USFS installs firefighting base at Casper airport

02 August 2016

published by http://wyomingbusinessreport.com

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USA — CASPER – With fires already raging around the state and region, wildland firefighting staging and preparation efforts came to Central Wyoming this week, as the U.S. Forest Service established a base for “large” and “very-large” air tankers at the Casper/Natrona County International Airport.

If fires break out in eastern Wyoming or parts of six surrounding states, the tankers will use Casper as a refueling base, as well as employing the airport’s facilities to load the fire retardant Phos-Chek into the planes’ tanks.

USFS manager Mark Sonderby is in charge of the 12-person crew of federal fire management specialists. Also on hand is a private contract crew, which handles the fire retardant, as well as manning the equipment used in loading it into the aircraft.

The “very-large” air tanker used in fighting wildfires is a DC-10, one of which was last based in Casper four years ago. It carries 11,600 gallons of the fuchsia-colored Phos-Chek. The base can also service large air tankers. These are usually British-built BAE 146s planes; AJ 85 aircraft, also British-built; and P2Vs, former U.S. Navy planes that carry 2,000 gallons of retardant.

Contract crew foreman Jose Yorbais said the retardant — which is manufactured by ICL Performance Products in California and Idaho — is very visible when dropped. The retardant’s color fades in two-to three weeks and, since it contains a lot of nitrogen, the land is fertilized to some extent each time it is dropped. The elaborate equipment at the tanker base will mix 2,100 gallons of water with one ton of retardant; the mixture being carried by large hoses to the waiting aircraft. The contractors have set up large water tanks that are filled from the airport’s hydrants. The airport charges $3.10 per thousand gallons for water and rents office space to the firefighters for $290 a month. The base’s office is on the southwest end of the terminal, with rapid access to the ramp where tankers will be loaded.

Sonderby said the greatest concern during tanker operations is people flying drones that could endanger aircraft and crews and, in the event of a collision, prevent the retardant from being delivered to a fire. He asked the public to refrain from flying into air operations areas.

“We are increasingly concerned about drone intrusions in airspace used by tankers, helicopters, spotter planes and other emergency equipment,” Sonderby said.

The six-man Phos-Chek crew waits patiently on the ramp until a tanker arrives. They undergo training and daily briefings. The balance of the crew also watches training videos and participates in lecture sessions. The federal crew in Casper is made up of Forest Service employees, along with workers from the National Park Service, Texas A&M University and the Alaska Department of Natural Resources.

The Bureau of Land Management also currently has a presence at the airport, as it operates a Single Engine Air Tanker (SEAT) base at the other end of the airport. Two small tankers capable of hauling several hundred gallons of retardant to a fire work out of the base.

All the crews hope they are not needed, but constantly stand at the ready in the event fires within their range erupt and the planes start flying to battle them.

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 Vasto incendio all’interno del Parco archeologico di Selinunte

08 August 2016

published by http://www.palermomania.it

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Italy — Un vasto incendio nell’area archeologica di Selinunte, avrebbe distrutto almeno trenta ettari di vegetazione all’interno del parco. È questa la prima stima effettuata dai vigili del fuoco dopo che l’area, la scorsa notte, è stata danneggiata da un rogo che, oltre a sterpaglie, ha bruciato macchia mediterranea e qualche albero di ulivo. E si indaga per accertare le cause del rogo.
«Ho seguito tutte le operazioni di spegnimento delle fiamme che hanno interessato la zona di Manuzza – ha detto all’Ansa Enrico Caruso, direttore del parco archeologico -. Escludo che ci possano essere stati danni alle vestigia archeologiche e ai templi poiché a delimitarle per fortuna ci sono i viali parafuoco».
 

English version of the news. Note: the news has been translated by Google translator.

Large fire within the Archaeological Park of Selinunte

A huge fire in the archaeological area of Selinunte, would have destroyed at least thirty hectares of vegetation in the park. This is the first estimate made by firefighters after the area last night, was damaged by a fire that, in addition to weeds, burned and some Mediterranean olive tree. It is investigated to ascertain the cause of the fire.
“I followed all the fire fighting of the fire that affected the Manuzza area – said to’ Ansa Enrico Caruso, director of the archaeological park -. I exclude that there may have been damage to archaeological remains and temples as to delimit fortunately there are the fire-screen roads .

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 Hundreds evacuated from path of wildfire in southern France

11 August 2016

published by https://www.theguardian.com

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France —  Hundreds of people are still unable to return to their homes in Marseille, but authorities have said that wind-whipped fires are no longer threatening the southern French city.

