New Mexico wildfires merge; blazes rage in five states(now eight+)

[Psalm 51:17]

5/25/12

http://news.yahoo.com/mexico-wildfires-merge-blazes-rage-five-states-033728996.html

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Two raging wildfires in southwest New Mexico merged on Thursday to become the biggest blaze among fires that have torched forest and brush in parts of five Southwestern states.
 
Blazes in rugged, mountainous areas of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have forced the evacuation of a few small towns and torched at least 170 square miles (440 square km) of forest, brush and grass since mid-month.
 
The Arizona fires were the first major blazes in the Grand Canyon state this year after a record 2011 fire season in which nearly 2,000 fires charred more than 1,500 square miles (3,900 square km), according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
 
Winds bringing a blast of damp Pacific Ocean air cut firefighters a break on Thursday in several regions.
 
But authorities seeking to control the combined 110-square-mile (285-square-km) New Mexico wildfire, which is called the Whitewater-Baldy Complex, said they have not managed to cut a containment line ahead of it.
 
And high winds are expected on Friday and Saturday, said fire information officer Iris Estes.
 
Twelve homes burned down on Wednesday night in the Willow Creek subdivision, which is near Gila National Forest in southwest New Mexico, Estes said. Another seven outbuildings were also destroyed and the Willow Creek community was evacuated earlier this week.
 
PROGRESS ON GLADIATOR
 
On Thursday in Arizona, over 1,100 firefighters using aircraft and hand tools made progress toward containing the Southwest's most dangerous conflagration, the so-called Gladiator Fire.
 
That fire, which has torched more than 27 square miles (70 square km) of ponderosa pine and brush about 40 miles north of Phoenix, was 30 percent contained on Thursday, up from 26 percent a day earlier.
 
"The winds we've gotten here in the last 24 hours have brought in some moisture from Baja (California)," said Dave Killebrew, a spokesman for the local fire incident team.
 
"Humidity reached up to as high as 50 percent in some areas of the fire, which is excellent ... That means that the fuels won't be nearly as volatile as they have been for the last few days when we've had relative humidity down as low as 3-5 percent," he added.
 
Killebrew said good progress was being made securing containment lines around the blaze, which forced the evacuation of the town of Crown King and three other tiny communities nearby.
 
In northern Nevada, lighter winds and higher humidity helped crews' efforts to curb the Topaz Ranch Estates wildfire that has razed more than 11 square miles (30 square km) of brush south of Carson City, charring two homes and 17 outbuildings.
 
No homes were immediately threatened and an evacuation order was lifted on Wednesday. While gusting winds challenged firefighters, rains and cooler temperatures were expected to help crews bring the flames under control by Saturday.
 
Crews battling the 25-square-mile (65-square-km) Sunflower Fire, in Arizona, had succeeded in reinforcing control lines and it was more than 40 percent under control.
 
Utah firefighters battling a 2,200-acre (890-hectare) blaze on public and private land southeast of Hurricane, about 290 miles south of Salt Lake City said they expected to bring it under full control on Thursday.
 
(Additional reporting by Tim Gaynor in Arizona, Jennifer Dobner in Utah and Zelie Pollon in New Mexico; Editing by Ian Simpson and Eric Walsh)

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/mexico-wildfires-merge-blazes-rage-five-states-033728996.html

5/25/12

Firefighters save some homes from New Mexico wildfire

SANTA FE, New Mexico (Reuters) - Firefighters managed to protect the remaining homes in a southwestern New Mexico subdivision overnight, but some outlying buildings were engulfed by flames from a fire that burned on rough mountain terrain near the Arizona border.
 
Two fires merged in the Gila National Forest on Thursday and consumed 12,000 additional acres overnight, bringing the total burn area to 82,252 acres with none of it contained, said Public Information Officer Iris Estes.
 
Estes said firefighters were able to build fire lines toward the north, and expected gusty winds of 15 to 28 miles per hour to move the flames in that direction by midday.
 
Efforts overnight managed to preserve the more than 45 remaining vacation homes in the area. A total of twelve homes and 13 outlying buildings have been destroyed so far, Estes said.

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[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/winds-nm-fire-force-evacuation-near-ghost-town-183512544.html

5/26/12

Winds in NM fire force evacuation near ghost town

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Residents near a privately owned New Mexico ghost town were ordered Saturday to evacuate as a blaze in the Gila National Forest continued to burn erratically, as Colorado crews took to fighting a new fire along the Utah-Colorado border.

Fire officials in New Mexico said Saturday that the Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire has shrunk slightly to 82,000 acres but is still 0 percent contained because of weather conditions. The evacuation of Mogollon, a privately owned ghost town, was ordered due to extreme wind around the southwestern New Mexico fire. Four helicopters and more than 500 firefighters from around the state were on hand to fight the blaze but still had to contend with "extreme conditions."

Cities, as far away as Albuquerque, remained under a health alert until Sunday afternoon due to smoke from the fire, which has spread across the state. State officials were warning residents to limit outdoor activities, especially if smoke was visible.

The haze that blocked views of the Sandia Mountains in Albuquerque on Friday appeared to have decreased by early Saturday afternoon.

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[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/mexico-firefighters-thwarted-rough-terrain-wildfires-rage-181556251.html

5/26/12

Wildfires hit six U.S. states, small towns evacuated

Santa Fe, New Mexico (Reuters) - A wildfire burned out of control for a fourth day in the steep mountains of southwestern New Mexico on Saturday, one of several blazes that have consumed more than 200 square miles (520 square km) of rugged land in six U.S. states.
 
Efforts to contain the blazes spreading in sparsely populated areas of Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah have been hurt by gusting winds and tinder-dry late-spring conditions.
 
Several small towns, including the historic Wild West mining town of Mogollon - now nearly a ghost town - were ordered to evacuate, as the spreading fire torched miles forest, brush and grass.
 
New Mexico's Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire, which was started by lightning 10 days ago, had raged across 82,252 acres as of Friday and officials said the area could now be much larger than that.

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"Fire activity was so extreme yesterday we had to pull crews out," he said. "We're expecting another day like that today. With such high wind levels and low humidity there's going to be big potential for some major growth."

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[Psalm 51:17]

Wildfires continue to rage in six states across the U.S that have already ravaged more than 200 square miles of land Wildfires are continuing to burn in sparsely-populated stretches of Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico and California

In Arizona, nearly 1,000 firefighters are battling to contain the so called 'Gladiator Fire'.

In Michigan the 'Duck Lake Fire' has burned 21,000 acres along the Lake Superior Coastline

Fire danger remains high in the southern Colorado foothills and the South Park area

In Nevada, questions have been raised over fire crews' initial response to a fire which scorched 7,500 acres in the Topaz Ranch Estates

In Southern California, firefighters worked to control a wildfire that has burnt 3,100 acres of dry grass east of Julian.

By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 14:59 EST, 26 May 2012 | UPDATED: 15:10 EST, 26 May 2012


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2150437/Wildfires-continue-rage-states-U-S-ravaged-200-square-miles-land.html#ixzz1w6ZjWGwf

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/crews-nm-fire-prepare-send-copters-air-185856570.html

5/27/12

Crews on NM fire prepare to send copters into air

GLENWOOD, N.M. (AP) — Crews fighting a wildfire in the Gila National Forest in New Mexico benefited from lighter winds Sunday, allowing them to focus on building protection lines on key flanks of the blaze and preparing to send water-dropping helicopters into the air for the first time in several days.

