article I first went back to the  INL Emergency Operations Page and saw their latest update today at 7:17 MDT (on July 24th) with some updates to the information reported in their earlier press conference. That is, the fire has burned 113,000 an increase of 3,000 acres from the figure reported earlier, containment is estimated at 60 percent, and the fire is no longer a threat to INL research facilities.

So, keeping in mind that there is later information not referred to in INL's July 24th press conference, I am sharing the video for your convenience. Those of you who have already seen Bill's article may have already watched this video on his site. Careful listening reveals that they were hoping for 50 to 60 percent containment and that they were in the process of doing some mapping of the fire to ascertain acreage burned. The video is over 24 minutes long. In the first 7 minutes of the video you will hear from various INL personnel and contractors about their operations. The report from the INL fire chief about wildfire operations starts at about 7 minutes followed by a Q&A period.

2019 wildfire season: Sheep Fire burns near Idaho National Labs

I was perusing Bill Gabbert's Wildfre Today site earlier this morning where I came upon his very good article (with a map) on July 23rd reporting on the Sheep Fire that has burned 90,000 acres near Idaho National Labs (about 24 miles north of Idaho Falls). Idaho National Labs (INL) engages in nuclear energy research and development. The Sheep Fire started from a lightning strike about 6:30 PM local time on Monday, July 22nd. INL's emergency operations center was activated a short time later on the 22nd.  As Bill has reported and confirmed by INL's Emergency Operations press releases:

• non-essential employees have been evacuated from several INL facilities, 
• INL is anticipating a loss of commercial electrical power and have back-up plans,
• INL continues to do radiation monitoring and levels are within normal parameters.

I understand from the INL Emergency Operations press release that firefighters from INL and the Bureau of Land Management responded to the wildfire. To follow the latest from the Sheep Fire, go to the INL Emergency Operations page where at the time I write this, they have a series of press releases, at the time I am writing this post, no injuries have been reported, winds continue to be a challenge, and air quality testing is ongoing. As always, if you are arriving here later, the information at the link I provided might be different. 

Idaho National Labs had a press conference on the afternoon of July 23rd, a summary of this press conference was posted to their Youtube Channel, and I am embedding it below. I did have some trouble with some of the audio, I could not hear some of the Q&As. But they did provide information on fighting the wildfire in the first few minutes of the video. For example, there has been airsupport including 1 very large airtanker, 3 large airtankers and a few SEATs. I believe that wildland firefighters through mutual aid from fire companies in and perhaps outside of Idaho have been helping local wildland firefighters fight the fire.

Direct link to July 23rd video from Idaho National Labs

Please see my late evening July 24th for an update on this fire.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 engine deployments (Sept. 5th): update

It has been several days since I posted my last update on the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) type-4 engines deployed in the western U.S. It is time to provide an update on where these engines are.

Engines A-45 and T-9 had been assigned to the Stone Fire (California) last week, they were demobilized from that fire, on or about August 28th with a possible crew rotation, see an August 28th post on Facebook from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association. The Stone Fire is now at 100 percent containment, having burned 39,387 acres.

Meanwhile Engines A-29 and T-5 were demobilized from the County Line Fire near Carlin Nevada, for more information see my August 27th post. According to the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association in an August 31st Facebook Post, crew rotation occurred on August 31st with engines A-29 and T-5 being assigned to the Great Basis Task Force.

I was wondering where these four NJFFS engines are currently assigned. I got my answer from my friends at the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association in their September 4th update on their Facebook Page. Engines A-45 and T-9 are currently assigned to the Hirz fire, 18 miles northeast of Redding CA (46,051 acres burned at 70 percent containment. Meanwhile, engines A-29 and T-5 (part of Great Basin Task Force 18) are working the Gance Fire in northern Elko County, Nevada (4,500 acres burned, containment unknown).

I continue to be very proud of the good work the NJFFS crews have done helping out our friends in California and the Great Basin fight wildfires. Some of you returned home in time to spend part of the holiday weekend with your family and friends in New Jersey. Others were fighting wildfires. Thank-you for your service and your sacrifice. Stay safe.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 engine deployments (Aug 27th): update

The two New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) Type-4 engines, B45 and T9 continue to be assigned to the Stone Fire where they are engaged in mop-up,  patrol containment lines, and suppressing spot fires. The Stone Fire has burned 39,387 acres and is at 72 percent containment as I write this. My friends at the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page have posted two updates on their Facebook page that you might be interested, an update from earlier this morning, August 27th and on August 24th they shared some photos and a video of the Stone Fire, the camp, and a nice shot of a nearby train. Photos and video courtesy of Kenny Lunden Jr.

