Wildfires and other fire incidents

weatheriscool
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Colorado wildfire forces evacuation orders for 19,000 people
Source: AP

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Authorities issued an evacuation order for 19,000 people Saturday near a fast-moving Colorado wildfire in rolling hills south of the college town of Boulder, not far from the site of a destructive 2021 blaze that leveled more than 1,000 homes.

The wildfire had grown to 123 acres (50 hectares) by late afternoon with no containment, according to the Boulder Office of Emergency Management. Evacuation orders covered 8,000 homes.

Protected wildland was burning near the Table Mesa neighborhood and the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder police said on Twitter. Authorities have called it the NCAR fire.

The fire is in an area where a blaze destroyed 1,000 homes last year in unincorporated Boulder County and suburban Superior and Louisville.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-sc ... 58ef9a057d
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caltrek
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Air Pollution from Western Wildfires Could Triple by End of Century
by Nate Mackay
March 28, 2022

https://www.courthousenews.com/air-poll ... e-century/

Introduction:
(Courthouse News) — Researchers at Princeton University determined the air pollution from wildfires across the western U.S. could as much as triple by 2100 without climate change mitigation efforts.

According to a study published Monday in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers combined results from multiple climate models to predict the different amounts of particulate pollution after three climate change mitigation scenarios. Though a high degree of climate change mitigation would avoid the severest effects, the findings indicate the region is headed for an increase in air pollution stemming from wildfires.

“In the next 20 to 30 years, fine particle pollution over the U.S. Pacific Northwest will increase under all scenarios, even under strong mitigations,” said Meiyun Lin, a co-author of the study.

Even in the strongest climate change mitigation scenario, where the world reaches net-zero carbon emissions around 2050, Lin said wildfire particle pollution will increase by as much as 50% by the middle of the century and then level off through 2100.

Lin said the most “extreme scenario is the pathway we want to do everything to avoid.” Under that climate change mitigation scenario, a fossil fuel-driven economy will double carbon emissions by 2050 and drive them up further throughout the century. This would result in the particle pollution from wildfires doubling or tripling by 2100.
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weatheriscool
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Destructive wildfires rage in New Mexico, Colorado
Source: AP

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN and PAUL DAVENPORT

Firefighters scouted the drought-stricken mountainsides around a New Mexico village as they looked for opportunities to slow a wind-driven wildfire that a day earlier had burned at least 150 homes and other structures while displacing thousands of residents and forcing the evacuation of two schools.

Homes were among the structures that had burned, but officials on Wednesday did not have a count of how many were destroyed in the blaze that torched at least 6.4 square miles (16.6 square kilometers) of forest, brush and grass on the east side of the community of Ruidoso, said Laura Rabon, spokesperson for the Lincoln National Forest.

Rabon announced emergency evacuations of a more densely populated area during a briefing Wednesday afternoon as the fire jumped a road where crews were trying to hold the line. She told people to get in their cars and go.

New Mexico State Police released a statement late Wednesday saying two people have been found dead in a residence. Their identities will not be released until the Office of the Medical Examiner can positively identify them.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-ne ... 195306913c
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5,000 under evacuation orders as New Mexico wildfire rages
Source: AP

By SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN
Douglas Siddens’ mother was among those who made it out with just the clothes on her back when a deadly, wind-fueled wildfire ripped through a mountain community in southern New Mexico.

The RV park where she lived was reduced to “metal frame rails and steel wheels,” said Siddens, who managed the site

“I had like 10 people displaced. They lost their homes and everything, including my mom,” he said.

The fire has destroyed more than 200 homes and killed two people since it broke out Tuesday near the village Ruidoso, a vacation spot that draws thousands of tourists and horse racing fans every summer.



Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-ne ... b4f63bbfc5
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'Wall of fire' forces evacuations near Arizona tourist town
Source: AP

By FELICIA FONSECA
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Heavy winds kicked up a towering wall of flames outside a northern Arizona tourist town Tuesday, ripping through two-dozen structures and sending residents of more than 700 homes scrambling to flee.

Flames as high as 100 feet (30 meters) raced through an area of scattered homes, dry grass and Ponderosa pine trees on the outskirts of Flagstaff as wind gusts of up to 50 mph (80 kph) pushed the blaze over a major highway.

Coconino County officials said during an evening news conference that 766 homes and 1,000 animals had been evacuated. About 250 structures remained threatened in the area popular with hikers and off-road vehicle users and where astronauts have trained amid volcanic cinder pits.