At least two wildfires had been burning toward the Mediterranean port, forcing the airport to reroute incoming flights to make way for firefighting aircraft. With winds still high, authorities said on Thursday the danger was not over for some nearby towns, and roads in the area were closed.

Whipped on by high winds, the blaze destroyed homes in the town of Vitrolles, about 25km (15.5 miles) north of Marseille, and in nearby Pennes-Mirabeau.

Firefighters in Portugal are also battling multiple blazes fed by brush in a hot, dry summer for a sixth straight day. A total of 186 wildfires were counted on Wednesday on Portugal’s mainland alone and on Thursday, 12 were burning out of control.

Meanwhile, Spanish authorities said five major fires were raging in the north-western region of Galicia, with 10 others under control.

On Wednesday Marseille’s deputy mayor, Julien Ruas, said on BFM-TV that the size of the fire was “absolutely exceptional”, and advised people to stay off the roads.

Four firefighters were injured, three seriously, battling a blaze in the nearby Hérault region, according to France’s interior minister, Bernard Cazeneuve. That fire – and a fire in an industrial area outside Marseille that stocks oil and petrochemicals – were contained while other blazes raged north of Marseille.

The minister said 1,800 firefighters had been mobilised to fight blazes that have destroyed more than 2,000 hectares (nearly 5,000 acres) of land, including some homes. Around 400 police officers helped towns secure homes and firefighting aircraft, including Canadairs and Trackers, were mobilised.

The largest fire burned in the Rognac area, spreading south to Vitrolles, Pennes-Mirabeau and Cabriès. High winds blew flames through the dense brush of the southern backcountry, dry from a summer season with little rain.

“Everything burned, the house, the car; there is nothing left,” a distressed resident of Vitrolles, identified only as Sylvestre, told BFM-TV. “My neighbours, it’s the same. Everything has been razed, everything is black, deserted.”

Thick smoke could be seen from Marseille, while black plumes rose above Vitrolles and Pennes-Mirabeau. “The fire is entering the village,” Pennes-Mirabeau’s mayor, Michel Amiel, said on BFM-TV.

Fire ravaged land around Fos-Sur-Mer, which includes a vast industrial zone about 40km north-west of Marseille. But a spokesperson for the prefecture of the Bouches-du-Rhône region said late on Wednesday that the blaze was no longer gaining ground. At least 20 vehicles and camping vans were destroyed there.

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 Wildfire burns post office and businesses in Northern California town

14 August 2016

published by http://www.bellinghamherald.com

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USA —     LOWER LAKE, Calif.

A fast-moving wildfire that has ripped through rural Lake County, destroying homes and forcing hundreds to flee, accelerated Sunday, burning into historic downtown Lower Lake.

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported that at least four homes had burned by Sunday morning. But later, more houses were visibly ablaze, including properties on Quarterhorse Lane, Mustang Court and Riverview Drive. Early Sunday evening, commercial structures in Lower Lake were in flames.

Cal Fire said the fire was only 5 percent contained.

The fire reached Main Street in Lower Lake, a town of about 1,200, and burned the post office and several businesses as black smoke loomed over the downtown area. Doctors and nurses at a hospital in Clearlake, a neighboring town of about 15,000, rushed to transfer patients to another hospital 25 miles away while firefighters carried goats and other animals to safety as homes burned around them.

The fire broke out Saturday afternoon and grew to more than 3 square miles as firefighters struggled to get a handle on the largely out-of-control blaze amid hot, windy conditions.

The fire was creating its own weather pattern and shifted direction into populated areas in the afternoon, said Suzie Blankenship, a spokeswoman for the Cal Fire.

“As it grows, the fire is pushing heat in front of it and it gets critically dry,” Blankenship said.

Officials confirmed four homes were destroyed, although eyewitnesses could see many more.

The fire was throwing embers and spreading rapidly because of parched conditions brought on by the state’s historic drought, officials said. Large, explosive fires have torn through dried-out or hard-to-reach areas across California this summer, including a stubborn blaze near the picturesque Big Sur coastline that has burned 113 square miles since late July and destroyed nearly 60 homes.

For residents in the community near Lower Lake, where the Clayton Fire has consumed 2,000 acres since igniting Saturday evening, fleeing menacing fires has become an unwelcome routine. The Valley Fire of 2015, the third most destructive in state history, burned about 15 miles south of the current blaze.

That blaze killed four people and destroyed more than 1,300 homes. A report issued this week concluded that faulty wiring in a hot tub ignited the 120-square-mile fire.

