PONDEROSA FIRE: right now, is being treated as the 'biggest one', in California. The size is 38 square miles, which means on simple math, it is the equivalent in area to just over 6 miles wide, and 6 miles long, rarely is a wildfire a perfect square; 6mi x 6mi is to give an idea. 27,978 acres, and 84 lost structures, according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012. The amount of lost structures might be why it is a priority, as there are other fires with a larger acreage.
Where: 'Tehama and Shasta Counties'
Pictures in this blog post when you click on them, open up in a new window, enabling larger view.
After Ponderosa, listed in per acreage from larger at the top to smaller at the bottom:
- RUSH FIRE; 317,616 acres ; 'Structures, power plant and Sierra Army Depot threatened' according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012;
- Where: 15 miles southeast of Ravendale, CA, eastern Lassen County; "north of Susanville..it is now burning in both Nevada and California" http://www.kolotv.com/home/headlines/Crews-Making-Progress-on-Rush-Fire-167123015.html; there is a video on that url address too, however, it does not appear to show much footage of the flames themselves
- CHIPS FIRE; 63,147 acres according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: Plumas County; northern CA cluster of fires
- NORTH PASS FIRE; 17,820 acres according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: near ' Covelo, CA'; northern CA cluster of fires
- INDIAN FIRE; [JUST ADDED AT 3:30PM EST] 12,574 acres according to InciWeb.org
- BAGLEY COMPLEX FIRE; 7,302 acres according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: near ' Big Bend, CA'
- FORT COMPLEX FIRE; 6,583 acres, is 3 fires, according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: near ' Happy Camp, CA'; northern California, around state line with Oregon, western part of the state line
- MILL FIRE; 1,680 acres according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: near 'Butte Meadows'; northern CA cluster of fires
- ANTELOPE FIRE; 637 acres according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: near 'Alturas, CA'; northern CA cluster of fires
- SOUTH COMPLEX FIRE; 453 acres according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: near 'Inyo', the county, is what strongly appears, this is to mean. Map below discusses disambiguation from Indian Fire near Inyo national Park
- QUAIL FIRE; 275 acres according to yubanet.com August 23, 2012
- Where: near 'Yucca Valley' ; northern CA cluster of fires
blog post in progress; there are about a 12 fires burning in California within the past 10 days; we are not going to wait for all the information about all 12 fires; blog will be posted/updated as the information comes in, and content is ready to be inserted
California county map with fire location diagram added on:
Fires listed below might or might not already be on the list above, or the Map of California fires at the top; any notes to help cross-reference are placed; descriptions are based off names:
RAMSEY FIRE; 1,137 acres, seep map, fire number 16
Where: Stanislaus National Forest; Pinecrest, California; Sonora, CA; Calaveras County; on/around Greenley Road
Stanislaus National Forest is almost 900,000 acres; the fire is only 1,137 acres, so, what part of the forest is the fire at?
Answer: based on topographical satellite imagery 'last modified August 14, 2012 at fireimaging.com', the hottest most fire intensive concentrated grid coordinates, from most to least:
Longitude: 120:08.920 W Latitude: 38:24.282 N
Longitude: 120:08.897 W Latitude: 38:24.133 N
Longitude: 120:08.897 W Latitude: 38:23.946 N
Longitude: 120:09.36 W Latitude: 38:24.528 N [this is toward the top of the hook, if you look at the shape of the fire from bird's eye view, see description of fire shape directly below]
Concentrated areas of the Ramsey Fire looks like a left hook, or an English language question mark
http://www.fireimaging.com/fires/2012/california/ramsey/227/index.html
"...updates about the Ramsey Fire, please contact ... 95% contained as of today; location: Hwy 4, 8 miles East of Dorrington"http://inciweb.org/incident/3147/
The maps provided here [courtesy Google Earth, custom edited with remarks, and diagrams] are self explanatory:
List and maps are verified for repeats of the same fire with different name; the only fire under scrutiny that is being checked for a repeat on the list above is the Indian Fire
JAWBONE FIRE; see fire number 18 on map at top
Where: Kern County, CA; almost in the middle of the county, only a little to the right, and at the halfway point of the top half of the county, or one quarter of the way down, going from top to bottom. Kern county looks like a rectangle, mostly.
Concluding this blog post for today, one of THE major reasons, why there is some wisdom to proactively putting fires out, or at least bringing them under control, is demonstrated through the example of the Elbow Pass Complex fire. Is the fire put out? As of August 21, 2012, the fire was comprised of 4 or 5 fires which merged together to form 1 fire. In the process of allocating and designating fire mitigation efforts, especially if those that are intending to assist in the matter are not actively on the ground at the physical scene of the fire 24 hours, 7 days a week, losing track of what is what, what fire is where, can be become a realistic predicament. Time, valuable, is lost, trying to figure out what names go to what geographic region, so on and so forth. Peace loving people are not the ones that love a situation like that. Meanwhile, the fires continue to rip and burn.
"The Elbow Pass Complex is comprised of five different lightning ignitions from July 12 through July 31. These four fires have merged into one fire, the Elbow Pass Complex: Triple Divide Fire, Rapid Creek Fire, Elbow Pass Fire, and Bar Creek Fire. The fires are generally located 25 miles west southwest of Augusta, Montana." http://ksenam.com/elbow-pass-complex-fires-update-aug-21-2012/
In addition to, has the Elbow Pass fire been extinguished, where exactly is the 'South Complex Fire', in California, which is near 'Inyo', while the Indian Fire, also near Inyo, more precisely Inyo National Forest, has been burning since August 8th?
The answer is Inyo in the case of South Complex Fire, is Inyo County, and Inyo Park to do with the Indian Fire. See maps below South Complex fire in bulleted list above. For those of us that are not from either of the Inyo locales, it is tough to tell, when the vernacular is not familiar.
According to update on August 23rd, the description of the Elbow Pass Fire is about the exact same as it was on the 21st. 15,852, and 3,282 acres; what makes for the difference for the entire scene?
10pm and still unanswered questions. Perhaps the answers will be found tomorrow. Maybe the answers are all right there available on the Internet, only requiring more advanced research skills and knowing where to look.
Important that is brought out here, the merging together of several fires into one large one is a danger. Name and place ambiguities is another danger. When there are so many fires, that the same name gets chosen more than once, and names so generic they can be referring to more than one place or incident, is indicative of a situation more dangerous than what might be immediately apparent.
Next year, and the next round of fires, what if the challenges to get a handle on them all is tougher than now?
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