The county declared an emergency after the wildfire ballooned from 100 acres (40 hectares) Tuesday morning to over 9 square miles (23 square kilometers) by evening, and ash rained from the sky. The fire was moving northeast away from the more heavily populated areas of Flagstaff, home to Northern Arizona University, and toward Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, said Coconino National Forest spokesman Brady Smith.

Read more: https://apnews.com/article/wildfires-en ... 4a8056379c
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Emergency declaration for multiple wildfires in New Mexico
Source: AP
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has signed emergency declarations as 20 wildfires continued to burn Sunday in nearly half of the state’s drought-stricken 33 counties.

One wildfire in northern New Mexico that started April 6 merged with a newer fire Saturday to form the largest blaze in the state, leading to widespread evacuations in Mora and San Miguel counties. That fire was at 84 square miles (217 square kilometers) Sunday and 12% contained.

An uncontained wind-driven wildfire in northern New Mexico that began April 17 had charred 81 square miles (209 square kilometers) of ponderosa pine, oak brush and grass by Sunday morning north of Ocate, an unincorporated community in Mora County.

Meanwhile in Arizona, some residents forced to evacuate due to a wildfire near Flagstaff were allowed to return home Sunday morning.


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caltrek
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Meet the Forest Microbes that Can Survive Megafires
April 25, 2022

https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/950605

Introduction:
(EurekAlert) New UC Riverside research shows fungi and bacteria able to survive redwood tanoak forest megafires are microbial “cousins” that often increase in abundance after feeling the flames.

Fires of unprecedented size and intensity, called megafires, are becoming increasingly common. In the West, climate change is causing rising temperatures and earlier snow melt, extending the dry season when forests are most vulnerable to burning.

Though some ecosystems are adapted for less intense fires, little is known about how plants or their associated soil microbiomes respond to megafires, particularly in California’s charismatic redwood tanoak forests.

“It’s not likely plants can recover from megafires without beneficial fungi that supply roots with nutrients, or bacteria that transform extra carbon and nitrogen in post-fire soil,” said Sydney Glassman, UCR mycologist and lead study author. “Understanding the microbes is key to any restoration effort.”

The UCR team is contributing to this understanding with a paper in the journal Molecular Ecology.
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Climate change: Record tree losses in 2021 in northern regions

1 hour ago

Tree cover losses in northern regions of the world were the highest on record in 2021, according to new analysis from Global Forest Watch.

Figures for these boreal forests were up 30% on 2020, with wildfires causing massive losses in Russia.

Elsewhere, around ten football pitches per minute of tropical primary forest were lost across the year.

Brazil, once again, led the way with a significant uptick in tree loss associated with agricultural expansion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61248596
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Northern NM blaze now approaching 100,000 acres
Source: Albuquerque Journal

The team battling the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire has come to dread Fridays, and for good reason.

A week ago Friday, massive winds set off explosive growth as the Calf Canyon Fire merged with the Hermits Peak Fire into what was then a 42,000-acre blaze.

Over much of the following week, crews began getting their arms around the raging beast — and then came another Friday when extreme winds again caused the fire to explode and burn another 30,000 acres in the course of a day.

Fire officials say the blaze has grown to more than 97,000 acres.
Read more: https://www.abqjournal.com/2494527/nort ... acres.html
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'Potentially historic' wildfire event threatens New Mexico, Southwest
Source: Washington Post

Critical-to-extreme wildfire conditions are about to take hold of the southwestern United States and parts of Colorado, leading into what could be a lengthy, multiday and memorable outbreak of wildfires and/or wildfire conditions. Warm to locally scorching temperatures, bone-dry air and strong mountain gusts are set to overlap for several days, part of a summerlike weather pattern that comes without the chance of any meaningful rainfall.

The National Weather Service in Albuquerque is calling it a “dangerous, long duration and potentially historic critical fire weather event.” Tinderbox conditions conducive to the rapid spread of blazes are expected to persist well into next week. Sunday may present the most extreme combination of high winds and hot, dry air.

“New Mexico is facing 100 straight hours of the worst possible set of fire conditions, with high temperatures & extreme winds,” tweeted Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) on Friday. “It is critically important to abide by evacuation orders. Your life & safety is top priority.”

She added: “I ask every New Mexican to do everything you can to prevent any additional fire incident, anything that could cause a spark. No open flames, no campfires, no open grills, no welding, no tossing cigarette butts — please work with us to prevent fires and preserve resources.”



Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... alfcanyon/
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