Response to Washington Fire questioned
Updated June 24 10:03pm:
“Fire is burning in hazardous and inaccessible terrain and approaching an increasing number of structures and impacting travel corridors,” authorities report.
Updated June 24 6:19pm:
The fire has grown to 17,205 acres and is 10 percent contained.
There are now 900 people fighting the fire that was started by lightning.
Warmer temperatures are expected through Saturday, with a possible record high on Friday. Thunderstorms are forecast for Saturday and Sunday. The moisture would be helpful, but the threat of more lightning is worrisome to fire agencies throughout the area.
Updated June 24 8:40am:
Firefighters have 5 percent containment of the Washington Fire. The acreage burned is 16,544. Nearly 700 people are now fighting the fire.
By Kathryn Reed and Susan Wood
People who live and work in the area are raising questions about the response time of the Washington Fire.
The initial response was June 19 at 7pm, according to fire officials. By Saturday night the fire was at 350 acres, by Sunday night the acreage consumed was 6,500, by Monday night it reached 14,942 acres and as of Tuesday evening the burned area is 16,543 acres.
“The fire was reported at noon to 1 on Friday. There were no winds until Saturday. No one did anything about it. There are a variety of things they could have done. Well, that’s Alpine County for you,” Tom Abdoo, Markleeville property and business owner, told Lake Tahoe News.
U.S. Forest Service spokesman Larry Lucas said the Forest Service took over the fire at 6am June 22. He has asked local authorities for a time line detailing the response to the fire.
Lightning started the fire, the wind then spread it.
Smoke fills the drive into Carson City via Spooner Summit on June 23. Photo/Susan Wood
However, the fire is burning on Forest Service land in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest so the feds should have had authority the entire time.
A Forest Service employee told Lake Tahoe News their firehouses are not staffed around the clock during the fire season.
Alpine County itself is serviced by a volunteer fire department.
Any delay in getting resources to the fire could have been the result of who was notified first. People don’t tend to call the USFS dispatch. Instead, they call 911. Which dispatch center that call goes to depends on the nearest cell tower to the caller.
In 2007 during the start of the Angora Fire the 911 calls went to CHP dispatch in Truckee which at first told everyone it was a controlled burn and not to worry.
The weather conditions on that June 24 were very similar to this past weekend’s – high winds and low humidity. These conditions had been in the forecast, with the National Weather Service having issued alerts about red flag days for the entire weekend.
With Angora, 254 houses were reduced to ash in a matter of hours. With the Washington Fire, 15 buildings are in imminent danger and the town of Markleeville is threatened. Fire officials on the night of June 23, though, didn’t have information about how far the flames are from this Alpine County town.
Lake Valley has sent one engine to the Washington Fire, while Tahoe Douglas has firefighters in San Bernardino.
Most of the Tahoe agencies are staying put because the local conditions warrant firefighters being on alert. The state mutual aid system is voluntary, so departments don’t have to send crews if the local needs warrant staying put.
The Forest Service is using 11 helicopters, eight air tankers – including two DC-10s, 17 engines, three water tenders, and about 500 people to fight the Washington Fire. At one point the blaze was 10 percent contained, but the conditions worsened and the firefighters lost the upper hand. There is no containment this evening.
What it is costing to fight the fire each day has not been disclosed.
On a related note, Liberty Utilities has canceled the June 24 and July 1 planned power outage for parts of Alpine County because of the fire. The outage was scheduled to allow crews to replace power poles in the area.
This is irresponsible yokel baiting ‘journalism’ that doesn’t even deserve to be filed under opinion and you are passing it off as news.
Take this loaded sentence as an example:
“What it is costing to fight the fire each day has not been disclosed.”
The word disclosed implies something abnormal or secretive exists and is inappropriate. A better choice would be ‘determined’. I see what you are trying to do here. And sadly it will work.
Pretty funny, Prunes. You don’t complain a bit when lefty opinion pieces are posted. . . but question your beloved statist overlords, and you’re offended. Pretty funny.
This article is a wee bit biased and slanted.
I for one found some useful nuggets of information, but far from a complete understanding of what transpired. I would like to learn more about the dispatch system and what is the process to inform the various parties for response. It appears, though one cannot be sure from the article, that the USFS was not initially informed (e.g., they are seeking information from the local agency on initial response) and that response was completely local(?) at first. If so, what decision rules (if any) are used to ratchet the response to the larger authorities and were they followed.
