Dangerous wildfire season predicted for California

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/rim-fire-endangers-experimenta/17251558
Rim Fire Endangers Experimental Forest
9/1/13

As the California Rim Fire near Yosemite National Park continues to burn, becoming one of the state's largest fires in California history, it is coming dangerously close to sending years of research at the Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest up in flames.

Located in the central Sierra Nevada near Pinecrest, Calif., the experimental forest has been the home base for forest fire research since the 1920s.

Back in the twenties, fires came through the area every eight to ten years, keeping the forests more open, according to U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station Geographer and Researcher Carl Skinner. As a result, the forests were less dense, making a high intensity fire, like the Rim Fire, less likely.

"In the 1920s, they mapped every tree on ten acre plots, so we know the sizes and species of the trees," Skinner said. Scrubs and grasses were also mapped extensively, so well in fact that researchers today know how dense the vegetation on the forest floor used to be.

Researchers and scientists alike have since continued to study the structure and spacial distribution of what the forests used to be like. With these studies, researchers attempt to figure out how the forest has changed over time and what it would take to restore the forest to more fire resistant conditions.

"In fire-prone areas, the big trees that survived the fire have thick bark and high branches that protected them," Skinner said.

Recently, the forest has been entirely remapped to determine what changes have occurred since the 1920 mapping.

"We have seen tremendous change in the forest, it has become much denser with three to four times more trees," Skinner said. "There are very few scrubs left and we have lost a lot of vegetative diversity."

Completed just last year, the site was thinned back to recreate the conditions in the 1920s. This October and November, prescribed fire was scheduled to be put back into the woods. This exploratory fire was to be used to compare the differences and responses in the way the forest reacted with fire to the way it functioned prior to the thinning.

Already done at other locations, research has shown that thinning the forest and reinstating its conditions to what it was back in the 1920s has "made tremendous differences in what the fires end up doing," according to Skinner.

While the Rim Fire has seemingly switched direction since the beginning of the week, the threat to the Stanislaus-Tuolumne Experimental Forest has been reduced. However, if the California weather changes yet again there is no guarantee that the savage fire will not encroach the area.

Despite the thinning process, the research site still contains a fair amount of ground shrubbery that would aid in fueling the Rim fire and thus intensify the already enormous fire.

"The fire would be intense enough that it could do a lot of damage to the project," Skinner said.

The team plans to wait it out and see what happens. However, if the fire does reach the site, the team plans to take full advantage of the situation by studying the patterns the fire leaves in its wake.

Despite, the research potential if the Rim Fire makes its way into the experimental forest, the downsides far outweigh the benefits as the team would have to relocate.

"We would gain information from it, just not meeting the objectives we originally had," Skinner said. "But then, we would have to start over somewhere else."

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/failure-thin-brush-may-worsened-california-wildfire-125257087.html
9/1/13
Failure to thin brush may have worsened California wildfire

(Reuters) - A cluster of controlled fire and tree-thinning projects approved by forestry officials but never funded might have slowed the progress of the massive Rim Fire in California, a wide range of critics said this weekend.

The massive blaze at the edge of Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada mountains has scorched an area larger than many U.S. cities - with some of that land in the very location pinpointed by the U.S. Forest service for eight projects aimed at clearing and burning brush and small trees that help fuel wildfire.

The projects, which were approved by the U.S. Forest Service but never funded by Congress, would have thinned the woods in about 25 square miles (65 square km) in the Groveland District of the Stanislaus National Forest, much of which was incinerated by the Rim Fire.

About 9,000 acres were suitable to be deliberately burned as fire prevention buffer zones in 2012, the Forest Service said in a document provided to Reuters.

But reductions in funding for fire prevention efforts by Congress in recent years coupled with stringent air quality standards that limit the timeframe for such burns have hampered efforts to carry them out on a larger scale.

Last year, the Forest Service had funding to burn 449 acres in the Groveland District but did not reach that target, said District Ranger Maggie Dowd.

The wildfire is the sixth-largest on record in California. It burned over 220,000 acres over the past two weeks while penetrating Yosemite National Park and threatening to befoul the Hetch Hetchy reservoir providing the lion's share of water to San Francisco.

