Rim Fire/ Fire Season updates

[*** YELLER ***]

Page 3 brought to you by some more good news 

Tuolumne County, CA -- The Rim Fire is 80% contained and the acreage hasn't grown. It is still sitting at 235,841 thousand acres. The number of firefighters on scene is down to 4,185 and the cost has reached $77-million.


 

[*** YELLER ***]

September 04, 2013    10:25 am

Tuolumne County, CA -- The Rim Fire continues to rack up new titles as it has grown to 237, 341acres.

Here are the latest facts released by Incident Command:

Rim Fire: Day 17

Acreage: 235,841 Square miles: 371

Largest wildfire in the United States to date in 2013
(Second largest to date in 2013: Lime Hills Fire, Alaska 201,809 acres)

No. 1-ranked on national wild land firefighting priority list

Fourth largest California wildfire in historical records dating to 1932
(The four largest California wildfires have all occurred since 2003)

Personnel currently on incident: 4,185

States that have sent firefighters or other personnel: 44 and the District of Columbia

Cal Fire geographical units that have sent personnel: 20 of 21

Inmate personnel from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation: 746

Proportion of inmate personnel working on the fire: 17.1 percent

Completed containment line: 110.7 miles

Completed dozer line: 149.7 miles

Hand line: 9.3 miles
Road Used as Line: 19.9 miles

Total acres burned in California to date in 2013:
493,627

Rim Fire acres as a proportion of burned acres in California:
47.8 percent

Total aviation hours: 1,543

Water dropped: 2.0 million gallons

Fire retardant dropped: 2.3 million gallons

Acreage in Yosemite National Park: 66,155

Proportion of the fire burning in Yosemite National Park: 28 percent

Proportion of Yosemite National Park within the fire perimeter: 8.7 percent

Size of the fire area:
More than five times the size of Washington, D.C.

Hot meals served:
Breakfasts: 45,133 Dinners: 41,558

Pounds of firefighter laundry washed:
14,148.3

Origin of Rim Fire name: The fire started near a scenic overlook in Stanislaus National Forest called "Rim of the World

[Rocksurfer]

I just have to say some of that information is worthless.

[*** YELLER ***]

I have to agree

[*** YELLER ***]

Kinda neat animation map of fire

http://apps.opendatacity.de/fire/en

[*** YELLER ***]

Investigators from the U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement & Investigations and Tuolumne County District Attorney's Office have determined the Rim Fire began when a hunter allowed an illegal fire to escape. 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. No arrests have been made at this time and the hunter's name is being withheld pending further investigation.

The Rim Fire began Saturday, Aug. 17, 2013, on the Stanislaus National Forest near the area known as Jawbone Ridge. The fire has burned 237,341 acres and is 80 percent contained.

[Stocker]

^^ Link to an article.... http://www.redding.com/news/2013/sep/05/forest-service-hunter-caused-huge-wildfire-near-yo/

[BigMike]

I've been following this fire and only now found this thread. Great work on this thread guys, this fire is really crazy! We were up at the Cantina for the Con last weekend and it was very smokey and hazy around Placerville off hwy 50.

I found this link describing an unidentified hunter that had an unauthorized fire: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/09/05/20343126-hunter-sparked-massive-calif-wildfire-that-threatened-yosemite-forest-service

And I have a friend who is reallllllly crazy with conspiracies and he claims that this was done on purpose as an attack against some environmental group who is trying to close access along hwy 120 -- and that this fire would just kill off whatever the issue is and sort of stick-it to them so to speak. Anyone hear anything about this? INCREDIBLY SICK if true...

BigMike

[Wainiha]

I hope that is not true.  People are stupid though.

[*** YELLER ***]

3rd largest in Cali. history

http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.fire.ca.gov%2Fcommunications%2Fdownloads%2Ffact_sheets%2F20LACRES.pdf&h=LAQFYIe6R

[*** YELLER ***]

Tuolumne County, CA -- The Rim fire remains 396 square miles or 253,332 acres and is still 80% contained. The number of firefighters on the scene has dropped to 3,104. The number of injuries has jumped to 9, but Fire Officials say all have been minor. The cost has shot up to $96.2 million dollars. Also, the number of structures threatened has decreased to 1,900.

[BigMike]

The number of injuries has jumped to 9, but Fire Officials say all have been minor.