Meanwhile, NJFFS type-4 engines, A29 and T5, were demobilized from the Sheep Creek Fire on Sunday, August 26th and reassigned to initial attack at the County Line Fire (5 miles south of Carlin, Nevada). As I write this, the County Line Fire has burned 12,833 acres and is at 50 percent containment. See this August 26th update from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association for more information on this deployment.

On August 27th, the Sheep Creek Fire had burned 59,789 acres and was at 100 percent containment.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 engine deployments (Aug 22th): new assignments

Thanks to my friends at the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page who have been posting updates on where the four New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) type-4 engines are currently deployed along with pictures and fire summaries.

On Monday August 20th, the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association shared that the two engines (A29 and T5) that are assigned to Elko District of the Bureau of Land Management where assigned to the Sheep Creek Fire about 15 miles northeast of Battle Mountain, Nevada (go here for the August 20th Facebook Post from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association). According to their August 22nd post, the Sheep Creek Fire is at 59,789 acres with 70 percent containment. The inciweb incident page for the Sheep Creek Fire may be found here with some photos, a map and other information. According to an update on the Sheep Creek Fire available on their inciweb page there are three helicopters work the fire. The Elko Daily Free Press ---- thanks NJFFS A2 Firefighters Assoc for the link to the article -- has a nice article about the Sheep Creek Fire, burning in Landers County, published on August 21st.

On Monday August 20th I shared some photos taken by one of the crew of the two NJFFS service engines (B45 and T9) that were then deployed as a part of strike team on the Carr Fire. According to the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association in an August 21st Facebook post engines B45 and T9 were released from the Carr Fire and deployed to the Stone Fire, and they posted an update on August 22nd about the Stone Fire. There is an inciweb page for the Stone Fire, as of today's update on inciweb, the Stone Fire has burned 29,504 acres at 20 percent containment with four helicopters working the fire and air tankers as needed.

I continue to be so very proud of the engine crews and their support vehicles for all the good work they are doing helping with the wildfires out west. Stay safe.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 engines deployed (Aug 17th)

As I write this post, the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) continues to have four type-4 engines and two support vehicles deployed out west.

NJFFS engines A29 and T5 along with car 37 are assigned to the Wells Fire Station in the Elko District of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). I understand from a post that the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association made on their Facebook Page on August 16th that these two engines were deployed to the Thousand Springs Fire north of Wells, Nevada on August 15th along with an airtanker. As of yesterday afternoon, the Thousand Springs Fire had burned 31.99 acres. Containment information is not known. More photos are available at an August 15th Facebook post by the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association.

I understand that NJFFS engines B45 and T9 continue to be assigned to the Carr Fire (217,598 acres burned at 75 percent containment) burning near Redding California.

Thank-you to all of the NJFFS crew of the engines and support vehicles working out west. Stay safe. We appreciate what you are doing to help crew out west fight wildfires.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 NJS #2 crew is home & engines still deployed (August 13)

The 20 person crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) that was deployed to the Red Canyon Fire in Colorado ended ended their service on or about August 11th and flew home on Sunday (see this post on the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page. Before flying home, the crew visited the Storm King Mountain Memorial site where 14 firefighters died on Storm King Mountain fighting the South Canyon Fire in 1994 (see the post from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page on August 11th for some photos). Thank-you for your service on the Red Canyon Fire. Enjoy a well deserved rest and time with your friends and family.

The NJFFS type 4 engines and two support cars continue to be deployed out west. Engines A29 and T5 along with car 37 continue to be available for initial attack out of Wells Fire Station in the BLM Elko Nevada District. The arrived at the Wells Fire Station on or about August 4th, I understand from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook page (go here and here) that the two engines were deployed to work initial attack this morning on an 1/10th of an acre fire in the Elko district along with an air attack plane, putting the fire out an hour or so after they were deployed to the fire. This is just the incident that I know about, I expect that they have worked initial attack since they arrived at Wells Fire Station last week. Thank-you for your service.

Engines B45 and T9 and an unknown support car continue to work the Carr Fire near Redding California (202,976 acres at 61 percent containment). They arrived at the Carr Fire on or about July 30th. Thank-you for your service.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 crews and engine deployment (Aug 8th)

For the past few days I have been posting about the NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) crews and type 4 enginse that are deployed in the western United States, see for example my August 4th update, my update on August 6th on NJS#2, and my update on August 6th about the two type-4 engines at BLM Elko Nevada Wells Fire Station. To the best of my knowledge the status of these resources are unchanged.

