Category Archives: Forest Fires

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, California — A weather system affecting northwest California was expected to bring dry lightning and blustery winds through early Friday, unleashing a risk of new wildfires as thousands of firefighters have been making headway against existing blazes. A warning for dangerous fire weather took effect in much of fire-scarred Northern California Thursday afternoon and was expected to last through at least 11 a.m. Friday. “The combination of isolated dry lightning and gusty winds with the dry fuels will bring the potential for critical fire weather conditions,” the National Weather Service said. …The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said Wednesday that firefighters were making significant progress against the flames in part because weather had improved. More than 14,600 firefighters were on the lines of 13 active, large wildfires in California on Thursday.

Wildfires burning throughout Northern California prompted new evacuations on Wednesday, including in communities in Siskiyou, Shasta and Trinity counties. This year, California fires burned more than 2 million acres, destroying more than 3,000 thousand structures in their paths. Their swift speeds and dry conditions prompted closures of almost every national forest, state wilderness areas and parks throughout the state. Most of the fires are concentrated in the northern part of the state, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. That includes the three of the largest blazes in the state’s history:

• The mammoth Dixie Fire, which at 922,507 acres is the second largest fire after last year’s August Complex.
• The Caldor Fire, which threatened South Lake Tahoe last week, remains the 15th largest.
• The Monument Fire burning in Trinity County is the 18th largest.

A new wildfire was burning and growing rapidly on the Fremont-Winema National Forest on Wednesday, about 15 miles northwest of Lakeview, a rural Oregon town and Lake County seat. The Cougar Peak fire was discovered about 1:45 p.m. Tuesday and had grown to approximately 20,000 acres by Wednesday night, according to the Lakeview Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service. The cause is under investigation. Officials say that the current fire behavior and record low dry fuels are making the Cougar Peak fire extremely resistant to control tactics and processes. The blaze was growing rapidly enough that Gov. Kate Brown invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act, putting the State Fire Marshal in charge of battling the fire. The fire is growing in mixed conifer and brush and is threatening lands protected by the Oregon Department of Forestry.

An old fire lookout tower that for 79 years stood atop a ridge overlooking the Mt. Hood National Forest is now gone.  On Sunday, the historic Bull of the Woods Lookout was consumed by the Bull Complex fire that has currently burned more than 17,000 acres in the Mt. Hood National Forest east of Salem, fire officials said.  Unlike some other fire lookouts in Oregon that operate as vacation rentals run by the U.S. Forest Service, the Bull of the Woods Lookout was long since shuttered, acting primarily as a landmark for hikers who made their way up Dickey Ridge for spectacular Cascade Mountain views.  From the lookout, hikers could see views of Mount Hood, Mount Jefferson and the Three Sisters. It was located within the Bull of the Woods Wilderness and could be accessed by a 3.2-mile hike from the Bull of the Woods Trailhead.

California’s second-largest wildfire in history has burned at least 919,300 acres, or 1,436 square miles, across Butte, Plumas, Lassen, Shasta and Tehama counties, and containment stands at 59%, Cal Fire said Tuesday evening.  Meanwhile, the lead agency managing the Dixie fire told KCRA 3 that a U.S. Forest Service firefighter assigned to the Dixie fire died from an illness. The firefighter, identified as Marcus Pacheco, was not actively fighting flames when he died. The death was first reported in Sunday’s fire update from Cal Fire.  Three other first responders have been injured in the blaze.  The blaze has charred an area nearly three times the size of Los Angeles and destroyed at least 1,282 structures, including 688 homes. It is the 14th-most destructive wildfire in state history, according to Cal Fire. …Roughly 5,958 structures remain threatened by the Dixie Fire, Cal Fire officials said. More than 4,600 personnel are helping battle the fire.

A firefighter working on the Dixie Fire has died, as the number of acres burned across the North State topped 1.4 million.  No deaths were reported specifically because of California’s current tide of wildfires. However, authorities said two people assigned to fire-related duties died from illness this week.  Marcus Pacheco, an assistant fire engine operator for Lassen National Forest with 30 years of experience, died on Thursday. He was assigned to the Dixie Fire burning north of the Caldor Fire, authorities said on Monday.  …The Dixie Fire has burned nearly 1,400 square miles in five counties and three national parks and forests, according to Cal Fire.  Meanwhile, containment inched higher on the ferocious Dixie Fire as U.S. Army soldiers arrived from Washington state to help firefighters battle the five-county blaze.

Tens of thousands of people who fled South Lake Tahoe in the teeth of a wildfire were returning home as crews finally managed to stall the advance of flames scant miles from the resort.  But authorities warned that residents of the scenic forest area on the California-Nevada state line weren’t out of the woods yet, with risks ranging from smoky, foul air to belligerent bears.   Evacuation orders for South Lake Tahoe and other lakeside areas were downgraded to warnings on Sunday afternoon and California Highway Patrol officers began removing roadblocks along State Highway 50 from Nevada to the city limits.   The threat from the Caldor Fire hasn’t entirely vanished but downgrading to a warning meant those who wish could return to their homes.