The Whitewater-Baldy Complex fire continued to grow, burning more than 122,000 acres, or 191 square miles, by mid-day Sunday and was about two miles away from the privately owned ghost town of Mogollon in southwestern New Mexico.

The town was evacuated Saturday due to extreme winds, but no homes there have been destroyed.

Denise Ottaviano, a spokeswoman for the crew fighting the blaze, said the fire remains active near Mogollon, but the blaze hasn't made a significant push toward the town. Crews were working to build a protection line between Mogollon and the fire's western edge.

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[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.kake.com/national/headlines/Michigan_Wildfire_Destroys_Nearly_100_Buildings_155082035.html

5/28/12

Michigan Wildfire Destroys Nearly 100 Buildings

Officials say a wildfire burning across more than 30 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula has destroyed nearly 100 buildings but there have been no reports of injuries.

Officials say a wildfire burning across more than 30 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula has destroyed nearly 100 buildings but there have been no reports of injuries.

The fire that began last week has burned 95 structures, with a third of them being homes or cabins. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources said Monday that the Duck Lake Fire has burned more than 22,000 acres, or 34 square miles, in Luce County.

The fire is 51 percent contained and officials still are warning people to stay away from the nearby Tahquamenon Falls State Park.

Gov. Rick Snyder last week barred fireworks and outdoor burning in 49 Michigan counties due to extremely dry conditions. But officials say intermittent rain has helped the Duck Lake firefighting effort.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/wildfires-burning-least-three-states-195837960.html

5/29/12

Wildfires burning in at least 3 states

Wildfires burning in at least three states have thousands of firefighters scrambling to contain them.
 
In New Mexico, a pair of fires sparked by lightning merged and are close to becoming the largest wildfire in state history, fire officials told the Associated Press. More than 1,100 firefighters and nine helicopters are fighting the blaze, the AP said.
 
According to the U.S. Forest Service, the fire now covers 152,000 acres of New Mexico's Gila National Forest, which is 5,000 acres shy of the state record set last year. Since May 9, when the first of those two fires was spotted, a dozen cabins and several homes have been destroyed. Smoke from the Gila fire has spread across New Mexico and parts of Arizona, prompting health alerts. No fatalities have been reported.
 
[Slideshow: New Mexico wildfire]
 
In Colorado, hundreds of firefighters are battling an 8-square-mile blaze in the western part of the state, as well as a fire about half that size southwest of Denver.
 
As is the case in New Mexico, dry, hot conditions have hindered firefighting efforts in Colorado, according to fire officials.
 
In Michigan, a wildfire is covering more than 30 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula. According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, nearly 100 structures have been destroyed by the "Duck Lake Fire," which also began with a lightning strike. No injuries or fatalities have been reported.
 
High winds have stalled the firefighting efforts, but recent rain helped, the AP said. On Monday, the fire had burned more than 22,000 acres, or 34 square miles. Smaller fires in other parts of Michigan have been mostly contained.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/crews-protect-structures-mich-wildfire-145057114.html

5/29/12

Crews work to protect structures in Mich. wildfire

NEWBERRY, Mich. (AP) — Crews worked Tuesday to ensure that no more structures were damaged by a wildfire burning across more than 30 square miles of Michigan's Upper Peninsula as high winds in the forecast threatened to test firefighting efforts, an official said.

The Department of Natural Resources said 97 structures have been destroyed, including 34 homes or cabins. The latest estimate Tuesday added two sheds or outbuildings to a total released a day earlier. No injuries have been reported.

Some progress was marked Tuesday by the reopening of part of a state park that's popular with tourists and campers that had to close because of smoke and ash problems. DNR spokesman Dean Wilson said Tahquamenon Falls State Park's Upper Falls and related facilities reopened Tuesday, and the Lower Falls campground was expected to reopen at noon Wednesday.

Some hiking trails that lead into the burn area remain closed, he said.

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[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/wildfire-close-being-mexicos-largest-ever-213252324.html

5/30/12

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Two lightning-sparked blazes that merged in a mountainous southwestern New Mexico forest are close to becoming the largest wildfire in state history, fire officials said Tuesday.
 
The U.S. Forest Service said the erratic blaze in Gila National Forest had grown to about 152,000 acres by Tuesday — just 5,000 acres from breaking the state record. It is about 15 miles east of Glenwood, N.M., a small town with a few hundred residents.
 
More than 1,100 firefighters and nine helicopters from around the state were fighting the blaze. But officials said extremely low humidity will keep making efforts against the fire difficult.
 
The two lightning-sparked fires merged last week to form the giant blaze, which has destroyed 12 cabins and seven small outbuildings. One fire was first spotted May 9 and the second blaze was sparked May 16, but nearly all of the growth has come in recent days due to relentless winds. Officials also said a "record breaking dry air mass" and persistent drought in the region contributed to the fire's growth.

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[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/firefighters-battle-nevada-wildfire-slideshow/

5/30/12

New Mexico fire sets largest record

A massive wildfire that has burned more than 265 square miles in the Gila National Forest has become the largest fire in New Mexico history, fire officials confirmed May 30.



More on Slideshow at link

[Psalm 51:17]

Record-setting NM fire expected to burn for weeks

http://news.yahoo.com/record-setting-nm-fire-expected-burn-weeks-100857847.html

6/1/12

RESERVE, N.M. (AP) — A smoky haze hangs over the rugged canyons and tree-covered expanses of southwestern New Mexico as the largest wildfire in the state's recorded history marches across more of the Gila Wilderness.
 
The virtually unchecked wildfire is fueling experts' predictions that this is a preview of things to come as states across the West contend with a dangerous recipe of wind, low humidity and tinder-dry fuels.
 
The Whitewater-Baldy blaze has charred more than 190,000 acres, or nearly 300 square miles, in Gila National Forest and has become the largest wildfire burning in the country.
 
Gov. Susana Martinez viewed the fire from a New Mexico National Guard helicopter Thursday and saw the thick smoke shrouding some of the steep canyons that are inaccessible to firefighters. She described the terrain as "impossible," saying there was no way for firefighters to directly attack the flames in the rugged areas of wilderness.
 
"It's going to keep going up," she said of the acreage burned. "Be prepared for that."
 
Along the fire's northern edge, Martinez spotted crews doing burnout operations designed to slow the erratic blaze, which has surpassed last year's Las Conchas fire as the state's largest ever. That fire charred 156,593 acres and threatened the Los Alamos National Laboratory, the nation's premier nuclear facility.
 
From the air, Martinez could see the blanket of smoke stretching for miles. She used words like daunting and enormous, fitting since fire managers said the blaze could smolder until the region gets significant rainfall during the summer monsoon season.
 
More than 1,200 firefighters are at the massive blaze near the Arizona border. It has destroyed a dozen cabins and eight outbuildings, fire information officer Iris Estes said.
 
Experts say persistent drought, climate change and shifts in land use and firefighting strategies mean other western states likely will see similar giant fires this season.
 
