Nevada National Guard's Blackhawk dropping on the Davis Fire (Reno, NV)

Various State and regional National Guard Units, and other military reserve unit play crucial roles during busy fire seasons be sending their aircraft and crews to help fight wildfires. The Nevada National Guard deployed one of their UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopters to provide crucial air support to the Davis Fire currently burning near Reno Nevada. At the time I am writing this entry the Davis Fire has burned 6,500 acres near Reno, Nevada. 

The fire was first reported on September 7th. Mandatory evacuations are in place along with road closures in place in the vicinity of the fire and power outages. At least 14 homes have been impacted in some way. The Nevada National Guard Black Hawk was one of eight aircraft deployed to the fire as of Sunday evening, September 8th. Additional information may be found at this September 8th 7 PM news release reporting on the Davis Fire on Inciweb. KOLO8ABC out of Reno Nevada is covering the Davis Fire at the time of this writing, here is a link to their September 8th evening coverage.

2024 Wildfire Season: Salt & South Fork Fires, New Mexico

I want to thank a good friend of mine who sent me an article (dated July 19th) about the Salt and South Fork Wildfires that started on Monday, July 17th on Mescalero Apache tribal land. I learned from this article from the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal with photos that the State Police had found the bodies of two individuals who had died in the fires, that 1,400 homes in and around Ruidoso have been destroyed, there was a mandatory evacuation order in nearby Ruidoso, and that some residents were unaccounted for. Heavy rainfall has lead to other problems, most notably debris flows. I then went to Wildfire Today and saw that Kelly Andersson wrote about the Salt and South Fork Fires on June 18th.

I went to Inciweb a short time ago to find more information, their page on the Salt and South Fork Fires may be found here. I have shared their latest below. The current Incident Commander is Dave Gesser of The Southwest Area Incident Management Team 5. As I write this, the South Fork Fire has burned 16,349 acres and the Salt Fire has burned 7,652 acres. Both fires are at 0 percent containment. The State of New Mexico has similar information about these fires that I found here, please note that I suspect that this page is updated so depending on when you are reading this article you may see something different.

Obtained on June 21, 2024 at 2 PM from the South Fork and Salt Fires Inciweb Map page

Michelle Lujan Grisham, the Governor of New Mexico, declared a State of Emergency on June 20th authorizing $5.25 million for relief efforts. Also on June 20th, President Biden declared a Major Disaster Declaration to support relief efforts. KRWG Public Media out of New Mexico has  June 20th article on their website reporting on a Thursday night public meeting with a discussion on the effects of heavy rain on Wednesday night leading to flash flooding and the dangers of debris flows. Evacuation orders are still in place.

2024 Wildfire Season: Post Fire, AZ and Update on Adams and Spring Fires

On June 5th, I wrote about two larger wildfires that were burning in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona, the Adams and the Spring Fire. The Spring Fire was 100 percent contained at 4,097 acres over a week ago and the Adams Fire was also at 100 percent containment a week ago at 5,029 acres.

Direct link to video from OnsceneTV on YouTube

Thanks to my friends at the B10 New Jersey Wildfire Page where I learned about the Rose Fire, thanks to a video they shared today that I have embedded here. The fire started last Wednesday, June 12th near Wickenburg, AZ, north west of Phoenix in Maricopa County. I believe but am not sure that the footage fromthe scene of the wildfire was shot last Thursday, June 13th. While according the stats from Inciweb on the Rose Fire, the fire burned 166 acres it did destroy 15 structures, seven of which were residences along with some vehicles. What hit homes for me about this wildfire is that a relatively small wildfire of a couple of hundred acres can lead to the loss of people's homes and other structures and vehicles. 

SEATs were initially used on the wildfire before larger aircraft, Scoopers, Very Large Airtankers and Helicopters. News 12 out of Phoenix has a June 16th report (with a video) on the fire reporting on some losses of those who lost their homes.

Wildfires in Colorado in 2012-13

 It is a rather late on a busier than expected day where time got away from me. So I am sharing a video that I have bookmarked. This is a 28 minute video from the Denver Post about wildfires that ravished areas of Colorado in 2012 and 2013. Great journalism! Please take the time to watch the video, if not now bookmark it for later viewing.

