UPDATE 1 – TUESDAY – NOVEMBER 13TH

For Evacuations, Shelters for people and their pets, Road Closures and further updates/Alerts — > http://cdfdata.fire.ca.gov/admin8327985/cdf/images/incidentfile2277_4226.pdf

NOTE:  Info in this single daily post are actual pressers, media releases, daily incident updates/SITREPS and gleaned from Social Media.  We are posting accordingly and try 100% to honestly post true and most accurate information as possible.

DISCLAIMER:  We do not represent any Fire or Police Agency and any and all information is from our personal viewpoint.

Incident Summary

• Incident # – CA-BTU-016737
• Wildfire Incident
• Current size is 130,000 acres with 35% containment status.
• Fire Managers are expecting this wildfire to grow to a final size of 150,000 acres.
• Expected containment date is scheduled for November 30th.
• Located – Concow, Town of Paradise, Magalia, Butte Creek Canyon, Butte Valley in Butte County.
• Unified Command – CAL FIRE IMT 4 (Derum), USFS (Griffin), Butte County Sheriff’s Office (Bell) and Town of Paradise PD (Reinvold)
• 48 deaths.
• 52,000 residents have been evacuated.
• 1,385 in temporary shelters.
• Total of 53,427 civilians affected.
• Total 3 First responders impacted.
• 3 First Responders with either injuries or illnesses as reported.

Fire Status

• Behavior is active fire with uphill runs, flanking and with single-tree torching.
• Fire burned through communities of Concow, Town of Paradise and Magalia.
• Fuels consist of: 6′ chaparral, timber and short grass.
• Fire conditions are critically dry fuels and gusty winds.
• Fire Managers foresee this fire will be a potential future threat, completed mass notifications, planning for future evacuations and are currently in evacuation mode.
• During the day today, firefighters were able to hold the established containment lines.
• Tonight, crews will take advantage of nighttime humidity recovery.
• Throughout the night firefighters will provide structure protection and continue to strengthen and improve existing control lines.
• They will patrol within the fire area while address hot spots and any and all hazards.

Resources – Fire

The following resources on this incident are:

• 630 Fire engines
• 74 Water tenders
• 23 Helicopters
• 99 Hand Crews
• 105 Dozers
• 5,615 personnel

Incident Cooperators

• CAL Trans
• CAL DOC and REHAB
• CHP
• CALOES
• National Weather Service (NWS)
• CA Conservation Corps
• Butte County
• City of Chico

Under Direct Threat for the Period of 12-72 hours

Infrastructure

Fire to continue to threaten buildings/infrastructure in the next 12-hour operational period of time:

• Paradise
• Magalia
• Concow
• Stirling City
• Yankee Hill
• Big Bend
• Butte Creek Canyon
• Butte Valley
• Honey Run
• Helltown
• Centerville
• Forest Ranch
• Paradise Pines
• Cherokee
• Berry Creek

Private Lands/Areas

The following are currently being threatened:

• Private timber lands
• Watersheds for Lake Oroville and Concow Reservoir
• Plumas National Forest
• Union Pacific RR
• Highways 32, 70, 99 and 149.
•  ISO reportable power lines
• Table Mountain Substation
• Feather River Hospital
• Paradise and Magalia municipal water systems
• Communication lines
• Cell towers and mountain top communications infrastructure
• CAL FIRE communications sites
• CHP communications sites
• Lake Oroville Marina fuel and boat storage
• Recreation and tourism on Lake Oroville and surrounding communities,
• Butte Fire Center
• Butte County
• Town of Paradise
• USFS Fire Stations
• Sawmill Peak
• Flea Mountain Lookout
• PG & E infrastructure including 500 KV/230 KV/115 KV lines
• PG & E gas line servicing the town of Paradise
• 3 hydroelectric plants at Poe, Cresta, Desable and Lime Saddle