"We've been in a long drought cycle for the last 20 years, and conditions now are great for these type of fires," said Steve Pyne, author of "Tending Fire: Coping with America's Wildland Fires" and a life science professor at Arizona State University. "Everything is in line."
 
Agencies in New Mexico, Colorado and Arizona are bracing for the worst. Many counties have established emergency telephone and email notification systems to warn of wildfires, and most states have enlisted crews from other jurisdictions to be ready when the big ones come.
 
"It's highly likely that these fires are going to get so big that states are going to need outside resources to fight them," said Jeremy Sullens, a wildland fire analyst at the National Interagency Fire Center.
 
According to the National Weather Service, a dry climate is expected to prolong drought conditions across the Great Basin and central Rockies during the fire season. Large portions of Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico will remain under severe drought conditions.
 
"We're transitioning from La Nina to El Nino, so we have no guidance to what's going to happen, like if we will get more rain or less rain," said Ed Polasko, a weather service meteorologist.
 
A lack of moisture means fewer fuels to burn in some areas, but unburned vegetation elsewhere could pose a problem since many states received no sustained snow or rain this winter and spring.
 
That's what happened in New Mexico's Gila Wilderness, where a lack of snow failed to push down grass, which worsened the fire danger, Sullens said.
 
Typically, fires in the area don't cross the middle fork of the Gila River, said Danny Montoya, an operations section chief with the Southwest Incident Management Team.
 
"This year, it did get across," Montoya said. "We're getting humidity levels during the day about 2 to 3 percent. Normally, during summer you'd see 5 to 12 percent."
 
Officials closed the Gila Cliff Dwellings National Monument on Thursday due to smoke generated from the fire. The National Park Service said the closure would remain in effect until conditions improve.
 
The blaze is 5 percent contained, but fire managers expect that to jump as crews bolstered lines on the northern end. Scars from previous burns were also helping to slow the flames on the southeastern flank.
 
"We're continuing with burnout operations and we've been helped with a slight rise in humidity and decreased winds," Estes said.
 
Another reason states in the West will see more massive fires this season is because, coupled with drought and dry climate, crews have experienced changes in firefighting strategies and agencies have changed some policies in fighting wildfires in isolated areas, Pyne said.
 
"In the last 20 years or so, agencies have generally been reluctant to put firefighters at risk in remote areas," Pyne said. "It wasn't like that decades ago."
 
Instead, he said agencies have focused attention on burnout operations until conditions are safe to begin containment.
 
Not that those practices and the large fires are bad things, Pyne said. For example, he said the Gila Wilderness has been a target for controlled burns.
 
"So maybe," Pyne said, "this is how it's supposed to happen."
 
___

[Psalm 51:17]

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/record-setting-nm-fire-expected-burn-weeks-16472626

6/1/12

Record-Setting NM Fire Grows to 339 Square Miles

A wildfire burning in what New Mexico's governor called "impossible" terrain in an isolated, mountainous area of the state continued its rapid growth Friday as forecasters called for thunderstorms and dry lightning that could spark even more fires.
 
The massive blaze in the Gila National Forest in southwestern New Mexico is the biggest in state history and the largest currently burning in the country. It scorched an additional 39 square miles in the past day, growing to nearly 340 square miles, as more than 1,200 firefighters worked to halt its spread.
 
Firefighters conducted more burnout operations in an effort to corral the erratic blaze that has injured six people, the fire's incident management team said Friday. None of the injuries was serious.
 
The fire was about 10 percent contained. Fire information officer Gerry Perry said most of the resources were being focused on the northern and western ends of the fire.

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[Psalm 51:17]

1,200 firefighters battle record New Mexico blaze
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN | Associated Press – 1 hr 54 mins ago.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The more than 1,200 firefighters who are battling the nation's largest wildfire in rugged mountains and canyons of southwestern New Mexico are racing to build lines to corral the massive blaze.
 
The fire had charred more than 354 square miles by Saturday morning, and crews were bracing for more dry and windy conditions.
 
Fire information officer Lee Bentley says the focus is on the western edge of the Whitewater-Baldy fire.
 
The fire is expected to start backing down the mountains east of the community of Glenwood, and officials say residents should expect to see more smoke and flames as firefighters continue their backburn operations.
 
Bentley says gusts could reach close to 30 mph Saturday, resulting in active to extreme fire behavior.
 
The fire is about 15 percent contained.
 
It has charred 227,000 acres of the Gila National Forest and a dozen cabins and several outbuildings have been destroyed.

http://news.yahoo.com/1-200-firefighters-battle-record-mexico-blaze-073834852.html

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/record-nm-blaze-test-forest-management-225730172.html

Record NM blaze will test forest management
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN | Associated Press – 1 hr 29 mins ago

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A wall of smoke advances across a vast swath of rugged country in southwestern New Mexico where the nation's wilderness movement was born nearly a century ago.

From the air, the smoke stretches as far as the eye can see. On the ground, firefighters talk about the steep canyons that keep them from directly attacking what has become the largest wildfire in New Mexico's recorded history and the largest currently burning in the country.

Sure, things might look bad. But to land managers and scientists, the record-setting blaze represents a true test of decades of work aimed at returning fire to its natural role on the landscape — a test that comes as many Western states grapple with overgrown forests, worsening drought and a growing prospect for more megafires.

The Whitewater-Baldy fire has destroyed a dozen cabins while marching across more than 354 square miles of the Gila National Forest. A pair of lightning-sparked fires grew together to form the massive blaze.

Unlike last year's megafires in New Mexico and Arizona, this blaze is burning in territory that has been frequently blackened under the watchful eye of the Gila's fire managers.

Starting in the early 1970s, the Gila has been leading the way when it comes to implementing such an active fire management strategy. Instead of immediately dousing flames in the wilderness, forest managers have let them burn as long as conditions are favorable.

The question that the Whitewater-Baldy fire is expected to answer is whether that strategy will pay off with more natural, less intense fires.

"There's a great opportunity here to study a fire like this," said Matthew Rollins, the wildland fire science coordinator with the U.S. Geological Survey's National Center in Virginia.

"The opportunity exists to look at how this fire has behaved differently in terms of vegetation mortality, effects on wildlife and fish habitat and water quality," Rollins said. "We can study how it burned in the wilderness relative to areas with other types of fire management strategies and other types of ignition patterns."

So far, the word from the fire lines is that the majority of the 227,000-acre blaze has burned with low to moderate intensity, not the kind of near-nuclear strength that was exhibited last year with the Las Conchas blaze in northern New Mexico. In that case, entire mountainsides were vaporized, leaving nothing behind but the white ashy skeletons of what used to be trees.

And as for those unburned pockets within the fire's boundaries, Rollins said he believes many of those spots have experienced low-intensity fire numerous times over the last century to make them more resilient.

Previously burned areas have also helped slow the flames on the fire's eastern flank.

"The fact that this is wilderness and the wilderness of the Gila has seen a lot of fires, we are comfortable with allowing it to burn. What we do is monitor it and help steer it around to keep some of the impacts lower than they would otherwise be on their own," said Danny Montoya, an operations section chief with the Southwest Incident Management Team.

