Oak fire & fire season in general (update: McKinney Fire)

[Arcadia]

Lots of photos on this news link https://www.mercurynews.com/2022/07/23/oak-fire-photos-mariposa-county-wildfire-near-yosemite-burns-homes-threatens-2000-more/amp/

Evacuation and fire map link https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=9cdac8da837f4ef3b9abd8d0a67ec7d4&extent=-13361262.4101%2C4505252.4658%2C-13324572.6365%2C4523004.9656%2C102100

”The Oak Fire that began Friday, July 22, 2022 in Mariposa County exploded to more than 6,500 acres, forcing residents in the hills near Yosemite to flee. Firefighters reported zero containment on Saturday morning as winds sent embers into the air, setting more spot fires ahead of the main fire

Flames leap from trees as the Oak Fire crosses Darrah Rd. in Mariposa County, Calif., on Friday, July 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Noah Berger) “

Screenshot of fire map so that it’s easier to see proximity to Yosemite National Park

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by Arcadia

[Faith-manor]

Scary! I hope they can get this under control. Any boarded in the region, please stay safe!

[Carol in Cal.]

I’m just north of there in Tuolumne County, and it’s been very windy yesterday and today.  We have had helicopter flyovers that I think are looking for downed power lines and spot fires, but we are well away from this fire and not getting smoke from it yet either.  The Washburn Fire further south among the most venerable of the Yosemite redwoods is almost contained, so this new one is discouraging, especially since there have been no lightning storms to spark it.

[Ausmumof3]

Eek, hope no boardies are affected. 

[Arcadia]

@frogger are you in Alaska?

https://blm-egis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=32ec4f34fb234ce58df6b1222a207ef1

[frogger]

June was crazy dry. We were on a very bad trajectory. Southcentral Alaska at least, typically has rainy falls so I am thankful that the rainy weather moved in early. At first, I thought we might surpass 2004 with over 6 million acres burned but things have calmed down a quite a bit. 

 

[Arcadia]

@frogger thank goodness it is not as bad as the fire map look. My first thought was that the fire map resembles monkeypox 🤦‍♀️

https://amp.fresnobee.com/news/california/fires/article263863807.html

“Highway 140 was reopened through Mariposa County to Yosemite National Park, the U.S. Forest Service announced late Tuesday.

It’s the latest sign that fire crews continue to make progress on the Oak Fire that decimated parts of the mountainous areas of Mariposa County.

In addition, some evacuations previously ordered were reduced to fire advisements earlier in the day.“

Edited July 27, 2022 by Arcadia
typo

[frogger]

It is still about 3 million acres, but it just felt so relieving to get rain so I just have that, "whew" perspective on this side of the rain. There were villiages evacuated. In some towns people were advised not to leave their homes at all without a mask or respirator. Small fires kept being put out in the greenbelts in the city. We all wanted to stay outside in the rain when it came. Of course, many are still burning but new ones are less likely to start at least and there is less dry tinder.

[Arcadia]

https://www.sfchronicle.com/california-wildfires/article/McKinney-Fire-in-Siskiyou-County-explodes-17340211.php
“A wildfire burning in far Northern California that began around 2 p.m. on Friday had exploded to an estimated 30,000 to 40,000 acres in less than 24 hours due to windy conditions and other extreme weather, officials said.

The McKinney Fire, which was burning about 9 miles from the Siskiyou County seat of Yreka, as of Saturday mid-afternoon, sent up a massive cumulus cloud and prompted Gov. Gavin Newsom to declare a state of emergency for the county.

Evacuation orders extended into western Yreka by Saturday evening, with evacuation warnings in place for all city residents west of Interstate 5.

The governor’s office had estimated earlier Saturday afternoon that some 2,000 people were under evacuation orders due to the fire.

Officials said thunderstorms and unpredictable winds in the area have made it difficult to determine the trajectory of the fire, which is burning in Klamath National Forest near the Oregon border.”

[prairiewindmomma]

The McKinney fire has started to affect Oregon air quality: Klamath and Jackson counties, in Oregon, now have advisories. The McKinney fire is sitting at 52K acres this Sunday afternoon.

[Arcadia]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-fire-becomes-states-largest-stifling-heat-wave-suspected-7-rcna40879
“The size of California's McKinney Fire surpassed that of a blaze to the south overnight to become the state's largest of 2022 — by far.

The 51,468-acre blaze near the state's northern border has thrived on deadly heat in the Pacific Northwest that has preliminarily been linked to the deaths of seven people in Oregon.

On Saturday Gov. Gavin Newsom proclaimed a state of emergency for the county. It unlocks additional state and federal firefighting and recovery funds.

