W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking

Whirlpool WFU Fire

Location: ~20 mi N of Dinosaur, Moffat Co. CO
Specific Location: Jones Hole, trib to Green River, Dinosaur National Monument, Lat 40° 33´ 58″ Lon 109° 2´ 19″

Date of Origin: 07/23/2010
Cause: Lightning

Situation as of 07/26/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 0
Size: 0.7 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

Well, the Brain Trust at Dinosaur N.M. decided to contain, control, and extinguish the fire after all, which took all of 2 hours. Then the TNC/Goldman Sachs Let It Burn Module was excused and shipped out.

No reports on the actual costs of this fire and how much cash was transferred to TNC/Goldman Sachs. That kind of disclosure of info is not required under the new banking regulation bill.

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Situation as of 07/25/2010 5:30 pm
Personnel: 10
Size: 0.7 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Fire now staffed by the TNC/Goldman Sachs Let It Burn Module. The fire is less than one acre. It is smoldering. One guy with a garden hose could put it out. Instead, the TNC/Goldman Sachs Southern Rockies Wildfire Module has been flown in at huge expense, to watch a spot fire smolder. How embarrassing. How degrading. How utterly stupid. When it comes to stupid, it’s hard to top the National Park Service.

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Situation as of 07/24/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 1
Size: 1 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Even though this fire is only one acre, it is hoped that fully 7,000 acres will be incinerated eventually. The TNC/Goldman Sachs Let It Burn Module has been ordered.

The area of the fire, Jones Hole and Green River, are heritage sites with rock art dating back 10,000 years. The National Park Service doesn’t give a crap, though, and wants it all burned, baby, burned.

Most of Dinosaur National Monument’s 210,000 acres is proposed wilderness, even though human beings have been continuously resident there for 10,000 years!

The National Park Service leadership is on drugs or something. They are sick, sick, sick individuals.

Twin Buttes/Goldman Sachs WFU Fire

Location: ~25 mi SSW of Rangley, Rio Blanco Co. CO
Specific Location: White River District, BLM, ~2 mi W of Hwy 139, 2 mi N of Douglas Pass, Lat 39° 41´ 53″ Lon 108° 49´ 36″

Date of Origin: 07/16/2010
Cause: Lightning

Situation as of 07/24/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: not reported
Size: 145 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

The duty officer (?) made the decision to fully suppress this fire, which was achieved Saturday morning (7/24). Achieved 100% containment - full suppression. No explanation given for the change in acreage. TNC/Goldman Sachs Module pulled off fire.

This will be the final final 209.

What a cluster…!

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This fire is no longer being reported. TNC/Goldman Sachs is above the law. They are not required to inform the citizenry regarding their nefarious dealings, even if it is with your money and in this case, on your land too.

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Situation as of 07/19/2010 7:00 pm
Personnel: 29
Size: 280 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

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Situation as of 07/18/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 38
Size: 280 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Target acres increased to 100,000. Southern Rockies TNC/Goldman Sachs Wildfire Module arrived today. Monitoring to commence.

Note: no NEPA, no ESA consultations with USFWS, no public involvement, no plan.

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Situation as of 07/17/2010 4:00 pm
Personnel: 8
Size: 200 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Target acres: 10,000. Smokejumpers on scene, will transition to THE NATURE CONSERVANCY WILDFIRE MODULE!

TNC is a quango (quasi-govermental non-governmental organization). They now contract WFU’s using their own “module”, a private fire monitoring (not firefighting) team. TNC’s Module “is trained to assist federal agencies to allow natural wildland fires to burn…” [here]

TNC is a multi-billion-dollar quango, the largest in the world, and is intimately tied to the Goldman Sachs international banking concern.

The Twin Buttes Fire has thus become a Goldman Sachs Let It Burn While We Rob the U.S. Treasury fire.

Meadow Creek WFU Fire

Location: ~13 mi NE of Rifle, Garfield Co. CO
Specific Location: White River NF, Lat 39° 42´ 0″ Lon 107° 34´ 23″

Date of Origin: 06/28/2010
Cause: Lightning

Situation as of 08/05/2010 4:00 pm
Personnel: 2
Size: 1,452 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Costs to Date: Costs to Date: $1,090,000

Fire has taken some precipitation (.60 in) over past seven days but continues to smolder in shletered 1000 hours and duff. There will be hunters scouting for elk in the area surrounding the fire prior to hunting.