"This is a colossal unfunded backlog of critically important fuel reduction work," said John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center and a former Forest Service fire fighter. The projects "would have inarguably made the Rim Fire far easier to contain, far less expensive and possibly not even a major disaster."

Over the past several years, wildfires in the U.S. West have become increasingly frequent and at times deadly. Earlier this year, 19 firefighters were killed in a blaze in Arizona, and wildfires have raged in several states, including Nevada, Alaska and New Mexico.

MORE ACTIVE WILDFIRES

Federal fire figures show an average of 7.6 million acres (3.1 million hectares) charred per year between 2004 and 2012, up from 3.6 million acres (1.46 million hectares) annually in the preceding 20 years.

Part of the problem, experts and many fire officials say, is that funding has been low for the controlled burns and forest-thinning work that makes it harder for a wildfire to spread.

In recent years, Jarvis said, the trend has been to shift money from fire prevention to firefighting.

"We've got to invest up front in terms of controlling and managing these fires," said Jonathan Jarvis, director of the National Park Service from his smoke-filled post in Yosemite National Park. "Just waiting for the big fire and then throwing everything you've got at it makes no sense."

The massive blazes are fueled by high temperatures, said U.S. Forest Service geographer Carl Skinner.

Mike Albrecht, co-owner of the logging company Sierra Resource Management, which operates on public land in the Sierra Nevada mountains said that the backlogged projects would likely have helped limit the Rim Fire.

The "one-two punch" of thinning the forest through logging and prescribed burns is essential for stemming the tide of catastrophic wildfires across the American West, he said.

Craig Thomas, conservation director for the environmental coalition group Sierra Forest Legacy, said such a course would help reduce the intensity of wildfires enough to spare the largest trees, while clearing space and providing nutrients for grasses and wildflowers.

In addition to perennial funding shortfalls for prevention efforts, Thomas faults federal and state air quality regimes that limit the timeframe for prescribed burns by counting the smoke they generate along with industrial and auto emissions - while not counting the smoke from an actual wildfire.

There is also skepticism over the relative importance of planned burning among some lawmakers, including Congressman Tom McClintock, a third-term conservative Republican in whose district the Rim Fire has burned.

More dire than a backlog of Forest Service controlled burns, McClintock says, is the precipitous, 25-year decline in logging of bigger, money-making trees on public lands.

"If we were harvesting the same amount of timber we once did, we'd have fewer fires but also a revenue stream for the treatment of many thousands of acres (hectares) that we're not treating today," he said.

Dowd, the Forest Service Ranger, said that with containment lines built around less than half of the still-burning Rim Fire, it is too early to know how much the prevention projects might have helped.

But she said that the several dozen acres of prescribed burns carried out in her district over the past two years, are insufficient.

"It's not enough," Dowd said.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/01/20280685-rim-fire-at-223000-acres-as-calif-officials-search-for-cause-of-massive-blaze?lite&ocid=msnhp&pos=6
9/1/13
Rim Fire at 223,000 acres as Calif. officials search for cause of massive blaze

California officials searched for answers to what sparked a massive wildfire near Yosemite Park that is still only 40 percent contained after two weeks of firefighters battling the blaze.

The Rim Fire has scorched almost 223,000 acres of California forests and over 100 structures have been destroyed by the fire, according to state fire officials. Eleven residences have burned down so far but a majority of the 5,506 structures currently threatened by the fire are homes, The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection reported.

Firefighters managed to put out some small scattered fires overnight on Saturday, as higher humidity levels contributed to a slow in the rate of the fire’s spread. Still, while more than 5,000 active firefighting personnel are actively working to conquer the fire, officials do not expect full containment until Sept. 20, according to a fire incident report.

Strong gusts of wind contributed to a sheet of thick smoke on Saturday that descended over Yosemite Park, which was crowded with holiday weekend campers. Even as air quality was rated as “very unhealthy” — the most intense level on a five-part scale — by the National Park Service on Saturday, the Associated Press reported that open campgrounds remained full.