Direct link to video from the Denver Post on YouTube

2020 wildfire season: thanks to NJFFS deployed in western USA

I am sure that many of you have joined me in thinking and offering our own personal prayers for all those affected by this devastating wildfire season in the western United States. As I have done so, I am every mindful of the men and women of the NJ Forest Fire Service (NJFFS) who are currently deployed on wildfires out west. So this post is in honor of all of the men and woman of the NJFFS who have served out west, are currently deployed out west, or are awaiting deployment. You are working hard on your assignments, I know that you are doing your best to be safe so that you can come home to your family and friends at the end of your deployment. I know that your service is appreciated by those who live or work near the fires you are working on. 

I found a nice article late last week, from the SandPaper (September 24th), New Jersey Forest Fire Service busier than ever this year with western wildfires. I want to share it with you and encourage you to take a few moments to read this great article offering a little insight into the work that NJFFS crews are doing out west. At the time the article was written, there had been 74 firefighters and 10 engines deployed out west. Most drove but at least one crew flew. One of the NJFFS firefighters who is deployed out west is Bill Donnelly from Mays Landing NJ, a 30 year veteran, who is serving as a task force leader. He shares a little about the work that his crews are doing:

‘A fire’s a fire’s a fire,” Donnelly said resolutely. “Some are bigger than others, but the work that goes into putting them out is the same.” That was not to downplay the gravity of the situation, as he described this particular season as “chaotic.’

‘It’s just like you see on the news,’ he said. ‘The fires are raging, burning down houses, killing people. There is something to be said about that.’

Donnelly’s team is in northern California, bordering Oregon, on a million-acre fire. ‘It’s a pretty big one,’ he said, comparing the size to about one-third of New Jersey. The work involved requires long hours and extensive hiking on very little rest. Just getting to the fire takes his team three to four hours. ‘We’re working in areas where homes have already burned down around us,’ he described. ‘We’re keeping it in check and keeping it from carrying on further.’

Donnelly outlined the multiple factors at work creating the prolonged disaster on the West Coast. First, there has simply been an overwhelming number of fires due to intense weather, high winds and low humidity: ‘All the ingredients necessary for fire are at play.’ With the longer season comes the need for more responders.

I wrote a couple of family and friends who live in southern California, telling them about all the crews and engines that the NJFFS has sent to California. They said to say "thank-you, we appreciate it." 

I don't want to leave out other states in the eastern region, please know how much your service means to me. 

I am honored by the service of all from New Jersey and elsewhere in the eastern region who have been or are currently deployed out west. You honor us with your service. Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you

2020 wildfire season: IMET deployments (September 1 to September 7)

With the continued ramp up in the wildfire season in the western United States, the National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists have been busy. According to the NWS IMET Facebook Page, as of September 4th, a total of 51 IMETs have been deployed to 73 separate incidents. I am going to list IMET deployments for the last week, from September 1st to September 7th, follow the links to the NWS IMET Facebook Page for more information and more links about each fire:

September 1

• North Complex Fire near Crescent Mills, CA
• Hidden Fire near Gisela, AZ
• Slink Fire near Coleville, CA

September 2

• Beachie Creek Fire near Detroit, OR
• Lionshead Fire near Warm Springs, OR

September 3

• Butte Lightning Complex near Oroville, CA
• Red Salmon Complex near Denny, CA

September 4

• Lofer Fire near Whiteriver, AZ
• Pine Gulch Fire near Grand Junction, CO (an IMET trainee)

September 5

• El Dorado Fire near Oak Glen, CA

September 6

• Valley Fire near Clovis, CA
• Creek Fire near Shaver Lake, CA

September 7

• East Fork Fire near Hanna, UT
• August Complex near Elk Creek, CA (an IMET trainee)

I am very thank-full for the good work that IMETs do to provide the best possible weather forecasts to the incident they are assigned to. IMETs keep wildland firefighters safe. IMETs save lives!

Note: IMET Trainees work with an IMET who is already assigned to the fire.