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Situation as of 07/29/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 62
Size: 1,452 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Costs to Date: Costs to Date: $1,028,600

Destaffed the non-existent fire line in anticipation of rainfall. There will be hunters scouting for elk in the area surrounding the fire prior to hunting season opening. If fuels begin to dry, and fire behavior starts to increase in the following weeks, public safety could be an issue, but what the heck. We spent a million bucks of the taxpayers’ money doing jack. Now we have to go home. See ya. NIMO signing off.

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Situation as of 07/28/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 62
Size: 1,452 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Costs to Date: Costs to Date: $983,600

Continued monitoring of fire behavior on the north and west edges of the fire. Training fire for the Boise NIMO Team. They are practicing Let It Burn.

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Situation as of 07/27/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 76
Size: 1,452 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Costs to Date: Costs to Date: $924,000

Training fire for the Boise NIMO Team. They are practicing Let It Burn.

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Situation as of 07/25/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 76
Size: 1,350 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Costs to Date: Costs to Date: $807,000

Monitor fire spread within the Main Elk Creek drainage. Completed the aerial ignition plan. This plan will be executed only if conditions warrant. Continue development of trainees which are filling a variety of position on the incident. Training fire for the Boise NIMO Team. They are practicing Let It Burn.

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Cow Creek WFU Fire

Location: ~10 mi. NW of Estes Park, Larimer Co. CO
Specific Location: Mt. Dickinson, West Creek, Rocky Mountain NP, approximate Lat 40° 24´ 39″ 40° 28´ 00″ Lon 105° 31´ 54″ 105° 33´ 00″

Date of Origin: 06/24/2010
Cause: Under investigation

Situation as of 07/03/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 83
Size: 916 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

Costs to Date: $2,282,505

100 percent of the containment objectives for the sections of the fire that are under a containment strategy have been achieved. This percentage does not apply to the area of the fire that is being monitored to meet resource objectives.

Idaho City IHC rehabbed helispot and were released at 1300. Installed monitoring camera for long-term intelligence. Recon flights for RMNP personnel. Transition back to local unit at 2000 tonight.

THIS WILL BE THE LAST #209 UNTIL SIGNIFICANT ACTIVITY OCCURS. A “final” #209 will be submitted when RMNP feels confident in achieving full containment and control around entire perimeter of this fire. Be advised, this incident IS NOT contained; only the northeastern, eastern and southern flanks where suppression action was taken were fully 100% contained.

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Situation as of 07/01/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 234
Size: 914 acres
Percent Contained: 80%

Costs to Date: $1,908,072

80 percent of the containment objectives for the sections of the fire that are under a containment strategy have been achieved. This percentage does not apply to the area of the fire that is being monitored to meet resource objectives.

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Parkdale Canyon Fire

Location: 9 mi W of Canon City, Fremont Co., CO
Specific Location: between Hwy 50 and Royal Gorge, Lat 38° 29´ 0″ Lon 105° 21´ 36″

Date of Origin: 06/21/2010
Cause: Under investigation

Situation as of 06/25/2010 6:00 pm
Personnel: 117
Size: 629 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

Costs to Date: $1,440,379

Containment achieved at 1800. This will be the final 209. Transfer of command to the host unit will occur at 0600 6/26/10. Acreage breakout is as follows: PVT 414; BLM 215.

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Water Creek Fire

Location: ~15 mi NW of Rifle, Garfield Co. CO
Specific Location: off of Hwy 13, near the Roan Plateau, BLM, Colorado River Valley Field Office (formerly Glenwood Springs — site of Storm King Mountain Monument) Lat 39° 36´ 1″ Lon 107° 56´ 31″

Date of Origin: 06/19/2010
Cause: Lightning

Situation as of 08/20/2010 5:40 pm
Personnel: 0
Size: 375 acres
Percent Contained: not reported

Costs to Date: $425,000 (no update)

Fire declared out today.

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Situation as of 06/28/2010 6:15 pm
Personnel: 20
Size: 375 acres
Percent Contained: 50%

Costs to Date: $425,000 (no update)

Increase in size due to more accurate mapping. Prior mapping miscalulated the size of the fire by half. We’re not talking best and brightest when it comes to the BLM.

Kings Peak Whoofoo Module has assumed command. Their job is to monitor the fire, but ironically, they do not issue monitoring reports. Therefore this is the last report we can expect on this fire.

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Situation as of 06/26/2010 5:15 pm
Personnel: 43
Size: 216 acres
Percent Contained: 30%

Costs to Date: $425,000 (no update)

1 IHC and 2 WFM’s are currently staffing the fire. Last report unless significant activity/demob occurs.

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Situation as of 06/25/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 50
Size: 216 acres
Percent Contained: 30%

Costs to Date: $425,000 (no update)

East flank pretty well contained. Quiet day today, RH increasing as front moves through. Smoldering, no torching observed.