On Sunday, the air quality in the park’s valley improved by one level to “unhealthy,” but campers were asked to avoid strenuous outdoor activity or try to stay indoors, according to the AP.

According to NBC Bay Area, two of the park’s campgrounds closed on Saturday and Berkeley Tuolumne Camp was entirely devastated by the blaze. Previous visitors to the scenic campground set up a memorial Facebook page that documented the site’s destruction.

As residents and campers lament the loss of favorite campgrounds and lush forest, California officials worked to determine the cause of the fire that has cost the state an estimated $60 million.

A Tuolumne County Fire official told community members that m@rijuana growers may be to blame, according to NBC Bay Area.

Reuters reported that some officials said a failure to carry out U.S. Forest Service-approved tree-thinning projects, due to a lack of funds from Congress, has contributed to the swift spread of the fire.

John Buckley, the executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, told Reuters that the tree-thinning efforts "would have inarguably made the Rim Fire far easier to contain, far less expensive and possibly not even a major disaster."

[Psalm 51:17]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/02/20292536-hundreds-of-california-cattle-feared-hurt-dead-as-massive-rim-fire-scorches-region
9/2/13
Hundreds of California cattle feared hurt, dead as massive Rim Fire scorches region

The monstrous California wildfire that has scorched an area larger than New York City doesn't just loom over hundreds of homes — it's also threatening one of the cornerstones of the regional economy: cattle.

Many of the thousands of grass-fed cows who have grazed on lush land in the Stanislaus National Forest — where the massive fire sparked Aug. 17 — are now feared displaced, injured or dead, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

As ranch hands deal with their potentially decimated stock — and with the future of grazing in the forest area unclear — the regional cattle industry may take a big hit, according to the newspaper.

"They go out every day, gathering the cows they can find, the ones that have made it into the green areas," Susan Forbes, a national forest staffer, told the Chronicle. "They're finding pockets of livestock and concentrating on removing them as fast as they can."

Forbes told the newspaper that the blaze devastated 12 of 36 grazing grounds in the park. Herds of cattle are now scattered over thousands of acres — making evacuation efforts a huge challenge.

The Golden State accounts for 7.4 percent of the U.S. national revenue for livestock and livestock products. It's also the number one state in cash farm receipts, making up 11.6 percent of the U.S. total, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Cattle and calves were California's fifth leading commodity two years ago, according to CDFA data.

Meanwhile, crews battling the so-called Rim Fire made significant gains over Sunday night and throughout Monday, officials said.

The fire was 70 percent contained Monday night, a jump from 45 percent Sunday night, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

On Monday, crews made progress by conducting burnout operations and slowed the progress of the flames from firefighting aircraft, according to a fire incident report. 

”Last night is when it all really tied together,” Andrea Capps, spokeswoman for the Rim Fire command center, told Reuters. “It’s looking really good over there right now. They’re calling that containment line secure.”

And yet despite the boost in containment, Capps said analysts estimate it could take until Sept. 20 to fully contain the Rim Fire, according to Reuters.

“The majority of the containment lines will probably be really strong by the middle, end of this week, but they just want to give themselves enough time to make sure it’s fully contained,” Capps told the wire service.

Dan Bastion, a spokesman for the multiagency fire management team said cooler temperatures and higher humidity allowed crews to get an advantage on the fire overnight. “Rain is good,” Capps said, “but the winds that come with the pressure changes with the thunderstorms could lead to some unpredictable (fire) behavior.”

The so-called Rim Fire now spans over 368 square miles, or 235,841 acres, making it the fourth-largest blaze in modern California history. It surpasses a 1932 fire in Ventura County, according to officials.

The fire threatens some 4,500 homes, although many of those structures are "not in imminent danger," Bastion said. Some 11 residences have already burned down, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

Authorities are investigating the cause of the blaze, but the possibility that it was started by an illegal marijuana growing operation was recently raised by a fire chief in Tuolomne County.

[Mark]

Lightning, *pot* ruled out as causes of Rim Fire

vid: http://tinyurl.com/looahf9

There was no evidence of an illegal *pot* grow near the spot where a raging wildfire started near Yosemite National Park, a federal forestry official said Wednesday.

