Arizona Forestry launches wildfire prevention week

by Americas - Featured NewsFeatured NewsPassiveSafety

Several public bodies have increased focus and focused on wildfires as Arizona beckons warmer months. Many public agencies, led by the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management, are stressing fire prevention in the wildlands with the launch of Southwest Wildfire Awareness Week.

The campaign, which began earlier this week, will witness the forestry department oversees fire management of 22 million acres of state trust land and private property in unincorporated areas. Last year, 71% of the fires in the state were caused by people. More than 1,700 wildfires seared 524,428 acres.

Before wildfire season begins in earnest, wildfire managers recommend residents in wilderness areas clear their property of debris and keep rooftops free of anything that could act as fuel to flames.

“We’re already seeing activity in southern Arizona,” agency spokeswoman Tiffany Davila told KTAR News 92.3 FM, referring to the 4,000-acre Presumido Peak Fire near the border with Mexico.

“We don’t want people to think we’re out of the woods after last years monsoon. Don’t wait to create defensible space now.”

The department also advises signing up for emergency alerts at the Arizona Emergency Information Network and having a go bag stocked with essentials, including prescription medications, snacks, water, money and credit cards.

The forestry agency will meet with Gov. Doug Ducey at the state Capitol on Thursday to present a wildland fire outlook.

The Bureau of Land management, the U.S. Forest Service, Arizona State Parks and Trails and the Arizona Department of Transportation are also part of the team effort.

Dahua’s new technology reduces Chinese mountain wildfire by 80%

by Featured NewsFirefighting EquipmentProductsThermal Imaging

At the beginning of 2020, Dahua Technology provided an intelligent forest fire prevention monitoring system for Rizhao. This solution gives an automatic early warning of fire, real-time fire control and closed-loop response through digital intelligence technology, significantly improving forest fire prevention and dispatch.

Mountainous regions, like Rizhao in Shandong Province of China, are vulnerable to forest fires. Recognised by the United Nations in 2009 as one of the most habitable cities in the world, this city consists of 4,358 mountains, with a forest area of 1,400 square kilometers that account for 70% of the region.

Up until now, forest rangers have manually scouted and monitored the area, walking nearly 10 kilometers of treacherous trails for several hours a day.

The Illegal wood burning in the area, if not controlled properly, can lead to a disastrous wildfire. According to a World Health Organization report, in 50% of wildfires recorded, the cause that triggered them is unknown.

At present, high-altitude dual-lens thermal imaging cameras cover the main mountains in the city, carrying out 360 ° remote monitoring 24/7. This solution also offers real-time sensing and intelligent management of people and vehicles coming in and out of the forest areas.

Furthermore, to reduce false alarms, the system adopts algorithms for deep smoke and mountain scanning, thus improving the accuracy of real fire alarms and saving manpower and material resources.

After half a year of operation, the system has detected more than 30 real mountain fires. The average number of fires found every day during fire season has significantly decreased by 80% compared with the initial stage of the project. This reflects the effectiveness of the solution in fire monitoring and the increasing awareness of villagers regarding fire safety.

Overall, this solution helps guarantee the safety of 1,400 square kilometers of forest resources in Rizhao.

‘Red Flag Warning’ – high winds further spread US West Coast wildfires

by Americas - Breaking News

The US National Weather Service has issued a “red flag warning” for areas of the West Coast, as high winds threaten to spread devastating wildfires still further.

Gusts of up to 40 mph (64 km/h) are expected in parts of southern Oregon, with no rain.

Fires have been raging for three weeks in Oregon, California and Washington, burning land and destroying homes.

Tens of thousands of people have had to flee and at least 33 have died.

Dozens of people are missing in Oregon alone, with one emergency official saying the state should be preparing for a “mass fatality incident”.

Cooler, moister conditions on Saturday allowed firefighters to make some progress with the fires.

However, the forecast for Sunday prompted a warning of winds of 15-25 mph and gusts of 30-40 mph in the Shasta Valley and east of the Southern Oregon cascades.