Montoya said the rugged terrain has forced firefighters to attack the flames indirectly by starving the fire of fuels along its perimeter.

The smoke also has prevented direct attack from the air. Several helicopters and small planes are helping ground crews with backburn operations.

While a burn severity map has yet to be released, members of the incident management team are estimating that only 20 percent of the fire has burned at high intensity.

Last week, the fire made a 60,000-acre run in one day, scorching mixed conifer at high elevations as the flames were pushed by gusts of up to 60 mph.

That kind of fire can be devastating, experts said.

With fire behavior ranging from active to extreme, it will be some time before the scientists can get on the ground to see how the Gila has fared. Until then, they are working on gathering the decades of research done on the Gila, which is home to the world's first designated wilderness. It was the father of the wilderness movement, forester and conservationist Aldo Leopold, who pushed for the formation of the Gila Wilderness in 1924.

Tree ring data that dates back to the 1500s tells of the forest's fire history and the age of its trees. The perimeters of the Gila's fires along with information about their severity and vegetation mortality for the last century have also been compiled by the U.S. Forest Service.

There's also more ecological data from the federal Joint Fire Science program that can be used for comparisons.

"I think it's going to be a success story for the use of fire for managing forests," Rollins said. "It might not look like it on TV right now, but we haven't had any fatalities or dramatic housing loss like we see in Southern California or it burning so dramatically close to communities like last year's Las Conchas fire."

Experts agree that the Gila will see changes regardless of the severity of the fire. In the worst spots, aspens and other shrubs are expected to take over.

"When we're punching multi-thousand-acre holes in areas of ponderosa pine and drier mixed conifer types with no seed sources surviving, it's very difficult for those conifers to be re-established," said Craig Allen, a USGS ecologist based at Bandelier National Monument in northern New Mexico.

Fire managers are also expecting flooding. As the Las Conchas fire showed, steep denuded areas resulted in walls of water washing down canyons during the rainy season.

Residents in Glenwood are already worried about the prospect of flooding, and federal wildlife managers are concerned about what sediment and ash in the waterways could mean for the native Gila trout.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is also monitoring two packs of endangered Mexican gray wolves that are situated to the north and east of the fire. Last year, wolves in Arizona were able to escape the massive Wallow fire with their pups, but it's unclear how mobile the packs in New Mexico are since their pups are much younger.

The fire is about 15 percent contained, which much of that being on the fire's northern and northwestern flanks.

On Saturday, the more than 1,200 firefighters who are battling the fire continued to build lines to corral the flames before more threatening winds and dry conditions developed.

"We're going to continue fighting this fire aggressively without putting our firefighters in danger," fire information officer Lee Bentley said. "We're getting as much of a black line as we can around this fire."

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/02/us/new-mexico-historic-wildfire/index.html?eref=igoogledmn_topstories

6/2/12

Biggest wildfire in New Mexico's history burns with only 15% containment

By Michael Martinez, CNN
 
updated 6:31 PM EDT, Sat June 2, 2012

CNN) -- The largest wildfire in New Mexico's history continued to burn almost uncontrollably Saturday in the remote Gila Wilderness, belching enough smoke to prompt officials to caution that children, adults with heart disease and other sensitive groups should not go outdoors.
 
Since lightning ignited the Whitewater-Baldy Fire Complex wildfire on May 9, flames have devoured 227,000 acres -- more than 354 square miles -- in the southwest portion of the state. Even though 1,257 personnel have been fighting the conflagration, only 15% of it was contained Saturday, U.S. Forest Service officials said.
 
For purposes of comparison, the burn area of 354 square miles is more than one and a half times bigger than the city of Chicago's 227 square miles.
 
Two separate strikes of lightning caused the mountainous fire: the Baldy Fire started May 9 in an inaccessible area of the rugged wilderness, and the Whitewater Fire was reported on May 16 several miles west of the Baldy Fire, Forest Service officials said.
 
The two fires in the Gila National Forest combined May 23, enhanced by drought and sustained winds of 40 mph to 50 mph, authorities said.

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[Psalm 51:17]

Wildfires out of Control in New Mexico
Video: http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/video/wildfires-out-of-control-new-mexico-thousands-firefighters-raging-fires-us-16487223

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/western-wildfires-forcing-evacuations-073143393.html

Western wildfires forcing evacuations
By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Firefighters in Colorado and New Mexico are battling wind-fueled wildfires that are moving fast through parched forests, forcing scores of evacuations and destroying or damaging numerous structures.

A blaze in northern Colorado was first reported Saturday morning and had grown to about 8,000 acres by mid-evening, while a fire in southern New Mexico was small for a few days until it began growing Friday, reaching about 10,000 acres.

Both fires have damaged property and forced numerous evacuations, but officials haven't yet released specific figures on the numbers who fled.

The wildfire in the mountainous Paradise Park area, about 20 miles northwest of Fort Collins, prompted several dozen evacuation orders.

Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Schulz said the fire expanded rapidly during the late afternoon and evening and by Saturday night, residents living along several roads in the region had been ordered to evacuate and many more were warned that they might have to flee. An evacuation center has been set up at a Laporte middle school.

Officials didn't specify how many residents had evacuated but said they had sent out 800 emergency notifications urging people to be prepared to evacuate if necessary.

Law officers went door to door to alert people in the evacuation area, but officials were worried that not everyone got the word.

"Right now we're just trying to get these evacuations done and get people safe," Schulz told Denver-based KMGH-TV, adding that "given the extreme heat in the area, it makes it a difficult time for (the firefighters)."

Ten structures have been damaged, although authorities were unsure if they were homes or some other kind of buildings. No injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire was unknown.

Aerial footage from KMGH-TV showed flames coming dangerously close to what appeared to be several outbuildings and at least one home in the area, as well as consuming trees and sending a large plume of smoke into the air.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was authorizing federal funds to help pay for firefighting efforts.

Two heavy air tankers, five single-engine air tankers and four helicopters were on the scene to help fight the blaze, which appeared to be burning on private and U.S. Forest Service land and was being fueled by sustained winds of between 20 and 25 mph.

"It was just good conditions to grow," National Weather Service meteorologist Chad Gimmestad told The Associated Press. "The conditions today were really favorable for it to take off."

Wind was also playing a major role in the expansion of a lightning-sparked blaze in New Mexico's Lincoln National Forest that jumped its containment lines and raced through thick conifer forests. Fire managers said 20 structures were damaged or destroyed.

Spanning only a few acres on Wednesday, the Little Bear fire began to grow Friday and by Saturday afternoon about 10,000 acres had been charred northwest of the mountain community of Ruidoso.

"It's nerve-racking right now," Mayor Ray Alborn said in a telephone interview Saturday, as he watched what he described as "real heavy smoke" rise from the Sierra Blanca mountain range.

The mix of timber, dry grass and the steepness of the slopes were making the firefighting efforts more difficult. Windy conditions were also limiting what could be done from the air by helicopters and air tankers, Alborn said.

"Today all we see is smoke," he said. "Last night, we saw the flames too and it was an awesome expression of power. It was red, red and we could see it going across the top."

Fire information officers said summer homes in a few subdivisions and several campgrounds were evacuated late Friday, and more on homes on Saturday. Roads throughout the area were closed, said forest spokeswoman Peg Crim.

