W.I.S.E. Fire Tracking

Long Canyon Fire

Location: 4 mi. E of Las Cruces, Dona Ana Co, NM
Specific Location: Organ Mtns., Lat 32° 14´ 19″ Lon 106° 34´ 22″

Date of Origin: 06/20/2010
Cause: Human

Situation as of 06/25/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 0
Size: 2,582 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

All public lands are open to the public. No further reporting to take place

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Situation as of 06/23/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 79
Size: 2,582 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

Costs to Date: $811,523

Increase in acreage due to more accurate mapping. Local crew unable to come within 1,000 acres of actual fire size. Type 2 IMT (Cowie) managed to provide accurate statistic.

Significant mop-up and final gridding of the fire occurred today. The New Mexico T-2 IMT will be turning the fire over to the local unit tomorrow 6/24/2010 at 0600.

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Situation as of 06/22/2010 4:30 pm
Personnel: 171
Size: 1,340 acres
Percent Contained: 20%

Structures Threatened: 12 PRIM

Decrease in acreage due to more accurate mapping. 3 Type 1 crews and 1 Type 2IA crew made significant progress working direct fireline with 2 Type 1 helicopters for support. Type 2 IMT(Cowie) will take over fire at 1800 today.

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Situation as of 06/21/2010 5:30 pm
Personnel: 35
Size: 3,500 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Structures Threatened: 12 PRIM

Type 2 IMT ordered late in the afternoon of 6/21.

Tecolote Fire

Location: 15 mi WNW of Las Vegas, San Miguel Co, NM
Specific Location: Tecolote Ck, ~5 mi NW of Cabo Lucero, Santa Fe NF, Lat 35° 40´ 51″ Lon 105° 28´ 46″

Date of Origin: 06/11/2010
Cause: Lightning

Situation as of 07/03/2010 2:30 pm
Personnel: 3
Size: 812 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

Costs to Date: $5,489,425 (no update)

Due to significant amount of precipitation fire is 100% contained. All resources except Road Grader and Finance will be demobed today.

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Situation as of 06/27/2010 4:00 pm
Personnel: 30
Size: 812 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $5,489,425

Type 3 team transition to Type 4, local district in place.

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South Fork Fire

Location: 20 miles W of Espanola, Los Alamos Co., NM
Specific Location: Valles Caldera National Preserve [here], Santa Fe NF, Lat 36° 2´ 21″, Lon 106° 26´ 40″

Date of Origin: 06/10/2010
Cause: Under investigation

Situation as of 07/15/2010 12:30 pm
Personnel: 8
Size: 17,100 acres
Percent Contained: 95%

Costs to Date: $8,980,000

Monitor.

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Situation as of 07/09/2010 12:30 pm
Personnel: 40
Size: 17,100 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $8,875,000

Monitor.

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Situation as of 07/03/2010 4:15 pm
Personnel: 137
Size: 17,086 acres
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $8,728,532

Mop-up, patrol and rehab in all Divisions. Transition to Type 4 IC on 7/4/2010 at 1800.

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Situation as of 07/01/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 209
Size: 17,086 acres
Percent Contained: 65%

Costs to Date: $8,405,930

Smoldering only in high concentrations of heavy fuel and duff layer. Crews will continue rehab and patrol the fire perimeter in all Divisions. East and West spike camps will be demobed.

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Situation as of 06/30/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 209
Size: 17,086 acres
Percent Contained: 50%

Costs to Date: $8,145,463

Fire burned 5 more acres with low activity. Flame lengths are 1-3 feet and slow movement in mixed conifer.

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Aspen Fire

Location: 30 mi NE of Silver City, Gila NF, Grant Co, NM
Specific Location: Black Canyon Ck, ~8 mi W of Reeds Peak, Lat 33° 9´ 35″ Lon 107° 58´ 16″

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

Situation as of 06/29/2010 5:00 pm
Personnel: 23
Size: 3,200 acres
Percent Contained: 100%

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Rio (Jemez) Fire

Location: Jemez Mtns, Sante Fe NF, Los Alamos Co., NM
Specific Location: W of Hwy 126, Jemez Road, 1/2 mile SW of Fenton Lake, Lat 35° 50´ 59″, Lon 106° 45´ 41″

Date of Origin: 06/01/2010
Cause: Under investigation (abandoned campfire suspected)

Situation as of 06/05/2010 6:20 pm
Personnel: 347
Size: 1,356 acres
Percent Contained: 85%

Costs to Date: $2,052,055

Mop-up in progress in all divisions. Waterbars completed on 50% of hand line around the fire. Started resource demob.

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Situation as of 06/04/2010 6:45 pm
Personnel: 433
Size: 1,356 acres
Percent Contained: 50%

Costs to Date: $1,388,495

Reduction in acreage is due to more accurate ground GPS mapping. Mop-up under way.

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Situation as of 06/03/2010 7:00 pm
Personnel: 334
Size: 1,405 acres
Percent Contained: 35%

Costs to Date: $697,200

No explanation given for cost estimate reduction. Transition from Archuleta’s Type 3 team to Cowies Type 2 team. Arrival of type 1 crews facilitated completion of the line around the fire.