Damage Assessments

• Currently threatened:  15,500 single family homes; 2,000 non-residential commercial properties.
• Damaged:  75 single homes, 11 multiple residences, 32 non-residential commercial properties and 30 other minor structures.
• Destroyed:  7,600 single family homes, 95 multiple residences, 3 mixed commercial / residential structures, 260 non-residential commercial properties and 859 other minor structures.
• Fire has burned through communities of Concow, Paradise and Magalia with significant damage to infrastructure and buildings.
• 17,500 residential and commercial buildings are all impacted.
• Feather River Hospital suffered extreme amounts of damage.
• Due to the high amount of damage, assessments are expected to be completed within the next several operational periods.
• $24.6 Million Cost-to-Date (on the low side).

Unsung Heroes

• Firefighters on the Front Lines:  Our #firefighters have been busy working 12 hr. shifts at the #CampFire in CA. The crew have been teamed up with @CALFIRE_ButteCo and the dozer team to cut a fire line and back burn areas to protect vital structures in the area.  (Photo Credits: Clackamas FD)

• Vet Care:  Our faculty clinicians, residents, students and vet techs are working around the clock to care for animals injured.   How to help by donating to –> https://give.ucdavis.edu/VMTH/V6TH631  (Photo Credit:  UC Davis Vet Med)

Evacuees Resources

Sources:  GACC.NIFC, CAL FIRE, Social Media

(c) 2018 NW FIRE BLOG

SEATTLE, Wash. – Seattle Firefighters were dispatched to a fire in building call at 1316 hours on Saturday, October 6, 2018, located in the 2400 block of S. Norman Street.

The building was said to be a duplex approximately 60 x 40 in diameter with two stories.  Reports of black heavy smoke were visible and coming out of the first floor windows according to earlier details given by Seattle Fire dispatch during fire crews were responding.

Dispatched units to the fire were L4, L3, A5, AIR10, B4, DEP1, E13, E25, E5, L4, M1, M44, MAR5, R1, REHAB1, SAFT2, STAF10, B5, E30, E6, L10. (1316)

Photo Credit:  Seattle Fire

Firefighters immediately arrived on-scene reporting a working fire on the first floor of the two-story duplex. E30 arrived and was on the attack line while E6 was their back-up line.  A complete 360* of the building was in progress.  (1323)

E13 established a water supply on the hydrant on 24th Avenue South and South Norman Street, while team Bravo was setting up an exposure line.  Water was put on the fire. (1325)

Battalion 5 arrived and assumed “Norman Command”.  A 360* was completed.  Attack line was staffed by E30 and back-up line by E6. L4 was searching the building. This was a 2-story duplex. (1327)

Firefighters quickly gained control of the fire but heat and smoke were still present.  Water supply established.  (1328)

L10 reported no extension to floor 2 but smoke was still moderate. Floor 1 had a primary search completed with nothing found. E6 requested an additional truck company to assist with overhaul. (1329)

Photo Credit:  Seattle Fire

Floors 1 and 2 were searched (primary) and were completed with nothing found. Venting of the structure was in progress. (1330)

Floor 2 had a secondary search completed with nothing found. Both floors 1 and 2 had a secondary search completed. (1332)

Firefighters vented the roof by cutting a hole in it. The attic was clear of any fire or smoke. (1334)

An iguana pet was rescued from floor 1 and brought out by firefighters. (1337)

Photo Credit:  Seattle Fire

E16 team exited the building due to low air.  Marshal 5 (FIU) arrived on-scene. (1341)

Overhaul activities had been halted so that Marshal 5 could do his/her investigation on the fire. (1342)

Units started to get released from the fire incident:  E5, R1, A4 returning back in service. (1345)  Safety2 and Deputy1 (1353). REHAB1 (1400).

Seattle Fire reported that no injuries to civilians or firefighters was reported.

The cause of this fire and financial damage to the building and its contents is still being investigated by the Seattle Fire Marshal’s Office.

