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Wildfires

Sun

Fire crews battle wildfires blazing across Western US

Vignesh Ramachandran
NBC News
Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:20 UTC
Image
© Kari Greer/US Forest Service/Reuters


Flames from the Trinity Ridge Fire in the Boise National Forest engulf trees near Pine and Featherville, Idaho, Aug. 17.
As a flurry of wildfires rage across the Western United States, firefighters on Monday were trying to gain control of the 15,000-acre Ponderosa fire in Northern California that began over the weekend.

Firefighters have only been able to contain five percent of the blaze, which is burning across both Tehama and Shasta counties.

The fire began on Saturday after lighting strikes hit the densely forested area about 170 miles north of Sacramento, according to The Associated Press. So far, it has engulfed more than 23 square miles near the Northern Californian towns of Manton, Shingletown and Viola, AP reported.

Seven structures have been destroyed. CAL FIRE spokesman Daniel Berlant said at least 3,000 homes remain threatened along with more than 300 other structures, AP said.
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Phoenix

Thousands Told to Evacuate as New Fire Threatens California Towns; Blazes Rage in Washington, Idaho


The Washington Post
Sat, 18 Aug 2012 00:00 UTC
Image
© Idaho Statesmen, Kathrine Jones/The Associated Press
Pat Christensen, left, and his wife Cyndie sit on the steps of the Featherville Cafe Saturday Aug.18,2012 as smoke from Trinity Bridge fire engulfs the area.
San Francisco - Thousands of people have been told to leave their homes as a wildfire burning Sunday in thick forest threatened rural communities in far Northern California.

The fire that sparked around 11:30 a.m. Saturday has destroyed four homes and consumed nearly 11 square miles near the towns of Manton, Shingleton, and Viola, fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said. About 3,500 homes spread out across a rural area along the border of Tehama and Shasta counties are threatened, he said.

"A good majority are immediately threatened and a good number are in the path of the fire," Berlant said Sunday. "We will be battling it hard today to protect as many of those homes as possible."

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but officials said it started after a series of lightning strikes in the area.

John Cluff, 42, told the Redding Searchlight that he was forced to flee his home before the evacuations were issued. He went back for his dog about 3:30 p.m.

"The fire basically chased me out of the property," he said. "All I could see was black smoke and flames."

The Shasta County Sheriff's Department has declared a State of Emergency for the county, with evacuations expected to continue through Sunday. The Red Cross has set up an evacuation center in Redding, about 35 miles to the west of the fire.

The fire, burning in a rugged area of thick forests about 170 miles north of Sacramento, is one of handful of new fires burning in Northern California.
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Bizarro Earth

Wildfires hit Greek holiday island


The Telegraph
Sat, 18 Aug 2012 06:18 UTC
Greek fire-fighters battled fierce blazes on the island of Chios on Saturday as billowing smoke forced the evacuations of three villages.
Image
© EPA

Citizens of the village of Lithi find refuge at the beach as a wildfire burns in the mountains on the island of Chios, Greece
Ten water bombers and five helicopters were deployed as 50 fire-fighters and almost 80 army troops worked to contain the wildfire on the eastern island. They also used 17 fire engines and were backed by 40 volunteers.

Fanned by strong winds of up 40 miles per hour, the wildfire started in the early hours of Saturday in the island's south. The evacuation was carried out on the initiative of the villagers because of the heavy smoke that covered the area.

"The fire is close to inhabited areas but for the time being has not posed an immediate threat," a fire department spokesman told the AFP news agency.

Greece is hit by wildfires, many started by arsonists, every summer, the flames fanned by high temperatures and strong winds.

Earlier this month, a wildfire blazing for five days threatened Mount Athos, the world's oldest surviving monastic community and a United Nations World Heritage Site, in northern Greece.

The worst major blazes of recent years hit in 2007 in the Peloponnese region of southern Greece and on the island of Evia, leaving 77 people dead and ravaging 250,000 hectares.
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Phoenix

Officials keep eye on weather as wildfires burn

Shannon Dininny
Associated Press
Fri, 17 Aug 2012 03:06 UTC
fire washington
© AP Photo/Elaine Thompson
In this photo taken Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2012, flames surround a house on a hillside above Bettas Road near Cle Elum, Wash.
Yakima, Washington - Crews in central Washington, rural Idaho and Southern California made gains on several wildfires, allowing some evacuees to return home and protecting two vacation towns from a massive encroaching blaze.

Firefighters stopped a fire about 75 miles east of Seattle from destroying more buildings in the past two days, fire spokesman Mark Grassel said Thursday. The blaze near the town of Cle Elum burned at least 70 homes, more than 200 outbuildings and about 35 square miles of wildland since it started Monday.

Crews focused on strengthening lines on the fire's stubborn north flank, where flames whipped through thick pine and fir forests in a steep, rugged area.

"They're really trying to button up that line so they feel more secure about it holding," Grassel said.

Firefighters' work allowed officials to lift some evacuation orders, although homeowners said they didn't feel out of danger yet. Unusually hot, dry, unstable weather was expected Friday and Saturday, with thunderstorms possible, Grassel said.
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Extinguisher

Riverside County Wildfire 90% Contained, Authorities Say


Los Angeles Times
Thu, 16 Aug 2012 11:50 UTC
Image
© Frank Bellino / Riverside Press-Enterprise
A DC-10 drops retardant on the Buck wildfire over rugged terrain south of Hemet on Tuesday.
US, California - A wildfire that burned across 2,500 acres of Riverside County and forced some homes to be evacuated has been 90% contained, authorities said.