A red flag warning is the highest alert for events which could result in major fires, and which demands extreme caution by residents.

This area includes Jackson County, Oregon, where the Almeda fire has destroyed hundreds of homes and remains only 50% contained.

The fires have so far scorched an area of land the size of New Jersey, officials say.

The smoke pollution from the wildfires has left Oregon’s largest city, Portland, with the worst air quality in the world, followed by San Francisco and Seattle, according to recent findings from IQAir.

Spanish wildfires force thousands to evacuate

by Active

An out-of-control wildfire is raging in Spain’s southern region of Andalusia, forcing more than 3,100 people to evacuate, authorities said Sunday.

The blaze broke out Thursday in the mountains near the town of Almonaster la Real, 120 kilometers (75 miles) northwest of the city of Seville. It has already scorched 100 square kilometers (38.5 square miles).

Sixteen helicopters and eight planes are helping more than 500 workers tackle the blaze, including firefighters and army emergency personnel who worked around the clock this weekend.

“It is very difficult to say when the wildfire will be under control,” said Juan Sanchez of the Andalusia Forest Fire Department, as weather conditions are playing a key role.

The wind dropped overnight, making their task a little easier, but authorities expect the fire will be fueled by strong winds later Sunday. Crews were also struggling to reach all affected areas because of the rugged terrain, officials said.

A further 70 people were evacuated Saturday because of a wildfire in Mula, a small town in Spain’s southeastern region of Murcia, while firefighters are also trying to extinguish two wildfires in the western region of Extremadura.

Helicopter pilot killed in California wildfires

by Americas - Breaking News

A helicopter pilot involved in fighting fires in California died yesterday (19th August) when the aircraft crashed near Coalinga, authorities said.

According to Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Ian Gregory, the Bell UH-1 helicopter was helping to fight the Hills Fire when it crashed around 10 a.m., about 11 miles south of New Coalinga Municipal Airport, the Fresno Bee reported.

In a statement, Cal Fire said the helicopter crashed while it was on a water-dropping mission on the Hills Fire in western Fresno County. The blaze has been burning in the area since Saturday and has consumed 1,500 acres and is 35% contained, KGO reported. Winds of 26 mph have been clocked in the area, with gusts to 35 mph.

The impact of the helicopter crash ignited a new brush fire, Gregory told reporters.

The pilot, who was not identified, was the only person aboard the helicopter, according to Cal Fire officials.

“There was one person on board, they did not survive,” Cal Fire spokesman Daniel Berlant told the Los Angeles Times.

Fresno County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Tony Botti said the department’s search and rescue team assisted in the search for survivors, the Bee reported.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board will investigate, with the NTSB in charge of determining the probable cause of the crash, the newspaper reported.

According to fire officials, 50 structures have burned down in Vacaville, with another 50 damaged by the fire.

“We are experiencing fires the likes of which we haven’t seen in many, many years,” Governor Newsom told reporters.

The blazes are thought to have been sparked by a heatwave combined with nearly 11,000 lightning strikes which have hit the state over the last three days.

Earlier this week, one of the highest ever temperatures on Earth was recorded in California’s Death Valley. Across the US western states on Wednesday, nearly 45 million people were living in areas under some form of excessive heat warning or heat advisory.

Mr Newsom said 367 known fires have been recorded so far, but noted that “the prospect of that going up is very real”.

“As those lightning strikes spark, as you have a lot of smoke, you have a difficult time determining total number of fires until certain things clear and we have the opportunity to go to more remote parts of the state,” he added.

The group of fires in the San Francisco Bay Area was driven by winds throughout Tuesday night and has now grown to 46,000 uncontained acres.

The fire, which is larger than city of Washington DC, has injured four people and threatens about 2,000 buildings in Vacaville, authorities say.

‘Firenado’ warning issued as Loyalton wildfire spreads across California

by Americas - Featured News

A rare fire tornado – or “firenado” – warning has been issued over the weekend in California due to wildfires burning near the Nevada border.

