The fires burning in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks and on the Tule River Indian Reservation are a bit outside our territory, but as Caldor and Dixie Fires wind down, we have some bandwidth to post the heat maps. I (Zeke) am a Northern Sierra kid and not familiar with this part of the world … Read more
UPDATE: 9/15/2021, 1:35pm Area Forecast Discussion National Weather Service Sacramento CA 134 PM PDT Wed Sep 15 2021 .SYNOPSIS… Chances of moisture (not a bunch) increasing with best chances on Sunday. Cooling definitely on track with coolest day Sunday. Some gusty winds possible early next with temperatures slowly rising. && .DISCUSSION… The cooling trend has … Read more
Getting the Wildfire Story Wrong We have been hearing a lot of people express concern about the amount of acreage burned in Lassen Volcanic National Park during the Dixie Fire. Part of this is the fault of sloppy reporting and articles by nationally respected publications that are getting the story wrong. This is common. Our … Read more
Good morning. The Dixie and Caldor heat maps showed no significant new growth overnight. Caldor, mapped at 11pm on September 12, had minor spread to the north near Kirkwood and some heat in Upper Strawberry Creek. Operations maps for today are show the south side of Echo Lake as being fully contained. At 8pm on 9/12/2021, … Read more
Hello everyone! I got pulled into a long day in the field for an in-depth story about the Dixie Fire, so our Caldor Fire coverage took a hit. I do post brief updates on Twitter @wildland_zko when I don’t have time for a full post here, so give me a follow there. Thanks to our contributor … Read more
We got into the burned area of the West Zone of the Dixie Fire on September 10, right after about a half-inch of rain. We looked at some of the ways the fire has affected the forests. The two videos below show what we saw on our trip. This first video shows post-fire forest conditions … Read more
9/9/2021 at 3:30pm Here is IR mapping of the northwest corner of the fire, from 12:18pm on September 9. Some heat showing outside of yesterday’s spot fire near Butte Lake. EARLIER: 9/9/2021 at noon Here is the 10:30am 9/9/2021 perimeter for the northwest corner of Dixie, near Old Station showing spread since 8pm on September. … Read more
9/9/2021 at 7am Here is a video briefing focusing on Echo Lake and area between Strawberry and Kirkwood — the two remaining areas of the fire with the most heat.  Below is an assessment of the situation from our correspondent ‘Tumbleweed’ a retired wildland fire captain. IR from 22:33 (10:33pm) on September 8. Isolated … Read more
9/8/2021 at 7pm Here is updated IR mapping from 4:45pm this afternoon. About 3,500 acres of new spread since 8pm last night, shown in purplish-red with yellow outline. For the most part, fire was still in the 2012 Reading Fire (blue) footprint at 4:45pm, but there were some spots taking off outside the perimeter and … Read more
9/8/2021 at 7am Below is a morning report from our contributor ‘Tumbleweed,’ a retired wildfire captain. Also check out our latest Youtube video, which discusses the burn severity of the Caldor Fire.  IR from 22:40 (10:40pm) on September 7. Isolated heat has been removed for clarity on some pics. Clear areas do not indicate … Read more
9/7/2021 at 8am According to Daniel Swain at Weather West, there is a chance we may see “elevated convection, and possible dry thunderstorms, across central & northern CA for Thu into Fri period. Weak trough offshore will combine with subtropical moisture streaming northward to provide some risk of dry lightning.” Here is our 9/7/2021 Dixie … Read more
9/7/2021 at 8am We are getting great support from volunteers who are contributors on the wildfireintel.org website. Here are incident maps from Keith Flood, retired Situation Unit Leader on one of the Northern California Incident Management Teams, and heat maps plus commentary from Lookout contributor ‘Tumbleweed,’ a retired wildfire captain. From Keith: This morning’s update … Read more
9/6/2021 at 9pm Looking at the 5:20pm IR data, the spot fire near Bogard ran about 120 acres this afternoon, produced two three-acre spots about 1/4 mile in front of it, and was about 3/4 mile from the Bogard Rest Area. Looking closer at the IR last night, I noticed the spot that ran 30 … Read more
9/6/2021 at 9am Here is an update from Lookout contributor ‘Tumbleweed,’Â retired wildland fire captain. IR from 2341 (11:41pm) last night. Isolated heat has been removed for clarity. Clear areas do not indicate no heat. There are many reasons for heat not showing on IR runs. Only eyes on the ground can determine when it … Read more