One of these is our very own Brennan aka "BLUE", who used to work in sales here while he was training at the Fire Academy. From what I heard, a burning branch fell atop their water hose and as they were scrambling to save the hose Brennan jumped over a log and landed wrong and tore his meniscus in one of his knees. I believe he is back home recovering.

I am glad all the injuries have been minor. That is dangerous work and I have huge respect for them all.

BigMike

[Cheesemaker]

Glad to hear Blue is alright.  BIL did fire fighting for a couple summers.  He said the sound of the sap in the trees boiling gave him nightmares for years. 

[BigMike]

I dropped into the valley yesterday afternoon from Hwy152/Pacheco Pass (returning from the South Bay Area) and man what a mess

Here are some pics from my cell phone. The first pic is from east-bound highway 152 just on the east side of Los Banos. The 2nd & 3rd pics are getting closer to the smoke. The 4th pic is where I could clearly smell that something was burning. After about twenty mins I could no longer smell the burning; my senses got used to it and I don't smell it anymore. And the last pic is a sunrise this morning here in Fresno. The smoke/haze is so thick I could look straight at the sun without any sun glasses.

It's much darker at night as well and forget about seeing any stars for a while...

[*FFC*]

Mike, a lot of last night and today's smoke isn't even from the Rim Fire. It is from the Morgan Fire up on the other side of Mt. Diablo out Morgan Territory. I haven't seen any Rim Fire smoke in our area and we're smoked out from the Morgan Fire. Either way, I'm SO glad to see the Rim Fire is finally getting under control. Just hope the Morgan fire isn't a repeat.

[BigMike]

Hmmmmmmm Good point, two fires on either side of the valley. I feel like this smoke is more on the east side of the valley though but I could be wrong. Either way, thanks for the tip and I can't wait for it to be over.

[jimbo74]

I was looking at the mt diablo fire from travis afb last night.... could see the orange glow all the way home

[emsvitil]

What's the Carbon Tax going to be...........

[Rocksurfer]

Whatever it is, we are going to be the ones paying it.

[BadnewsBob]

This has been really bad for you folks this year, I wish you the best in dealing with it. I would say the after affects are gonna be bad to, All that ash is gonna cause problems somewhere I am sure.
We have been lucky In Kentucky this year, Lots of rain has made the fire season almost a non event this year.

[*** YELLER ***]

Tuolumne County, CA - The Incident Command says the Rim Fire is in "hold patrol and mop up mode". The fire has grown almost 500 acres to 255,146 or 399 square miles and is still 80% contained. The number of firefighters has dropped to 2,735 on scene. The cost is now $102 million. 

[kneedownnate]

Fire kicked up just outside redding around noon yesterday and was 6700 acres by the late evening news, close to 7000 tonight with 80 structures burned.  30 homes and 50 outbuildings I think.  So rough, and so many of the homes through there are occupied by people already just barely getting by.

[Wainiha]

It hurts to think about those that lost everything.  Nevermind the house.  The personal stuff.

[BigMike]

[Moit88RNR]

Here's some pictures of the Morgan territory fire. I have family that had to evacuate near this.

http://claycord.com/2013/09/10/amazing-photos-dramatic-pictures-taken-on-the-front-lines-of-the-morgan-fire/

http://claycord.com/2013/09/09/absolutely-incredible-photos-an-update-on-the-3700-acre-fire-burning-on-mt-diablo/

http://claycord.com/2013/09/08/night-photos-of-the-blaze-on-mt-diablo-morgan-territory-road-in-clayton/

[BigMike]

Wow incredible pictures Moit

[BadnewsBob]

Great pictures........Those guys sure deserve a hand. That is all hard work.

[*** YELLER ***]

changed the name so we can all update our local fires

[Wainiha]

Here's some pictures of the Morgan territory fire. I have family that had to evacuate near this.

http://claycord.com/2013/09/10/amazing-photos-dramatic-pictures-taken-on-the-front-lines-of-the-morgan-fire/

http://claycord.com/2013/09/09/absolutely-incredible-photos-an-update-on-the-3700-acre-fire-burning-on-mt-diablo/

http://claycord.com/2013/09/08/night-photos-of-the-blaze-on-mt-diablo-morgan-territory-road-in-clayton/

I hope everyone is OK

[kneedownnate]

Some terrible news to report.  A long time friend and volunteer fire chief lost his house in the fire he's working to stop.  Also realized a life long family friend who works for cal fire lives out there too but haven't heard if his family has been affected.  I really hope they get a handle on this thing tonight and stop the devastation!