Favorable weather helped firefighters trying to save communities on the south end of Lake Tahoe from an approaching wildfire, but officials warned Wednesday that stiff winds and dry conditions mean that homes in the California-Nevada alpine region are still in danger… Jim Dudley, a meteorologist assigned to the fire, said …winds were expected to calm significantly over the next several days, but risks remain with extremely low humidity levels. The Caldor Fire remained roughly 3 miles (5 kilometers) south of the recently evacuated city of South Lake Tahoe, moving northeast toward the California-Nevada state line, said Henry Herrera, a battalion chief for … Cal Fire. Crews tried desperately to keep flames away from urban communities, where houses are close together and shopping centers, hotels and other structures would provide even more fuel…

The Level 1 “Be Ready” evacuation notices for Oakridge and Westfir due to wildfire danger have been canceled by the Lane County Sheriff’s Office.  Both Oakridge and Westfir were under evacuation warnings due to the Middle Fork Complex fires and primarily the Kwis Fire, which has been burning several miles east of Oakridge along Salmon Creek Road.   The sheriff’s office said it was canceling the evacuation notices due to significant progress on the Middle Fork Complex fires by fire crews.   …The Middle Fork Complex began the week of July 26, when lightning started more than a dozen fires in the Willamette National Forest. Since then, the Kwis Fire had reached 90% containment as of Aug. 22, and crews have been shifting resources to the much larger Gales Fire to the north of Oakridge. On Tuesday morning, the entire complex had reached 20,094 acres and is 12% contained, according to a U.S. Forest Service update. 

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — People were told to flee from a long section of the Lake Tahoe shoreline Monday as a huge forest fire threatened to push into the resort region straddling California and Nevada. The new orders for people to immediately evacuate included part of the tourist city of South Lake Tahoe and about 15 miles up the western shore of the lake. It comes a day after communities several miles south of the lake had abruptly been ordered evacuated as the Caldor Fire raged nearby. South Lake Tahoe’s main medical facility, Barton Memorial Hospital, proactively evacuated 36 patients needing skilled nursing and 16 in acute care beds Sunday… The rest of the hospital was evacuating following Monday’s expanded orders. The region is facing a warning from the National Weather Service about critical fire weather Monday through Tuesday across the northern Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade Range.

Low humidity and high temperatures will mean near-critical fire weather as crews continue battling the Middle Fork Complex.   And continued closures around the wildfire will mean hunters won’t have access to a large part of one hunting area as archery deer and elk season starts Saturday.  The Middle Fork Complex north of Oakridge has grown to 17,503 acres and remains at 10% containment.   Crews have transferred management of nine fires within the complex to the Willamette National Forest but are still fighting the Kwis Fire and Gales Fire.  Most of the focus is on the Gales Fire, which is nearly 16,000 acres and 2% contained.   Fire officials say weekend weather means there’s a “large potential for fire growth” on Sunday. 

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. — Fire officials ordered more evacuations around the Tahoe Basin as a two-week old blaze encroached on the threatened mountain towns surrounding glimmering Lake Tahoe. By nightfall, all residents on the California side of the Lake Tahoe Basin were warned to evacuate the region, after fire officials had stressed for days that protecting the area was their top firefighting priority. …Flames churned through mountains just a few miles southwest of the Tahoe Basin, where thick smoke sent tourists packing at a time when summer vacations would usually be in full swing ahead of the Labor Day weekend. “We’ve been seeing about a half-mile of movement on the fire’s perimeter each day for the last couple of weeks, and today, this has already moved at 2.5 miles on us, with no sign that it’s starting to slow down,” said Erich Schwab. 

NORTHERN CALIFORNIA — The National Weather Service on Sunday issued a Red Flag Warning for northeast California, alerting officials and the public of expected strong winds, high temperatures and dry conditions that could worsen fire conditions. The warning said weather conditions posed a danger that could result in easier fire starts and the potential for rapid spread of new and existing fires. Wind gusts could reach 35 mph beginning about 11 a.m. Monday and last until late Tuesday night. Low relative humidity and high temperatures were also in the forecast, National Weather Service officials said. The Red Flag Alert was for eastern Shasta County and the Sierra Nevadas, according to the weather service. Even before the new fire danger arrived, the Dixie Fire had burned more than 6,400 acres.

A wildfire in northeastern Minnesota more than doubled in size Tuesday, growing to more than 19,000 acres, after it produced pyrocumulous clouds that generated lightning and even raindrops, fire officials said. The Greenwood Fire’s growth, most of which happened Monday afternoon, prompted firefighters to leave McDougal Lake, about 80 miles northeast of Duluth, officials said. Authorities fear that structures might have been destroyed or damaged. “We had crews embedded, and as this fire took off, it was quite an effort to communicate with forces on the ground so they could get out,” said federal fire incident spokesman Clark McCreedy. …So far, firefighters have scored no containment, and areas including McDougal Lake, Sand Lake and the Highway 2 corridor have been under mandatory evacuation orders. The federal Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was closed Saturday “due to active and increasing fire activity, extreme drought, limited resources,” the National Forest Service said.

A California fire that gutted hundreds of homes advanced toward Lake Tahoe on Wednesday as thousands of firefighters tried to box in the flames and tourists who hoped to boat or swim found themselves looking at thick yellow haze instead of alpine scenery. The Caldor Fire was less than 20 miles (32 kilometers) east of the lake that straddles the California-Nevada state line. The fire was eating its way through rugged timberlands and was “knocking on the door” of the Lake Tahoe basin, California’s state fire chief Thom Porter warned this week… Although there were no evacuations ordered for Lake Tahoe, it was impossible to ignore a blanket of haze so thick and vast that it closed schools for a second day in Reno, Nevada, which is about 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the fire.