2020 wildfire season: July 29th

It is getting towards the end of July and I expect that many of you know that there is a lot of wildfire activity in the western portion of the United States. Many of you follow Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today, where he reports on a variety of current news affecting the wildfire community including reporting on many of the wildfires burning in the United States. For example two of the many recent wildfires he has reported on are the Caldwell Fire that has burned at least  67,789 acres and the Gold Fire, burning at least 21,000 acres  )

Another good source of current wildfire news is Mike Archer’s Wildfire News of the Day (WNOTD), a summary with links to current news and other articles of interest to the wildfire community including but not limited to current wildfires. Mike sends out his WNOTD emails to his subscribers Monday through Friday. Mike posted articles about the Caldwell and Gold Fires in the WNOTD I received on July 28th:

Caldwell Fire from kdrv, Mike's link expired but a quick search found a newer article: 

Gold Fire from ktvn

Large air tankers are working out west. As I write this there are a total of 28 large air tankers including two C-130 MAFF’s from the Air National Guard, the largest number of active  large air tankers in many years.  (see Bill Gabbert’s July 22nd article on Fire Aviation about the MAFFs activation. Bill has posted several articles on Fire Aviation in July 2020 showing some great photography of air tankers in action. 

I have often found good fire photography on incident pages on Inciweb, taken by firefighters working the fire, see for example Blue River 2 (28,051, last updated July10th) and Bringham Fire (23,142) acres, last updated on July 20th ), both wildfires are in Arizona. 

When I am following wildfires in my area or elsewhere I check my wildfire related bookmarks and may search the internet for more information on a given wildfire, often for my own curiosity and not for this blog. I may do so even when the wildfire is covered by some of the sources that I have already mentioned. Too numerous to list and specific sites will vary depending on the location of the wildfire: local media, state fire agencies, federal and state lands, private Facebook and Instagram groups, etc. Some of those sites will have good fire photography.

IMETs ready to save lives: first deployment of 2020

What may have been the first NWS Incident Meteorologist (IMETs) was deployed on June 3rd. I will get to that in a minute. I love because they save lives. The are National Weather Service Meteorologists who have special training to provide incident based weather forecasts to wildland firefighters working a wildfire. They are a national resource, IMETs will go anywhere in the United States and have been deployed internationally (see for example, my January 13th post on IMET deployments to Australia).

In the video below, you will hear IMET Jeremy Wolfe discuss what IMETs do. I have shared this video a couple of times on my blog, the most recent being on August 29, 2018.

Direct link to video on Youtube

If you want more information on what IMETs do, there is a nice news release from the National Weather Service explaining what IMETs do. I have posted this at least once before on this blog, but it is worth repeating, the NWS article on IMETs may be found here. Here is an excerpt:

Incident Meteorologists (IMETs) help keep the fire crews safe by enabling responders to plan operations taking into account one of the most variable aspects of the incident — the weather. They are NWS Forecasters who have been specially trained and certified to provide weather support at a fire location.

IMETs keep firefighters safe by interpreting weather information, assessing its effect on the fire and communicating it to fire crews. Once on-site, IMETs become key members of the incident command teams and provide continuous meteorological support for the duration of the incident.

IMETs are located in numerous NWS offices across the country. Once a large wildfire has started, an IMET is contacted and given orders to travel to the site of the fire as quickly as possible. Ken Simosko, an IMET with the NWS Bismarck Weather Forecast Office (WFO), has worked five fire incidents. “You have to be ready at a moment’s notice. I have my bag ready to go so that when I get the call, I can spend my time getting spun up on the history of the fire, its current and future situation. Usually an IMET is on scene within 24 hours to 48 hours of the initial call. This depends on the mode of travel [car or plane] and how far the IMET is from the wildland fire.”

If you want to follow IMET deployments, you might want to follow the US NWS IMET Facebook page, you do not need a Facebook account to access the content. On June 3rd, an IMET from the US National Weather Service Flagstaff Arizona Weather Forecast Office was deployed to the Sawtooth Fire that is currently burning near Superior Arizona.  As I write this, according to Inciweb the Sawtooth Fire has burned 24.729 acres and is at 42 percent containment (what you see at the link will be different depending on when you access this Inciweb information on the fire as active fire information may be updated frequently. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today has written a couple of articles on the Sawtooth Fire, you may find them here (the link is to his tagged articles, scroll down for the first article). 

