Idaho, California, Hawaii, Washington, Oklahoma, Texas, Spain, Greece, France, and Bulgaria

What does Idaho, California, Hawaii, Washington, Oklahoma, Texas, Spain, Greece, France, and Bulgaria all have in common?

Wildfires, Forest Fires, Range Fires whatever you want to refer to them as! These locations along with many others are experiencing one of the most active "fire seasons" in recent history.

Virginia along with resources from all accross the country are responding to the request for help to many of these locations.

Wildfire nears Idaho resort town as some residents refuse to leave

Wildfires force thousands to flee in California

Huge wildfire burns to edge of 3 small towns in CA

Wildfires Force Thousands of Evacuations in California, Wreak ...

The wildfire on Kauai has now doubled in size to 2000 acres.

Trinity Ridge Fire In Idaho's Boise National Forest Continues To Burn

Out of control Washington forest fire

Search continues for those who set Oklahoma wildfires

Firefighters making progress against Palo Pinto wildfires

Spain fights raging wildfires, firefighting budgets cut

Major fire on eastern Greek island of Chios

Forest fire threatens Lacanau resort in western France

Forest fire burns near Bulgaria's Rila Monastery

 

Firefighters across the West on Monday kept battling a summer-long series of raging wildfires, with the latest round sparked mostly by lightning strikes that added to an already torrid mix of dry conditions and gusty winds.

The Trinity Ridge 91,000-acre (38,800-hectare) wildfire in the Boise National Forest closed in from three directions on an Idaho mountain town on Monday as authorities worried about the safety of roughly 30 residents who have refused to evacuate.

The Elmore County Sheriff's Office ordered evacuations over the weekend as thick smoke from the Trinity Ridge Fire posed a health hazard and limited visibility on the single road to Featherville, a popular summertime resort at the foot of the Trinity Mountains on the South Fork Boise River.

"It puts everyone in higher danger. Firefighters will have to worry about the safety of people who are left behind instead of fighting the fire and saving homes," U.S. fire information officer Mary Christensen said.

Fire crews prepared to defend hundreds of homes in Featherville, where second homes and rental cabins cause the summer population to swell to roughly 1,000, as well as structures in the nearby community of Pine.

"We hope those residents will reconsider and get out of there," Christensen said.

A great look at an Air Force tanker making a drop.

 If homeowners prepared their homes and property firefighters as shown in the pictures above and below might be able to devote efforts elsewhere. Removing pinestraw from around the homes and from off the roofs along with moving bags of mulch from up next to the home to a safer location all takes time and lots of folks to accomplish it quickly as the fires are bearing down on them.

Its hard dirty nasty work. A big thanks to those who answer the call.

Which way to the fire?

Its HOT HOT HOT DANGEROUS work!

Embers are reported to have set fires up to 1/4 to 1/2 a mile in front of the fire.

A flare gun is used to set fire in difficult to get to locations.

Trinity Ridge ICP.

Yesterday was the anniversary of the "Big Blowup"

The Great Fires of 1910 (The Big Blowup) - August 20th

http://www.wildfirelessons.net/documents/TDIH_GreatFiresof1910.pdf

“This Day in History” is a brief summary of a powerful learning opportunity. You can use this summary as a foundation and launch point for further dialogue and discussion.

Apply these lessons learned to yourself, your crew, your team and your unit.

One might say what good is Smokey Bear and all the talk about wildfire prevention when so many fires are raging in so many locations. Even with these challanging times it is critical to use Smokey's messages and let folks know what they can do, how they can take an active part in protection and prevention. From the smallest act of talking to a neighbor about the current dangers to organizing a community event these all just might prevent  that next fire from starting and it could be that fire that if not prevented might be the one that destroys homes, property or turns deadly. It just takes one fire ... so lets work togther to prevent that one fire!!!!

THANKS FOR LISTENING!

Rain in VA and fires and more fires in TEXAS

Rain, Rain wish we could send some to Texas!!
As you can see from the chart below Hurricane Irene dropped over 20" of rain in parts of Virginia. AND that not the end of it.... Since she left the state last weekend the sub-troppical Low has dumped almost another 12". In Waverly Va just last night alone we got an additional 4.87".

