13 September 2015 (AP) – Within 12 hours of igniting, a wildfire burning north of San Francisco had swallowed up more than 60 square miles of land, injured four firefighters and burned highways and buildings, prompting an emergency declaration and forcing thousands to flee. The declaration frees up resources for the blaze, burning about 100 […]
By Nancy Shute25 August 2015 (NPR) – I stepped out my parents’ front door last Thursday, expecting a typically glorious summer day in southern Oregon. Instead, I was hit with acrid wood smoke that stung my eyes and throat. The air was thick with haze that obscured the mountains. I quickly retreated inside. Health departments […]
By Olga Gertcyk2 September 2015 (The Siberian Times) – The WWF has expressed concern at the wildfires now raging across Siberia, and called for a radical rethink from the authorities to prevent future carnage. But the director of monitoring and prevention at the Ministry of Emergencies pointed to irresponsible officials who, he alleged, chose to […]
[cf. 2015 is on track to be the worst U.S. wildfire season on record] 5 September 2015 (NIFC) – Favorable weather conditions in the Northwestern states have helped firefighters make progress on many large fires. Despite the changes in the weather, there is still a lot of work to be done, and firefighters will continue […]
By Bob Weber21 August 2015 (The Canadian Press) – Climate change is forcing the boreal forest that covers much of northern Canada to a tipping point, concludes a newly published study. “The changes could be very dramatic and very fast,” said Dmitry Schepaschenko of Austria’s Institute for Applied Systems Analysis. Schepaschenko was one of three […]
By Lynn Jenner21 May 2015 (NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center) – The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite collected this natural-color image which detected dozens of fires burning in southwestern Africa on May 21, 2015. The location, widespread nature, and number of fires suggest that these fires were deliberately set to manage land. […]
Daily statistics 8/27/15 Number of new large fires 5 States currently reporting large fires: Number of active large firesTotal number includes full suppression and resource managed fires.25Total does not include individual fires within complexes. 66 California (11)Idaho (19)Montana (11)New Mexico (1) Oregon (10)Utah (2)Washington (12) Acres from active fires 1,696,874 Fires contained 6 Year-to-date statistics […]
26 August 2015 (Desdemona Despair) – Here’s an update to last week’s post on wildfire data from the Western United States. Data from the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center (Fuels and Fire Danger [pdf]) show that Northwest wildfires continue to rage, with 200,000 acres (80,937 hectares) burned again this week – the Okanagan complex “remains the […]
By Tamino22 August 2015 (Open Mind) – Here (shown as black dots) is the total acres burned by wildfire in Washington state each year, together with a blue dashed line showing the yearly average, since 2002. The red dashed line is the acres burned by wildfires that are burning in Washington state RIGHT NOW. That’s […]
By Dave Werntz25 August 2015 (Conservation NW) – Along with my wife and daughter, I evacuated last week from our home near Twisp. Our place is safe and sound for now, thanks in large part to heroic efforts from firefighters. While veritable armies have converged here to help from across the state and nation, most […]