It was only a week ago that the 19,000-acre Oak Fire about 400 miles south, in Mariposa County, became the state's largest of the year. That blaze, roughly 40 miles from the edge of Yosemite National Park, was 64 percent contained Sunday.”

[Ali in OR]

11 hours ago, prairiewindmomma said:

The McKinney fire has started to affect Oregon air quality: Klamath and Jackson counties, in Oregon, now have advisories. The McKinney fire is sitting at 52K acres this Sunday afternoon.

Dd is driving a combine this summer--down in Eugene/Springfield most recently. She won't take a picture of the combine for us, but she said she took a few sunset pictures which were amazing, but only because of the smoke. I had heard we were getting the Yosemite smoke, but I wonder if it's this one now.

[Arcadia]

2 hours ago, Ali in OR said:

Dd is driving a combine this summer--down in Eugene/Springfield most recently. She won't take a picture of the combine for us, but she said she took a few sunset pictures which were amazing, but only because of the smoke. I had heard we were getting the Yosemite smoke, but I wonder if it's this one now.

My area was supposed to get the Yosemite smoke last week at high elevations last week. We are at low elevation and didn’t smell anything bad. Yesterday, my nose started running and eyes tearing. DS17 also felt irritated enough to close our patio door. The AQI for my area shows a low number but our noses say otherwise 😞

[Arcadia]

@Ali in OR Oregon is blanketed with smoke

https://fire.airnow.gov

 

[prairiewindmomma]

We had a bit of an orange tint to the sky this morning. The wind has shifted and it’s lightened a bit and I see bits of blue but we changed the air filters on our HVAC and have bumped up our purifiers. I assume the smoke is staying higher in the atmosphere for now if our AQI is still okay.

[Arcadia]

https://amp.sacbee.com/news/california/fires/article264036106.html
“The bodies of two people were found inside a burned out vehicle in a residential driveway inside the McKinney Fire zone in Northern California on Sunday, officials said, the first fatalities from the state’s largest wildfire of the year so far.

… As of early Monday, the fire has burned 55,493 acres — about 86 square miles — west and northwest of Yreka and has forced the evacuations of 2,000 people, and firefighters were battling to keep the blaze from moving toward Yreka, 5 1/2 miles away as of Sunday.

… Early Monday morning, sheriff’s deputies announced two people had been arrested inside the evacuated area — one on suspicion of possessing burglary tools, the other for burglary inside a closed disaster area.

… The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for most of Siskiyou and Modoc counties, as well as southern Oregon, in place from noon through 11 p.m. Monday.“

[Starr]

I went to college in southern Oregon not too far from the fires. It's hard to imagine it now. 😞

[Arcadia]

https://www.kcra.com/amp/article/gone-30-seconds-fire-crews-lose-rigs-gear-flames-volunteers-give-them-bit-hope/40842468
“Fire crews from across the state are battling a complex of lightning-caused fires in the Six Rivers National Forest.

One of those crews came from El Dorado County and has paid a big price.

In a matter of seconds on Saturday, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians tribal fire crew lost every bit of gear and the fire rigs they brought with them to the fire lines.

"What was damaged was a complete and total loss of both vehicles," the crew's fire chief, Dave Whitt, said. "One vehicle, literally, there is nothing left."

Whitt said an investigation into the incident is underway, but right now, it appears the fire crew parked in what would be considered a safe location.

The chief, however, explained to KCRA 3 how conditions shifted and the fire took an erratic turn — running up a hillside to the fire vehicles.

"Fire from down below in the canyon — it's very, very steep. Very, very rugged country in the Six Rivers area — and they had a little bit of flare up," Whitt said. "It went from ground fire to ladders, to torch, to crown in less than 30 seconds."

Tents, tools, sleeping bags, personal items, food and their mode of transportation. Gone.

Fast-moving flames consumed everything the crew brought from El Dorado County, all the way up to the far northwest corner of California.

… The crew was also thankful that only the replaceable stuff was lost.

… As of Monday night's incident report, fire managers said the Six Rivers Lightning Complex fire has burned 6,775 acres.

There's no containment yet on the complex of eight fires that's been burning since Friday.”

ETA:

Edited August 9, 2022 by Arcadia

[prairiewindmomma]

About straight west of the McKinney fire are the Yeti and Alex fires which appear from InciWeb to have merged. Their combined acreage is about 8k acres.  Those fires are partially contained, but if we had another streak of hot dry very windy days, they could merge with McKinney.  There are already huge fish kills happening from the McKinney fire on the Klamath River.