Gathering our Bearings After the Firestorm

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This livestream walks through why the Pacific Northwest saw a relative slowdown in fire activity after an extremely active day on the 1st, and what the sudden shift in fire behavior reveals about weather, fuels, and urban wildfire risk. Watch the Lookout Livestream, here, or scroll down to read it. Weather Pattern: A Needed Breather … Read more

Major Fire Growth across the Pacific Northwest – 8/2/2026

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Pacific Northwest Morning Report: Fire-By-Fire Breakdown Recorded August 2, 2026 This morning’s Lookout briefing walks through an intense and rapidly evolving fire situation across Washington, Oregon, and Idaho. Watch the full livestream, below, or scroll down for a written version, with static maps, organized fire-by-fire.   Washington Fires Spokane Area Fires: Autumn Lane, Old Trails, … Read more

Critical Weather Incoming in the Pacific Northwest! French Fires are a warning for the West Coast.

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In tonight’s Lookout Livestream, we review maps and intel for the Pacific Northwest to try to get a handle on which fires might have the greatest potential for radical spread with tomorrow’s forecast for extreme fire spread weather conditions. Any fire which is currently still active has potential, but the following ones stand out: The … Read more

It’s Not Just Climate Change – Tinderbox Forests Burn in France

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This episode of The Lookout Livestream discussed fires in France, Spain, and Eastern Oregon, highlighting the role that conifer plantations had played in fueling the extreme fire behavior currently being seen on large fires near Bordeaux. We note the Bordeaux region’s historical land management, which includes planting over 1,000,000 acres of dense conifer forest over … Read more

Oregon Wildfires 2026: Why Landscape-Scale Fire Is Overwhelming Suppression

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We opened our briefing on 7/26/2026 with a map of more than a million acres of active fire in Oregon alone. This post steps back from the incident-by-incident view to ask a bigger question: how does fire actually behave at landscape scale, and what does that mean for our real options in managing it? The … Read more

How to Save Your Home from a Wildfire

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2-years ago, the destructive and massive Park Fire swept across Butte County, burning hundreds of homes. Today, we’re sharing the story and technical details of how a local homeowner and his son were able to save their home during an intense firefight on the first night of this fire, using an irrigation/firefighting system they had … Read more

PNW Fires Grow Together – 7/26/2026

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It’s crazytown in the Pacific Northwest, today. The Rowe Creek Complex and Hay Creek Complex are basically connected now, and the Brewer and Box Springs have grown into the Rowe Creek Complex. The Beachcomb/Bench Fires are trying to eat Warm Springs, and the Shingle Fire added about 70k acres, yesterday. The Grasshopper Fire, east of … Read more

New Fires Growing in PNW – 7/25/2026

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Welcome back to The Lookout! We have a fresh newsletter out this morning. Be sure to subscribe to the newsletter if you’d like to get our wildfire-related reporting and other writings dropped sporadically into your inbox! Several new fires have emerged over the past 24 hours in the Pacific Northwest, and grown large quickly under … Read more

New Fires in PNW, More Carbon Projects Getting Smoked – 7/24/2026

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In the Pacific Northwest, numerous new wildfires have been growing since a fast-moving lightning storm moved through the region on the afternoon of July 22nd. Many of the large fires that started a week earlier have burned much of the fuel that was available to them and gone out, or been extinguished by firefighting. Despite … Read more

Akawa Butte Blowup and Rain, PNW Forest Carbon Projects Get Smoked! – 7/22/2026

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Akawa Butte Fire Pushes Toward Sisters as Lightning Bust Ignites New Blazes Across Oregon Date: July 22, 2026 Location: Sisters, Oregon, broader Pacific Northwest, California Last week, a volatile mix of dry fuels, hot temperatures, and fast-moving thunderstorms pushed Oregon’s fire season into high gear, with multiple large fires breaking out from the eastern slopes of … Read more

California, Oregon, and Colorado Fire Action – 7/20/2026

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Rumsey, Chute, Biscar, East Evans Creek, Akawa Butte, and Aspen Acres in Focus By The Lookout – July 20, 2026 After a slow start in California, the state joins a wildfire season that has been well-underway across the American West. In a wide‑ranging briefing on July 20, The Lookout’s Zeke Lunder walked viewers through emerging and … Read more

Cal Fire Helitack Crew Trapped by Fire, 7 Minor Injuries

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Brook Fire Burnover: Vina Helitack Crew Suffers Minor Injuries in Near-Miss Entrapment On Backbone Ridge, just east of Redding, a Cal Fire Vina Helitack crew experienced a burnover yesterday on the Brook Fire during initial attack operations. Seven firefighters received minor burn injuries and were transported by helicopter to Redding, where they were treated and … Read more

PNW Wildfire Update, plus Brook and Biscar Fires – 7/19/2026

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Oregon and Washington Lightning Bust Spurs Dozens of Large Fires, Straining Crews from Medford to the Columbia Plateau Date: Sunday, July 19, 2026 By: The Lookout A major lightning bust across Oregon has ignited a sprawling web of fires from Southern Oregon to the Columbia Plateau, rapidly stretching firefighting resources and creating a highly volatile … Read more

