Washington State Wildfire Season
08-22-2015, 12:39 PM
#1
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Joined APC: May 2006
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Washington State Wildfire Season
State makes unprecedented call for volunteers - Spokesman.com - Aug. 21, 2015
Firefighter captures Okanogan flames in photos
It is a bad year for us. 100+ fires from Chelan to Omak. Nearly 500,000 acres burned so far. That is 3x the size of Everett, Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue combined. The towns of Winthrop, Twisp, Lake Chelan, Tonasket all evacuated or ready to evacuate.
The worst news is the death of 3 young firefighters. A fourth is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center.
For the first time, the State is looking for civilians to volunteer. I sent an email volunteering mr vagabond since he has many years of heavy equipment operator experience running dozers and backhoes and loaders. We got an email that they were inundated and probably cannot use us with so many volunteers ahead of us.
The good news is a possible break in the weather.
The linked article above also talks about Priest River, Idaho. We were there looking for a small vacation home just 3 weeks ago! It was green and lush back then, but could be cut off from the rest of the world with fire.
Firefighter captures Okanogan flames in photos
It is a bad year for us. 100+ fires from Chelan to Omak. Nearly 500,000 acres burned so far. That is 3x the size of Everett, Seattle, Tacoma and Bellevue combined. The towns of Winthrop, Twisp, Lake Chelan, Tonasket all evacuated or ready to evacuate.
The worst news is the death of 3 young firefighters. A fourth is in critical condition at Harborview Medical Center.
For the first time, the State is looking for civilians to volunteer. I sent an email volunteering mr vagabond since he has many years of heavy equipment operator experience running dozers and backhoes and loaders. We got an email that they were inundated and probably cannot use us with so many volunteers ahead of us.
The good news is a possible break in the weather.
The linked article above also talks about Priest River, Idaho. We were there looking for a small vacation home just 3 weeks ago! It was green and lush back then, but could be cut off from the rest of the world with fire.
08-22-2015, 03:50 PM
#2
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Joined APC: Jun 2012
Posts: 6,124
It was a really slow season, until a few weeks ago. We've been running fairly consistently ever since. National preparedness level is ranked 1-5, with five being all resources committed. Most of the season the nation has been sitting at two, with Alaska at four and five for a while early in the season. Presently the national level is five. Most of our resources have already been extended 30 days beyond our scheduled commitment; I'm expecting a 30 day extension shortly.
This year, nearly all my drops have been technical; nothing simple. Most high angle, all in rough terrain, most of the time it's been in very low visibility, and some challenging wind. There have been some dramatic fire gains this season, too. Idaho saw a start grow from initial attack to over a hundred thousand acres in two days, which is incredible. Presently Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho are the hot spots.
It's rare that non-firefighters are called upon to assist, especially with fire-duties. I certainly hope that adding untrained volunteers to the mix doesn't result in an increase in injuries or deaths. It's great to see so many volunteer. I hope for their safety.
This year, nearly all my drops have been technical; nothing simple. Most high angle, all in rough terrain, most of the time it's been in very low visibility, and some challenging wind. There have been some dramatic fire gains this season, too. Idaho saw a start grow from initial attack to over a hundred thousand acres in two days, which is incredible. Presently Northern California, Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho are the hot spots.
It's rare that non-firefighters are called upon to assist, especially with fire-duties. I certainly hope that adding untrained volunteers to the mix doesn't result in an increase in injuries or deaths. It's great to see so many volunteer. I hope for their safety.
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