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Medano Fire

Location: 70 mi SW of Pueblo, Saguache Co. CO
Specific Location: Little Medano Ck, North Horse Canyon, Great Sand Dunes NP and Pike and San Isabel NF, Lat 37° 48´ 23″ Lon 105° 29´ 20″

Date of Origin: 06/6/2010
Cause: Lightning

Situation as of 08/05/2010 8:00 am
Personnel: 9
Size: 6,249 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $4,723,767

IC will transition to Paul Duarte at 1900 8-6-10.

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Situation as of 07/29/2010 11:00 am
Personnel: 12
Size: 6,249 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $4,697,917

Fire has received up to an inch of rain in some areas over the last 7 days, although rain has been very localized and not wide spread in some instances.

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Situation as of 07/22/2010 3:00 pm
Personnel: 13
Size: 6,249 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $4,670,000

Creeping, smoldering and small areas of surface fire where continuous fuels exist. The fire continues to back down into Castle Creek and seasonally cured heavy dead and down fuels are burning within the interior.

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Situation as of 07/15/2010 5:30 pm
Personnel: 32
Size: 6,249 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $4,526,000

Conditions continue to be warmer and drier and heavy dead and down fuels continue to smolder. Fire increased ten acres in size due to activity in the Castle Creek Drainage. Torching and uphill runs with noticeable smoke. No precipitation since July 8th.

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Situation as of 07/10/2010 3:00 pm
Personnel: 32
Size: 6,239 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $4,400,000

Conditions are warmer and drier and heavy dead and down fuels continue to smolder. Local Type 3 organization is managing the fire.

It was local fire management that failed to even attempt to contain the Medano Fire in the first place, allowing the fire to blow up. Somebody at Great Sand Dunes NP owes the American taxpayer $4.4 million dollars, the cost of their screw-up. Remember this name: Art Hutchinson. He’s the Supe of the GSDNP and the ultimate responsible party.

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Post-Fire Vegetation Conditions on the National Forests

The USFS RAVG interactive website [here]:

… offers an initial description of post-fire vegetative conditions using the Rapid Assessment of Vegetation Condition after Wildfire (RAVG) process. RAVG analysis looks at fires that burn more than 1,000 acres of forested National Forest System (NFS) lands, beginning with fires that occurred in 2007. These fires result in direct losses of vegetative cover and many of the benefits associated with forested ecosystems.

NFS lands experience thousands of wildfires every year, most of which are relatively small. The largest fires typically account for 90% of the total acreage burned. RAVG analysis provides a first approximation of areas that due to severity of the fire may require reforestation treatments. These reforestation treatments would re-establish forest cover and restore associated ecosystem services. This initial approximation could be followed by a site-specific diagnosis and development of a silvicultural prescription identifying reforestation needs.

Search for RAVG wildfire summaries using the Select Wildfires… “By Year…”, “By State…”, or “By National Forest/Grassland…” menus (does not allow multiple criteria selection) to produce lists of wildfires; or, you may select an individual wildfire using the “By Wildfire…” selection menu. You may also select a Forest Service Region on the map below to display a wildfire list for that region of the United States.

Quarry Fire

Location: 2 miles W of Fountain, El Paso Co. CO
Specific Location: Fort Carson, Lat: 38° 39´ 23″  Lon: 104° 45´ 1″

Date of Origin: 03/03/2009
Cause: Human, military training

Situation as of 03/05/2009 3:00 pm
Personnel: 46
Size: 6,328 acres:
Percent Contained: 90%

Preliminary investigations reveal that the detonation of C-4 in a rock quarry in the training area may be the cause of the fire.

Grass, oak brush, ponderosa pine.

Olde Stage Fire

Location: North of the city limits of Boulder, Boullder Co. CO
Specific Location: Old Stage Road, Lat 40° 5´ 55″ Lon 105° 5´ 55″

Date of Origin: 01/07/2009
Cause: Unknown at this time

Situation as of 01/08/2009 5:30 PM
Personnel: 159
Size: 1,300 acres
Percent contained: 70%

Wind-driven wildfires prompted mandatory evacuations of at least 500 homes. All evacauations have been lifted except the area off of the Old Stage Road.

1 primary residence and 1 outbuilding destroyed

Creeping with occasional flare-ups. Some interior spots still burning.

Note: Boulder temp 50.7 °F updated at 6:30 pm 01/08/09. Humidity 28%. Expected low tonight 18 °F. We report this for all those who think climate change, rather than fuels, drives fires.