The fire was burning in steep, rocky, inaccessible terrain in the White Mountain Wilderness of the Lincoln National Forest, which is home to Smokey Bear, the little black cub that became the nation's symbol of fire prevention in the 1940s.

U.S. Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., was on his way to the area Saturday to meet with fire managers. He said decades of mismanagement, forests packed full of trees and persistent drought conditions have resulted in an explosive situation.

"We just can't keep managing our forests this way. It's not a question of if our forests in the West are going to burn, it's a matter of when. This is just one more demonstration of that," he said

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/hundreds-evacuated-colo-nm-fires-grow-202529168.html

6/10/12

Hundreds evacuated as Colo., NM fires grow

LAPORTE, Colo. (AP) — Firefighters on Sunday were fighting wildfires that have spread quickly in parched forests in Colorado and New Mexico, forcing hundreds of people from their homes and the evacuation of wolves from a sanctuary.

The Colorado fire, burning in a mountainous area about 15 miles west of Fort Collins, grew to 22 square miles within about a day of being reported and has destroyed or damaged 18 structures.

Strong winds, meanwhile, grounded aircraft fighting a 40-square-mile wildfire near the mountain community of Ruidoso in southern New Mexico. Crews were still working to build a fire line around the fire, which started Friday and has damaged or destroyed 36 structures.

It wasn't immediately clear how many of the structures lost were homes.

In Colorado, the fire sent up heavy smoke, obscuring the sun and creating an eerie, orange dusk in the middle of the day. The smell of smoke drifted into the Denver area and smoke from the fires spread as far away as parts of central Nebraska, western Kansas and Texas.

The latest New Mexico fire is smaller than the Whitewater-Baldy fire — the largest in the state's history — but it's more concerning to authorities because it started closer to homes, said Dan Ware, a spokesman for the New Mexico State Forestry Division. He said the number of Ruidoso evacuees was in the hundreds, but he didn't have an exact figure.

Karen Takai, a spokeswoman for crews battling the Ruidoso fire, said smoke is heavily impacting the community of Capitan, about 5 miles northeast of the fire. She said in addition to the communities that have been evacuated, Capitan and others could face evacuation.

"Any communities around this fire have the potential of being evacuated," she said. "If I lived in Capitan, I definitely would be prepared. Don't wait until the sheriff's office comes knocking at your door and tells you to evacuate."

Elsewhere Sunday, firefighters were battling a wildfire that blackened 6 square miles in Wyoming's Guernsey State Park and forced the evacuation of campers and visitors. Cooler weather was helping firefighters in their battle against two other wildfires in southern Utah.

In Colorado, authorities sent nearly 1,800 evacuation notices to phone numbers but it wasn't immediately clear how many residents had to leave. About 500 people had checked in at Red Cross shelters. Larimer County sheriff Justin Smith said. He said there was an unconfirmed report of a person unaccounted for, but he wouldn't elaborate.

more

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/wildfires-colo-nm-burn-control-235045683.html

6/12/12

Wildfires in Colo., NM burn out of control

BELLVUE, Colo. (AP) — As darkness fell over a 64-square-mile wildfire that has left one person dead and damaged more than 100 structures in northern Colorado, flames that were largely obscured during the day by a grayish-brown haze of smoke stood out along a fire line that crept along the side of the charred foothills.

Unable to return home, evacuee Cy Johnson set up a stand in the back of a pickup truck to hand out water and sandwiches to fire crews. "You're doing something. At least you're doing something," he said.

Massive wildfires in drought-parched Colorado and New Mexico tested the resources of state and federal crews Monday.

Wyoming diverted personnel and aircraft from two fires there to help with the Colorado fire, and Canada lent two aerial bombers following the recent crash of a U.S. tanker in Utah. An elite federal firefighting crew also arrived to try to begin containing a fire that destroyed at least 118 structures.

All told, about 600 firefighters will be battling the fire some 15 miles west of Fort Collins by Tuesday, said incident commander Bill Hahnenberg.

"We are a very high priority nationally. We can get all the resources we want and need," he said.

The U.S. Forest Service said late Monday it would add more aircraft to its aerial firefighting fleet, contracting one air tanker from Alaska and four from Canada. Two more air tankers were being activated in California.

The announcement came after Colorado's U.S. House delegation demanded that the agency deploy more resources to the fire, which has forced hundreds of people to abandon their homes.

The Larimer County sheriff's office confirmed Monday that one person died in the fire.

The family of Linda Steadman, 62, had reported her missing after the fire started Saturday, sheriff's officials said. Her home received two evacuation notices that appeared to go to her answering machine, and a firefighter who tried to get past a locked gate to her home to warn her was chased out by flames that he later saw engulf her home, Sheriff Justin Smith said.

Investigators found remains in her burned home Monday that haven't been positively identified yet, but her family issued a statement saying Steadman died in the cabin she loved, Smith said.

In a letter to the Forest Service, Colorado's congressional delegation said the need for firefighting aircraft was "dire." U.S. Sen. Mark Udall urged President Barack Obama to sign legislation that would allow the Forest Service to contract at least seven large air tankers to add to its fleet of 13 — which includes the two on loan from Canada.

The temporary additions to the firefighting aircraft fleet will make 17 air tankers available to the forest service, which has deployed 10 air tankers, 62 helicopters and 4,000 personnel to more than 100 fires nationwide.

One of the region's most potent aerial firefighting forces — two Wyoming Air National Guard C-130s fitted to drop slurry — sat on a runway in Cheyenne, 50 miles north of the Colorado fire. The reason: The Forest Service, by law, cannot call for military resources until it deems that its fleet is fully busy. It also takes 36 hours to mobilize the crews and planes, officials said.

"They just haven't thrown the switch yet because they feel like there are adequate resources available," said Mike Ferris of the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

Evacuees expressed gratitude for the help.

"They're doing the best they can," said Barb Hermsen as she watched a helicopter make daring raids through smoke and flame to protect homes. "We know how much they have to go through, and where they're going — man, it's crazy."

In New Mexico, firefighters used a break in the hot and windy weather and got new air and ground support to battle a fast-moving wildfire that charred tens of thousands of acres and forced hundreds of residents to leave their homes in the southern part of the state.

The lightning-sparked fire in the Sierra Blanca mountain range reached more than 54 square miles by Monday.

An estimated 35 structures have been damaged or destroyed by the blaze, and fire managers expect that number to grow once damage assessments are done.

Elsewhere in New Mexico, firefighters made slow progress against the largest wildfire in state history. The blaze has charred 435 square miles of forest since it was sparked by lightning in mid-May, and was 37 percent contained Monday.

Arizona's state forestry division dispatched two water tenders and 15 fire trucks to New Mexico, which also welcomed the arrival of a DC-10 jet that can lay a 100-yard-wide, mile-long line of retardant or water.

Fire bosses in New Mexico and Arizona ordered more elite crews, engines and air support from the Southwest Coordination Center in Albuquerque, where director Kenan Jaycox said resources are approaching full capacity.

"It's a balancing game," Jaycox said.

At least 18 large wildfires are burning in nine U.S. states. The National Interagency Fire Center said 4,000 of 15,000 federal firefighters are deployed at fires around the country.

