How to maximize Good Fire? – NW California and Oregon Fires 9/5/2023

Over the past 3 weeks, lightning has ignited many fires in NW California and Western Oregon and several have become large. Rain knocked most of these fires down over the first few days of September, but even before then, the majority of the fire effects on these fires were low-moderate severity and ecologically beneficial. We’ll … Read more

Where is the heat? NW California and Oregon Fires 9/4/2023

Over the past 3 weeks, lightning has ignited many fires in NW California and Western Oregon and several have become large. Rain knocked most of these fires down over the first few days of September, and also prevented mapping using aerial infrared. New mapping was available on the morning of 9/4, and this video looks … Read more

NW California and Oregon Fires 8/31/2023

Today’s Livestream aired at 8 am. Today’s Lookout livestream provides an overview of the largest fires burning in Northern California and Oregon. We talk about how the North winds have influenced fire behavior, look at firing operations, and learn how the fires have behaved over the past 24 hours. Zeke takes a look at the … Read more

NW California and Oregon Fires 8/30/2023

Today’s Livestream aired at 7:30am. This video provides an overview of the largest Fires in Northern California and Oregon. We look at firing operations and talk about how the fires have behaved over the past 24 hours. Aerial infrared and heat satellite data in these videos is current as of the morning of 8/30/20223.   … Read more

NW California and Oregon Fires 8/29/2023

Today’s Livestream aired at 8am. Lightning has ignited many fires in Western Oregon and several have become large. This video provides an overview of the largest fires, the Tyee Ridge Complex, the Chilcoot Fire east of Roseburg and Glide, the Lookout Fire, near MacKenzie Bridge, and the Camp Creek Fire, in Portland’s water supply, the … Read more

NW California Wildfires 8/22/2023

Over a week into a regional lightning bust across the Klamath and Siskiyou Mountains, the passage of Tropical Storm Hilary brought a mix of rain and wind to NW California. The Gasquet area missed out on the rain, but got strong NE winds on the backside of a low pressure system which cleared out after … Read more

Northern California Lightning Fires – August 20, 2023

Lookout maps and commentary by: Ryan Cowper Stephens Table of Contents: Smith Complex Happy Camp Complex SRF Lightning Complex There are a number of fires burning in far Northwestern California and now we’ve got maps to prove it. Due to a mechanical failure on the plane used to map these fires up north, we’ve had … Read more

Northern California Lightning Fires – August 15, 2023

Welcome back to the Lookout! Yesterday’s lightning bust produced a number of fires throughout Northern California and the show’s not over yet. We’re expecting to see more thunderstorms rolling in today and throughout the week, mostly in the Sierra, Cascade, and Coast Ranges. There are a number of fires that have taken hold and have … Read more

California Flood Watch – January 2nd, 2023

Stay informed and keep out of trouble! As a community-focused news source, our top priority is to keep our readers informed. While most of you know of The Lookout through our coverage of wildfires, we also have decades of professional mapping experience on water-related project here in California, and a large library of mapping data … Read more

Mosquito Fire – September 18, 2022

Things got a little squirrelly yesterday on the east side of the fire, but this morning’s top story is RAIN!     Mosquito Fire – September 18, 2022 Maps & Intel: Ryan Cowper Stephens As we saw on the McKinney fire this year, rain over a wildfire creates new hazards.  An extreme example of this … Read more

Mosquito Fire – September 17, 2022

Mop up continues around Foresthill and things are looking good on the northwestern area of the fire leading up to today’s expected wind event. Mop up continuing on the northeast area of the fire along Foresthill, Chicken Hawk and Deadwood Roads. Firing overnight around the Middle Fork of the American River along the Inner Bay … Read more

Mosquito Fire – September 16, 2022

Firing operations went well last night and no issues were reported around the fire. Yesterday saw moderate areas of growth on the northern, southwestern and eastern end of the fire. A little dryer and warmer today but more or less similar conditions around the fire as we saw yesterday are expected. Tomorrow we’re expecting big … Read more

Mosquito Fire – September 14, 2022

September 14 at 7am – Fire made big moves yesterday. Our livestream last night detailed the Mosquito Fire‘s spread toward Foresthill and east, with extended Q&A on forestry, prescribed fire, and how fuel and weather conditions yesterday helped prevent the fire from jumping Foresthill Road.    In the Evening Update, footage from today: We went … Read more

Mosquito Fire – September 13, 2022

September 13 at 10am: Forecasted to have less smoke hanging around the fire today. Inversion could lift early and increase fire behavior. Data from last night’s infrared flight was spotty due to heavy smoke and not worth interpretation. Overnight, firing operations were completed between Buckeye Peak to the American River. The fire was most active … Read more

Cedar Creek and California Wildfires – September 10, 2022

California and Cedar Creek Wildfires – September 10, 2022 Mosquito, Fairview, Forward & Cedar Creek Mosquito Fire – 10am Update If you watched our Mosquito Fire livestream this morning (September 10, 2022), the 7:45am IR flight shows the following developments since the 10pm imagery used in our YouTube presentation. Color key: Green dots are structures. … Read more

