Virginia wildfire resources go out of state to help, focus on FL today.

With so many fires burning in so many states I thought I would try and focus each blog on a different state especially those in which Virginia has deployed resources. The first such posting today will focus on Florida. Virginia has 11 people and 5 engines/brush trucks there now. I just talked with our Task Force Leader who said it was very hot, dry and busy. Actually the fire they are on, the Espanola Fire was currently making another strong run “breaking over” control lines, he could not talk long.

Below is a short write up of about the more significant fires in Florida, the Espanola Fire is bolded and following the info will be several pictures/images from Florida.

In addition the Southern region just went to preparedness level 5, the most sever level of preparedness.

PREPAREDNESS LEVEL 5

Description: Several units are experiencing major fire or all-hazard incidents which have the potential to exhaust all resources, while numerous new fires or resource commitments continue to occur. Most, if not all, the resources within the Area are committed. As resources become available, they are immediately reassigned to other incidents. The majority of support is coming from outside the Area. No break in the weather is predicted for at least 72 hours.

 The above map with all the reds and purples is a map of what we call the KBDI or Keetch Byrum Drought Index. The index goes from a low of 0 to a high of 800. At 800 it is considered desert like conditions, a rainfall amount of 8 inches would be needed to get back to ground saturation. And that kind of rain is no where in sight.

Impassable Bay (Osceola NF) 900 acres new growth reported. 15 miles NE of Lake City, FL. Burning in southern rough. Major run to South with spotting. Disabled helicopter in the fire area was protected. Continue to strengthen control lines. 20% contained

Espanola (Florida Division of Forestry) 1,306 acres new growth reported. West of Palm Coast, FL. The fire is being managed by Florida Red Type 2 IMT (Graham). Burning in southern rough. Continue to widen lines and work toward containment. 40% contained.

Santa Fe (Florida Division of Forestry) 500 acres new growth reported. Santa Fe Swamp, Bradford County, FL. Grass fire. Aerial suppression with T-25, A-A, and T1 and T2 helicopters yesterday. 25% contained.

Maytown Road (Florida Division of Forestry) 600 acres new growth reported. Near Maytown, FL. Burning in southern rough. Continue containment and mop-up. Received rain and lightning. 1 spot was contained yesterday. 0% contained.

Lake Wimico (Florida Division of Forestry) 100 acres new growth reported. Reduction in acreage due to more accurate mapping. North of Highway 98 in Southern Gulf County. Grass fire. Fire is inaccessible in a swamp. Potential to grow to 1,000 acres by Wednesday. Continue to monitor until suppression activities are possible. 0% contained.

Prairie (Florida Division of Forestry) No new growth reported. West of Miami, FL. Grass fire. Continue to monitor smoke impacts to Krome Ave and mop-up. 90% contained.

C-4 (St. Vincent NWR) No new growth reported. 4 miles SE of Indian Pass, FL. Grass fire. Continue to mop-up and patrol. 90% contained.

4A (Apalachicola NF) No new growth reported. 4 miles West of Tallahassee, FL. Burning in Southern Rough. Interior burning of islands. Continue monitor and mop-up. No new information received. 85% contained.

Bad Land (Florida Division of Forestry) No new growth reported. Bronson, FL. Fire received trace amounts of precipitation. Continue mop-up. 60% contained.

Doc Whitfield (Florida Division of Forestry) No new growth reported. Fire is burning in southern rough in Gulf County. Continue to monitor and mop-up. 85% contained.

Swamp (Florida Division of Forestry) No new growth reported. Near Bronson, FL. Burning in southern rough. Fire is creating problems on local roads with smoke impacts and falling snags. Continue mop-up. 60% contained.

Whispering Pines (Florida Division of Forestry) 2,135 acres new growth reported. South Central Orange County, FL. Burning in southern rough. Whispering Pines, Staghorn, and Laser Range fires all burned together. 100% contained.

 Dont you know the folks in this neighborhood knew it was serious when CL-215's were making criss cross drops on their community in hope to protect it. Lets hope the folks knew it was serious long before the water drops began.

The Gov of FL was at a recent press confrence thanking all the firefighters who were working so hard including those from KY and VA.

Virginia Wildfire Resources head South and West

Sixteen firefighters and 5 brush trucks (engines) from the Virginia Department of Forestry are currently deployed to wildfires in Arizona, Texas, Georgia and Florida to help fight the wildfires in those states.