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Situation as of 06/01/2010 23:30 pm
Personnel: 186
Size: 600 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

Costs to Date: $2,500,000

Structures Threatened: 48 PRIM , 9 COMM , 26 OUTB

News reports say 700 to 800 acres this morning (June 2). Evacuations ordered for the 7 Springs community and the area around Fenton Lake — around 70 people. Fenton Lake SP is temporarily closed. An emergency shelter has been set up at the Jemez Valley Schools campus.

San Miguel Foofurb* Fire

Location: Bandelier National Monument, Santa Fe NF, San Doval Co. NM
Specific Location: 13 miles south of Los Alamos, NM., Lat 35° 43´ 9″, Lon 106° 20´ 10″

Date of Origin: 07/02/2009
Cause: Lightning

Situation as of 07/17/2009 5:00 pm
Personnel: 16
Size: 1,635 acres
Percent Contained: 0%

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238 Fire

Location: HWY 238 South of Buckeye, Lea Co. NM
Specific Location: W of Arkansas Junction, Carlsbad District BLM, Lat 32° 47´ 30″; Lon 103° 29´ 48″

Date of Origin: 03/30/2009
Cause: downed powerlines

Situation as of 03/31/2009 8:00 pm
Personnel: unknown
Size: 8,960 acres:
Percent Contained: 100%

Costs to date: $50,000+

Fire destroyed a barn and an abandoned truck stop.

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Situation as of 03/30/2009 6:10 pm
Personnel: 146
Size: 8,960 acres:
Percent Contained: 0%

Fire jumped Hwy 529 and Hwy 62/180. Temporary threats to a hospital and nursing home before wind changed direction. One barn burned.

Grass fire, erratic fire behavior with rapid rates of spread. 50 engines on this fire.

Montana Fire

Location: 12 miles west of Pena Blanca Lake , Santa Cruz Co. AZ
Specific Location: Nogales Ranger District, Coronado NF, Lat 31°27´49″; Lon 111°9´40″

Date of Origin: 03/25/2009
Cause: human, under investigation

Situation as of 03/30/2009 6:30 pm
Personnel: 19
Size: 2,400 acres:
Percent Contained: 70%

Resources monitor and patrol east side, mop and cold trail west side.

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Situation as of 03/26/2009 6:30 pm
Personnel: ~135
Size: 1,500 acres:
Percent Contained: 0%

Fire is burning in grass and mesquite woodland.

Crews will be using a defensive-suppression strategy utilizing roads and natural features to contain the fire Because of the continuing Red Flag Warning and the difficult terrain involved, crews continue to assess the strategy.

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.

Picacho Fire

Location: 20 miles E of Mayhill, W of Hope, Chavez Co. NM
Specific Location: Hwy 82 W of Hwy 13, Lat: 32° 53´ 16″ Lon: 105° 10´ 22″

Date of Origin: 03/04/2009
Cause: Human

Situation as of 03/11/2009 5:40 pm
Personnel: unknown
Size: 16,141 acres:
Percent Contained: 100%

Costs to Date: $470,000

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Situation as of 03/08/2009 5:40 pm
Personnel: 99
Size: 12,500 acres:
Percent Contained: 90%

Costs to Date: $450,000

Structures Threatened: 2 homes; Structures Destroyed: NONE

Fire contained by NM T3 Team (Eddie Tudor IC) despite Red Flag winds and dried fuel. Ranchland grasses.

Alta WFU Fire

Location: 11 Miles W of Abiquiu Lake, Rio Arriba Co., NM

Specific Location: Upper Potrero Spring, Santa Fe NF, Lat 36° 14´ 43″ Lon 106° 37´ 33″

Date of Origin: 08/07/2008
Cause: lightning

Situation as of 08/25/08 6:00 PM
Personnel: 4
Size: 801 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: $18,500

Fire received some moisture on the evening of the 24th. Today RH’s were very high causing the fire to smolder in most areas. This afternoon fire/flame did start to ignite in the needle litter, but continued to burn in the 10000 Hr. fuels. The fire in Prieta canyon and on Prieta Mesa did not show much activity, mostly smoldering with light smoke visible. The fire did and will continue to back down in Potrero canyon, if it doesn’t receive abundant moisture.

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Situation as of 08/24/08 4:30 PM
Personnel: 0
Size: 710 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: $17,500

Fire continues creeping in Prieta Canyon, burning down the drainage.

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Situation as of 08/20/08 5:15 PM
Personnel: 4
Size: 525 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: $14,500

Fire continues to be a backing fire on the NW corner and down in the canyon in between Prieta and East Mesas.

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Situation as of 08/19/08 6:30 PM
Personnel: 5
Size: 510 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: $13,500

Increased behavior due to lower RH’s and higher temps.

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Situation as of 08/17/08 2:00 PM
Personnel: 1
Size: 385 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: $11,500

Very minimal fire behavior today due to lite precipt. and high RH’s. Fire is continuing to creep west side of FR 77. Fire is also creeping SE side of fire down the remainder of the bench.

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Situation as of 08/14/08 5:30 PM
Personnel: 9
Size: 300 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: $9,000

Fire backed down a bench on E flank with group torching. W flank of fire is backing to 77 road with a ground fire and minimal torching.

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Situation as of 08/13/08 5:15 PM
Personnel: 9
Size: 190 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: $7,000

FUM2 arrived today

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Situation as of 08/12/08 4:45 PM
Personnel: 9
Size: 150 acres
Containment: 0%

Cost to date: not reported, Est. $5,000

Posted signs about Wildland Fire Use around the local communites

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.