• NJS#2 continues to work the Red Canyon Fire (5,766 acres at 88 percent containment) that is burning 30 miles south of Rangely, Colorado. This crew was deployed on July 27th. Rains over the weekend helped to increase the containment of this fire.
• To the best of my knowledge, NJFFS type 4 engines A29 and T5 and car 37 continue to be staged at the Wells Fire Station in the BLM Elko (Nevada) District. I think but am not sure that they do not have an assignment as I write this and may be working initial attack out of the the Elko Interagency Dispatch Center (see this August 7th post from the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page
• NJFFS type 4 engines B45 and T9 and an unknown support vehicle continue to work the Carr Fire burning near Redding, California (173,522 acres at 47 percent containment). I am sure that many of you have seen various media reports about this fire, here are two links I thought you might enjoy, one is a video and slide show from express.co.uk in the United Kingdom and the second are some photos of the California wildfires from space (Space.com)

For all of my friends from the NJFFS who are working these fires or working initial attack at Elko, thank-you for all you do. I am glad that you are helping out. That is what mutual aid is all about. While New Jersey has not recently had any fires requiring mutual aid from out of state, we have had several weather events that lead to massive power failures, where utility crews came from across the United States to help us.  

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 engine deployment (Aug 6th): Engines at BLM Elko Wells Fire Station

Those of you who have been following along on the travels and staging of two New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) Type 4 engines may recall from my August 4th post that engines A29, T5 and car 37 arrived in Idaho last Friday, August 3rd and were released from the Sharps Fire. The were deployed to the Wells Fire Station in the BLM Elko Nevada district. I believe that they are still staged at the Wells Fire Station. My friend from the NJFFS Division A sent along some photos from the engines staged at the Wells Fire Station. I believe that the photos were taken sometime over the weekend. These photos are courtesy of Eric Weber, NJFFS Section Warden A3. Beautiful country.

I am very glad that you are in Nevada helping out with any wildfires near Elko, Nevada. I am so proud of you. You represent New Jersey well. Stay safe.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 about engines deployed in western U.S.

On August 1st, I wrote about the New Jersey Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) crews and engines that are deployed in the Western United States. To the best of my knowledge the NJFFS crew, aka NJS#2, is still working the Red Canyon Fire (5,766 acres burned). For those of you who are interested, here is a video update posted on Inciweb (August 3rd, midday). According to the latest Eastern Area Interagency Resources Representative (IARR) for the Eastern Area Coordination Center (link to current IARR on main page) the NJS#2 crew is doing "hotspotting, digging, securing, and holding control lines."

I want to write a little about the engines that NJFFS sent out west. Recall that two type 4 engines from the NJFSS arrived in California on July 30th and are currently assigned to the Carr Fire near Redding CA (131,896 acres burned at 39 percent containment, 1,067 residence destroyed, two firefighters and four civilians dead). The two NJFFS type 4 engines that left New Jersey on July 31st for Idaho to work the Sharps Fire near Bellevue Idaho (57,253 acres, 29 percent containment) arrived at the incident command past for the Sharpes Fire shortly after noon local time.

I asked a friend from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service for a little more information on the four engines sent out west and what is their usual assignment in New Jersey. For a little geography the New Jersey Forest Fire Service is divided in three divisions, you may see the map here.

Assigned to the Carr Fire: two type 4 engines: B45 from Division B (central NJ), and T9 from Division C (southern NJ). B-45 carries 900 gallons of water and T9 carries 1,000 gallons of water. For those that are interested, both have a 2011 Freightliner chassis.  There is a picture of T9 from NorCal Fire Weather shared by NJFFS Section A2 Fire Association on Facebook the other day that may be found here. In addition there is a support vehicle, probably a pick-up truck that traveled with B45 and T9, I don't have any further information.

Assigned to the Sharps Fire: two type 4 engines: A29 from Division A (northern NJ, I live in Division A), and T9 from Division C (southern NJ). Both are type 4 engines with 1,000 gallon tanks. Like the two type 4 engines assigned to the Carr Fire, they have a 2011 Freightliner chassis. The crews that traveled out west sent along photos to the NJFFS Section A2 Fire Association on Facebook, here is a nice photo shot at a the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Monument east of Laramie Wyoming on August 2nd of the two engines and their support vehicle, car 37 (2017 Chevy Pick-up, 4 door, 4x4).

