2014 Fire Season

[Ron Scott]

"Unprecedented" Winter Wildfires in Far Northern California

SFgate.com (January 6) - In an "unprecedented" step for this early in the year, firefighters are heading to far Northern California to battle wildland blazes-and team leaders are afraid more such fires could be on the way.

The Marin County Fire Department rolled its resources north over the weekend to fight the Red Fire about 20 miles east of Arcata in Humboldt County, and to the Campbell Fire about 20 miles east of Red Bluff in the Lassen National Forest.

The fires are a lot less dangerous than many that erupt in the summer. But fire experts are worried all the same, because January is a time of year when the northern reaches of the state normally are too wet to ignite.

The E-Forester

[gologit]

Ron...With our drought conditions we look for more of this.  We don't have a fire "season" anymore, we just have a time of the year when things don't burn quite as much.

[ashes]

I has been really dry this winter. We got a little rain two days ago, but with it was some lightning. That is pretty rare for the coast as far as I have seen. I flew from San Fran up to Arcata a week ago and Northern CA looked really brown the entire way up. This could be a bad fire year up here if we don't get some major precipitation in the next months.

[RPF2509]

I hope we have more fires before summer starts - then they won't burn so hot!  I can't believe the Forest Service called a halt to burning here in the McCloud area because of the fire danger. You'd think they'd realize its better to control  burn in winter then a wildfire in summer.  Look at the Rim fire - 400k acres (biggest ever in CA) , Ponderosa 44K acres  Bagely - 50K acres and more all in the last two summers.  I've been into the Bagely and the erosion from the cooked soils is unbelievable.  Plus the enviros have sued the FS to prevent salvage loggin in the Rim fire.  Even if all the loggers in CA went to salvage they would not get 10% of the volume before it rotted. Maybe this summer will be the great conflagration and CA will finally get smart about fire.

[terry f]

    Growing up in the Mount Shasta-McCloud area, fire worries in January would have been unheard of. Hope everyone makes it through the summer OK.

[wwsjr]

We have had Red Flag warnings for several weeks during January. Seven counties south of me have burn ban in effect. I have never seen it this dry in winters' past. Within the past week we have 67 fires within the 5 county district. Cause of the majority of fires has been people burning trash and rubbish around their homes. None of the fires could even come close to the fires out west. Size ranged from 1 acre to 75 acres. I have two trucks in my FD that I use on grass/woods fires, however neither can actually go "off road". I added wildland fire fighting into my department training and updated our response plan earlier in January. We have to fight from roadways, logging roads, firebreaks, etc. Mississippi Forestry Commission has one dozier/plow in each county, very effective if fire does not get up in the crowns of trees.  Controlled burns earlier this winter have helped with less fuel available in some areas along with firebreaks being constructed by landowners. So far no structures have been lost. 50% to 80% chance of rain predicted this weekend. Humidity has been in the 30% range with 25MPH winds which is rare in a Mississippi winter. My 32 sq mi fire district has had only 1 small 2 acre fire, but we have provided mutual aid to other districts. We need rain.

[Ron Scott]

US Forest Service Increases Its Firefighting Aircraft Fleet as Fire Season Begins

May 20, 2014 - In the face of what is shaping up to be a catastrophic fire season in the Southwest, the US Forest Service is adding four additional aircraft to its next-generation firefighting fleet, bringing the total amount of aircraft to 21 large air tankers (with opportunities to add additional aircraft, if needed) and more than 100 helicopters. The new aircraft will enter service in the coming weeks and support over 10,000 firefighters for the 2014 wildfire season.

The E-Forester

[gimpy]

Cough, cough, cough. You think it was bad 6 months ago, look at some satellite images of the present fire situation. From northern CA through Southern Oregon, we can barely breathe. God bless all our fire service workers.

[beenthere]

Can see what you mean from this FS fire map.

