Wildfires and other fire incidents

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wjfox
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weatheriscool
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Lake Tahoe threatened by massive fire, more ordered to flee
Source: AP
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Fire officials ordered more evacuations around the Tahoe Basin Sunday evening as crews dealt with a two-week old blaze they said was “more aggressive than anticipated,” and continued to edge toward the pristine waters of Lake Tahoe.

“Today’s been a rough day and there’s no bones about it,” said Jeff Marsoleis, forest supervisor for El Dorado National Forest. A few days ago, he thought crews could halt the Caldor Fire’s eastern progress, but “today it let loose.”

Flames churned through mountains just a few miles southwest of the Tahoe Basin, where thick smoke sent tourists packing at a time when summer vacations would usually be in full swing ahead of the Labor Day weekend.

“To put it in perspective, we’ve been seeing about a half-mile of movement on the fire’s perimeter each day for the last couple of weeks, and today, this has already moved at 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) on us, with no sign that it’s starting to slow down,” said Cal Fire Division Chief Eric Schwab.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fires-lakes- ... a8915eebce
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California fire approaches Lake Tahoe after mass evacuation
Source: AP

By SAM METZ and JANIE HAR
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — A ferocious wildfire swept toward Lake Tahoe on Tuesday just hours after roads were clogged with fleeing cars when the entire California resort city of South Lake Tahoe was ordered to evacuate and communities just across the state line in Nevada were warned to get ready to leave.

The popular vacation haven normally filled with tens of thousands of summer tourists emptied out Monday as the massive Caldor Fire rapidly expanded. Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats were in gridlock traffic, stalled in hazy, brown air that smelled like a campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by.

“It’s more out of control than I thought,” evacuee Glen Naasz said of the fire that by late Monday had been pushed by strong winds across California highways 50 and 89, burning mountain cabins as it swept down slopes into the Tahoe Basin.

Additional strike teams arrived just after dark and many of the new firefighters were immediately dispatched to protect homes in the Christmas Valley area about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from South Lake Tahoe, said fire spokesman Dominic Polito.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fires-enviro ... a980f4deda
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Official reports progress in defending Lake Tahoe from fire
Source: AP

By SAM METZ, JANIE HAR and JOHN ANTCZAK
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters reported progress Wednesday in the battle to save communities on the south end of Lake Tahoe from an approaching forest fire after the stiff winds and searing temperatures they had feared failed to materialize in the California-Nevada alpine region.

“We lucked out a little bit yesterday with some of the winds that didn’t come up quite as hard as we expected them to,” Tim Ernst, an operations section chief, told firefighters in a morning briefing.

An inversion layer, a cap of warm air over cooler air, then developed in the early morning hours “that put a real damper on things, slowed a lot of growth,” Ernst said. “So a lot of opportunity to make a lot of progress last night.”

The Caldor Fire has been burning toward Lake Tahoe from the southwest along California Highway 50, climbing over a high-elevation Sierra Nevada summit and descending into the Tahoe Basin.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-so ... 553f0b7684
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Re: Wildfire news and discussion

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California fire approaches Lake Tahoe after mass evacuation
Source: AP

By SAM METZ and JANIE HAR
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — A ferocious wildfire swept toward Lake Tahoe on Tuesday just hours after roads were clogged with fleeing cars when the entire California resort city of South Lake Tahoe was ordered to evacuate and communities just across the state line in Nevada were warned to get ready to leave.

The popular vacation haven normally filled with tens of thousands of summer tourists emptied out Monday as the massive Caldor Fire rapidly expanded. Vehicles loaded with bikes and camping gear and hauling boats were in gridlock traffic, stalled in hazy, brown air that smelled like a campfire. Police and other emergency vehicles whizzed by.

“It’s more out of control than I thought,” evacuee Glen Naasz said of the fire that by late Monday had been pushed by strong winds across California highways 50 and 89, burning mountain cabins as it swept down slopes into the Tahoe Basin.

Additional strike teams arrived just after dark and many of the new firefighters were immediately dispatched to protect homes in the Christmas Valley area about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from South Lake Tahoe, said fire spokesman Dominic Polito.


Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fires-enviro ... a980f4deda
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Lake Tahoe evacuees hope to return home as wildfire slows
Source: Associated Press

By DAISY NGUYEN 46 minutes ago
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Firefighters are making progress on a California wildfire threatening South Lake Tahoe, officials said Saturday, lifting hopes for tens of thousands of residents who are waiting this weekend to return to the resort town.

Lighter winds and higher humidity continue to reduce the spread of flames, and fire crews were quick to take advantage by doubling down on burning and cutting fire lines around the Caldor Fire.

Bulldozers with giant blades, crews armed with shovels and a fleet of aircraft dropping hundreds of thousands of gallons of water and fire retardant helped keep the fire’s advance to a couple of thousand acres — a fraction of its explosive spread last month and the smallest increase in two weeks.

“The incident continues to look better and better every day,” Tim Burton, an operations chief with the California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention, told firefighters at a Saturday briefing. “A large part of that is due to your hard work as well as the weather cooperating in the last week or so.”
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/lifestyle-fi ... 75fa0845b8
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Evacuations lifted for thousands in Tahoe as wildfire stalls
Source: AP
SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. (AP) — Tens of thousands of people who fled South Lake Tahoe in the teeth of a wildfire were returning home as crews finally managed to stall the advance of flames scant miles from the resort.

But authorities warned that residents of the scenic forest area on the California-Nevada state line weren’t out of the woods yet, with risks ranging from smoky, foul air to belligerent bears.

Evacuation orders for South Lake Tahoe and other lakeside areas were downgraded to warnings on Sunday afternoon and California Highway Patrol officers began removing roadblocks along State Highway 50 from Nevada to the city limits.

The threat from the Caldor Fire hasn’t entirely vanished but downgrading to a warning meant those who wish could return to their homes in what had been a smoke-choked ghost town instead of a thriving Labor Day getaway location.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fires-enviro ... d018724831
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Re: Wildfire news and discussion

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Wildfire forces closure of part of freeway in California
Source: AP

CASTIAC, Calif. (AP) — A wildfire near Castaic Saturday has led to the closure of a part of a major freeway in Southern California, officials told local media.

The fire, known as the Route Fire, reached 392 acres, or a little more than half a square mile, as of 6:28 p.m. and forced the shutdown of a section of Interstate 5, an Angeles National Forest spokesperson told KTLA-TV.

KTLA reported that the Route Fire is threatening structures, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Santa Clarita Valley station.

The fire was uncontained as of 6:30 p.m., authorities said.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fires-enviro ... 65a9f73c4c
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Re: Wildfire news and discussion

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Gigantic Plankton Bloom Larger Than Australia Spawned by Intense Bushfire Blazes
by David Nield
September 16, 2021

https://www.sciencealert.com/australia- ... -continent

Introduction:
(Science Alert) As well as the local and immediate threat to life and property they present, bushfires can also have far-reaching, long-lasting consequences for the rest of the planet, as was the case with the huge Australian bushfires of the summer of 2019/2020.

A new study combining satellite data with measurements in the field reveals one of these consequences: a giant phytoplankton bloom larger than the entirety of Australia, located in the northernmost waters of the Southern Ocean, to the south east of Australia.

Such huge spikes in organic material aren't quite the win for marine ecosystems we might imagine. Quite the opposite, as the vast cloud of organisms can make for a potential toxic soup in the ocean.

"Explosive blooms of plankton can be deadly to animals," says paleobiologist Chris Hays from the Swedish Museum of Natural History, who wasn't involved with the research.
Further extract:
However, phytoplankton blooms act as carbon sinks. Such was the size of the one created by the bushfires, researchers think that it could have sucked in almost all of the carbon dioxide released by the burning.
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wjfox
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Re: Wildfire news and discussion

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F***ing tragedy if this burns down.


California fires: General Sherman and other sequoias given blankets

57 minutes ago

Firefighters are wrapping fire-resistant blankets around ancient trees as blazes tear through California's world-famous Sequoia National Park.

Officials fear the fire could reach the Giant Forest, a grove of some of the world's biggest trees, within hours.

The forest hosts some 2,000 sequoias, including the 275ft (83m) General Sherman, the biggest tree by volume on Earth and about 2,500 years old.

The Colony and Paradise fires have been growing for a week.

More than 350 firefighters, along with helicopters and water-dropping planes, have been mobilised to battle the blazes.

They have wrapped several trees, including the General Sherman, with aluminium foil to protect them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-58592376


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