I am going to focus the next few posts on the tremendous wildfires that are occuring in Texas. Hopefully some of the info will be helpful to those wanting to know as much as possible about these fires.

The 3 main websites you should go to for information are

http://tfsweb.tamu.edu/main/default.aspx?dept=news

http://ticc.tamu.edu/

 

http://inciweb.org

Those sites above are the official information sites, you will also find a wealth of info on various media outlet sites and other social sites.

Here is some of the latest info I have seen and a few pictures you might not have seen.

BASTROP — Bastrop wildfires that have destroyed hundreds of houses and thousands of acres continued to burn Wednesday, but firefighters say they are making progress battling the blaze.

Officials said Wednesday that they have contained 30 percent of the larger Bastrop fire, which has so far annihilated about 800 houses and 34,000 acres, according to the Texas Forest Service.

Rescuers have begun conducting house-by-house searches for potential fire victims,

• Victoria Koenig, spokeswoman for the Texas Forest Service, said the Bastrop County fire has destroyed 1,368 homes -- more than double the estimate officials gave Wednesday.

Despite hopes that the fire would be largely contained by Wednesday night, it remained 30% contained Thursday morning, she said. About 34,000 acres have been destroyed.

• The fire has killed at least two people. An elite search team is helping local officials scour the area for other potential victims.

At least 5,000 people evacuated the area, officials said.

The Bastrop fire is one of scores that have been burning across the drought-stricken state. Wildfires have been scorching Texas for nearly 300 days.

In just the past week, the Texas Forest Service has responded to 181 fires, Gov. Rick Perry said.

The town of Bastrop TX with the fire bearing down on it.

The next 3 pictures are aerial pictures of Tahitian Village in Bastrop. I have been in the area working a few years ago and its so heartbreaking to see this devistation.

Thought and prayers go out to ALL the residents of this area and the rest of Texas that have been impacted by these wildfires.

The mini poster below is a sample of an attempt to let folks know how they can help prevent wildfires as they go about "life" in TX.

 I will try and keep posting info here that you might not find through normal media, social sites. Please keep checking back.

News out of TX and yes Virginia the Dismal Swamp Fire is still burning!

Before I talk about a Texas fire here is a bit of an update on the Dismal Swamp Fire.
oh yea the video clips later on in this post might take a bit to load but are well worth the wait.

Recent thunder storm brought very little rain and less relief to those batteling the Lateral West Fire. The fire continued burning actively overnight on the south and west flanks.

With winds shifting to the west today, the fire is expected to continue threatening Dismal Swamp State Park. Crews will continue to reinforce the bulldozer line already completed in the northwest corner of the park, near the intersection of Corapeake and Forest Line Ditches.

As the fire continues to burn through roots under the peat, falling trees remain a significant hazard for firefighters.

Firefighters will continue to pursue the strategy of flooding the swamp to put out the fire. As Incident Commander Mike Quesinberry put it, "The primary goal for us is to get these ditches completely filled." Once water has been pumped from Lake Drummond into the ditches, it can then be pumped from the ditches into the burning peat.

This fire whorl is but just one of the indicators of the extreme fire behavior which is occurring on the fire. This picture also shows the excessive fuel build-up from the 2008 fire. The current fire has all but burned completely through the same foot=print of the 2008 fire and is continuing to expand. Early on an Information Officer who has been on fires all across this country quoted “I’ve never seen a smoke column like this, it was truly amazing. Must have gone up 30,000 feet”.

 Now to TX.

The Horseshoe fire in Lender Texas is but yet another reminder that fires don’t have to be huge and don’t have to be burning in heavily timbered areas to be devastating. Any home that burns is a tradgey, a million dollar home or a trailer they are all the same in the eyes of the firefighter. What makes a difference to the firefighters is weather a home has defensible space or not, do they have “a chance” to save the structure or are the fire conditions and the situation to dangerous.

This fire was small, only 30 acres but it was in a very bad location. It was within the small community of Leander, over 200 homes were impacted with 15 being destroyed.

