California Fire News

Posted: 31 May 2007 08:44 PM CDT

CA - Horse fire: Vegetation fire - fire at Lake Kaweah Horse Creek campground ruled arson

A fire that burned 418 acres east of Lake Kaweah and prompted the evacuation of Horse Creek campground on Memorial Day was started by an arsonist, CAL FIRE Battalion Chief Paul Marquez said Wednesday.

The fire started Monday in brush just off Highway 198 near the Horse Creek Bridge and went up a hillside covered with dry brush.

It was the largest wildland fire in the county since fire season started in mid-May.

Marquez said it didn't appear to be related to any other recent, arson-caused brush fires in Tulare County. "

Nevada - News - Industrial fire - Voluntary evacuations

Posted: 31 May 2007 01:39 PM CDT

Nevada - News:

Voluntary evacuations called for residents near Industrial fire

Dayton High School set up as evacuation shelter

Staff report

A voluntary evacuation is being carried out in the Industrial Park area of Mound House. State Route 341 remains closed due to the Industrial fire and traffic is slowed on Highway 50 due to the smoke.

A shelter has been set up at Dayton High School for those who choose to evacuate. The high school is at 333 Old Dayton Valley Road.

The fire began about 3:45 p.m. in the Mound House industrial area close to the gravel pit ans has grown to 450-500 acres, according to the Sierra Front Interagency Dispatch Center.

The fire is burning in brush and cheat grass and is moving into Piñon and Juniper. It is burning between Linehan Road and State Route 341.

Since nightfall, ground resources are attacking the fire.

In its 8:30 p.m. report the Minden dispatch center said, winds are shifting and could impact structures that are about 1/2 mile away. There are no closures or evacuations at this time, but local residents should be prepared and are being contacted by Lyon County sheriff's deputies. The fire is now mostly burning BLM public lands.

The fire is burning in an active mining district and mine shafts and related equipment are in the area. No structures have been lost and no injuries have been reported.

Two airtankers, a water tender, two hand crews, one dozer, 11 engines, 170 firefighters and four command staff are on scene from the BLM, NDF, Lyon County, Carson City, Storey County, Douglas County, Lake Tahoe and North Lake Tahoe.

No estimate of containment or control has been made, but crews have made significant progress on the fire's western flank, according to the dispatch center.

North of Reno
Eleven lightning fires on both sides of U.S. 395 near Hallelujah Junction are burning in what officials are calling the Peterson complex.

Reports at 8:30 p.m. included structures being threatened west of U.S. 395.

Motorists are advised to watch for smoke and localized heavy rain.

These fires were started by lightning at about 6:15 p.m. So far, seven of the fires are staffed with additional resources en route.

The fires are burning in brush and cheatgrass

Crews from BLM, U.S. Forest Service, Sierra Fire Protection District, Reno Fire are on scene.

INDUSTRIAL Fire: Latitude 39.242 Longitude -119.663 850 acres
(Fire location provided by: TopoZone)
(Fire location provided by: Google Maps)

CA-TNF-Kingsbury Fire

Posted: 31 May 2007 07:22 PM CDT

CA-TNF-Kingsbury Fire:

Air support coming from the WGB:
Tanker 25
T-11 AA7DL
Lead 26E
Helicopter 402"

CA-TGU- WUF

Posted: 31 May 2007 01:32 PM CDT

CAL FIRE WILDLAND USE FIRE - CONTROLLED BURN - PRESCRIBED BURN

Southwest Tehama County - LARGE HEADER

Fire Location: RED BANK RD AND CAREY LN

National Fire News - Fire Information - National Interagency Fire Center

Posted: 31 May 2007 12:44 PM CDT

National Interagency Fire Center:

National Preparedness Level 2

(On a scale from 1 to 5)

Current hours for the National Fire Information Center are
(MST) 7:30 am - 4:30 pm, Monday - Friday
208-387-5050
This report will be updated Mon - Fri.

May 31, 2007

Fire activity continues throughout the southern states and is picking up in the Southwest as well as Nevada. Weather conditions will continue to increase fire activity this week. Fires and acres burned are currently higher than the 10-year average fire wildland fire activity.

Current information about road closures in Georgia is available through the Georgia Department of Transportation (404-656-5267).

In Florida, dial 511 from a cell phone or visit the Florida Highway Patrol web site.

Weather Discussion: The Sierra Mountains, northern California, western Nevada, and central Oregon are expected to have dry thunderstorms today. Warm and dry conditions are predicted for the remaining western states. Interior Alaska will be warm and dry with isolated thunderstorms.