(c) 2018 NW Fire Blog

KLAMATH FALLS, Oregon —

On Monday, October 1, 2018, will be a day of remembrance and reflection of two men who died selflessly and doing what they loved every time they were deployed to a wildfire or, in some cases – a firestorm incident that required their experience and precise skills.

Twenty-six years tomorrow (1992), Pilot Charles Frost Sheridan, 54 and Co-Pilot Leonard Douglas Martin were killed while serving in the capacity of providing mutual aid from the skies down onto the firestorm below them.  Dropping retardant from their Douglas Commercial or more commonly known as a DC-7B was their primary focus and main fire suppression objective.

As Sheridan and Martin were preparing for a retardant drop on the Cleveland Fire on the El Dorado National Forest in the northern portion of the State of California – both were experiencing an on board mechanical malfunction.  Unexpectedly, the plane crashed at the time this was occurring.   Unfortunately, both brave men would perish in the Tanker 61 crash.

Crash site 2018.  Courtesy – Tanker 61 Memorial

Multiple Agencies including the FAA, NTSB, the USFS and our own research have concluded the following:

• Tanker 61 was a (Douglas Commercial) DC-7B owned by TMB of Tulare, California and operated by Butler Aircraft of Redmond, Oregon.
• The plane was stationed out of the Klamath Falls Airtanker Base (OR) from 1987-1992.
• The plane was under contract with the US Forest Service.
• The crash site is located near Kyburz, California on the southeastern edge of the fire on the Eldorado National Forest, about two miles from the intended retardant drop and one mile west of the upper dam on the Ice House reservoir.

Chuck Sheridan served with Tanker 61 through all six fire seasons and had a home in the Klamath Falls area.  Leonard Martin had recently joined the crew as co-pilot in 1991. Both loved to give tours of their aircraft and talking to visitors about aerial firefighting.

After their deaths, a memorial fund was created to help Chuck and Leonard’s families with any emergency needs they had or would incur.  Instead, these same gracious family members would instead ask that the funds be used for a higher purpose and that was to create a Memorial in their names.

Today, it is known as Tanker 61 Memorial, Wildfire Learning Center that is located at 6300 Summers Lane in Klamath Falls, Oregon 97603.  You can find out more by visiting their Facebook Page, Tanker 61 Memorial, Wildfire Learning Center or visiting their website at tanker61memorial.org.  Their contact information is phone #541-883-6853 or you can reach them by email at tankersixone@gmail.com.

The Memorial is located near the Klamath Falls Airtanker Base, which also where the Lakeview Interagency Fire Center is stationed.  You can also catch a “up, close and personal” front row seat to the National Guard jets flying around.

You can visit this great gem and honor these two great pilots in Oregon during the months of May through October from 0900 through 1800 hours PDT.  Not only can you learn about their lives and legacies but about how aerial firefighting is implemented today.  As a bonus, a P2V Airtanker 06 was donated by Neptune Aviation Inc. and is currently on static display at the Memorial.

The Director of the Memorial is Marcia Cavin who has put her heart and soul into this Memorial project with the aid of her Tanker Base Manager/Volunteer husband, Don Cavin and with countless volunteers along the way. They have put together an amazing Memorial to two Heroic pilots who served unconditionally to save lives, property and natural resources.

Courtesy – Tanker 61 Memorial Association

ABOUT THE CLEVELAND FIRE

The Cleveland Fire started on September 29, 1992 that was deemed to most likely be human-caused but it has not fully been deemed to be so to this day.  The fire was said to have started near Cleveland Corral and is how the fire was named after, which is east of Sacramento. It was observed that the fire had burned about 20,000 acres of forest and rugged back country in a total of 30 hours.

Flames would eventually move northeast destroying a Forest Service lookout tower on Big Hill and down the south side of the highway near Whitehall. It then would race down the American River canyon and threatened to burn up a major communications station nearby and more than 10 popular campgrounds in the Crystal Basin area.

About 150 people who live along US 50 were evacuated. About 20 USFS structures and six homes were burned, most of them Forest Service summer cabins.