People have been sending me stuff. Here is what it looked like on the Dixie Fire when a spot fire took off in heavy fuels with a good wind. Also it captures the mood for the last day of this crew’s roll on the fire. 9/5/2021, 8pm The same areas we’ve been talking about for … Read more
We just made a quick video about how forest thinning projects helped firefighters contain portions of the Dixie and Caldor Fires. If it is too chunky, maybe wait a few minutes for YouTube to post the HD version. Also, I’m aware about the missing audio. The missing section of audio shows different results of thinning … Read more
Above is a quick video about how forest thinning projects helped firefighters contain portions of the Dixie and Caldor Fires. If it is too chunky, maybe wait a few minutes for YouTube to post the HD version. Also, I’m aware about the missing audio. The missing section of audio shows different results of thinning along … Read more
I’m catching up on sleep and got some mapping help from a fellow who goes by Tumbleweed on one of the fire intel forums I follow. Here are his IR maps for Caldor, using data from 11:15pm on September 3, 2021. Thanks, Tumbleweed! Looking north over Meyers. White line shows 24 hours of fire spread … Read more
Video briefing for 9/4/2021 EARLIER: 9/3/2021, 9pm. A few pieces of new information from today: According to a trusted local source, the 2012 Reading Fire is too green to burn. The team is thinking about using napalm from a flamethrower to get it to go. I am assuming this would be along the lower … Read more
9/3/2021, 6:30am Here is what the fire was doing at 9:15pm on September 2. I did some interpretation of other more detailed imagery flown in the early morning hours and fire hadn’t spread significantly overnight. This 9:15pm imagery makes for a nicer presentation, so I’m using it for these maps. White line shows 24 hours … Read more
Here is a video briefing for 9/3/2021. 5:00am, 9/3/2021 Still quite a lot of action on the Dixie Fire. This writeup is based on interpretation of 9:30pm mapping flights of the southeast and northeast corners of the fire. The big wind-driven run to the southeast has dropped off the escarpment toward Highway 395 right at … Read more
DixieFire Video Briefing from September 2, 2021 The Dixie continues to spread east toward Highway 395. We talk about recent fire spread, tactics being used to protect Quincy and other communities, and about limitations on our ability to fight these monster fires.
Here is a video briefing for the Caldor Fire for September 2, 2021 showing heat mapping from 3:00am.
This video takes viewers on a virtual map-based tour of the east end of the Caldor Fire, showing heat mapping around Echo Summit, Meyers, Kyburz, Kirkwood and South Lake Tahoe as mapped at 2:40pm, on September 1, 2021. NOTE: An area that was shown within the yellow fire perimeter in Christmas Valley in this video … Read more
9/1/2021, 6pm Update: Here is some afternoon infrared from Dixie. The southeast side of the fire, west of Milford, has been very active for several days. Strong SW winds have blown the fire about 20 miles northeast, growing the Dixie by about 65,000 acres in three days. The fire was about six miles from Highway … Read more
Good afternoon. Here are the latest heat maps from the fire, from a flight flown at about 2:40pm on September 1. Orange areas were mapped on August 31 at 9pm. Yellow line is most current info, from 2:40pm on September 1. White line shows fire growth since the evening of August 30. Overview of fire. … Read more
8/31/2021, 7:15am Good morning. If you are evacuated from the Caldor or any other fire, I hope good information can bring you some calm. The fire spread actively yesterday, cascading down off Echo Summit into a large expanse of the west side of Christmas Valley. Around 5pm, a spot fire started on the east side … Read more
8/30/2021 – 10:30pm A huge run on the southeast side of the Dixie Fire today, a smaller run north of Silver Lake, and some activity in Genesee Valley. This post is about events that didn’t go the way firefighters wanted them to over past couple days. The intention here isn’t to trash firefighters who are … Read more
8/30/2021 – 8:00 am Good morning. Sending our best wishes to everyone displaced by this fire and living in fear of losing their home right now. I spent the last month on edge waiting to see if the Dixie Fire would take my parents’ and brother’s homes. I feel your anxiety. I am hoping we … Read more
UPDATE: 8/29/2021, 9:00pm Only got IR mapping at 3pm today, so here is where the fire was at that time. White line is last night’s perimeter. Blue is 2019 Walker Fire, Purple is 2020 North Complex. UPDATE: 8/29/2021, 8:00am Fire continues to spread toward Walker Mine, north of Greenhorn Ranch and south of Genesee Valley. … Read more