To keep it fire-relevant, the MAFFS C-130s are all showing up on FR24.
Fire irrelevant, an MH-60 that made a recent visit for CSAR training did not.
2 Likes
The wind at Lake Davis never developed today beyond a light breeze. Now the forecast is the same tomorrow. Smoke never got better than 3.5 miles and closed in again late afternoon with a WSW flow. Sorry to see fire headed for Taylorsville and maybe Genesee area. Don’t know if I’ll be able see them with the smoke,
but I’ll keep an eye out for pyro cumulus. For something that hadn’t been heard of very long ago I have an unfortunate number of pics of them now from Beckwourth complex, Tamarind and Dixie. And it’s only still July.
1 Like
Indian peak cam survived:
http://www.alertwildfire.org/shastamodoc/index.html?camera=Axis-IndianRidge&v=fd40729
3 Likes
Visability at Lake Davis is just over 100’ ugg. Makes mountain flying tricky. Fresh pine smoke. Hope it stirs up enough to get those ops going.
1 Like
Dixie Fire IR 7/25/21 at 00:00. Heat south of Almanor is firing operation. Fire grew 0.25-1 miles toward Jonesville. Dixie+Fly merged, burned Indian Falls, Paxton, spread south toward Butterfly Valley. 0.25-1 mile growth toward Spanish Ranch. White lines are 24 hour growth. Data: Courtney/NIROPS
West side of fire was much quieter under smoke most of the day, fire didn’t push as hard toward Humboldt Road, which is a very important line for controlling the entire west side of fire between Jonesville and Chester. Some progress has been made in firing off Humboldt south of Fanani Meadows.
The east side of the fire was much more active than west. Fly and Dixie Fires merged, and burned through Indian Falls, Dawn Institute, Paxton, and Greenville Wye. Fire also spread about 2 miles toward Crescent Mills. I don’t have details on structure losses, and I don’t usually post much on this topic, as it is too personal, especially on these fires. Fly fire ran over top of Mt. Hough and is backing downhill toward Taylorsville.
8 Likes
This morning update brought a tiny increase of reported containment, but also the knowledge that multiple structures were destroyed overnight.
The Dixie Fire is at 190,625 acres and 21 percent containment. Last night the Fly Fire was at 4,300 acres and 5 percent contained, and as reported last night, the Dixie and Fly fires burned together. There are now 10,721 structures threatened
The fire burned into the Greenville Wye and burned across both Highway 70 and Highway 89. Firefighters engaged immediately in structure protection in nearby communities. The communities of Paxton and Indian Falls were the most severely impacted. Several strike teams of engines were in the area fighting to protect structures as the fire intensified. They remained in the area overnight as the fire remained active.
The Fly Fire has run to the top of Mt. Hough and is now expected to back down the mountain to the northeast. Preparations made to the communications infrastructure on the mountain top were successful in preventing fire damage.
Firefighters are preparing fire line southwest of Taylorsville to protect the community as the fire advances. They are also working on dozer line across the top of the fire. Extreme fire behavior is expected again today. Atmospheric conditions are less stable and large pyrocumulus clouds are expected to develop over the fire increasing the potential for spot fires and rapid fire growth
Information was sparse for the West Zone. The Dixie Fire remained active overnight, with uphillruns, shortrange spotting and rollout. Critically low fuel moistures and record-setting Energy Release Components (ERC) have caused difficulty in suppressing the fire spread. The fire continues to burn in a remote area with limited access, and extended travel times with steep terrain are hampering control efforts.
12 Likes
Just now (and man, the emergency public alert tone on my phone has just about given me a few heart attacks the past week - I really need to figure out how to change it):
Not good for Indian Valley if they’re talking evacuating Genesee to the northeast. Bizarre to see a fire starting near Paradise be moving into possible Moonlight Fire burn areas.
5 Likes
So Genesee Valley and the Grizzly Peak area just added to the mandatory evacuation list. That’s a big list.
here is the evac map site
https://buttecountygis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9c92e0a2d2e0415fa5248d70cd644a82
4 Likes
Interesting but sad map. I used to be happy having lake davis so near I’m fact I’ve had helicopters drip water on my house as they were dumping just past the edge of my property. But it’s not protection anymore. Big thinning and brush clearing project was starting here. But then dotta and sugar started.
2 Likes
I was wondering about the chances of this running close to Susanville. Last week I would have said fat chance, but not so sure now. Hopefully the monsoon moisture will put this one and the Tamarack to sleep and prove us all wrong.
7 Likes
There was a big fire back there two years ago… maybe that would slow it down.
The walker fire. Not as big as I remember.
2 Likes
[From Multi County Police and Fire Covering Amador, Calaveras, and Tuolumne by Rick Roche] Redirecting...
Evacuation warning now into grizzly valley. That’s touching NW corner of lake davis.
3 Likes
And now immediate evacuation for canyon dam…good luck everyone.
5 Likes
And that map doesn’t even include the Tehama County evacuations
As Dixie Fire moves east toward Genesse Valley, there are questions about potential threats to Susanville and communities on the Eastside ofhte Sierra Nevada along Highway 395.
Recent large fires have reduced fuel loading across tens of thousands of acres in this area. Here are 2 maps showing recent fire history.
Left to right - 2020 Hog, 2020 Sheep, 2007 Moonlight (light blue), 2019 Walker.
The Sheep Fire Burn protects Susanville from another fire, and 2019 Walker protects areas of South of Janesville toward Milford, but fire moving NE could thread the needle between the two. Between Sheep and Walker we have the 2007 Moonlight Burn, which helped reduce fire intensity some places during the 2020 Sheep Fire, but didn’t stop fire spread outright. Many areas not salvage logged on public lands within the 2007 Moonlight Burn burned extremely hot in 2020.
Red areas in this false-color image have no tree canopy following previous fires.
The Moonlight Fire area has had a lot of salvage, and there is not much canopy cover across these areas, so if we got some clear air, we could make a lot of hay with air tankers in this area. Canopy cover data from the California Forest Observatory website, which is worth checking out. https://forestobservatory.com/
7 Likes
The evacuation was just expanded to include the East Shore of Lake Almanor - basically everything between Canyon Dam and Hamilton Branch.
7 Likes