Some of you may be interested in reading more about wildland fire engines such as the NJFFS Type 4 engines. I asked my friend from the NJFFS for some more information to share with you about their engines, and he sent me along a link to Chapter 14 from the latest (2018) Redbook (Interagency Standards for Fire and Fire Aviation Operations) on Firefighting Equipment, you may find a chart describing the different engine types on the third page of that chapter. You may read about other equipment in this nine-page chapter.

In addition, my friend sent along a second link (42 pages) from the USDA Forest Service of Apparatus Body Only Specifications for Type 4 Fire Apparatus, found here. This document may be more information than you want to know, but some of you might be interested in looking through this document. This link was current at the time I posted this article.

NJ Forest Fire Service 2018 crew and engine deployment (Aug. 1st)

I am still interested in following New Jersey Forest Fire Service crews and engines deployed to wildfires in the Western United States. I was aware, thanks to my friends at the B10 NJ Wildland Fire Page and the NJFFS A2 Firefighters Association Facebook Page (NJFFS A2) (see for example this post on the crew deployed to the Red Canyon Fire in Colorado and a post about two more engines currently enroute to Idaho).

Knowing that the New Jersey Forest Fire Service has crews and engines deployed or on their way to work wildfires out west, I was looking for one place where I could find information to share with you. I poked around on the Eastern Area Coordination Center website and found a resource summary (dated August 1st) that lists all crews and engines from the eastern area that are committed to wildfires outside the eastern area. I suspect that this page is updated daily while resources are deployed outside the area, so what you see may be different. Engines and crews from New Jersey deployed outside the eastern area are:

• NJS#2 crew currently working the Red Canyon Fire 30 miles south of Rangely CO, 3,075 acres (pictures and August 1st update from NJFFS A2)
• Two Type 4 engines and crew from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service arrived in California sometime on July 30th and are assigned to the Carr Fire (near Redding CA), for a photo taken of one of the NJFFS engines see this post August 1st post from the NJFFS A2. 115,538 acres burned at 35 percent containment. Structures destroyed: 1,018 residences, 12 commercial, and 435 outbuildings. Evacuations remain in place. Two firefighters and four civilians have died.
• Finally, there are two more type 4 engines from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service that left New Jersey on July 31st to work the Sharps Fire near Bellevue, Idaho (38,360 acres at 21 percent containment). As of early afternoon on August 1st they were in Elkhard, Indiana refueling (from NJFFS A2).

I am honored that these wonderful men and women from the New Jersey Forest Fire Service, and their engines (as applicable) are helping fight these wildfires out west. I am proud of all of you. Stay safe. 

IMETs in action: July 23 2018

Wildfire activity is on the increase in the United States, according to the National Interagency Fire Center the national (wildfire) preparedness level was raised to four (on a five point scale) as I write this blog post. National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologists, aka IMETS, are always busy during wildfire season, this one being no exception. They are perhaps, a little busier with the national preparedness level being four.

Among recent IMET deployments, with links to fire information from Inciweb where available, are:

• NWS Western Region Headquarters IMET deployed to the Sugar Pine Fire (near Prospect Oregon) on July 19th, current fire information from Inciweb at 886 acres burned, containment unknown.
• NWS Ohio River Forecast Center IMET trainee deployed to Sugar Pine Fire (near Prospect Oregon on July 21st.
• NWS Burlington VT IMET deployed to Lake Christine Fire (near Basalt Colorado) on July 20th, current fire information from Inciweb at 11,459 acres at 32 percent containment.
• NWS Portland OR IMET deployed to Timber Crater Fire (near Chemult Oregon).
• NWS Hanford California IMET deployed to Horse Creek Fire (near Mineral King, California) on July 22nd, current fire information from Inciweb at 30 acres with no containment
• NWS Elko Nevada IMET deployed to Owyhee Fire (near Owyhee, Nevada) on July 22nd, current fire information from Inciweb at 5,082 acres at 10 percent containment.

IMETs save lives. Stay safe everyone, and thanks to the wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air along with their support teams for working to keep us safe from wildfires.

Idaho wildfires update

Video that I originally embedded here is no longer available and the link is removed (8/2/15)

Continuing to follow up on the wildfires burning in Idaho, see my earlier posts on Aug 13 and Aug 15, there continue to be a few large wildfires burning in Idaho, see the Idaho page on inci web for current information. These are the three largest fires:

Beaver Creek Fire -- 92,754 acres burned -- 6% contained
Elk Complex -- 125,033 acres burned --  50% contained
Pony Complex -- 149,384 acres burned -- 90% contained

My thoughts and prayers are extended to all affected by the wildfires in Idaho and the groundpounders and their friends in the air. I understand that there are tankers and helos working the fires

From the Idaho Statesmen: article dated Aug 17, photo gallery, and video

KBOI report from August 16 on evacuations resulting from the Beaver Creek Fire.