This was classified as a grass fire, there were some wooded areas but for the most part the fast moving burned in extremely dry fine fuels creating very dangerous conditions. Homes and structures can be re-built lives cannot and this fire could have been deadly, 1 resident was hospitalized for smoke inhalation and 4 firefighters treated for heat exhaustion.

The Texas Forest Service and 14 fire departments along with air tankers and helicopters responded and are credited with saving lives and the nearly 190 additional homes within the community.

TX is in the midst of unprecedented drought, climate data shows the Lone Star State is in its driest ten-month period EVER. Check out this very cool video clip showing the KBDI over the last 30 months in Texas.

Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI)

Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is an index used to determining forest fire potential. The drought index is based on a daily water balance, where a drought factor is balanced with precipitation and soil moisture (assumed to have a maximum storage capacity of 8-inches) and is expressed in hundredths of an inch of soil moisture depletion.
The drought index ranges from 0 to 800, where a drought index of 0 represents no moisture depletion, and an index of 800 represents absolutely dry conditions.

Many places are curerently recording indecies of over 700....THATS dry!!!!

With all the news lately about the smoke and the Great Dismal Swamp Fire getting lost at least in the news from the East was yet another tragedy in the wildland firefighting world.

 A South Dakota wildland firefighter was killed and four others were injured after they were caught in a burnover Thursday afternoon.

 Trampus S. Haskvitz

The wildfire that claimed a Buffalo Gap firefighter's life Thursday is still burning in rugged canyon and hill country northwest of Edgemont.

The Coal Canyon Fire trapped five firefighters, killing Trampus S. Haskvitz, 23, on Thursday afternoon.  Firefighter Trampus Haskvitz succumbed to his injuries and firefighters Austin Whitney and Kevin Fees were airlifted to Rapid City Regional Hospital. Whitney suffered burns to his arms and third-degree burns to his hands and neck and has been transferred to a burn center in Greeley, Colo. Kevin Fees suffered minor burns to the back of his hands and neck and has since been released. Two U.S. Forest Service firefighters were also treated for injuries at the hospital and released.

"Yesterday was a very dark day for the Division of Wildland Fire Suppression," Joe Lowe, director of the South Dakota firefighting agency, said during a news conference Friday morning.

Haskvitz's death rocked the close-knit firefighting community. Firefighters not only had to deal with the tragic death of one of their brotherhood but continue the battle to stop the fire that killed him.

Haskvitz was one of three Wildland Fire seasonal firefighters involved in the incident.

The firefighters were on one of three engines sent to attack a fire sparked by lightning in Coal Canyon that was reported about 3 p.m. Thursday.

The firefighters were attacking the flank of the fire on a mid-slope road when an ember started a spot fire behind them, Lowe said.

The winds as erratic and the air mass as unstable. Fire travels rapidly uphill. The firefighters turned to attack the spot fire behind them, but the fire moved quickly up hill, trapping them.

Lowe said the firefighters were forced to use their emergency fire.

"The surface fire flame lengths were somewhere between 14 and 20 feet. It was a lot of heat."

The fire engine was destroyed. Its aluminum bed was completely melted off, Lowe said.

The Coal Canyon Fire grew to about 400 acres by Friday afternoon.

As firefighters WE MUST remain vigilant and keep situational awareness and our safety a top priority. As residents of those areas where wildfires are occurring or have the potential to occur WE MUST remain vigilant and do all we can to prepare ourselves, our property and our homes for a wildfire should one naturally occur (from a lightning strike) AND we MUST follow Smokey Bear’s words of wisdom … ONLY YOU CAN PREVENT WILDFIRES.  We are talking here about those wildfires caused by human carelessness, lack of knowledge and compliancy.

This wildfire in the swamp is not now a super-fast moving wildfire that might catch firefighters off guard like the one in South Dakota BUT it still has the potential to be a killer. There are a thousand things that can go wrong from the news making, Kodak moment wall of flames to a very remote, very quiet tree falling because all its support has been burned away. Firefighters put their lives in danger every time they strap on their boots.

Please keep them in your thoughts and do your part … DON’T LET A WILDFIRE START and BE WISE, BE VERY WISE, BE FIREWISE!