Investigators have ruled out the illicit activity as a potential cause, ending speculation by a local fire chief that the gardens that plague federal land could be to blame.

Jerry Snyder of the U.S. Forest Service said that the steep and inaccessible canyon where the Rim Fire started Aug. 17 in the Stanislaus National Forest doesn't have a water source that growers look for when they set up remote gardens.

"The lead investigator says there's no evidence of any type of grow in the area where the fire started," Snyder said.

Snyder also said lightning isn't to blame. It could take months for investigators to determine what ignited the blaze that has consumed more than 370 square miles of Sierra Nevada forests.

"They'll be able to tell whether there was an illegal campfire in there," he said. "Another thing to consider is that this area is very steep, and if there was a rockslide two rocks hitting together could make a spark to ignite dry brush."

The fire is 80% contained, and crews don't expect full containment before Sept. 20. The far-off date is because the portion of the fire burning in Yosemite National Park is headed toward granite outcroppings that will act as a natural firebreak but won't be classified as technical containment.

Letting geological formations help will allow firefighters to focus some efforts inside the fire's footprint. Snyder said they have begun to cut breaks and start backfires in an effort to save grazing land, wildlife habitat and historic buildings left over from early timber camps.

"We don't want the entire interior to be burned too," he said.

Officials said 111 structures, including 11 homes, have been destroyed. More than 4,300 firefighters are still battling the blaze.

Although no cause has been announced, one local fire chief speculated the fire might have ignited in an illegal **** grow. His remarks posted on YouTube prompted Snyder to shoot down the rumor.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/05/yosemite-rim-fire-****/2770045/

Maybe they should look at their moral values and repent to the Lord? ALSO in order for pine cones to germinate that have to be in a FIRE!!! God deseigned it that way

[Kilika]

"We don't want the entire interior to be burned too," he said.

 

I assure you, if God wants it burned, it will burn.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/05/20343126-hunter-sparked-massive-calif-wildfire-that-threatened-yosemite-forest-service?lite
9/5/13
Hunter sparked massive Calif. wildfire that threatened Yosemite: Forest Service

The massive California wildfire that scorched Yosemite National Park and posed a threat to San Francisco's water and electricity supplies was started when a hunter's illegal camp fire got out of control, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

The Forest Service announced the alleged cause of the blaze, which ate up more than 237,000 acres -- or 370 square miles -- on Thursday. The fire is 80 percent contained.

Officials have estimated that $70 million has been spent fighting the blaze.

The fire burned through brush, conifer and pine trees, growing into the fourth largest in the state's history since it began on Aug. 17. Plumes of smoke from the fire prompted air-quality warnings a hundred miles away and chased off would-be day campers in Yosemite.

Firefighters expect that it will take about two more weeks to fully contain the fire, according to an incident report.

"There is no indication the hunter was involved with illegal marijuana cultivation on public lands, and no marijuana cultivation sites were located near the origin of the fire," the Forest Service said in a release on Thursday. "No arrests have been made at this time and the hunter's name is being withheld pending further investigation."

A fire chief in Tuolomne County had earlier speculated that an illegal marijuana growing operation might have been the cause of the blaze. Todd McNeal, fire chief of a town west of Yosemite, said on Aug. 23 that there was reason to "highly suspect" that a marijuana grove may have helped spark the fire.

Others have said that better funding for tree-thinning projects could have slowed the spread of the wildfire and kept it from getting so large, according to Reuters. John Buckley, executive director of the Central Sierra Environmental Resource Center, said that such efforts would have "inarguably made the Rim Fire far easier to contain, far less expensive and possibly not even a major disaster," according to the news service.

[Mark]

id really like to see PROOF it was a hunters illegal fire 

[Psalm 51:17]

id really like to see PROOF it was a hunters illegal fire 

They're just going through the merry-go-rounds of excuses - who knows what the next one will be? A bunch of stray dogs that got loosed up there?

With that being said, if this "hunter" was really a person of interest, I don't know why they're keeping him a "secret".