Unfair Math – Weighing Firefighter Safety Against Everything Else

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Behind every dozer line on a map, every firing operation along a ridge, and every decision not to engage directly with the flames, there is a legacy of hard-learned lessons about risk, trauma, and the human cost of aggressive firefighting. A recent broadcast of The Lookout Livestream used ongoing fires in Colorado and the broader … Read more

July 4th: A Bit of a Lull After Days of Extreme Fire Behavior

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Colorado wildfires see a welcome lull after days of explosive growth, with fire behavior moderating across the state and in neighboring regions. In this evening’s briefing, fire analyst and mapping specialist Zeke Lunder walks through a landscape that is still dangerous, but clearly less volatile than it has been during the last three broadcasts. High … Read more

Wildland Fire Tactics During Extreme Conditions – 7/3/2026

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Recorded July 3, 2026 – “Colorado Tactics” Lookout Livestream In this livestream, Lookout wildfire analyst and mapping specialist Zeke Lunder walks through a series of large ongoing fires in Colorado, Utah, and Arizona, using current perimeters and high‑resolution terrain models to explain what firefighters can and cannot realistically do to control wildfire burning under today’s … Read more

Western Fire Situation: Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico Face Critical Days Ahead

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By The Lookout Recorded: July 2, 2026 – Morning Livestream Hot, dry, windy weather is driving rapid growth on multiple fires across Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, with limited safe options for direct attack. Some blazes appear to be burning through areas that have recently been “treated” for fuels reduction, but remain highly flammable, due … Read more

Colorado Goes Off – 7/1/2026

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Write-up based on a AI-generated summary of the 7/1/2026 Lookout Livestream Colorado Goes Off: Extreme Fire Behavior Grips the Rockies and Beyond On July 1, 2026, Colorado and parts of the interior West experienced explosive wildfire behavior under what veteran fire analyst Zeke Lunder described as “apocalyptic weather coupled with apocalyptic fuels.” From the Aspen … Read more

Critical WUI Fire in Colorado, and an Epic Rant about our Global Shit-show.

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This is a good one! Colorado’s Critical Fire Week: Aspen Acres, Gold Mountain, Willow, Snyder & More Livestream recap and analysis from The Lookout – June 29, 2026 AI-generated summary of the Livestream, edited by Zeke Lunder, wildfire analyst and founder of The Lookout Big-Picture Setup: Why Colorado Is Flaring Up Now As of June … Read more

Utah Fires Calm Down – 6/29/2026

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This Lookout Livestream provides an update on Utah Wildfires for 6/29/2026 AI Summary of Lookout Livestream, edited by Zeke Cottonwood Fire (Utah) The Cottonwood Fire has largely quieted down after several active days earlier in the week. According to weather data from the Cottonwood Mountain station, strong nighttime humidity recovery (coupled with an easing of … Read more

Western U.S. Wildfires Surge Under Powerful Southwest Winds; Three Firefighters Killed in Colorado

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Note: This article is based upon an AI-generated summary of today’s Lookout Livestream. It has been edited and proof-read by a human. Watch the Livestream, here: Western U.S. Wildfires Surge Under Powerful Southwest Winds; Three Firefighters Killed in Colorado Strong southwest winds and critically dry conditions across the interior West have driven explosive wildfire growth … Read more

Wicked Winds on Utah’s Fires – 6/26/2026

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In this Lookout Livestream, we discuss the Cottonwood fire in Utah, highlighting its current (Lookout estimate) size of over 90,000 acres and potential expansion to well over 100,000 acres. The fire, burning in the Tushar Mountains of SW Utah, has been active on the northwest and south flanks, with significant runs driven by southwest winds. … Read more

Evaluating the Cottonwood Fire’s Potential

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This Lookout Livestream reviews recent behavior of the Cottonwood Fire in Utah—its big run up Beaver River through Copes Basin and Eagle Point Resort, current lull due to higher humidity, and potential for major spread in the coming days/weeks. We also use predictive fire spread modeling tools from the Pyregence Project to evaluate potential long-term … Read more

A Complex Burn on a Hot Day

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Join Lookout Host Zeke Lunder and the First Rain crew on a late-season prescribed burn in Nevada County’s high-risk wildland–urban interface. We break down real-time decisions on firing patterns, smoke, wind, and tricky mining topography while trying to reduce dangerous fuels without torching the overstory. If you geek out on prescribed fire, fuel loads, and … Read more

Geeking out on Wildfire Fuels

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In this Lookout Livestream, we dive into the fascinating (we think!) world of wildland fire fuels. We talk about the terminology and basic science of wildfire, and how the vegetation, homes, weeds, forests, and other burnable things on the landscape affect the way that fires behave. We also talk about the seasonality of wildfires in … Read more