Daily statistics 5/31/07
Number of new large fires	6	States currently reporting large fires:
Number of active large fires	14	Alaska (1) Arizona (1) Florida (7) Georgia (2) Nevada (1) Tennessee (2)
Acres from active fires	725,686
Number of Wildland Fire Use (WFU) fires	0
Number of Wildland Fire Use (WFU) acres	0
Fires contained on 5/30/07	4
Year-to-date large fires contained	337
Year-to-date statistics
2007 (1/1/07 - 5/31/07)	Fires: 36,416	Acres: 1,311,709
2006 (1/1/06 - 5/31/06)	Fires: 41,216	Acres: 2,534,900
2005 (1/1/05 - 5/31/05)	Fires: 24,763	Acres: 371,900
2004 (1/1/04 - 5/31/04)	Fires: 31,843	Acres: 528,073
2003 (1/1/03 - 5/31/03)	Fires: 20,972	Acres: 398,573
2002 (1/1/02 - 5/31/02)	Fires: 30,205	Acres: 985,124
2001 (1/1/01 - 5/31/01)	Fires: 33,638	Acres: 712,333
2000 (1/1/00 - 5/31/00)	Fires: 41,104	Acres: 1,054,642
8-year average
2000 - 2007	Fires: 32,648	Acres: 936,505

Source: National Interagency Coordination Center

News- Survivor Tree story

Posted: 31 May 2007 12:33 PM CDT

Mount Shasta Herald- News:

Survivor Tree offspring dedicated

By Sibyl Walski

A color guard opens the dedication of the trees ceremony at the College of the Siskiyous on May 25.

A solemn presentation of colors by a local Boy Scout troop and the skirl of bagpipes by CDF firefighters opened the formal dedication ceremony of three young elm trees grown from seeds of the Survivor Tree.

The elms were planted Friday in a protected area behind the board room at College of the Siskiyous in Weed.

Three more wait in the wings for planting in what will be an oasis of quiet natural space on the campus in which to reflect and meditate - a peace garden. They are the only offspring of the Survivor Tree known to exist at any public institution in California.

Local resident Marie Mitchell, who lost her brother FDNY Lt. Paul Mitchell in the 9-11 attack, acquired the seeds at a gathering of 9-11 survivor families in 2003 as a gift from Betty Robins, a survivor of the Murrah Federal Building attack in Oklahoma City in 1996 and a founder of the Survivor Tree Program.

For three years they were nursed along by the gardener at Shasta Abbey, first in the greenhouse, then outdoors to weather-harden them. The invocation for Friday's event was delivered by a monk of the Abbey. Rev. Master Kodo Kaye spoke of "the lines of connection" among humans geographically far apart, but close in their hearts.

Betty Robins came to Weed to help dedicate the trees. A friend and colleague of Paul Mitchell, Battalion Chief Steven San Filippo, also participated.

San Filippo did not go home for three weeks after 9-11 because the enormity of the devastation kept him on the front lines.

Both also spoke of the connections, and how they all led to each other from the trial by fire they each experienced, and to Siskiyou County through Mitchell, as well.

The Survivor Tree is a 90 year old tree that once spread its canopy over the parking lot of the Murrah Building and whose shade the workers "coveted," to use human bombing survivor Robins' word, through the hot Oklahoma summers.

It suffered severe blast damage the day the Murrah Federal Building was bombed. So severe was the damage, in fact, that after investigators finished digging shrapnel out of its wood, the plan was to take it down completely.

Then it did something to reverse the human decision. It leafed out the following spring, as it always had.

Human survivors began to see it as a symbol of resilience and recovery from trauma they could take to their own hearts, and they began to collect its seeds.

Nurserymen throughout Oklahoma began to grow seedlings and distribute them among the survivors of the Oklahoma City bombing.

The distribution spread to those individuals and communities who promised to care for the seedlings. Lines of connection spread in ways and directions the Oklahomans never anticipated via those seedlings. They are now rooted in communities all over the country.

FDNY firefighters came to Oklahoma City in the aftermath of the tragedy to assist any way they could, and a connection was forged between the two cities that brought Oklahomans in their turn to help the 9-11 families, if only to show them that they could go on.

Almost none of the firefighters who rushed to help in Oklahoma had survived the disaster in their own city, San Filippo said, but the cords of connection did.

COS president David Pelham said the trees now taking root in Siskiyou County soil "are dedicated to those who lost their lives and to the concept of international understanding and peace, that these concepts be a focus in our hearts, our minds and our lives for the rest of all time."

The original tree was nursed back to health and looks surprisingly whole. It still spreads its branches in the midst of the memorial to the event that changed it and so many others for life.

NEWS- Cal Fire Staffs Watch Towers Early

Posted: 31 May 2007 12:12 PM CDT

Cal Fire Staffs Watch Towers Early, Dry Conditions Warrant Caution

COLFAX, Calif. -- With warm dry conditions, Cal Fire official said they are worried about the fire season and off to an early start, staffing their watch towers.

Volunteers are getting ready to staff look out towers like Mount Howell Look Out Tower in Placer County as forecasters expect thunderstorms in the high sierra Thursday.

'We're experiencing July fuel moistures,' Cal Fire Capt. Steve Mueller said. 'The way the fuels appear they are six weeks ahead of what they normally should be right now.'

By June 1, controlled burn permits will be restricted to evening hours 5 p.m. to midnight, Mueller said.

Volunteers interested in helping Cal Fire are urged to call the nearest office of Cal Fire , ask for the prevention officer.

Fire watch alert today for Sierra

Posted: 31 May 2007 11:44 AM CDT

Fire watch alert today for Sierra

A fire watch is in effect over the northern Sierra today through this evening.

The National Weather Service in Sacramento this morning said dry forest conditions and possible thunderstorms with lightning strikes caused the alert. The storms are not expected to contain any moisture, heightening the concern.

More thunderstorms are possible Friday and Saturday across the north state, but no fire alerts have been issued yet for the weekend. Highs will continue to be in the mid-80s, with lows in the mid-50s through Sunday night.