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

[g_man]

My daughter lives in OR. We just got back from a road trip out there. We went from the Klamath, OR area to Lassen, CA and saw acres and acres of recent fire aftermath and some still burning especially around Klamath. We saw mostly Ponderosa Pine. The ground was black and burned clean, and the tree butts blackened. Some places the pine needles were burned off but mostly they were just heated enough to turn them brown but not burnt. There was smoke in the air every where. Lots of fire crews and equipment. My wife took these shots thru the car window as we drove. For some reason the blackness of the ground and trees did not show up well thru the window. But believe me every thing down low is black and either bare ground or rock.



 



 



 



 



 

gg

[sawguy21]

It ha been one of the worst seasons on record in the west. Over 200 fires in B.C. alone and air quality is the pits.

[ST Ranch]

G-Man.  I really enjoyed your pictures.  Kind of devstating from one perspective, but interesting from an ecological point of view [if you can ignore the damage and havoc the fires caused to any people and infrastructure that was damaged]. Ponderosa Pine stands used to experience ground fires and lower intensity crown fires, on a regular basis before "Smokey the Bear"and from the pics, I expect those stands of trees will survive. - They will now be a bit more resitant to future fires for a few years.  It is too bad these fires occur in the heat of the summer, rather than in the shoulder season when they woud be a bit cooler possibly more manageable.
Here in BC, as sawguy puts it, we have been having our share of ligthening strike fires, but the worst seem to be the urban interface fires in the dry Ponerosa zone. I also believe a lot of our smoke in southern BC is coming north from the Carlton fire complex in WA state
Tom

[gologit]

Fires?

http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_current


http://yubanet.com/CAFires/index.php

[Hitchcock Woods]

I wish West Coast weather conditions were more conducive to prescribed fire.  We burn for many reasons in the Southeast (especially in Longleaf Pine forests) but one of the main reasons is to help prevent wildfires.

[pine]

Talking with one of the DNR fire guys last week.  He told me from the lightening storm 4 days before we had 35 small fire areas that were created in 3 counties in western Washington.  None of them were out of control but that Plum Creek Timber was thankfully right on top of monitoring the area for any more.  It is bad.  We have mismanaged things for so long that most fires burn way too hot anymore and thus get total destruction rather than the low intensity fires of old.

[beenthere]

http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/

[Ron Scott]

Rescued kittens' story goes viral

The two young mountain lion kittens rescued by firefighters from the Three Mile Fire are being monitored at the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks rehabilitation center and will remain there until a permanent location is found, as the kittens are not suitable for reintroduction to the wild. The Bitterroot National Forest has received more than 100,000 hits on its Facebook page and Public Affairs Specialist Tod McKay has fielded calls from media outlets worldwide.

The Chief's Newsletter

[gologit]

Bad news.....



http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/incidents/incidents_details_info?incident_id=1059



Good news....



http://www.sfgate.com/science/article/Alleged-arsonist-arrested-in-King-Fire-5764829.php

[Southside]

Just caught a brief glimpse of it on the news but I heard the fire hit the town of Weed pretty hard.  Used to cut through there if I was coming up I-5 and heading back to Lakeview.  Are you over in that neck of the woods?

[gologit]

I live about 3 hours south of Weed...Grass Valley area.

[Ron Scott]

I've been watching the King Fire very close and in communication with my daughter, son-in-law, and grand son who live in the Squaw Valley area. They are getting ready for evacuation if need be. Hopefully the firefighters can get control of it soon.           

[ed in idaho]

the johnson bar fire has been burning for over a month here in idaho. air is pretty thick some days.

Ed

[SwampDonkey]

Open fire bans here in New Brunswick and something I never saw before quoted off the fire watch site.

http://www2.gnb.ca/content/gnb/en/news/public_alerts/forest_fire_watch.html

"Grass fires require permits, written burn plans and pre-inspection by a forest service officer."

http://www2.gnb.ca/content/dam/gnb/Departments/nr-rn/pdf/en/Publications/RSS0362003aE.pdf

[Corley5]

We had Red Flag Warnings yesterday and now it's raining 8) 8) 8)  Things will green up now.

[SwampDonkey]

Eastern Maine I know has red flag warnings to. Been 70's and 80 today and a breeze, dry to. Funny how fast stuff dries, snow everywhere and showers last week.  Not hardly a sign of snow in my woods today. Poof.