About W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking

Last Spring W.I.S.E. initiated this Fire Tracking site. We have been endeavoring to track the larger fires in the West. So far we have tracked over 170 fires, many still active.

The way W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking works is that each fire (that we choose to track) gets it’s own post. That post is updated periodically. We try to update on a daily basis while the fire is active, but some days the information is not available.

If a fire you are interested in is not on the main page (it only holds 15 posts), then there are a few ways you can find it. First, try typing the name of the fire in the search applet in the upper righthand sidebar. Second, you can click on the “state” category if you know what state the fire is in. Third, if you know what month the fire started, you can look in the archives under that month.

For each fire we are attempting to post daily stats for acreage, personnel, percent containment, and suppression costs to date. That way each post becomes a historical record for that fire. You can see how the fire grew day by day, along with the changes in the other stats.

W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is in blog form, designed for feedback. People on the scene, or anywhere else for that matter, can contribute information, photos, or ask questions.

W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is free. It costs the taxpayers nothing. Your donations are sincerely appreciated. See the Join WISE page [here].

Unlike other fire sites, W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is not designed by and for firefighters. Our expertise and concern is about forests and other landscape types, and so we can provide indepth analysis regarding the effects of a particular fire on multiple forest values and resources. By collecting and posting the daily record for each fire, we are establishing the basic information needed to analyze fire effects.

Please take some time to explore W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking. There is a wealth of information being collected there. Sometimes you may need to read between the lines because the whole truth is only hinted at. Your analysis of specific fires is also welcome, as are your photos, maps, and on-the-ground observations.

About W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking

This Spring W.I.S.E. initiated THIS Fire Tracking site. We have been endeavoring to track the larger fires in the West. So far we have tracked over 110 fires, many still active.

The way W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking works is that each fire (that we choose to track) gets it’s own post. That post is updated periodically. We try to update on a daily basis while the fire is active, but some days the information is not available.

If a fire you are interested in is not on the main page (it only holds 15 posts), then there are a few ways you can find it. First, try typing the name of the fire in the search applet in the upper righthand sidebar. Second, you can click on the “state” category if you know what state the fire is in. Third, if you know what month the fire started, you can look in the archives under that month.

For each fire we are attempting to post daily stats for acreage, personnel, percent containment, and suppression costs to date. That way each post becomes a historical record for that fire. You can see how the fire grew day by day, along with the changes in the other stats. That’s something InciWeb doesn’t do.

W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is in blog form, designed for feedback. People on the scene, or anywhere else for that matter, can contribute information, photos, or ask questions. It’s a two-way communication, something else InciWeb does not do.

W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is free. It costs the taxpayers nothing. That’s definitely not the case with InciWeb. Your donations are sincerely appreciated, in any case.

Unlike other fire sites, W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking is not designed by and for firefighters. Our expertise and concern is about forests and other landscape types, and so we can provide indepth analysis regarding the effects of a particular fire on multiple forest values and resources. By collecting and posting the daily record for each fire, we are establishing the basic information needed to analyze fire effects.

InciWeb, the government fire reporting site, has been up and down this year. Right now it is functional again. If the InciWebbers show they can report fires consistently and without server glitches, we may pick and choose which fires we track more selectively. Our intention was never to compete with InciWeb or supplant them. We only provided a comprehensive fire reporting service because we thought such was needed during their long absence.

Due to the workload involved with W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking, the other subsites at W.I.S.E. have been neglected. Sorry about that. Hopefully in a week or two the fire season will calm down a bit and the other subsites will get more attention.

In that regard, if you feel like reviewing a new book or paper of exceptional quality and cutting-edge, new paradigm thinking in the environmental sciences, please do so. We are always happy to post contributions from the experts.

For those select few among you to whom we have promised specific projects, please bear with us. We have not forgotten. The list is still right here on the W.I.S.E. bulletin board. Your project is circled in red. We will get to it when we can and eventually for sure.

Please take some time to explore W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking. There is a wealth of information being collected there. Sometimes you may need to read between the lines because the whole truth is only hinted at. Your analysis of specific fires is also welcome, as are your photos, maps, and on-the-ground observations.

Please Donate to the Cause

W.I.S.E. is non-profit. Heck, we’re damn near non-income. But we are endeavoring against all odds to save forests and spread good information and knowledge about stewardship of our forests and landscapes.

We’re trying to save forests. We’re trying to stop or reduce the megafires that are ravaging our forests. We’re trying to make this planet a more habitable place for all life forms.