Aerial footage of wildfires in Idaho

I'm not sure how long this embed code from KTVB in Boise, Idaho will work. Nonetheless, I was interested in this footage that I just came across thanks to Michael Archer's Fire Publications Blog, so I am sharing it here. The footage, shot on August 14, shows the extent of the destruction from the wildfires that are currently burning in Idaho. I wrote about the Idaho wildfires the other day.

.
 direct link to article with video from KTVB

Idaho wildfires tanker and helo activity

direct link to video

I am sure that some of you no doubt know about the multiple large wildfires burning in Idaho. Bill Gabbert has been doing a nice job of reporting on these fires here. The two largest are the Pony Complex (143,900 acres burned) and the Elk Complex (98,413 acres burned). A complete current listing of wildfires on federal lands in Idaho may be found on inciweb's Idaho page. I came across the video that I am sharing with you here yesterday evening of tanker and helo ops in Idaho so I am sharing it with you.

Opps, almost forgot. Pennsylvania and New Jersey are among the states that have sent wildland firefighting crews to Idaho to help out, see this report (dated Aug. 6) from WGAL news 8 for more info.

Some Wildfires in CA,ID, OR, and WA

Over the weekend, a couple of my friends have commented to me about various wildfires burning out west. This gave me the idea for today's post. I can not do justice here to all the wildfires currently burning,so I'm not even going to try. But I am going to write about some wildfires burning in CA, OR, ID, and WA. As time goes on, I'll try to report on wildfires in other regions and internationally.

California

Ponderosa Fire (CA) - update. As of Aug. 27, 2 PM EDT, the Ponderosa Fire has burned 27,676 acres and is at 85% containment. Fifty-two residences and 9- outbuildings have been destroyed. Evacuation orders for property owners within the fire's perimeter have been lifted. The latest update from CAL FIRE may be found here. I posted on this fire and the aerial assault on this fire on August 20, Aug. 22, and Aug. 24.

CAL FIRE's fire information page, with a listing of current wildfires, may be found here. Inciweb lists some California wildfires, including those burning on national lands here.

Oregon
I would be remiss not to include Oregon. Earlier this month, on August 5 to be exact lightning ignited what is now known as the Holloway Fire that has burned 461,047 acres in Oregon and Nevada. According to the latest Inciweb report for the Holloway Fire dated on or about Aug. 22, the fire is at 97% containment. 245,505 have burned in Oregon and 215,542 acres have burned in Nevada. Inciweb has a link to a map of the Holloway Fire showing its progression and showing areas burned in Oregon and Nevada.

There are two other wildfires in Oregon that have burned in excess of 50,000 acres: Cache Creek (56,000 acres; 40% containment  and the Barry Point Fire (93,071 acres; 97% containment.

The inciweb page for Oregon may be found here. The Oregon Dept of Forestry has  a Wildfire Blog where they post daily updates during wildfire season as well as other news.

Washington
Inciweb has three wildfires of at list 5,000 acres in Washington listed as active on Aug. 27. These are the Taylor Bridge Fire (23,500 acres; 91% containment; Buffalo Lake Road Fire (11,299 acres; 100% contained) and the Antoine 2 Fire (6,837 acres; 90% containment.

The main page for the Washington Dept. of Natural Resources fire information page may be found here including a link to the WA DNF aviation and helitack program webpage.

The Northwest Geographic Area Coordination Center covers both Washington and Oregon.

Idaho
Trinity Ridge Fire (ID). The Trinity Ridge is one of a few large wildfires currently burning in Idaho. I first reported on the Trinity Ridge Fire, still burning in the Boise National Forest in Idaho on Aug.13. As I write this, the fire has burned 128,200 acres and is at 5% containment.

There is a good short summary of these and other wildfires burning in Idaho on this Smokeshowin thread. You might also want to check out the listing of Idaho Wildfires from InciWeb. More information on wildfires in Idaho can be found at either the the  East Basin Geographic Coordination Center (southern Idaho or the Northern Rockies Geographic Area Coordination Centers.

The Fire Management webpage of the Idaho Dept. of Lands may be found here including a link to a daily fire report (an excel spreadsheet).