Dismal Swamp Update

The following was received from the Information Officer from the fire.

For Immediate Release                                               Information Officer August 10, 2011                                                                       757- 986-3705 ext. 26
8:30 a.m.

FIREFIGHTING FORCE GROWS AT WILDFIRE

IN THE GREAT DISMAL SWAMP NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE

Nearly 100 firefighters are on the ground and in the air fighting the Lateral West Fire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge.  Since Friday morning, the numbers of people and amount of equipment has increased every day.   Fire professionals are on foot with hand tools, aboard heavy equipment and flying helicopters working to suppress the wildfire.  The interagency Southern Area Incident Management Blue Team is now working for the refuge managing the fire.  As of 4:00 p.m. yesterday the fire was estimated to be 3,200 acres. The fire is southwest of Lake Drummond off Interior Ditch Road. This morning the fire crossed into the Dismal Swamp State Park in North Carolina.

For firefighter and public safety, the following closures are in place until further notice.  Lake Drummond is closed to boating.  Railroad Ditch Road is closed to all public use activities including scheduled tours. The Lake Drummond Reservation and boat trolley, located between Lake Drummond and the Dismal Swamp Canal, are closed.

The Dismal Swamp State Park in North Carolina is closed until further notice.

Firefighters continue to work at constructing and reinforcing fire breaks.  Additional people and equipment are en route.  The information officer can be reached at 757-986-3705 ext. 26.

The Lateral West Fire was started by a several day-old lightning strike in the refuge interior.  The fire was reported to the refuge at 7:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 4, 2011. 

                                                                                    ###

The Great Dismal Swamp Fire "Again" We need a rain with a name!

I sure hope you enjoyed my birthday yesterday. Many firefighters could not enjoy the day as they were fighting fire, protecting people, homes and natural resources.

This morning I am going to focus on wildfire activity in Va, might post some more historical stuff later if I have time.

As we talked about a few blogs ago its getting dry, really dry in several places and the Southwest, Northern Valley and the Southeast are at the centers of the drought. The Great Dismal swamp is burning again. It was 2008 when a 5000 acre fire burned for several weeks and cost over $11,000,000.00 to suppress. And they are expecting this one to go bigger.

What we need is a RAIN WITH A NAME !!

I will be providing some info on the fire including a few pictures taken from the WAVY TV site, but first a bit of a Dismal Swamp History lesson. This is a wonderful place, one where fire plays a big role in its development, growth and health. BUT thats fire in the right place at the right time not an unplanned wildfire. So please enjoy this info and keep on reading to get info about the fire.





The Great Dismal Swamp History Lesson

The Great Dismal Swamp is a marshy area between Norfolk, Virginia and Elizabeth City, North Carolina. It is a southern swamp like many along the Atlantic Ocean’s coast which include the Everglades, Big Cypress Swamp and Okefenokee Swamp.  Essential to the swamp ecosystem are its water resources, native vegetation and varied wildlife. The Great Dismal Swamp's ecological significance and its wealth of history and lore make it extremely unique. It is one of the last large and wild areas remaining in the Eastern United States.

After centuries of logging and other activities which were devastating the swamp's ecosystems, the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was officially established by the US Congress through The Dismal Swamp Act of 1974. The refuge consists of over 111,000 acres of forested wetlands. Lake Drummond, a 3,100 acre natural lake, is located in the heart of the swamp. Outside the boundaries of the National Refuge, the state of North Carolina has preserved and protected additional portions of the swamp, as the Great Dismal Swamp State Nature Area. The whole swamp has a peat bog lying just under the surface.

There is archaeological evidence which indicates human occupation began nearly 13,000 years ago. Some scientists believe the Great Dismal Swamp was created when the Continental Shelf made its last big shift. The origin of Lake Drummond, one of only two natural lakes in Virginia, is disputed. Other scientists believe the lake could have been created by the impact of a meteoroid because it is oval shaped. They think it was made by a big meteoroid like the ones that are thought to have made the Carolina Bays. Other people believe it was made by a large underground peat burn about 3,500 to 6,000 years ago. Indian legend talks about "the fire bird" creating Lake Drummond.