Because aircraft had been scarce, federal fire managers asked Wyoming to send National Guard helicopters to a 4.5-square-mile wildfire in Guernsey State Park. In nearby Medicine Bow National Forest, crews containing a 13-square-mile fire sent air support to Colorado.

Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has long insisted the federal government has enough resources to respond to a year-round wildfire season driven by drought, heat, decades of fighting forest fires rather than letting them run their natural course, and bark beetle-killed trees.

He said the agency has the authority to transfer funds from other accounts to meet firefighting costs.

Some 1,459 square miles have burned across the country this year — less than the same period in 2011, when 6,327 square miles burned.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/wildfire-destroys-most-homes-colo-history-232311632.html

Wildfire destroys most homes in Colo. history
By THOMAS PEIPERT | Associated Press – 2 hrs 29 mins ago

DENVER (AP) — Additional crews were arriving Saturday at a wildfire in northern Colorado that has scorched about 85 square miles and destroyed at least 181 homes, the most in state history.

The High Park Fire burning 15 miles west of Fort Collins surpasses the Fourmile Canyon wildfire, which destroyed 169 homes west of Boulder in September 2010.

Fire information officer Brett Haberstick said Saturday that more than 1,500 personnel are working on the Fort Collins-area fire. The lightning-caused blaze, which is believed to have killed a 62-year-old woman whose body was found in her cabin, was 20 percent contained. The fire's incident commander said full containment could be two to four weeks away.

Haberstick said hot and dry conditions were expected to continue, but crews have made progress in containing a 200-acre spot fire that erupted Thursday afternoon north of the Cache La Poudre River, a critical line of defense against northward growth.

"We're hopeful that we will be able to contain it today, but that will be determined by Mother Nature," Haberstick said.

Firefighters have extinguished other incursions north of the river, but the most recent one appeared to be more serious.

National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Fredin said some rain was expected in the fire zone Saturday evening, but it will not be enough to put the fire out.

"We need a rain that will really last all day," he said. "But it's better than dry wind at this point."

The fire was reported June 9 and has since raced through large swaths of private and U.S. Forest Service land.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who oversees the Forest Service, met with fire managers in Fort Collins on Saturday and said "fighting this fire is going to require us to be aggressive, persistent and also patient.

"We're going to continue to work to make our forests more resilient. We're going to continue to ensure that adequate resources are provided for fighting fires and we are going to continue to make sure that we encourage appropriate stewardship of our forests," he said.

Vilsack praised Congress for allowing the government to contract additional aircraft — particularly heavy tankers — to fight wildfires across the West. But he called on lawmakers for budget certainty to help plan for future fires.

Vilsack is scheduled to hold a news conference with U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell in Albuquerque on Sunday.

Meanwhile in New Mexico, questions were being raised about whether bureaucratic red tape prevented firefighters from saving more homes affected by the Little Bear Fire after federal officials released transcripts of the firefighters' response.

Congressman Steve Pearce said Friday in an interview with KOB-TV (http://bit.ly/Mga1yx ) that he believed federal officials could have done more after lightning sparked the fire outside the resort town of Ruidoso on June 4. Days later, high winds sent embers more than a mile from the blaze's end, causing the inferno to grow.

But officials released transcripts of the response on the Lincoln National Forest website that suggested firefighters were attacking the blaze as soon as it was a quarter of an acre.

The fire has destroyed 224 homes and burned 59 square miles.

In Arizona, the Northern Arizona Incident Management Team took command of the 1,500 acre blaze in the Tonto National Forest. Officials said the fire was 15 percent contained and firefighters continued to battle unseasonably dry fuels, high temperatures and low humidity.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://gma.yahoo.com/colorado-high-park-fire-potential-looters-pose-threat-121612357--abc-news-topstories.html

Colorado High Park Fire: Potential Looters Pose New Threat
6/18/12

With so many homes and neighborhoods deserted because of mandatory evacuations during Colorado's week-old High Park Fire, the local sheriff has a new worry: potential looters.
 
Police arrested a 30-year-old Denver man on Saturday for allegedly using phony firefighter credentials to enter the fire's restricted area. His truck displayed stolen government license plates, police said.
 
Michael Stillman at first evaded authorities but was found later that night at a local bar. He was arrested for impersonating a firefighter, theft and attempting to influence a public servant. Police say they found stolen property and a firearm in Stillman's car, although they did not say if it came from a home evacuated because of the fire.
 
A Larimer County Sheriff's Department statement said there were no confirmed cases of looting.
 
more

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=20974037&title=wood-hollow-fire-burns-39000-acres-causes-evacuations&s_cid=featured-1

Wood Hollow Fire burns 39,000 acres, 25-30 structures destroyed

6/24/12

MT. PLEASANT, Sanpete County — All Robin Coltharp can do is wait and watch.
 
"We don't even know if our property is still good or not, if it's burned," she said.
 
Coltharp's husband used a telescope to get a closer look at the property, which Sunday was about a mile away from area burned in the Wood Hollow Fire.

The wildfire continued to rage Sunday, covering more than 39,000 acres in Sanpete County, destroying between 25 and 30 structures and forcing evacuations of more than 200 homes. At last word, only the fire was only 4 percent contained.
 
Roughly 360 permanent structures and more than 200 trailers or sheds are threatened, the Summit County Sheriff's Office said.

more

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/22/ariz-wildfire-near-flagstaff-acres/?test=latestnews

Arizona Firefighters Battle 19-Square-Mile Fire

6/22/12

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. -- Massive clouds of smoke choked Flagstaff on Tuesday as firefighters battled to keep a nearly 19-square-mile wildfire from heading toward the mountain town of about 60,000 people.
 
The work shifted after firefighters secured the area closest to homes, several hundred of which remained under evacuation orders, said fire spokeswoman Erin Phelps. Crews will work on containment lines on the south and north sides where the fire is most active, she said.
 
"It's comforting to know the east side is fairly secure so we can start focusing on those other areas," Phelps said.
 
The fire is about five miles from Flagstaff on the southernmost edge where rocky terrain and rolling hills make the terrain more difficult for fire crews to access.
 
The wildfire that has sent massive clouds of smoke over parts of the city was estimated at 12,000 acres late Tuesday afternoon, a result of operations to rob the fire of fuel and new growth on the south and north sides.
 
Four heavy air tankers were on standby. They're capable of carrying more than 2,000 gallons of fire retardant used to slow the spread of fire. The tankers are part of 19 under contract through the U.S. Forest Service to fight fires across the country.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/06/22/ariz-wildfire-near-flagstaff-acres/?test=latestnews#ixzz1ypDx7d6O

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/colorado-wildfire-worsens-forcing-7-000-more-homes-003112878.html

Colorado wildfire worsens, forcing 7,000 more from homes

6/26/12

COLORADO SPRINGS (Reuters) - A monster Colorado wildfire raging near some of the most visited tourist areas in the state took a turn for the worse on Tuesday as hot winds pushed flames north, prompting the evacuation of 7,000 more people, officials said.
 
Colorado's so-called Waldo Canyon fire sent a mushroom cloud of smoke nearly 20,000 feet into the air over Colorado Springs near Pikes Peak, whose breathtaking vistas from the summit helped inspire the song "America the Beautiful".
 