What is the organizational structure for fire response in these areas? It almost seems it follows a hierarchical model of local-state-feds. If that is close to true, should that structure be reversed starting with a state/fed partnership making joint decisions on who and how a response should occur? I do not have the answers and any strong opinion, as this article does not yet provide a clear understanding of what actually transpired. It appears we will learn more tomorrow.
Rick
Thank you Kae! It is also my understanding Cal fire has not responded to this fire at all, when it is 8 miles away from the very homes they tax without representating.
The article states that the forest service took over the fire at 6am on June 24 That’s tomorrow? I really do not like it when anyone criticizes efforts to fight any fire when men and women are risking their safety to protect our lives and property.They deserve 100% of our support. If anything was handled inappropriately that can be dealt with after the fire is put out and an appropriate investigation has been done.
I’m sure emotions are high with the folks in Markleeville that is to be expected under these circumstances. I’m disappointed to see this type of article when we all should be supporting the fire crews with the difficult task at hand.
Agree with 50 year Resident.
Kae and her advertisers love these garbage click-bait stories. Bigger reward for them, with such little effort. Works wonders, and every news outlet does it. Would be nice to see some actual investigative journalism, this is becoming just one more local gossip/tabloid site.
Fodder for blog trolls….the end result a steamy pile…
Questioning federal response to any fire or disaster is more than appropriate because their ICS, Incident Command System, is a system of confusion to our local governments and it often produces delays of response as seen in the Acorn fire.
USFS took over June 22. Story has been corrected.
LTN staff
Have no idea if the response has been great or terrible to this fire?
But I always have a problem when people you say you can’t or shouldn’t question the actions of government, or any governmental entity or agency! This is America, right?
Clearly, at the very least, there
was some confusion as to who is running the show here. Some questioning may better inform the public, and may improve the responses in the future.
This is a disgusting example of journalism. I don’t see a shred of proof that there was any wrongdoing or breaks in protocol.
Here’s a cold, hard fact that you could use:
Mother Nature is unpredictable and uncontrollable.
My husband is a Wildland Firefighter.
He absolutely loves his job. It is his true passion in life. When he goes out for weeks, sometimes even months at a time, he has to leave behind a wife & 5 children. We know there are inherent dangers in his job, but we support what he does. He is our personal hero. He has been involved in saving homes, habitats, and lives.
One thing that gives me comfort when he is away is that the communities in the areas where he battles “the dragon” will treat him and his crew well. I sometimes comfort our crying children by showing them videos of signs that communities put up thanking the firefighters for helping them.
Pieces of journalism like this are disheartening to read. I’m not saying you shouldn’t investigate a particular incident, but do more research and at least know what you are talking about before you decide to print junk like this. The next time you think of doing an “expose”, try thinking of that firefighter out there battling blazes in extreme temperatures with little to no breaks, long shifts (sometimes 24 hrs straight), many of them missing out on holidays, birthdays, anniversaries.
As for us, we will continue on as we have been. Families left at home supporting our firefighters from the home front. Thank you to all of you who do offer support and a kind word, it is appreciated more than you can know.
There is so much wrong with this “News Story” and commentary that I’m not sure where to start. But I will try.
The fire was first reported at 7pm on Friday, June 19 on the upper reaches of Silver Fork on USFS land. 7pm. Remember that: 7pm. So, within one and one half hours, is there any expectation that a handful of local volunteers, with very limited resources, are going to scale the side of a mountain on steep, rocky terrain, and fight a fire in the dark with just shovels and axes. This, hopefully even for the most ignorant of LTN trolls, would not be a reasonable expectation.
Saturday, June 20: Remember, the fire is on USFS land. Remember, the local fire departments are volunteers with limited resources. The local volunteers do not have the resources, manpower or jurisdictional authority to take command of the fire. I hope Mr. Abdoo was quoted out of context, because he otherwise has no right to infer that the County of Alpine bears any fault as to any perceived lack of response. Perhaps if Mr. Abdoo paid the tens of thousands of dollars in back property taxes, his words may carry some weight in the community and aid in its contributions to resources. But I digress.
“Pine Tree” wonders why CalFire is not involved. Well, that is because, again, the fire is on USFS land. CalFire does not have jurisdictional authority on USFS land. They can, and are, providing support services and manpower where they do have authority and can provide mutual aid where requested.