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/yosemite-fire-another-two-weeks-full-containment-165256312.html
Yosemite fire: Another two weeks to full containment

The Rim Fire in and around Yosemite National Park continues to smolder and flare up as firefighters work to increase containment beyond 80 percent. Officials say that could take another two weeks.
9/7/13

The worst of the Rim Fire may be over, but the blaze that has raged in and around Yosemite National Park for the past three weeks is likely to burn for another two weeks before officials can declare it to be fully contained.

The wildfire, reported to have been started by a hunter’s illegal campfire, has grown to cover more than a quarter million acres.

Still, steady progress has been made, and containment is now at 80 percent, although the potential for the fire to continue growing remains “high,” according to the US Forest Service. Winds, temperature, and humidity levels affecting fire behavior remain variable, and some of the terrain where firefighters are working is extremely difficult to navigate.

“Short runs of fire may occur where flames reach the bottom of drainages and move into more heavily vegetated areas,” reports the Forest Service. “Approximately 2,490 structures remain threatened in areas near the fire perimeter to the north, south, and southeast portions of the fire.”

Although that portion of state road 120 leading into Yosemite Valley has been opened, other parts of the road remain closed, and motorists are asked to use caution and avoid stopping when driving through the fire area. Several campgrounds remain closed as well.

In addition to vacationers and local residents, the Rim Fire could impact a part of the traditional western economy: cattle ranching.

The Stanislaus National Forest, where the fire raged, is grazing land for some 4,000 cows.

“With large numbers believed to be dead, and the near future of grazing in the forest up in the air, the cattle industry is another victim of the massive blaze on the west edge of Yosemite,” reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

"They go out every day, gathering the cows they can find, the ones that have made it into the green areas," said Susan Forbes of the US Forest Service. "They're finding pockets of livestock and concentrating on removing them as fast as they can."

While the Rim Fire has drawn most of the interest this wildfire season – including for a period when it threatened San Francisco’s water supply from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir in Yosemite National Park – the overall wildfire picture is less than it was at this point last year.

So far this year, 35,440 reported fires have burned a total of 3.9 million acres. Last year at this time in the fire season, 45,278 fires had burned 7.9 million acres. The figures for 2011 were 55,619 fires and 7.2 million acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Id.

But large fires continue to burn in several states this season: 6 in Idaho, 5 each in California and Montana, and 1 each in Alaska, Louisiana, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. So far this year, 300 large fires have been contained.

Officials now estimate that the Rim Fire will be fully contained by Friday, September 20.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/08/20393594-california-orders-evacuations-as-new-wildfire-races-toward-bay-area-town?lite=
9/8/13
California orders evacuations as new wildfire races toward Bay Area town

A wildfire that ignited Sunday afternoon and grew to 800 acres within just a few hours was threatening the San Francisco bedroom community of Clayton, where state authorities ordered the evacuations of dozens of homes on Sunday night.

The Morgan Fire was first reported at 1:15 p.m. (4:15 p.m. ET), and by 7:30 p.m. it was already burning about 800 acres on the edge of Mount Diablo State Park, in Contra Costa County about 15 miles northeast of San Francisco, according to an incident report from the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, or CalFire.

Twenty-five fire engines, four air tankers, three helicopters and more than 175 firefighters rushed to the scene, but the fire was still growing, and it was only about 10 percent contained Sunday night.

CalFire ordered mandatory evacuations for Oak Hill Lane, Curry Canyon and Curry Point in and around Clayton, a community of 11,000 people. Fifty to 75 homes were threatened by the swiftly moving flames, it said.

"Leave now by car," the Contra Costa County Sheriff's Office said in an advisory marked as "urgent" about 6 p.m. "... Stay off the phone unless you need to report a life-threatening emergency at your location."

An enormous plume of smoke was visible for miles — even at Candlestick Park, where the San Francisco 49ers were playing their opening game, the Contra Costa Times reported.

"This thing grew pretty quickly," resident Dave Miller told the newspaper. "Now the wind is picking up. It could get ugly."

Authorities had no immediate indication of the cause of the fire.