Closer to the blaze, which has been fanned by winds blowing into the Southern Rockies from the prairies to the east, trees were visibly twisting from the heat of the flames.
 
The latest evacuations brought the total number of people forced from their homes to about 12,000 as the blaze posed a renewed threat to hundreds of dwellings and appeared to have roared to within about a mile of the U.S. Air Force Academy grounds in Colorado Springs.

more

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/colorado-wildfires-evacuations-124631601.html

Colorado wildfires: 32,000 evacuated as blaze jumps perimeter near Colorado Springs

6/27/12

A fast-moving wildfire near Colorado Springs forced as many as 32,000 residents to be evacuated on Tuesday, as the blaze—fueled by 65 mph winds—jumped a perimeter set by firefighters trying desperately to contain it.
 
The Waldo Canyon fire—which was first spotted Saturday near Pikes Peak—doubled in size overnight to more than 24 square miles, according to the Associated Press.
 
The blaze has destroyed an unknown number of homes, caused roads to be closed and shut down part of the U.S. Air Force Academy. About 2,100 residents of the academy's campus were told to evacuate on Tuesday.
 
No deaths or injuries have been reported.
 
Fire officials said the fire was just 5 percent contained, and dry, searing triple-digit heat in Colorado was not helping.

"This is a firestorm of epic proportions," Colorado Springs Fire chief Richard Brown said at a news conference late Tuesday.
 
"From the vantage point of a command post about 10 miles from the path of advancing flames," Reuters said, "the entire community of Mountain Shadows, a northwest subdivision, appeared to be enveloped in an orange glow after dark."
 
Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, who surveyed the fire from the air, said: "It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine--it's almost surreal. You look at that, and it's like nothing I've seen before."
 
Hickenlooper added: "This is the worst fire season in the history of Colorado."
 
Local residents have taken to Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to post photos of the towering flames and billowing smoke.

The wildfire is one of about a dozen burning in Colorado, including the High Park Fire—Colorado's second largest ever—which has scorched more than 83,000 acres, destroyed 248 homes and is blamed for at least one death. Overall, four people have died due to wildfires in the state this year.
 
The Federal Emergency Management Agency authorized the use of federal funds to fight the Colorado fires, according to MSNBC.
 
On Monday, four C-130 military aircraft tankers were called in to help battle the blaze, dropping 3,000 gallons of fire retardant on the fire in shifts.

[Mark]

America On Fire: Why Is The Number Of Wildfires In The United States Increasing?

As America watches large sections of Colorado literally burn to the ground, many are wondering why all of this is happening.  There have always been wildfires, but what we are experiencing now seems very unusual.  So is the number of wildfires in the United States increasing?  As you will see later in this article, the answer is yes.  2011 was a record setting year for wildfires and this wildfire season is off to a very frightening start.  Right now the eyes of the nation are focused on the Waldo Canyon Fire in Colorado.  It doubled in size overnight and it has consumed more than 300 homes so far.  It is threatening the city of Colorado Springs, and at this point more than 35,000 people have been forced to evacuate - including the U.S. Air Force Academy.  On Twitter and Facebook residents are describing what they are seeing as "the apocalypse" and as "the end of the world".  But this is just the beginning of the wildfire season.  We haven't even gotten to July and August yet.

The Waldo Canyon fire is rapidly becoming one of the most expensive and destructive wildfires in Colorado history.  The historic Flying W Ranch has already been burned totally to the ground by this fire.  Local authorities are struggling to find the words to describe how nightmarish this fire is.  The following are a couple of quotes from a CNN article....

Richard Brown, the Colorado Springs fire chief, described it as a "firestorm of epic proportions."

Gov. John Hickenlooper surveyed the Waldo Canyon Fire, telling reporters it was a difficult sight to see.

"There were people's homes burned to the ground. It was surreal," he said late Tuesday night. "There's no question, it's serious. It's as serious as it gets."
But this is not the only wildfire that is raging in Colorado.  Right now there are 10 wildfires burning in the state.  Overall, there are 33 large wildfires currently burning in twelve U.S. states.

If you will remember, New Mexico just experienced one of the worst wildfires that it has ever seen.  Conditions throughout most of the western United States are ideal for wildfires right now.  As USA Today reports, much of the western half of the country is under a "red flag warning" right now....

Throughout the interior West, firefighters have toiled for days in searing, record-setting heat against fires fueled by prolonged drought. Most, if not all, of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana were under red flag warnings, meaning extreme fire danger.
But wait, didn't this kind of thing happen last year too?

Yes it did.

In fact, 2011 was one of the worst years ever for wildfires in America.  The following is a short excerpt from an EarthSky article....

Thousands of wildfires raged across the United States last year, 2011, burning a record amount of land, especially in the southern U.S. In fact, 2011 the third-most-active fire season since 1960 (when this record-keeping began) with respect to acres burned, according to preliminary data released from the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) in late December 2011. The NIFC will be releasing an official summary report detailing the 2011 wildfire season later in 2012, but for now you can read some of the details in the State of the Climate Wildfires 2011 report from NOAA.

During 2011, a total of 73,484 wildfires burned an estimated 8,706,852 acres (35,235 square kilometers) of land across the United States. Wildfire activity during 2011 was exceptionally high and was only exceeded in the historical record by wildfire activity during the years 2006 and 2007.
We have seen highly unusual wildfire activity throughout America in recent years.  In the article quoted above you can find a chart which shows that wildfire activity in the United States has been far above normal during the past decade.

Wildfire records have only been kept since 1960.  The 6 worst years on record for wildfires in the U.S. have all happened since the year 2000.  The following is from an Earth Island Journal article that I found....

In the United States, where some of the most accurate wildfire statistics are kept, the six worst fire seasons in the past 50 years have occurred since 2000. In Texas, nearly 4 million acres were burned in 2011, double the previous record. This included the Bastrop Fire last September that destroyed 1,600 homes and became the most destructive fire in Texas history. In Arizona more than one million acres were burned in 2011, a new record. The Wallow Fire, which destroyed nearly a half million acres, was the largest fire in Arizona history. The Pagami Creek Fire in northern Minnesota became the third largest fire in state history when it burned 100,000 acres in September 2011, most of this in an unprecedented 16-mile run on a single day.
So what does all of this mean?

It means that the number of wildfires in the United States is increasing and wildfires are becoming more powerful and doing more damage.

So what is causing all of this?

The truth is that this is happening because we are seeing exceptionally dry conditions throughout the western half of the United States.  In fact, according to the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the U.S. interior west is now the driest that it has been in 500 years.

The eastern half of the country also gets very hot during the summer, but they don't have as many wildfires because they get a lot more rain.

Many areas in the western half of the country have been experiencing drought conditions for quite a few years, and there seems to be no end in sight for the drought.

If you go check out the U.S. drought monitor, you will see that almost the entire southwest United States is experiencing some level of drought right now.

So what will July and August bring?

It is kind of frightening to think about that.

Earlier this year I wrote an article that postulated that we could actually see dust bowl conditions return to the middle of the United States.  Many readers were skeptical of that article.