Stay safe out there everyone!

Idaho Wildfires Update #1

One of the DC-10 tankers and a MAFFS C-130 did indeed work the Ourada Ranch Fire (419 acres) near Boise, Idaho. See this report from KBOI 2 for more information, along with their photo gallery.

Idaho Wildfires

In my wonderings over the last few days I have been hearing the news about the many wildfires currently burning in Idaho. I am not able to pull together links and other resources for you on all these fires. Nor am I going to even try to list all the fires. I'd like to start by reporting a line of duty death, the Idaho Statesman reports on the death of Anne Veseth, a USFS firefighter who was killed by a tree while working a fire near Lewistown Idaho, she was working the Steep Corner Fire (43 acres) in the Nez Perce-clearwater National Forest.

I thought that it might be useful to find some articles summarizing the current wildfire situation in Idaho. To that end, I found this short report dated Aug 12, 2012 story from KTVB7 on wildfires burning in Idaho along with this short report from KIVI ABC6. You might enjoy: a photo gallery from KBOI2 of a grass fire near Boise and another photo gallery from KTVB 7.

One of the first things that I did in preparing this article was to go to the current listing of Idaho Wildfires on InciWeb (as of about 2 PM EDT on Aug. 13, 2012). For brevity, I am only listing the Idaho wildfires that have burned at least 10,000 acres:

• Halstead Fire Salmon-Challis National Forest. Fire origin on Fri. July 27, 2012 from lightning, 49,322 acres, 3% contained
• Minidoka Complex Sawtooth National Forest. Fire origin on Sun. Aug 5, 2012 from lightning, 92,511 acres, 44% contained. Boise National Forest. 
• Trinity Ridge Fire Boise National Forest. Fire origin on Fri. Aug 3, 2012 probably human caused, 37.044 acres, 5% contained.
• Flat Top 2 Twins Falls District of the Bureau of Land Management. Fire origin on Sun. Aug. 5, 2012 from lightning, 140,000 acres, 60% contained. 

I then went and downloaded the today Incident Management Situation Report from the National Interagency Coordination Center, go here to obtain the current version which will differ from the one that I downloaded today (8/13/12). I like this report because it summarizes national wildfire activity by region. A good place to start. One of the reasons why I like this National Situation Report is that it includes some fires that I can not find on InciWeb. For example, I found about the Faust Fire (wildlandfire hotlist thread that has burned 22,045 acres and is 30% contained from today's National Situation Report. I believe that the Faust Fire is burning on Bureau of Land Management Lands.

More information on wildfires burning in Idaho may be found at the Northern Rockies Coordination Center (Northern Idaho) or the Eastern Great Basin Geographic Coordination Center (southern Idaho). The fire management webpage of the Idaho Dept of Lands may be found here.

As for aerial resources working these fires, Wildfire Today posted some pictures of helos working a wildfire in southern Idaho. I then found that the Idaho Statesman is reporting on NC Air National Guard deployment to Boise Idaho for wildland firefighting, from what I understand the 145th will send two aircraft with 16 airmen to Boise. Finally, as I was working on this article, I found a report from KTVB7 that one of the DC-10 tankers is being dispatched to fight the Ourada Ranch Brush Fire near Boise Idaho, a photo gallery may be found on this page from KTVB in Boise. I'll try to follow-up on both the DC-10 tanker and the 145th deployment.

 I'd like to thank my friend from Boise for pointing me to some of the Boise news outlets.

A view of the western wildfires in the U.S. from space

I was a bit behind in my work of writing this blog today and was wondering what to post. I was saved, so to speak, by today's edition of Firebomber Publications by Michael Archer. One of the articles that Michael included is this article referring to a video made by astronauts on the International Space Station of the wildfires currently burning in the western region of the U.S. I found the video on Space.com. Enjoy.

Wood Hollow Fire (Utah)

The report from Fox 13 in Salt Lake City that goes with the video may be found here.

As I write this on June 27 at about 4:45 PM EDT, the Wood Hollow Fire (UT) has burned about 46,190 acres, one civilian is dead, dozens of homes have been burned and evacuations are in place. It is 15% contained.

Updated on June 28, 2012 at 10:45 AM EDT to include one video report from Fox 13 in Salt Lake City. ABC News 4 in Salt Lake City also had decent coverage, but I was only able to embed their play list, which I thought might be a little confusing for some so I decided not to use their embed code. However, if you are so inclined you might want to check out the ABC News 4 coverage.