The Loyalton fire, named due to its proximity to the city, has prompted evacuations and jumped a highway on Saturday (15th August), forcing firefighters to protect drivers who tried to avoid the flames.

The National Weather Service (NWS) based in the Nevada city of Reno tweeted that the “extreme fire behaviour” was expected to continue and a fire tornado could follow.

The NWS defines a “firenado” as an “extreme weather phenomenon that can occur with rotating fire columns” and erupts when rising heat from a fire is caught by gusts of wind that change direction, similar to a traditional tornado. It ultimately makes for particularly dangerous conditions as winds combine with smoke plumes.

The Loyalton fire started in Sierra County in the Tahoe National Forest early on Saturday (15th August) and by 5pm, it was estimated to have grown to 20,000 acres and was only 5% contained as it spread toward Reno.

Video captured by firefighters showed the flame burning towards the Interstate-395 highway. The Truckee Meadows Fire and Rescue department tweeted about a “close call” with cars that were left “stuck on the road” as the fire jumped the highway.

John Mittelstadt, a meteorologist at the NWS, told NBC News the “erratic” nature of the wildfires made their trajectory difficult to predict.

The warning came as firefighters also battled at least five wildfires in Colorado – one of which was reportedly the largest in the state’s history.

As of Saturday night, firefighters were dealing with extremely challenging conditions, including hot temperatures, some difficult terrain and highly flammable fuel.

The wildfires in California and Colorado have been put down to a multi-day heatwave across much of the western US, and Mr Mittelstadt said conditions such as these could lead to more “firenados” in future.

He said: “These conditions can lead to more firenados for sure. Everyone need to be very alert and very careful not to create any sparks so that we can avoid any human-caused fires.”

S-Gard: providing protection for fire and rescue services

by Passive

Current topics are weight reduction, breathability and freedom of movement. Another central topic that has been increasingly brought into focus in recent years is the avoidance of contact with hazardous substances. For example, fire smoke contains carcinogenic toxins such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). But other hazardous substances can also be deposited on clothing. There is an enhanced risk of absorbing the toxins, especially when the operational clothing is taken off. Appropriate operational hygiene is therefore of great importance.

On its YouTube channel S-Gard gives helpful recommendations in a video series. To deepen the knowledge, S-Gard regularly holds seminars on operational hygiene, cleaning and maintenance of protective clothing. S-Gard also has a list of cleaning companies certified specifically for the washing of protective clothing.

Ranger 2.0 – the protective suit for fighting wildfires

S-Gard also has new products available on the market, including Ranger 2.0 – the protective suit for fighting wildfires. During wildland operations, task forces are often exposed to high heat for hours and have to cover long distances on foot. Operational clothing must thus not only protect against heat, it should also be light, breathable and suitable for movement. For such applications S-Gard has developed the Ranger 2.0 protective suit. Jacket and trousers can be coupled with a zipper. In order to save weight, material doublings were dispensed with. Instead, a ceramic coating provides increased protection against abrasion.

S-Gard uses the highly breathable Ecodry from Hainsworth as the outer material. The suit also has ventilation openings on the arm and leg sides. Stretch zones made of elastic Nomex material, pant gusset and stretch pleats at the sleeve base ensure exceptional freedom of movement.

Hero 2.0 – The protective suit from S-GARD has been completely revised

The Hero jacket now features segmented reflective stripes, patch radio pockets and checker plate reinforcements at the elbows, cuffs and flaps. The multi-layer material is absolutely heat-resistant and very durable. S-Gard uses the highly breathable Gore-Tex Airlock membrane as a moisture barrier.

Its highlight: small silicone buffers provide space between the membrane and the outer fabric. This improves insulation in extreme situations, and the layer structure is also more flexible and less bulky. The three-dimensional special fabric DR3Lite is used for the lining.

www.s-gard.de

COVID-19 adds disruptions as California prepares for intense fire season

by ActiveAmericas - Events

California and states in the US south-west are bracing for an intense fire season complicated by the coronavirus pandemic. With 2020 on track to be one of the hottest and driest years on record, the National Interagency Fire Centre is warning of a higher potential for fires across much of America’s west and south-west.