But as much of the western United States continues to experience bone dry conditions and continues to be ravaged by wildfires, perhaps more people will understand how bad things are really getting in the interior west.

Just because we have made great technological advances as a society does not mean that we know how to tame nature.  We can attempt to contain the massive wildfires that are popping up all over the place and we can attempt to deal with the drought, but in the end we cannot stop what is happening.

So do you live in any of the areas that are being affected by these wildfires?

Do you have an opinion about why so much of America is on fire?

Please feel free to post a comment with your opinion below....

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/america-on-fire-why-is-the-number-of-wildfires-in-the-united-states-increasing

[Psalm 51:17]

Colorado blaze devours houses, chars land on Air Force Academy
 
Published June 28, 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –  Fire crews fought to save the U.S. Air Force Academy and residents begged for information on the fate of their homes Wednesday after a night of terror sent thousands of people fleeing a raging Colorado Springs wildfire.
 
More than 30,000 have been displaced by the fire, including thousands who frantically packed up belongings Tuesday night after it barreled into neighborhoods in the foothills west and north of Colorado's second-largest city. With flames looming overhead, they clogged roads shrouded in smoke and flying embers, their fear punctuated by explosions of bright orange flame that signaled yet another house had been claimed.
 
"The sky was red, the wind was blowing really fast and there were embers falling from the sky," said Simone Covey, a 26-year-old mother of three who fled an apartment near Garden of the Gods park and was staying at a shelter. "I didn't really have time to think about it. I was just trying to keep my kids calm."
 
Wilma Juachon sat under a tree at an evacuation center, wearing a mask to block the smoke. A tourist from California, she was evacuated from a fire near Rocky Mountain National Park last week and, now, from her Colorado Springs hotel.


Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2012/06/27/ferocious-fire-devours-homes-in-colorado-springs/?intcmp=related?test=latestnews#ixzz1z5vRddLH

[tennis shoe]

America On Fire: Why Is The Number Of Wildfires In The United States Increasing?

People want to know why so many fires? Because it’s PROFITABLE. Forestry will pay quite nicely to rent local equipment while locals need not lift a finger. It can be a car, dozer, ATV, boat, anything. They also can pay nicely for seasonal hires: drivers, dispatchers, accountants, caterers, local hotels, fire crews. A member of a fire crew, if deployed out of state, can make pretty good money in a month or two. Curiously, entry-level PR officers get paid something like $50+ per hour to spin to the public.

Couple of years ago, I saw the budget for just one active fire. It was over a million dollars per day. The closer the fire is to residential areas, the more money that gets spent on it.

[Psalm 51:17]

UPDATE 3-Colorado Springs fire ranks as state's most destructive on record

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/29/usa-wildfires-colorado-idINL2E8HS9UF20120629

6/29/12

* Early damage reports say 346 homes lost in blaze

* Colorado's Waldo Canyon fire 10 percent contained

* Unspecified number of people listed as 'unaccounted for' (Police say some people unaccounted for; adds details, quotes)

By Keith Coffman

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., June 28 (Reuters) - A fierce Colorado wildfire that has forced the evacuation of some 35,000 people while raging for six days at the edge of the state's second-most populous city has destroyed 346 homes, Mayor Steve Bach said on Thursday, citing preliminary damage reports.

If those figures hold up, the tally of lost homes in and around Colorado Springs would make the so-called Waldo Canyon Fire the state's most destructive on record, surpassing the 257 homes consumed in recent weeks by a much larger blaze north of Denver near Fort Collins.

While no deaths or serious injuries have been reported from the blaze so far, Colorado Springs Police Chief Peter Carey said authorities were seeking the whereabouts of some people he described as "unaccounted for," though he did not give a number.

A police spokeswoman, Carrie McCuffland, said there were no specific reports from citizens of missing people, and that the unaccounted-for list consists of individuals who apparently neglected to register with the city or the American Red Cross as evacuees.

"Every indication is that there are no casualties," McCuffland told Reuters.

Authorities earlier acknowledged the loss of hundreds of homes in Tuesday's firestorm, but the damage toll released by the mayor at an afternoon news conference on Thursday gave the first firm picture of the full extent of the devastation.

President Barack Obama plans to visit Colorado Springs on Friday to meet with firefighters and tour the ravaged zones.

The grim news came as lighter winds helped firefighters battling to contain the inferno that had roared unchecked through residential neighborhoods in the northwestern corner of Colorado Springs and nibbled at the fringe of the U.S. Air Force Academy campus.

The academy welcomed over 1,000 new cadets on Thursday, despite the fire, bringing them to a portion of the facility far from the smoke, base spokesman Harry Lundy said.

For the first time since the blaze erupted on Saturday, a red-flag warning for heightened fire hazards was lifted for the Colorado Springs area.

"We had a pretty good day on the line today. There was minimal fire growth," incident commander Rich Harvey said.

But anguish and frustration ran high among many of the estimated 35,000 residents who remained under evacuation orders.

"You don't have the authority to keep me out of my house," David Dougherty, 45, a retired member of the Armed Forces, shouted out during the news conference. "I understand they're trying to save lives, but some of us don't need to be saved."

Dougherty said he believes his dwelling is still intact and wants to be let back in to the evacuation zone to secure his home and his belongings. Police reported at least one arrest for burglary in an evacuated neighborhood.

Bret Waters, the city's emergency management director, said some evacuees would be allowed to return beginning at 8 p.m. local time Thursday.


CORRALLING THE FLAMES

The Waldo Canyon blaze remained a formidable force, with fire crews managing to carve containment lines around just 10 percent of its perimeter by Thursday afternoon -- a fraction of the sprawling fire zone but still double the previous day's total, officials said.

Searing temperatures and strong, erratic winds in recent days stoked the blaze, which has burned at least 18,500 acres (7,487 hectares) of timber and brush, much of it in the Pike National Forest to the west of the city that lies at the base of the famed Pikes Peak mountaintop.

Firefighters on Wednesday pushed back a spot fire in a vacant corner of the Air Force Academy, but some residential neighborhoods in and around Colorado Springs were harder hit.

"There was nothing left in some areas, burned-out foundations that were smoldering. It looked like a nuclear weapon had been dropped. It's as close to hell as I could imagine," said Bach after touring the Mountain Shadows subdivision, which bore the brunt of the destruction.

Colorado wildfires have killed four people this year in what the governor called "the worst fire season" in state history.

Earlier this month, the High Park Fire west of Fort Collins and north of Denver killed one woman while leaving 257 homes destroyed and more than 87,000 acres (35,000 ha) blackened. That blaze, ranked briefly as Colorado's most costly in property damage, was listed as 75 percent contained on Thursday.

The cause of the Waldo Canyon Fire remained under investigation, authorities said. FBI's Denver office issued a statement on Thursday saying its agents were "working closely with local, state and federal law enforcement to determine if any of the wild land fires resulted from criminal activity."

The fire menacing Colorado Springs follows a recent string of suspected arson fires in a neighboring county, but officials said they had no indication that the Waldo Canyon blaze was deliberately set.

More than 1,200 personnel, supported by heavy air tankers and helicopters, are assigned to the blaze, Harvey said. (Additional reporting by Ellen Miller; Writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Tim Gaynor and Stacey Joyce)