[Psalm 51:17]

Video: http://news.yahoo.com/video/morgan-burns-parts-northern-california-061002117.html
Morgan burns parts of northern California
9/9/13

Wildfire destroys hundreds of acres of land in northern California. Julie Noce reports.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/fire-east-san-francisco-forces-evacuation-100-homes-211741867.html
Fire east of San Francisco doubles in size again as winds pick up
9/9/13

CLAYTON, California (Reuters) - A wildfire sweeping over a mountainside park east of San Francisco doubled in size for second straight day on Monday, and officials said they were concerned about increasing winds and the steep terrain hampering their ability to fight the flames.

The blaze, burning in dense, dry scrub, grass and timber in and around Mount Diablo State Park, had scorched some 3,700 acres by Monday afternoon, forcing the evacuation of about 100 homes at the edge of the town of Clayton.

A force of 500 firefighters, backed by about a dozen bulldozers, helicopters dropping water and tanker planes dumping chemical flame retardant, had carved containment lines around 20 percent of the blaze by mid-afternoon on Monday.

Authorities went door-to-door Sunday afternoon ordering residents of about 75 homes on the outskirts of Clayton to flee, and later another 25 dwellings were ordered evacuated.

Fire officials said there were no immediate plans for further evacuations, but they could revisit that decision based on the behavior of the flames.

Winds began to pick up late on Monday afternoon, Contra Costa County Fire Department spokesman Robert Marshall said, triggering concerns that the fire could again spread rapidly toward inhabited areas.

"We expect the fire to grow some more today, but I don't know how much," Marshall said.

Fire officials said the blaze also was threatening three communications towers and a historic stone building that serves as a visitors' center on the summit of Mount Diablo, which rises 3,800 feet above sea level.

The state park, about 20 miles inland from the eastern edge of San Francisco Bay, has been closed to the public due to the fire.

Flames burned beneath some electrical transmission lines on mountain overnight, fire spokesman Dennis Rein said.

But the utility company Pacific Gas and Electric said those lines were undamaged. However, about 30 customers on the mountain briefly lost power, possibly due to damage to smaller distribution lines, a PG&E spokeswoman said.

The blaze pales in comparison with the huge Rim fire still burning in and around Yosemite National Park, roughly 200 miles to the east.

That fire, believed to have been sparked by a hunter's campfire that grew out of control, has blackened more than 253,000 acres, or 395 square miles, of timber and dry brush since it erupted on August 17 in the Stanislaus National Forest west of Yosemite.

It ranks as the third-largest California wildfire on record and the biggest of dozens of blazes that have raged across several states in the drought-parched west this year

(Reporting by Laila Kearney; Additional reporting and writing by Steve Gorman; Editing by Dan Whitcomb, Cynthia Osterman and Jackie Frank)

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/far-northern-calif-fire-destroys-30-structures-145314674.html
9/10/13
Far Northern Calif. fire destroys 30 structures

REDDING, Calif. (AP) — A wind-whipped, fast-moving wildfire in Northern California's Shasta County damaged 30 buildings, many of them homes, and threatened another 350 structures, fire officials said Tuesday.

Some residents were given just minutes to evacuate as the fire jumped roads and engulfed residences, the Record Searchlight of Redding reported (http://bit.ly/1ecnuvu ).

The Clover Fire near the rural community of Happy Valley began Monday and quickly spread through grass and oak, growing to more than 11 square miles, state fire spokeswoman Teresa Rea said. Happy Valley is about 150 miles north of Sacramento.

Meanwhile, a fire burning in a San Francisco Bay Area wilderness park appeared to be under control Tuesday. Crews made considerable progress overnight against the fire in Mount Diablo State Park in Contra Costa County, more than doubling containment and reducing the number of threatened homes to 75.

At the Clover Fire, strong winds and dry conditions fueled the flames.

"It was the perfect storm," Rea said.

Ty Romero, who lost his home, told the Record Searchlight the fire moved fast.

"It wasn't even 10 minutes," he said. "I know a lot of the houses in the area burned."

Romero loaded a truck with whatever he and his uncle, William, could gather before quickly fleeing with two of his uncle's dogs. A third remained unaccounted for, the Record Searchlight reported.