To that end we have created and are managing 12 websites. Our most recent site, W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking, is building records of the major fires burning this year, so that we can evaluate those fires after the season is over and seek ways to lessen the destruction.

We have not shirked from controversy. We have pushed the envelope. We have berated the Powers That Be for their incompetence and misguided policies that destroy forests, both public and private, and incinerate homes, farms, and ranches, and pollute the air and water, and cripple economies, and drain the Treasury.

We have endeavored to post the best, most cutting edge science, so that visitors can learn the facts for a change instead being pepper sprayed with rude and a-scientific propaganda all the time. We are a beacon, a light in the smoky darkness of a thousand forest fires burning at once.

W.I.S.E. is free. Our sites are open to all, free of charge, without a fee, buy in, ticket charge, or gate receipt.

But it is not free to do all this work. It is time consuming. Moreover, the expertise displayed here is the result of hundreds of years of combined professional effort. All of the experts published at W.I.S.E. have contributed their knowledge for free, and we are deeply grateful, but we also recognize that their expertise is hard won and represents lifetimes of dedication.

Your financial contributions are also deeply appreciated. We share this wonderful letter we received today, with gratitude:

Dear Mike,

Enclosed please find a check in the amount of $200. I hope it will help to keep your great sites going and allow you to continue to share wisdom and expertise.

As I promised myself, “a dollar a day” contribution will hopefully assist this endeavor to spread the word about forest health in particular and the rational study of the environment in general.
Randy

We send Randy a big Thank You. He would never admit it, but he is a victim of excruciatingly bad forest policies. His home and landscape are under tremendous threat. His area has been visited by fire storms emanating from mis-managed federal forests and hundreds of his neighbors’ homes have been incinerated by those fire storms. There is little he can do to change those terrible policies on his own.

But W.I.S.E. is attempting to do just that. We want to save rural homes from predicted, preventable fires. We desire to save the taxpayers $billions in emergency fire costs by encouraging the application of restoration forestry to millions of acres, thereby rendering forest safe and resilient to fire and far less prone to catastrophic destruction by holocaust. We wish to protect, maintain, and perpetuate forests, wildlife habitat, watersheds, airsheds, recreation opportunities, and all the other amenities and values that forests provide us. We are deeply cognizant of the heritage of our landscapes, and promote the respect and restoration that our heritage deserves.

That is our quest. Little by little we are having an effect. Top policy makers are reading our sites. The pendulum is being swung, the elephant is slowly moving.

Your contributions make it possible for W.I.S.E. to pursue this quest. Our budget is threadbare. We can barely pay our monthly Internet fees. But with your help we will persevere.

Your contributions are tax deductible. The Western Institute for Study of the Environment is a 501(c)(3) non-profit collaboration of environmental scientists, practitioners, and the interested public.

W.I.S.E. provides a free, on-line set of post-graduate courses in environmental studies, currently fifty Topics in eight Colloquia, each containing book and article reviews, original papers, and essays. In addition, we present two Commentary sub-sites, a news clipping sub-site, and the W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking site.

Our mission is to further advancements in knowledge and environmental stewardship across a spectrum of related environmental disciplines and professions. We teach and advocate good stewardship and caring for the land.

Please help us out. Please visit our donations page [here].

Thank you.

Lightning Storms of June 30

Vaisala Lightning Explorer [here] has been registering significant lightning strikes this afternoon in Eastern Oregon, Northern Nevada, Central and Southern Idaho, Utah, Southern Montana, Western Wyoming, Western Colorado, Northern Arizona, and Northwestern New Mexico.

Bridger Fire

Location: 20 Miles East of Thatcher, Las Animas Co., CO.

Specific Location: Red Rock Canyon area of Pinon Canyon, Ft. Carson, Purgatoire River Lat 37° 31´ 37″; Lon 103° 46´ 10″

Date of Origin: 06/08/08
Cause: lightning

Situation as of 06/18/08 6:00 AM
Total Personnel: 271
Size: 45,800 acres
Percent Contained 90%

Costs to Date: $2,250,000

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Situation as of 06/16/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 319
Size: 45,800 acres
Percent Contained 75%

Two primary residences (Baldwin Ranch) and one outbuilding destroyed.

Costs to Date: $2,300,000

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Situation as of 06/14/08 6:00 PM
Total Personnel: 287
Size: 43,100 acres
Percent Contained 33%

Costs to Date: $1,800,000

Ownership: 1,656 acres private, 532 acres USFS, 40,912 acres DOD.

Fire Progression:
06/10__300 acres
06/11__8,000
06/12__20,000
06/13__41,000
06/14__42,000
06/15__43,100
06/16__45,800