Over 600,000 acres are burning in those states alone and local resources are stretched to the limit and beyond. There is a process to share resources nationally which is coordinated through NIFC (The National Interagency Fire Center) in Boise, ID. Virginia is also part of the Southern Area Forest Fire Compact which provides assistance between states from Virginia to Florida over to Texas. Both NIFC and the Southern Compact have agreements in place that helps facilitate the movement of wildfire resources, so when the “call” comes there is little delay in providing assistance.

The following is information from the Southern Area Command Center (SACC) this is the most current and up to date info on the numerous wildfires raging accross the south. Following the write-up there will be pictures from the various wildfires Virginia personnel and resources are currently deployed on.

By looking at the drought map here it is very easy to see just why the "south" is burning.

Southern State Fire Situation Update

Monday June 13, 2011

Weather:

Red Flag Warning are in effect today for the Texas Panhandle and Western Oklahoma for relative humidity of 5-10 percent with 20-30 mph winds and gusts to 40 mph and temperatures 95-110.  Red Flag Warning are also posted for the Florida Panhandle for relative humidity below 35 percent. 

The only rain expected across the region this week is afternoon showers and thunderstorms which should become more numerous Wednesday from Kentucky down into north Alabama and Georgia.  North Carolina and Virginia should have a better chance of showers on Thursday.  Due to the extremely dry conditions lightning associated with these thunderstorms is increasing ignitions especially in Florida, South Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.  The drought map below shows the primary areas of concern.

State Fire Activity: 

In the past seven days Texas responded to 118 new fires for 49,385 acres.  Texas currently has nine large uncontained fires that have burned about 42,079 acres.  Information on Texas’ fires is available at: http://ticc.tamu.edu/Documents/Home/tx_sitrep.pdf  

Florida reported 47 new fires yesterday for 7,446 acres with 14 significant fires burning about 93,600 acres. 

Alabama reported 134 new fires for 3,109 acres in the last seven days.  Alabama’s Governor declared a Drought Emergency for the whole state which makes it illegal to do any outdoor burning.

 

South Carolina reported 44 fires for 132 acres over the weekend. 

Louisiana has been averaging about 20 fires per day for about 200 acres.

In Georgia the Honey Prairie Fire on the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is about 169,951 acres with 80 percent containment.  The fire is being managed under a unified command of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife, the Georgia Forestry Commission, and the Florida Division of Forestry.  The Racepond Fire in Georgia is reported as contained at 7, 893 acres.  At last report on Friday Georgia was showing 25+ fires for at least 1,100 acres, many fires with unknown acreage. 

The Pains Bay Fire is on the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and Air Force bombing range in North Carolina.  This fire is about 45,225 acres, 75 percent contained.  Water is being used on parts of the fire where it is burning underground.  The North Carolina Division of Forest Resources has jurisdiction for fire suppression on the bombing range through an agreement with the Air Force.  The North Carolina Division of Forest Resources is in unified command with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Resources:

Florida has their Red IMT assigned to the Espanola Fire in Flagler County.  The fire is about 3,000 acres and 45 percent contained.  Florida has ordered two strike teams of type 6 engines through the compacts for a total of 10 engines with two engine operators each and two strike team leaders.  One of the strike team orders was filled by Virginia and Mississippi is working on the other strike team order.

Georgia has ordered a strike team of 5 engines with two operators each and a strike team leader through the compacts to support the Satilla District in Southeast Georgia.  This order has been filled by South Carolina.

A Texas IMT (IC Hannemann) is located in Merkel coordinating fire response for most of the state.  Aviation and other resources are strategically placed around the state.  A National Incident Management Organization (NIMO) IMT is also providing assistance in west Texas.  Engine and water tender assistance are being provided by the Texas Intrastate Fire Mutual Aid System.  SEATS, helicopters, heavy airtankers and hand crews are also being used. 

The Honey Prairie Fire is being managed by a Southern type 1 IMT (Red Team, IC Wilder) under unified command with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Georgia Forestry Commission, and the Florida Division of Forestry.

 A North Carolina IMT (IC Hendricks) is managing the Pains Bay Fire in North Carolina .  The fire is being managed in unified command with the U.S Fish & Wildlife Service.

Horseshoe Fire Complex in AZ

Honey Prairie GA

West Texas

Espanola Wildfire FL

 

Training, training, wildfires and more wildfires

Been away recently doing some M-410 training at the Mid-Atlantic Forest Fire Compact in Morgantown WV.  Wanted to get a post out ref the wildfires that continue from FL to AK and several states in-between.

I will be posting some additional pictures from the VA Wildfire Academy and some from the Mid-Atlantic one this week so keep checking back. THANKS.