The USFS, in normal times, maintains a limited local presence. Their resources are placed where tacticians consider are the most strategic, safe and cost effective. Based upon past history, they have learned over the years that they simply cannot risk lives by having smoke jumpers and hot shots jumping from planes onto the side of a steep canyon, extinguish 350 acres of fire and wrap it all up in one day with increasing winds and minimal humidity. One only has to review recent history regarding the tragic loss of several firefighters to even remotely grasp the severity of the risks involved.
It takes a significant amount of effort by experienced tacticians, meteorologists, pilots, ground support, fire fighters and local knowledge to provide the necessary logistics to assess the conditions and implement a safe and successful operation. That takes time and money.
Sunday, June 21: The winds were significantly rising by 6am and there was no possibility of providing air support until too late in the day. The best that could be expected was to maintain a line of defense between the fire front and the southern perimeter of the town site. There is no rationale to place ground crews in the face of an oncoming fire with their backs to a steep hillside in 30 mph headwinds.
Monday, June 22: The morning began with an inversion layer in the canyons above the northwestern flank of the fire. The air was thick with smoke and visibility was minimal. As soon as allowable, a fleet of bombers were dispatched to drop fire retardant between Poor Boy Hill and the southern perimeter of the town site. As the inversion lifted and visibility improved, the southeast wind began to increase and again threaten the town site. Strike teams were bolstered at the perimeter to defend against any fire encroachment that may have jumped the fire retardant. This effort continued until late in the day when the wind finally subsided.
June 23: A town meeting was held at the Alpine County Board of Supervisors chambers at 8am. The meeting was recorded and streamed live via http://www.alpinecountycagov.
The public was encouraged to attend and ask as many questions as they desired. The winds were generally mild most of the day and allowed for progress in reducing the threat against the town site. Thus far, the only loss of structures have been limited to two old mining cabins on Silver Hill during the early stages of the fire.
Information has been posted on the Sierra Front and InciWeb websites since the incident began, as well as the PIO for any of the agencies. It just takes a little investigative journalism if you want a real news story, not just another opinion piece for the trolls to feast upon.
Dawg: I am offended?
Not at all. Disinformation is unacceptable in all forms.
Remember last year how an PR company was able to whip the yokels in to a frenzy after the people who brought up the fireworks litter were labeled out of town whiners.
It was hilarious how predictable the response was, so many people fell for it. Played like a fiddle.
No one is saying you can’t/shouldn’t question. Not all questions are equal. Good questions yield new information. Some questions are based on poop and no knowledge is gained. Some phrases are statements disguised as questions.
At the very least this is click-bait. Good for them, they figured out how to monetize simpletons. I respect that in the same way I respect the creator of the pet rock. To the point of jealousy even.
Welcome to Costco, I love you.
Justice, Parker
There is an appropriate time for everything. Now is not the right time to bring this type of stuff up. Support the firefighters they are putting everything on the line to assist the folks in Markleeville. Keep in mind your home may be one the next ones in the line of one of these wildfires as these are dangerous times!
Carson O Thanks for the reporting. Please keep us informed as a reporter should.
Carson, great summary, it appears as I suspected, that wildfires are complicated and response nearly as good as what was needed.
thanks again,
Rick
Yes Fifty Year,
My home may be next. So I don’t mind responses analyzed and improved upon if necessary. If something was wrong with how this has been dealt with, (if) you deal with it at the time.
And who’s criticizing the individual fire fighters?
This article is indeed slanted toward the would have/should have side without significant research. Getting dates and details wrong seems to be a common recent issue with LTN along with sloppy editing along the lines of the Trib. And of course there are readers who don’t really analyze anything they read before hitting the keyboard.
Lets not forget that this fire started in an area which is roadless. Horrible access except from the air. Speaking from experience with low level flying in windy, steep canyons, this is not something you do lightly and never in the dark.
Some people may have a personal problem with the USFS because they were forced to comply with their rules-
bad mouthing them might be some feel good revenge-
hardly professional journalism
I was listening to my scanner in the early afternoon on Friday 6/19 when a transmission of a possible fire was broadcast. It was a male voice. I female voice was activating response when anot her male voice cancelled the response. The female voice can called the response based on the man’s order.
Thank you Carson for much more accurate and thorough reporting in the comments than was actually in the story.