Some smoldering continues in interior back-country areas, the Riverside County Fire Department announced Thursday. One firefighter needed to be taken to a hospital with minor injuries, the department said.

Two other firefighters and one civilian had been injured Wednesday, and four structures were destroyed.

The Buck fire was one of more than a dozen that burned across the state this week, including a blaze a northern San Diego County called the Vallecito Lightning Complex fire. The Vallecito blaze, which started Sunday, has been 70% contained. Marine and Navy helicopters were used to assist the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in fighting the blaze, which stretched over almost 20,000 acres.

Other fires were reported this week in San Bernardino County, Kern County and the Stanislaus National Forest. Ken Pimlott, chief of Cal Fire, said Wednesday that over 8,000 state, local and federal firefighters were battling the flames across the state.
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Bizarro Earth

Wildfires threaten homes in several western states


KTAR
Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:58 UTC
Wildfires have destroyed dozens of homes and threatened hundreds more in several western U.S. states, including Idaho, where an on-duty firefighter was killed by a falling tree. Anne Veseth, a 20-year-old who was in her second season as a firefighter, was killed Sunday as she worked a fire near Orofino, the U.S. Forest Service said. Her older brother also is a wild-land firefighter in Idaho, where 12 blazes are burning.

"The Forest Service is devastated by the loss of one of our own," Forest Supervisor Rick Brazell said.Officials were investigating the death, which came on the same day that another firefighter narrowly escaped a wildfire in southeastern Oregon.

That firefighter was forced to deploy her emergency shelter in an area overrun by wind-whipped flames. She suffered minor burns to a leg and forearm and minor smoke inhalation. Her 20-person federal crew made it to a safety zone and was pulled off the fire. The blaze scorched about 653 square miles in remote terrain straddling Oregon and Nevada, where five ranches in the Kings River Valley were evacuated.

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Bizarro Earth

Unusual weather events identified during the Black Saturday bushfires


Terra Daily
Tue, 14 Aug 2012 08:36 UTC
Image
Research has revealed that the extremely hot, dry and windy conditions on Black Saturday combined with structures in the atmosphere called 'horizontal convective rolls' -similar to streamers of wind flowing through the air - which likely affected fire behaviour. The study is the first of its kind to produce such detailed, high-resolution simulations of weather patterns on the day and provides insights for future fire management and warning systems.

The work was led by Dr Todd Lane and Ms Chermelle Engel from The University of Melbourne with Prof Michael Reeder (Monash University) and Dr Michael Rezny (ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science).

The team examined meteorological conditions across Victoria on 7 February, 2009. The analysis used a very high-resolution weather forecasting model, which represented the airflow over the entire state on 400 metre weather grids, which are about ten times smaller than the grids used in operational weather forecasting. Weather conditions observed on the day were used to validate the model.
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Phoenix

Spanish Wildfire Threatens Ancient Forest Area


CTV News
Sat, 11 Aug 2012 12:50 UTC
Image
© The Associated Press/Moises Mendoza
A scorched and burnt farm appears after the ravages of a wildfire which swept through parts La Gomera, the Canary Islands, Spain on Aug. 6, 2012.
Madrid - Officials said Saturday that a wildfire thought to be under control on a Spanish island is now spreading, threatening a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Regional agriculture spokeswoman Nancy Melo said flames on the Canary Island of La Gomera were encroaching on Garajonay National Park, which contains forests "of incalculable ecological value."

The government of the Canary Islands said in a Friday night statement that the fire had now intensified, and another blaze had started on the neighbouring island of Tenerife, with some 400 residents evacuated from the island's west.
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Phoenix

Oklahoma fires destroy homes


CNN
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 23:15 UTC
Oklahoma fire
© CNN
A line of flames from one of several wildfires advances through an Oklahoma field.
Low humidity and strong winds Friday helped fuel a half-dozen wildfires in Oklahoma that have so far burned at least 65 structures and are threatening more.

The largest of the fires is just south of Oklahoma City in Cleveland County, according to Jerry Lojka, spokesman for the department of emergency management.

"The metro area is not in danger, but there are still homes out there, and there are subdivisions that are in those wooded areas," he said.

Twenty-five structures have burned in Cleveland County, according to Kelli Cain, another spokeswoman at the emergency department. Roughly 100 or so homes there are threatened.
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Phoenix

Wildfires blaze in parched northwest Colorado

Tegan Hanlon
The Denver Post
Fri, 03 Aug 2012 20:56 UTC
Fires blazed in northwest Colorado Friday night amid low humidity and gusty winds.

Dry thunderstorms and lightning sparked three fires on Bureau of Land Management land in Moffat and Rio Blanco counties, according to a release issued by the Northwest Colorado Fire Management Unit.

The Wolf fire, located about 5 miles south of Elk Springs, is at an estimated 700 acres and "is burning actively in sagebrush and pinon and juniper trees," the release said.

Spokeswoman Lynn Barclay said the fire was reported at 12:16 p.m. Friday. Winds up to 35 mph drove the fire throughout the day.
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