2019 wildfire season: A sampling of wildfire activity in U.S. lower 48: May 29

We in the east and central portions of the United States are seeing an active weather pattern with severe thunderstorms and tornadoes, even in New Jersey. I hope that all are safe and heeding any warnings from your National Weather Service Weather Forecast Office whether they be fire related or for flash flooding, severe thunderstorms and tornadoes. Stay safe and be weather aware!

I am making this post and hoping to be offline before a severe thunderstorm to my west passes through my area within the next 45 minutes. We are under a tornado watch through 8 PM tonight. This is the second day in a row where we have been under a tornado watch, this is unusual for us in New Jersey and adjoining areas. So, I have to be quick to finish this up before the thunderstorm hits, I will update this post later today after the storm passes.

I was wondering about wildfire activity in the lower 48 of the United States. I'll get to that in a moment. I do know that of May 23rd that IMETs, aka Incident Meteorologists have yet to be deployed to wildfires in 2019 (see the May 23rd comment from the NWS IMET office on their May 6th Facebook Post. When I last checked the NWS IMET office Facebook page before writing this post, there were no posts about IMET deployments, however there may well be IMET deployments that I do not know about.

I read nothing into the face that there have been no IMET deployments as of May 23rd. All this could change very quickly and I suspect that in a month the situation will have changed. With that in mind, I was wondering about wildfire activity in the lower 48 states of the U.S. So, I went to Inciweb. What I share here, about four wildfires, is only a sampling of wildfire activity in the lower 48. There are likely wildfires that I do not know about.

Memorial Fire, Francis Mario National Forest, South Carolina: 1,300 acres, 85 percent containment, no structures threatened. Date of origin, May 26th.

Castolon fire, Big Bend National Park, Texas: fire started in Mexico on May 21st and jumped the Rio Grande River into Texas at Big Bend National Park on May 2nd quickly burning 944 acres, no fire growth since May 24th. Extensive damage of some park structures near Castolon (historic barracks, visitor's center and restrooms, store). Fire is 85 percent contained.

Mill Fire near Crown King, Arizona: 179 acres at 75 percent containment. last update on Inciweb was on May 8th, no growth anticipated.

Maroon fire near Flagstaff, Arizona: 100 acres, caused by lightning, date of origin was May 16th, last update on May 27th, no containment information.

IMETs save lives.

Stay safe everyone.

2018 Fire Season: Wildfires Burning in Western US

For the last few days I have been hard at work on some articles that I hope to post in a few days, stay tuned. In the meantime, I am aware of the wildfires burning in the Western United States.

I came across a nice New York Times article (limited free articles for non-subscribers) written by Thomas Fuller and Julie Turkewitz (with a video) on July 2nd. Thomas and Julie summarize 29 wildfires that were then burning in the Western United States. The title of the article uses the phrase, new normal, I certainly hope that this is not the new normal. But with the changing climate, I do wonder. Anyway, my thoughts and meditations are with all the wildland firefighters on the ground and in the air working these wildfires, support staff, and affected residents and business owners. I hope that everyone stays safe and heeds evacuation orders, whether they be mandatory or voluntary.

Among the wildfires burning out west are:

• Klamathon Fire (California), 8,000 acres, 1 dead, (CAL FIRE, article)
• County Fire (California), 88,375 acres acres (CAL FIRE, July 3rd article)
• Pawnee Fire (California), 15,000 acres (CAL FIRE)
• Lake Christine Fire (Colorado, 5,263 acres, (inciweb, article)
• Weston Pass Fire (Colorado), 12,902 acres (inciweb, article)
• West Valley Fire (Utah), 11,716 acres (inciweb, article - drone interference)

IMETs assigned to Buzzard Fire (NM)

Regular followers of this blog know that I am big fan of the National Weather Service Incident Meteorologists, according to the US National Weather Service IMET FB About Us Facebook Page, an Incident Meteorologist (IMET) is a National Weather Service (NWS) meteorologist specially trained to provide onsite weather support at wildfires and other all-hazard incidents.”