Ironically, the Habitat for Humanity office in Lower Lake was working to raise money to help rebuild homes destroyed by last year’s fire.

Winds that fanned the Clayton Fire overnight had been expected to be calm throughout Sunday, but by afternoon, blustery winds and high temperatures had the fire flaring up along Morgan Valley Road.

Evacuation orders were extended to residents on Bonham Road and Quarterhorse Lane, which branch off from Morgan Valley, as well as farther north in Clearlake for the tract east of Highway 53.

Rick Davis, 40, stood on a rooftop in the Morgan Valley area with his garden hose as flames surrounded him on three sides and huge walls of smoke wafted up.

“I don’t know what to do,” he said. “I’m just trying to keep the roof wet so if an ember hits, it won’t all go up.”

Davis had gone to lunch in Lower Lake when the fire was calm and the threat of his home burning was low. When he heard the flames had started up again, he rushed home to try to do what he could.

“I’m just scared,” he said. “The wind can just change.”

A short distance east of Davis’ home, Garrett Reed, 43, watched the flames grimly.

“If I see embers and ash rain down, I will turn the sprinklers on the roof and get out,” he said. “But this is my grandfather’s house and I’m not going to lose it.”

The Clayton Fire is eating up the dry brush and trees left behind by major fires that recently tore through Lake County. The Rocky and Jerusalem fires scorched the region northeast of Davis’ and Reed’s homes, while the Valley Fire claimed the area to the southwest.

“I grew up here,” Reed said. “These are all my friends’ houses that are burning, All you can do is pray for the best.”

Four helicopters and three air tankers made repeated passes over the head of the fire as it made its way toward Morgan Valley in dry brush and grassy oak woodland that is difficult for firefighters to access. Nearly 700 firefighters were in Lake County attacking the fire, said Lt. Doug Pittman, a Marin County sheriff’s spokesman working on behalf of Cal Fire.

For the hundreds of Lake County residents forced to flee their homes this weekend, the smoky haze and last-minute evacuations have become a familiar exercise after the Valley, Rocky and Jerusalem fires of last year.

“They evacuated very quickly, because they’ve seen it before,” Pittman said.

Marty Gifford, 51, was forced to evacuate Saturday. He and his mother were staying at the evacuation shelter at the Highlands Senior Services Center in Clearlake on Sunday waiting to learn if their homes were still standing.

“I don’t remember this many fires. Something is going on,” he said.

He’s lived in Lower Lake for 25 years and was at work when the fire ignited. He said he got a call to go home and gather his belongings but was stopped by local sheriff’s deputies from entering the evacuated neighborhood.

His mother, Beverly Gifford, 84, made it out of the family’s property with her two dogs, Gizmo and Szasza, before the fire got too close.

“I’m absolutely concerned, but there’s not much I can do about it,” she said of the recent fires. “Sometimes I feel like we’re in the latter days.”

“I have faith in Cal Fire,” Marty Gifford said. “I’ve seen them work miracles.”

Joyce Overton, the executive director of the Highlands Senior Services Center, said she’s converted the building into an evacuation center six times in just over a year.

“It’s scary and a little eerie,” she said of all the fires. “But we’re a community here. Last year, we weren’t prepared for it. Now to everyone that comes in I say, ‘Are you OK?’ and I give them a big hug.”

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 Man charged with 17 counts of arson as wildfire decimates Northern California town

16 August 2016

published by http://www.foxnews.com

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USA — A California man was arrested Monday on arson charges for allegedly sparking a wildfire that exploded over the weekend, destroying more than 175 homes, businesses and other structures in a small town, authorities said.

Lake County Sheriff Brian Martin said Damin Anthony Pashilk, 40, of Clearlake was arrested Monday on 17 counts of arson and is in jail. He is suspected in numerous fires in Lake County over the past year.

California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Director Ken Pimlott said the blaze in the town of Lower Lake has caused over $10 million in damages and left dozens of families homeless.

“Mr. Pashilk committed a horrific crime and we will seek prosecution to the fullest extent of the law. My thoughts continue to be with the people of Lake County during this difficult time,” Pimlott said.

The inferno has spread more than six square miles in the Lower Lake area about 90 miles north of San Francisco. As of late Monday, the fire was only 5 percent contained. But fire officials insisted that no other structures were under direct threat from the out-of-control flames.

Firefighters aren’t getting any help in trying to tame the blaze. The weather forecast called for temperatures to reach the upper 90s in the days to come, with no rain in sight. A heave wave and gusty winds also put Southern California on high fire alert.

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