Though this was a mandatory evacuation for those in the communities of Whitehall, Riverton, Kyburz and Strawberry along Hwy 150, a group of 10 family and friends decided to stay in hopes of saving their homes.  They were found sheltering-in-place at the Ice House resort, a motel-restaurant-store and campground that was well inside the fire zone.  Those who decided not to heed to the evacuation notice found themselves well too close for comfort, as the fire came calling at their doors (about 1/4 mile) but ended sparing every single one of their homes.

Deer hunters were in the area but quickly self-evacuated from the fire zone.

More than 2,245 firefighters battled the firestorm in steep, rugged terrain as helicopters and air resources dropped retardant and water. Fire weather consisted of low humidity, high winds and prolonged drought conditions which is said to be a wildland firefighter’s worst nightmare, making it ripe for a firestorm.

Three firefighters were injured with two of them being slightly hurt by falling debris.  .

Then on October 1, 1992, during one of their preparations to drop retardant over the fire Tanker 61’s (heavy airtanker) aircraft unexpectedly crashed killing both pilots onboard. It was determined they were having some sort of mechanical malfuction at the time of the crash.

It would take until October 14, 1992, to contain and put the wildfire completely out.  The fire caused more than $245 million in damages, plus an additional $16 million in fire suppression and containment costs.  A total of 72 injuries and two deaths would eventually be reported.

#ClevelandFire #Tanker61 #ChuckSheridan #LeonardMartin #Tanker61Memorial #WildfireLearningCenter #USFS #Airtanker #KlamathFallsOR #KlamathFallsTankerBase #LakeviewInteragency

(c) 2018 NW Fire Blog

SPRING CREEK, Nevada —

Sunday, September 30th – A wildfire named the RANGE TWO FIRE started near Spring Creek in Nevada around 0900 hours today on private land.  It now has moved into the Ruby Mountains and on to the Mountains Jarbidge Ranger District of the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest.

Photo Credit – USFS – Humboldt Toiyable National Forest

Evacuations are now in effect for the Lamoille Canyon area.  The U.S. Forest Service is asking for all to divert around this area to  protect yours and their own Safety.

Fire fuels include grass, brush, pinyon and juniper.

Unconfirmed reports by media are now reporting that there has been 8,000 acres burned, along with structures burning and being threatened. (We are waiting for an official update from the USFS and to be reported to Inciweb.)

No injuries to civilians or fire personnel have been reported.

(c) 2018 NW Fire Blog

SELMA, Oregon —

INCIDENT SUMMARY

The lightning caused wildfire that began on July 15, 2018, continues to burn about nine miles from Selma in the Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest.  The fire originated in the area of the Klondike Creek.

Fire Managers have broken this incident into three Zones:  Taylor Creek Fire, Klondike East and West Fires.

The Klondike West Fire is burning in the footprint of the 2002 Biscuit Fire and in the Kalmiopsis Wilderness. Portions of the wildfire has also touched areas of the 2017 Chetco Bar Fire of 2017 burn scar.

STAFFING

There are currently 589 total personnel still working on this wildfire, along with 10 crews, five helos and 22 engines.

Photo Credit – USFS

CLOSURES

The following are closed to keep the public safe and integrity of firefighter safety.

• Roads are open but may close briefly as firefighters may need to do burnout operations for Forest Rd. 23 (Bear Camp Rd.) and South of 23 Road and east of the 2308 (Burnt Ridge) Roads.

EVACUATIONS

• Agness area has been reduced to a Level 1 Evacuation (Be Ready).

FIRE STATUS

Fire behavior was reported as moderate with flanking, backing and group torching.

It has burned about 154,663 acres of timber, grass and brush, as well as fallen dead material from a previous wildfire in the area.  Crews have reached a 72% containment status.

Expected containment date is October 31, 2018.

HASHTAGS

#KlondikeEastFire #KlondikeWestFire

(c) 2018 NW Fire Blog