IMETs provide forecasts and briefings that all personnel working the wildfire to ensure the safety of all wildland firefighters and their support teams who are working the wildfire. If you are interested in learning about NWS IMETs as the 2018 wildfire season continues, you can read the NWS IMET Facebook Page, it is publicly available so you don’t need a Facebook account to read. Among the things they post about are IMET assignments to wildfires and other incidents along with fire safety tips and posts about NWS Fire Forecasting.

I went to the NWS IMET Facebook Page today to find about recent IMET assignments. I saw that two IMETs, including an IMET trainee were assigned to the Buzzard Fire in NM last week. I’ll get to the two IMETs in a moment. But first a little about the Buzzard Fire in NM. The Buzzard Fire is currently burning in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico, the fire has burned 20,300 acres and is at 34% containment as I write this. The Buzzard Fire was discovered on May 22nd. I found a map dated, May 28th on this Buzzard Fire Inciweb page that I am sharing below this paragraph. For those that like satellite photos of wildfires, here are some nice satellite photos of the Buzzard Fire, also from the Buzzard Fire Inciweb page, the satellite photos may be found here.

Obtained on May 30, 2018 from https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/photograph/5814/0/78172

Now to the IMETs that were assigned to this fire last week. I don’t know for sure if they are currently assigned to the Buzzard Fire, but they were on the fire late last week. On May 24th an IMET from the US National Weather service El Paso Texas was enroute to the Buzzard Fire, see this NWS IMET May 24th Facebook Post. Then two days later, on May 26th, an IMET trainee from the US National Weather Service Elko Nevada was enroute to the Buzzard Fire, see this NWS IMET May 26th Facebook Post  Thank-you IMETs for your work on the Buzzard Fire, what you do helps to keep the wildland firefighters safe as they work the wildfire. Stay safe!

Wildfire in Southwest: Stateline Fire (NM,CO,OK)

Updated on March 21, 2018 at 10:50 AM) According to a March 18th article from the Denver Post the Stateline that burned 28,105 acres across three states (CO-10,333 acres; NM-17,300 acres; and OK-112 acres) was mostly contained at the time the article was written. The Southwest Coordination Center is reporting today (via the map on their homepage) that the Stateline Fire is at 100 percent containment.

March 14, 2018

Things are getting back to some semblance of normal in New Jersey after two recent nor'easters with the nor'easter # 3 hitting Southern New England hard. I wanted to find out about the wildfire situation in Oklahoma so I went to the Oklahoma Forestry Services (OFS) Daily Situation Page (updated daily) where I accessed the OFS Daily Situation Report for today, March 14th. This report is not yet available on the OFC Fire News Blog, however I suspect that this report will be available in a day or so.

Anyway, I noted that there were several wildfires in Oklahoma that have been 100 percent contained including the 2,400 acre Duncan Fire that burned 2,400 acres in Pushmataha County, the Rocky Trail Fire that burned 230 acres in Pittsburg County and several fires that were contained at under 200 acres.

Of note, I learned about the Stateline Fire that has burned over 26,000 acres near the New Mexico-Colorado-Oklahoma state line. This grass fire is outside the OFS response area but the OFS sent resources to help fight this grass fire. According to the Southwest Coordination Center's Morning Report (March 14, 2018)  the Stateline grass fire was first reported on Match 8, has burned 26,768 acres 35 miles north of Clayton NM, and is at 50 percent containment as I write this. Helicopters are working the fire in support of the wildland firefighters on the ground. Further the Midewin Hotshot Crew is or was working the wildfire.

Here is a video from KOAA 5 from March 12th:



Direct link to video on Youtube

And another video from the Colorado Division of Fire Control taken from a Colorado Multi Mission Aircraft on or about March 12th.


Direct link to video on Youtube

Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today reported on the Stateline Fire in a March 12th article

Images from recent wildfires in California and Canada

Here are some videos and images from recent wildfire activity in California and Western Canada.

First up a video shot from the cockpit of a C-130 MAFFS from the 146th Airlift Wing team. There was a nice short article on the Weather Nation about this C-130 MAFFS with a link to the video from the National Guard that I am embedding below. This is great footage of the view from the cockpit of working a fire.