Multiple outbuildings and vehicles also were damaged. Mandatory evacuations were in place for some homes, though Rea didn't know how many.

Fire crews did, however, make good progress against the blaze overnight, raising containment from 5 percent to 40 percent, she said.

More than 1,100 firefighters were battling the blaze. The cause was under investigation.

The fire in Mount Diablo State Park was 45 percent contained as of Tuesday morning, up from 20 percent the previous night, officials said. It has burned a little over 5 square miles.

That number was lowered from the previous day because of better mapping.

State fire spokesman Steve Kaufmann said 75 homes are now threatened, down from 100 homes.

He said the fire isn't showing much active behavior.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/taking-closer-look-california-third-195047488.html
Video: Taking a Closer Look at California`s Third Largest Fire of all Time
9/10/13

The Rim Fire, which has been afflicting California this summer, has officially been deemed the third largest wildfire in the state`s history. But that alone doesn`t tell the whole story of the destructive fire.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/erosion-concern-mt-diablo-fire-073136922.html
Video: Erosion a concern after Mt. Diablo fire.
9/13/13

After 3,133 acres burned on Mt. Diablo in the Morgan Fire the concern grows over the possible erosion effects.

[Kilika]

Next comes flooding and mudslides. Standard cycle for California. Oh, and might as well toss in a quake or two.

[Psalm 51:17]

This seems to have fallen off the radar all of a sudden...

Harsh Yosemite fire aftermath: 40 percent of land 'nuked'

Within the footprint of California's Rim Fire is an area of 60 square miles where everything is dead, the worst such burn damage in centuries.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A fire that raged in forest land in and around Yosemite National Park has left a contiguous barren moonscape in the Sierra Nevada mountains that experts say is larger than any burned in centuries.

The fire has consumed about 400 square miles, and within that footprint are a solid 60 square miles that burned so intensely that everything is dead, researchers said.

"In other words, it's nuked," said Jay Miller, senior wildland fire ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service. "If you asked most of the fire ecologists working in the Sierra Nevada, they would call this unprecedented."

Smaller pockets inside the fire's footprint also burned hot enough to wipe out trees and other vegetation.

In total, Miller estimates that almost 40 percent of the area inside the fire's boundary is nothing but charred land. Other areas that burned left trees scarred but alive.

Using satellite imagery, Miller created a map of the devastation in the wake of the third-largest wildfire in California history and the largest recorded in the Sierra Nevada.

Biologists who have mapped and studied the ages and scarring of trees throughout the mountain range have been able to determine the severity and size of fires that occurred historically.

Miller says a fire has not left such a contiguous moonscape since before the Little Ice Age, which began in 1350.

In the decades before humans began controlling fire in forests, the Sierra would burn every 10 to 20 years, clearing understory growth on the ground and opening up clearings for new tree growth. Modern-day practices of fire suppression, combined with cutbacks in forest service budgets and a desire to reduce smoke impacts in the polluted San Joaquin Valley, have combined to create tinderboxes, experts say.

Drought, and dryness associated with a warming climate also have contributed to the intensity of fires this year, researchers say.

"If you had a fire every 20 years, you wouldn't have many like this or you'd never have trees that were 400 years old," Miller said.

Some areas of the Stanislaus National Forest ravaged by the Rim Fire had not burned in 100 years. Most of the land that now resembles a moonscape burned on Aug. 21 and Aug. 22, when the fire jumped to canopies and was spreading the fastest.

In Yosemite National Park, where lightning fires mostly are allowed to burn out naturally and prescribed burns mimic natural conditions, the destruction was much less.

The Rim Fire has burned 77,000 acres in wilderness areas in the northeast corner of Yosemite, but only 7 percent of that area was considered high intensity that would result in tree mortality, said Chris Holbeck, a resource biologist for the National Park Service.

"It really burned here much like a prescribed fire would to a large degree because of land management practices," Holbeck said. "Fire plays a natural part of that system. It can't all be old growth forests, though Yosemite holds some of the oldest trees in the Sierra."