By 1650, few American Indians remained in the area and European settlers showed little interest in the swamp. In 1665, William Drummond, a future governor of North Carolina, was the first European to explore the lake which now bears his name. A surveying party entered the swamp to draw a dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina in 1728.

 George Washington visited the swamp and then formed the Dismal Swamp Land Company in 1763, which proceeded to drain and harvest timber from part of the area. A five-mile ditch on the west side of the current refuge there still bears his name. In 1805, the Dismal Swamp Canal began serving as a commercial waterway for timber from the swamp.

Painting: Fugitive Slaves in the Dismal Swamp, Virginia by David Edward Cronin 1888

Before and during the Civil War, the Great Dismal Swamp was a hideout for runaway slaves. Some people believe there were at least a thousand slaves living in the swamp at one time. This was the subject of Dred: A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp, Harriet Beecher Stowe's follow-on to Uncle Tom’s Cabin. While all efforts to drain the swamp ultimately failed, logging of the swamp proved to be a successful commercial activity. Regular logging operations continued as late as 1976. The entire swamp has been logged at least once, and many areas have been burned by periodic wildfires. The Great Dismal Swamp has been drastically altered by humanity over the past two centuries. Agricultural, commercial, and residential development destroyed much of the swamp, so that the remaining portion within and around the refuge represents less than half of the original size of the swamp. A drier swamp and the suppression of wildfires, which once cleared the land for seed germination, created ecological conditions that were less favorable to the survival of cypress stands. As a result, plant and animal variety decreased.

The primary purpose of the refuge's resource management programs is to restore and maintain the natural biological diversity that existed prior to the human-caused alterations. Water is being conserved and managed by placing water control structures in the ditches. Plant community diversity is being restored and maintained through forest management activities which simulate the ecological effects of wildfires. Wildlife is managed by insuring the presence of required habitats, with hunting used to balance some wildlife populations with available food supplies. Many species including black bear, bobcat, otter, and weasel, along with over 70 species of reptiles and amphibians call the swamp home. More than 200 bird species can also be seen at the swamp throughout the year. 

In the mid 20th century, conservation groups from all over America began demanding that something be done to preserve what was left of the Great Dismal Swamp. In 1973, the Union Camp Corporation, a paper company which had had large land property in the area since the beginning of the 20th century, donated just over 49,000 acres of its land to The Nature Conservancy which transferred the property the following year to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

OK now that our history lesson is over lets talk about the current fire.

The Lateral West Fire in the Great Dismal Swamp National Wildlife Refuge was started by a several day old lightning strike in the refuge interior. The fire was reported to the refuge on the evening of August 4, 2011. Drought conditions throughout the area have dried the deep organic soils, brush and downed dead trees. These fuels will continue to burn until there is at least six inches of rain over a period of a few days.

The Great Dismal Swamp is southeast of Suffolk, Virginia. It is burning in the fire scar of the 2008 South One Wildfire. Dense smoke will likely be a public health and safety concern for the foreseeable future. Several closures are in place.

Basic Information

Cause - Lightning

Date of Origin - Thursday August 04th, 2011 approx. 07:00 PM

Size- 2,500 acres    

Fuels Involved - Regrowth of brush and grass and downed dead trees from 2008 South One Fire. Pine pocosin, deep organic soils.

Percent Contained - 10%

Fire Behavior - Fire showed steady rates of spread, with 4-5 foot flame lengths on backing fire, with flare-ups of 10-12 feet. Head fire was twice those values, with short range spotting. Large plume of smoke maintained throughout by intense burning of organic soils and dead and down fuels.

Significant Events - Planned prep work on Riddick Ditch abandoned because of fire spread to the east. Prep work on Interior Ditch proceeded as planned. Members of the Southern Area Incident Management Team are arriving.

Several other wildfire occured yesterday or in the last few days. James City County had a significant fire late yesterday.

There is not alot we can do about the lightning caused wildfires BUT we can do our part and not let a wildfire start because of our carelessness. There are also things you can do to help protect your home from wildfire PLEASE visit http://www.firewisevirginia.org/ for more info.

Growth Potential - High