A historically dry winter – not a single drop of rain fell on San Francisco and Sacramento in February – followed by a hot spring has dried out fire-fueling vegetation, priming the region for an unusually early start to the fire season.

California saw fires popping up early in springtime, with bigger, faster wildfires picking up in recent weeks amid hot and dry conditions that could persist for months. Hundreds of firefighters have been deployed to multiple blazes across Arizona, with the fifth-largest fire in the state’s history burning northeast of Phoenix. A number of smaller fires in California over the past two weeks also prompted evacuations.

“Unfortunately we’re already seeing a bit of a preview of what’s to come,” said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at the University of California, Los Angeles.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean that some sort of historical, catastrophic blaze is assured,” Swain said. “It just means that the risk is a lot higher this year than it would normally be, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we get lucky and there are relatively few ignitions.”

The response to these blazes has been understandably complicated due to the coronavirus pandemic. Officials are asking the public to leave their homes to seek safety – the opposite of what public health guidelines have dictated in the past four months.

To mitigate the risk of coronavirus spreading, the Red Cross has arranged for more, smaller evacuation shelters, with staff on site to check temperatures and screen for Covid-19. But eradicating the risk entirely is impossible, since the virus spreads most efficiently in crowded, indoor spaces, and can be stealthily passed by people who show no symptoms.

The coronavirus also threatens to sideline wildland firefighters. They’re exposed to large amounts of smoke that could aggravate their lungs and cause complications if they were to contract the disease. And they normally station at crowded camps for days near major blazes, where they may have few opportunities to wash their hands.

California’s fire agency CalFire is going to recommend that crews space out sleeping areas, and arrange for firefighters to eat and receive instructions in smaller groups, said Robert Foxworthy, a spokesman for CalFire.

“We have a lot of ideas about what we can do to mitigate risks,” he said. “But this is still kind of uncharted territory. Everybody is learning as we go.”

Ontario Government increases funds for forest firefighting

by Active

The Ontario government has taken additional steps to protect people and property during the wildland fire season, including an increase in base funding for emergency forest firefighting by $30.2 million, and ensuring safety measures are in place to protect Ontario’s highly trained fire rangers from COVID-19.

In mid-May, Ontario lifted Restricted Fire Zone (RFZ) designation that was put in place last month across Ontario’s fire region. The province will continue to assess forest fire hazard conditions and an RFZ designation may be reinstated in higher risk areas if conditions deteriorate. These restrictions are put in place in order to reduce the number of preventable human-caused fires and lower the risk of wildfires impacting the public.

To help stop the spread of COVID-19 fire rangers will be required to follow the health and safety guidelines recommended by the Chief Medical Officer of Health, such as physical distancing, frequent hand washing, and daily self-assessments by staff.

“This is an extraordinary period. As we put measures in place to protect our staff and the public from the pandemic, we have been taking additional steps to prepare for the wildland fire season,” said John Yakabuski, Minister of Natural Resources and Forestry. “Nothing is more important than protecting the safety of people and communities across the province. Although we want people to enjoy themselves, lifting the Restricted Fire Zone designation does not mean we can let our guard down when it comes to preventing human-caused forest fires.”

The province has also implemented a more aggressive approach to fighting wildland fires this season with a focus on detecting fires early, combating them with full force and keeping them as small as possible.

“Despite the challenges of these unprecedented times, Ontario’s emergency management personnel have been proactively working with partners to prepare for potential evacuations due to the wildland fire season,” said Sylvia Jones, Solicitor General.  “Public safety remains our top priority and our Provincial Emergency Operations Centre will continue to monitor forest fire situations with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, and be ready to coordinate a response if called upon for evacuation assistance.”