Direct link to video on Youtube from the National Guard


CBS News had a nice report (with a photo gallery and videos) on wildfires in California and western Canada (go here for the September 13th report from CBS News). The video link in the report that says "wildfires rage in 8 western states (dated September 3rd) may lead you to another CBS News video, However I did find a direct link to this video. As always, I am never quite certain how link the embed code for videos from network news outlets will work. So if you arrive here later to find that the videos no longer play, you will know why. Before I share the videos, there is a great photo gallery of images from wildfires in the western USA and Canada included in this CBS news report on the western widlfires. As fate would have it, I had trouble with the embed code that CBS news supplied, that happens sometimes so here are direct links to the two videos included in the report:

• Wildfires rage in 8 states (September 3, 2017)
• Time-lapse video of Eagle Creek Fire-OR (September 6, 2017)

Perhaps you will find references and links to these videos and the CBS September 13th report on the wildfires on other websites that cover wildland firefighting. I  heard about these reports and videos from Mike Archer's Wildfire News of the Day e-mail newsletter for September 19, 2017. Mike does a great job with the Wildfire News of the Day (5 or 6 days a week). Thanks Mike!

IMETs on wildfires burning in the western USA

IMETs are working several wildfires currently burning in the western USA, including but not limited to wildfires listed below. If you click on the day of the week in the Facebook posts below you will see the date of the post. Acreage and containment information is current as of 10AM EDT on July 17th. What you see when you click on the link for each fire may differ depending on when you are accessing this page.

Draw Fire (Nevada): 26,872 acres, 70% containment




Rooster Combs Fire (Nevada): 218,380 acres, 71% containment



Brooklyn Fire (Arizona): 32,804 acres, 100% containment 



Tongue River Complex (Montana): 28,957 acres, 80% containment



Whittier Fire (California): 13,199 acres,  52% containment

More on wildfires burning in the western USA

On July 10th, I wrote about two of the wildfires burning in California (Alamo and Whittier). When I read the New York Times yesterday, I saw two articles (with pictures) about the wildfires burning out west: one article on the wildfires burning in California and the other article on wildfires burning in the Western USA and Canada (with pictures). Wildfires in Arizona, Montana, Nevada and British Columbia Canada to name a few. Here are some of the wildfires currently burning in each area at various stages of containment (acreage and containment information as of July 12th at 2:45 PM EDT).

Arizona
Frye Fire (48,443 acres, 88% containment)
Hilltop Fire (33,826 acres, 75% containment)
Brooklyn Fire (32,804 acres, 85% containment)

Montana
Tongue River Complex (28,684 acres, 55% containment)
Blue Ridge Complex (3,000 acres, no containment)
July Fire (11,174 acres, 70% containment)

Nevada
Roosters Comb (120,000 acres, 15% containment)
Draw Fire (25,249 acres, 60% containment)
Tabor Flats Fire (25,000 acres, 95% containment)

British Columbia, Canada
Gustafsen wildfire (5,000 hectares, estimated or 12, 355 acres, no containment)
Hanceville Fires (10,000 hectares, estimated or 24,711 acres, no containment)
150 Mile House Fire (2,600 hectares, estimated or 6,425 acres, 50% containment)

If you are interested in more photos of the recent wildfires, check out The Weather Channel online as they have 126 photos of the recent wildfires in an article dated July 11th.

Thanks to the ground and air crews and their support staffs for all you are doing to keep us safe. Stay safe!

Utah National Guard (2013 Working Wildfires (part 2 of 3)

I am a little under the weather today with one of those darn summer colds. Enjoy this video, second of three parts) of the Utah National Guard engaging in aerial firefighting.


Direct link to video

I shared part 1 of this three part video series of the Utah National Guard on May 3rd.

A Neptune P2-V tanker in action (April 25, 2017)

I literally just saw a great video from Bob Webb of a Lockheed Neptune P2-V tanker in action. This is one of Neptune Aviation's P2-V's, T-14 (Webb/Bailey). You will see footage on the ramp and in action. Great camera placement. Bob just uploaded the video to Youtube on May 4th. Fire footage was shot on April 25 over the Sawmill Fire. Ramp footage at KFHU (Fort Huachuca Air Attack Base, Arizona). Second Mechanic and Videography by Dan Smith. Crew Chief: Dan Elliott.