Short-term impacts in the park could include the displacement of a unique and threatened subspecies of great gray owls that makes home in treetops in the fire's range.

The Rim Fire started Aug. 17, when a hunter's fire spread, and continues to burn. It is named for a ridge near the location where the fire started — The Rim of the World, an overlook above a gorge carved by the Tuolumne River. The area that burned in 1987 and again in 1996 was filled with chaparral.

By the time the Rim Fire ripped through the canyon, it developed its own weather system that pushed it to consume up to 50,000 acres in a day.

The satellite was able to map only the parts of the fire where the canopy of trees was destroyed. Other areas burned closer to the ground, so it could take a year to determine whether root systems of trees outside the worst areas of destruction will die as well.

Researchers used satellites to measure the amount of chlorophyll left in canopies to determine which areas will now resemble a charred moonscape.

"We look at where the photosynthetic vegetation is killed," Miller said. "It's not a measure of the intensity of the fire but a measure of a change in the chlorophyll that is there by and large."

While the landscape has been ravaged, the soil that determines the amount of post-fire erosion that might occur when winter storms hit didn't suffer as badly as scientists feared.

Severe soil damage occurred on just 7 percent of the land inside the fire's footprint, said officials with the federal Burned Area Environmental Response team. Fire can destroy soil and make it susceptible to erosion by either burning the fine roots and other organic matter that holds it together, or by burning chaparral that releases oils that create an impervious barrier preventing rainwater from being absorbed.

"Before we can start talking about erosion, we have to figure out where the soil is damaged," said forest service soil scientist Randy Westmoreland.

[Kilika]

The fire has consumed about 400 square miles, and within that footprint are a solid 60 square miles that burned so intensely that everything is dead, researchers said.

Really? Wanna bet? Watch what happens next spring.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://news.yahoo.com/video/acres-hay-burn-california-154819980.html
Video: Acres of hay burn in California
9/27/13

Fire tears through acres of hay in California, causing millions of dollars in damage as firefighters work to control its burn. Katharine Jackson reports.

[Psalm 51:17]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/06/california-fires-stop-traffic-force-evacuation-at-marine-base/?intcmp=latestnews
10/6/13
California fires stop traffic, force evacuation at Marine base

Fierce winds stoked several small fires across Southern California on Saturday, forcing 260 residents and hospital patients to evacuate at a military base, causing a key freeway junction to shut down and damaging cars and homes.

A fire at the Marine Corps' Camp Pendleton forced 230 residents to evacuate from a housing unit near Lake O'Neil and caused minor damage to four buildings, base officials said. Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton was not threatened by the fire, but a power outage prompted officials to evacuate about 30 patients to other hospitals in the area and stop accepting new patients.

The blaze charred about 1,000 acres, sending smoke across northern San Diego County.

In northern Los Angeles County, traffic in the Newhall Pass came to a standstill when a 15-acre fire broke out on a hillside north of the junction of Interstate 5 and State Route 14. The freeways were closed in all directions for about 90 minutes, according to City News Service.

Wind gusts of 65 mph were reported near the area of the fire.

To the west in Ventura County, a semi truck went off U.S. 101 in Oxnard and crashed into a car dealership parking lot, causing a fire that spread to several vehicles in the lot, officials said.

The truck driver said wind was a factor in the crash, Oxnard police Cmdr. Martin Myer said. He said strong winds also fanned a fire Friday night that destroyed four buildings in an Oxnard complex and displaced 78 people.

In Orange County, winds knocked down a power line in Tustin Saturday morning, touching off several small brush fires that caused damage to one home, fire officials said.

The winds also shut down the annual Tustin Tiller Days festival early, the Orange County Register reported. Tents, tables and trash cans were getting blown away, and an 8-year-old girl suffered a minor head injury when a plastic panel came off of a carousel ride.

The powerful Santa Anas kicked up late Friday and a National Weather Service red flag warning of extreme fire danger for the entire region says the wind event will last until Sunday evening.

The weather service called the situation the region's "most significant fire weather threat in the past five years." Temperatures were unseasonably high, reaching in the 90s in many coastal communities, with humidity levels in the single digits.