California Wildfires – September 9, 2022

California Wildfires – September 9, 2022 Mosquito & Fairview Maps and captions: Ryan Cowper Stephens Table of Contents: Mosquito Fire Fairview Fire Mosquito Fire UPDATE 10:30 am FIRIS inferred imagery: MAP KEY: RED perimeter to YELLOW perimeter is about 12 hours fire growth between 11pm last night and 1030 am today. GREEN boxes are structures … Read more

California Wildfires – September 8, 2022

California Wildfires – September 8, 2022 Mosquito, Fork, Radford & Fairview Maps and captions: Ryan Cowper Stephens and Zeke Lunder 9/8/2022 Lookout Livestream Evening Update 9/8/2022 Lookout Livestream Morning Update Table of Contents: Mosquito Fire Fork Fire Radford FIre Fairview Fire Mosquito Fire Maps were updated three times on 9/8/22. UPDATE: 4:45 pm, 9/8/2022 FIRIS … Read more

Mosquito Fire – September 7, 2022

Mosquito Fire – September 7, 2022 Maps and captions: Zeke Lunder and Ryan Stephens The Mosquito Fire started last night in the Middle Fork American River Canyon, at Oxbow Reservoir. It is growing rapidly today and will become a major fire. Under current conditions, firefighting will not control the head of the fire, and the … Read more

Six Rivers Lightning Complex and the McKinney/Yeti Fires – August 8, 2022

Six Rivers Lightning Complex and the McKinney/Yeti Fires – August 8, 2022 Maps and Captions: Ryan Cowper Stephens   Table of Contents: Zeke’s Video Briefing on YouTube Six Rivers Lightning Complex Fires Six Rivers Lightning Complex Weather Forecast McKinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast McKinney Fire Yeti Fire —Six Rivers National Forest Lightning Complex Fires— … Read more

Six Rivers Lightning Complex, McKinney and Yeti Fires – August 7, 2022

Six Rivers National Forest Lightning Complex Fires and the McKinney/Yeti Fires – August 7, 2022 Maps and captions: Ryan Cowper Stephens   Table of Contents:   Zeke’s Video Briefing on YouTube Six Rivers National Forest Lightning Complex Fires McKinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast McKinney Fire Yeti Fire Six Rivers National Forest Lightning Complex Fires … Read more

McKinney and Yeti Fires – August 6, 2022 – WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF MASSIVE FISH KILL ON KLAMATH RIVER

McKinney and Yeti fires Maps and Captions: Ryan Stephens and Zeke Lunder Yeti photos and on the ground Yeti fire info: Jamie Allen WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES OF MASSIVE FISH KILL ON KLAMATH RIVER   Table of Contents: Zeke’s Video Briefing on YouTube Debris Flows and Fish Kill McKinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast McKinney … Read more

McKinney and Yeti Fires – August 5, 2022

     McKinney and Yeti fires Maps: Zeke Lunder Captions: Ryan Stephens Yeti photos and on the ground Yeti fire info: Jamie Allen Table of Contents:   Zeke’s Video Briefing on YouTube McKinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast McKinney Fire Yeti Fire McKinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast: —McKinney Fire— To better understand what’s … Read more

McKinney and Yeti Fires – August 4, 2022

McKinney and Yeti Fires Maps: Zeke Lunder Captions: Ryan Stephens Table of Contents: McKinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast McKinney Fire Yeti Fire    McKinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast: —McKinney Fire— To better understand what’s happening around the fire and in our maps, Click here to watch the Thursday morning August 4 McKinney … Read more

McKinney and Yeti Fires – August 3, 2022

McKinney and Yeti fires Maps: Zeke Lunder Captions: Ryan Stephens Table of Contents: Mckinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast McKinney Fire Yeti Fire Mckinney and Yeti Fire Weather Forecast:   —McKinney Fire— McKinney Fire Behavior Forecast:   McKinney Infrared Lookout Maps: Areas shaded Yellow are where the fire is cooling down. Red to white perimeter … Read more

Oak Fire – July 25, 2022

OAK FIRE – July 25, 2022 By: Ryan Cowper Stephens *Our Lookout fire maps are high resolution. Click the maps to open them in a separate window, there you can zoom and scroll around the map to take a closer look around the fire. This is especially helpful to know while viewing our maps on … Read more

Hermits Peak Fire – May 15, 2022

Hermits Peak and Cerro Pelado Fires May 15, 2022 Maps and Captions: Ryan Cowper Stephens Detailed New Mexico fire updates may also be found at: https://nmfireinfo.com/ https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ *Our Lookout fire maps are high resolution. Click the maps to open them in a separate window, there you can zoom and scroll around the map to take … Read more

New Mexico Fires – May 14, 2022

Hermits Peak and Cerro Pelado Fires May 14, 2022 Maps and Captions: Ryan Cowper Stephens Satellite Images and interpretation: Zeke Lunder Detailed New Mexico fire updates may also be found at: https://nmfireinfo.com/ https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/ *Our Lookout fire maps are high resolution. Click the maps to open them in a separate window, there you can zoom and … Read more