Nice work guys, thanks for sharing this video with us. Stay safe and thanks for all you do to keep us safe.


Direct link to video from Bob Webb on Youtube

Utah Army National Guard (2013) working wildfires

Most of my regular readers know that I love helicopters. Here is part 1 of a 3 part video showing Utah Army National Guard Helicopters working Utah wildfires in 2013.

Matt this is for you, may you continue to fly in favorable tail winds. RIP my friend.


Direct link to video

Update (March 10th) - Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas wildfire outbreak

For those of you who are arriving here, I have written two articles on the current wildfire outbreak in Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas on March 7th and March 8th

Kansas and Oklahoma:

From the Oklahoma Forestry Services (Daily) Fire Situation Report for March 10, 2017:

Northwest Oklahoma Complex – The Southern Region Red Team (Type 1 IMT with Mike Dueitt, Incident Commander) assumed command of the Complex at 0700 today’s date. This Complex will be managed under Unified Command with Woodward, Buffalo, Laverne, Slapout, Moorland, Rosston and Beaver Fire Departments. Numerous OFS overhead, heavy equipment, Type 6 Engines, and aircraft are assigned to the complex to assist local fire departments with the control efforts. Other state forestry resources from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Kentucky have arrived and are committed to the firefighting effort. An Incident Command Post is established at the Woodward County Fairgrounds to facilitate resource assignments and ordering. Fire behavior was minimal during the previous burning period and expected to remain low today. A few flare-ups occurred on the fire, but mop-up and control line reinforcement continues. Aerial mapping is an ongoing process to provide updated acreages for each incident. Acreage figures may actually decrease due to more accurate mapping. 

Starbuck (Beaver and Harper County) – 662,687 acres total (464,308 acres in Kansas and 198,379 acres in Oklahoma), 10% containment. Near the Oklahoma communities of Buffalo, Knowles, Gate, Rosston, and Laverne. Numerous residences, secondary structures, livestock and other infrastructure lost. Damage assessments are on-going. Numerous communities remain on alert. 

Selman (Harper and Woodward County) – 44,338 acres, 25% containment, located approximately 10 miles north of Woodward. No estimate on residences or secondary structures lost. Damage assessments are on-going. Numerous residences remain threatened. 

283 Fire (Harper County) – 69,395 acres, 10% containment, located near the communities of Rosston, Laverne, and May. Damage assessments are on-going. Numerous communities remain on alert.

Texas:

From the Texas A&M Forest Service, Wildfire and Disasters, Fire Danger, Current Situation webpage , updated on March 10th at 8 AM local time (accessed on March 10, 2017, information updated frequently)

Perryton Fire in Ochiltree, Hemphill, Robers and Lipscomb Counties. 318,156 acres. Two homes destroyed. The Perryton Fire has a page on Inciweb. Containment is at 85 percent.

Dumas Complex Fire. Potter County near Amarillo. 28,800 acres (estimated). Fire is 100 containment.

Lefors East Fire. Gray and Wheeler Counties. 136,000 acres (estimated). Fire is 100 percent contained.

More information (kudos to Mike Archer at Wildfire News of the Day) for pointing me to these articles:

Cattlenetwork on losses to livestock
KFOR on Oklahoma Forestry Services asking for help
Kansas City Star - update on wildfires in Kansas

Tenderfoot Fire (AZ)

I just came across a couple of nice videos regarding the Tenderfoot Fire (started on June 8th, likely human caused) that burned 4,087 acres near Yarnell Arizonia and is at 97 percent containment as I write this. Bill Gabbert of Wildfire Today wrote about the Tenderfoot Fire on June 8th, last updated on June 11th.

I saw the first video just this morning on the Southwest Area Incident Management Team 3 Facebook Page,  showing sights and sounds of the Tenderfoot Fire.

Direct link to video from the Southwest Area Incident Management Team 3 on Facebook

The second video is from Scorched Sky Productions showing tanker operations from the Prescott AZ airattack base for the Tenderfoot Fire.

Direct link to video from Scorched Sky Productions on Youtube