Forest Fire Academy Teaches How to Fight Wildfires

Posted  Monday, June 6, 2011 ; 05:53 PM

By Mike Krafcik

MORGANTOWN -- Firefighters and other participants from seven states are learning how to fight wildfires in Monongalia County this week. They're nestled in the West Virginia University Forest.

Willie Cirone, a firefighter from New Jersey and instructor to the Mid-Atlantic Wildfire Training Academy says, “The experience compared to here, the fires magnitude is much greater, the fires are much larger, higher impact on the communities, fire camps. It’s firefighting but it’s firefighting in a different way,”

This year was the academy’s fifth year at West Virginia University. Cirone said students in the program learned the skills to be able to participate in fire fighting out west.   The academy was taught by instructors from the Eastern Compact in conjunction with the WVU Division of Forestry and Natural Resources, and included firefighters from all along the east coast. We have students here from Florida we have students here from Ohio, from Maine, Virginia, New Jersey, just about all the states represented on the east coast.”

Associated Press

Huge AZ wildfire spreads, health conditions worsen

By BRIAN SKOLOFF and SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN , 06.11.11, 04:05 AM

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2011/06/11/general-us-arizona-wildfires_8511746.html

Huge eastern Ariz. wildfire heads toward New Mexico, threatens towns; health conditions worsen

http://www.dailyjournal.net/view/story/48b3cc1409444c748427d987dfd74a33/US--Arizona-Wildfires/

Residents flee as major Alaska wildfire grows

By Yereth Rosen

ANCHORAGE, Alaska | Wed Jun 8, 2011 9:17pm EDT

 (Reuters) - All residents near an expanding wildfire near Fairbanks have fled, making way for firefighters to combat the blaze, officials said on Wednesday.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/09/us-wildfire-alaska-idUSTRE75808Y20110609

Southeast Colorado Has Several Large Wildfires Burning Thousands Of Acres

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/09/southeast-colorado-has-se_n_873787.html

Two large wildfires continue to burn in Alabama

Seminole fire being battled for the fifth day

Submitted by Elishia Ballentine

(Created: Thursday, June 9, 2011 4:15 PM CDT)

http://www.baldwincountynow.com/articles/2011/06/09/local_news/doc4df137d31ebaa751219877.txt

Florida crews trying to contain two major wildfires

WILDFIRES

March 01, 2011|By the CNN Wire Staff

 Two major wildfires have burned more than 18,000 acres along Florida's eastern coast, state officials said Tuesday.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-03-01/us/florida.wildfires_1_second-wildfire-major-wildfires-wildfire-mitigation-specialist?_s=PM:US

TX Wildfire Update – June 9, 2011

Dos Amigos fire west of Robert Lee 6,000 acres and growing

•             Texas Forest Service

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2011/jun/09/wildfire-update-june-9-2011/

Please remember, I will be posting some additional pictures from the VA Wildfire Academy and some from the Mid-Atlantic one this week so keep checking back. THANKS.

The 2011 VA Wildfire Academy Class Photos

The 2011 Virginia Interagency Wildland Fire Academy, out 11^th, is in the history books. Below is the class pictures, more pictures taken during the week will be posted soon.

I-200 ICS for single Resources and IA Incidents

 I-300 ICS for Expanding Incidents

S-130/190, L-180 and I-100 Basic Firefighter Training

S-131 Advanced Firefighter

S-133 Look UP, Look Down, Look Around

S-200 Initial Attack Incident Commander

S-212 Wildfire Powersaws

S-215 Fire Operations in the WUI

S-230 Single Resource Boss

S-290 Intermediate Wildland Fire Behavior

Tractor Plow Operations for the Wildland Firefighter

Check Back for more later.

Virginia Wildland Fire Academy Day 4

Today was a beautiful day in Farmville on the campus of Longwood University.  All the classes that were stuck inside were wishing they had a field trip or some other exercise that would get them outside.

Below Phil reviews the exercise from yesterday. Learning how to use the belt weather kits and we got to see just how variable the readings were just by altering where it was we took the readings, in the shade, on the tennis courts, in the fountain etc...

 Fuels and weather we learned were 2 of the big 3 (fuels, weather and topography) that were the most variable and difficult to deal with while trying to predict a fires behavior.

 Working through the FLAME exercise "ALMOST" got the better of us but we overcame and hopefully by the end we all at least knew the process and had a basic understanding of what Claiborne was trying to teach us.

The tractor class held its night time field exercise last night, hopefully it went well and I hope to have some pictures to share with you soon, along with some from our distinguished guests that showed up.

Thanks for "looking in"