Wildfire News 2020

[Wrightwood]

[Wrightwood]

Incident: 00614 Type: Report of Fire Location: 422-645 Lytle Creek Rd Loc Desc: ** HIDDEN FIRE ** Lat/Lon: 34.258529 -117.492677
Detail Information
1:53 PM   1   [2] LYTLE CREEK ROAD / TON OF SMOKE FRM THE AREA
Unit Information
2:02 PM   3   Unit Assigned
2:11 PM   2   Unit Cleared
2:14 PM   1   Unit Assigned

[Wrightwood]

Fire picked it up

Incident: 00614 Type: Report of Fire Location: 422-645 Lytle Creek Rd Loc Desc: ** HIDDEN FIRE ** Lat/Lon: 34.258529 -117.492677
Detail Information
1:53 PM   1   [2] LYTLE CREEK ROAD / TON OF SMOKE FRM THE AREA
Unit Information
2:02 PM   3   Unit Assigned
2:11 PM   2   Unit Cleared
2:14 PM   1   Unit Assigned

[thubaru]

Jeeze, hope that one can go out quickly.

[Joe Schmoe]

I'm sad to share that 90 percent of Devil's Punchbowl has burned from the #BobcatFire. The nature center and significant plant life and fauna across its 1350 acres have been lost. My office is working with @lacountyparks
 to see how we can rebuild and restore this beloved land.

Took my mother, in her 70s, there for her birthday this year.

Had some technical difficulties with the drone, so this is the best I got of us from afar.  Destroyed building in upper-left corner.


Dramatic happenings on the way there:

[Jim Wilkins]

Took my mother, in her 70s, there for her birthday this year.

Had some technical difficulties with the drone, so this is the best I got of us from afar.  Destroyed building in upper-left corner.


Dramatic happenings on the way there:

You were joking about using a drone in a fire area, right?  You are aware there is a TFR up to ten thousand feet over the entire forest and drone (always prohibited) and any aircraft is prohibited to fly within those boundries?  All incident aircraft are grounded when any drone is sighted within the operational area until the drone location can be confirmed and the drone grounded.

[RennMan]

Jim.  I believe these are pictures and comments from BEFORE the fire.  He was referring to the building as a point of reference.

I know Drones are a hot button issue, and DO NOT BELONG in a declared fire zone.

Peace

[Joe Schmoe]

You were joking about using a drone in a fire area, right?

Jim, I'm posting pictures of these places as they appeared before this shameful travesty.  But, since we're on the topic.....drones "over" Mt. Wilson yesterday or the day before?  Really?  I'm wondering how exactly would that occur?  The forest is closed, the mountain is 1 mile up and 3.5 miles horizontally from the nearest public road.  That's an impressive drone.

[Wrightwood]

I was listening to the radio traffic and they weren't sure if it was a drone, mylar balloon or weather balloon seen by an aircraft pilot. Never did determine what it was that I'm aware of.

[rinderella]

Any news about the FIRE

[Wrightwood]

[Wrightwood]

[Wrightwood]

Angeles_NF
@Angeles_NF
#Firefighters are working hard on the #BobcatFire to get containment, this morning we are up to 38% containment and 113,307 acres.  Last night crews completed the strategic firing operation north from Mt. Wilson to Hwy 2 and then east to the fire perimeter.

[Wrightwood]

[Wrightwood]

From: 2020 CAANF Bobcat 2 Fire [mailto:2020.bobcat2@firenet.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, September 23, 2020 8:21 AM
Subject: Bobcat Fire Morning Update 09-23-20 AM

INCIDENT STATISTICS

Location of Origin: Angeles National Forest, Azusa, CA
Start date: September 6, 2020
Size: Approximately 113,307 acres
Percent Contained: 38%
Cause: Under Investigation
Resources Assigned: 1,556 personnel

Engines: 187
Handcrews: 19
Helicopters: 11
Dozers: 20
Water tenders: 9

CLOSURES:
Road Closures: 
-  All roads leading into San Gabriel Canyon. 
-  Hwy 39 is closed north of Azusa to SR 2. 
-  SR 2 between Upper Big Tujunga Rd to Big Pines. 
-  Upper Big Tujunga Road between SR 2 and Angeles Forest Highway.
-  Chantry Flat Road is closed. 
-  Mt Wilson Road from SR 2 to Mt Wilson.
-  Fort Tejon / Valyermo Rd
-  Valyermo Rd / Bob's Gap Rd
-  Big Pines Hwy / Largo Vista Rd
-  Big Pines Hwy / Mescal Creek Rd
-  Big Pines Hwy / Hwy 2

The Forest Service has extended its temporary Regional Forest Closure Order to Sept. 24th. Forests included in this closure are: Angeles, Cleveland, Los Padres, San Bernardino, Inyo, Sequoia, Sierra, Klamath, and Six Rivers. The Forest is closed to all general activity, including developed campgrounds and day-use sites due to wildfire threat. Prohibition of the use of any ignition sources (campfires, gas stoves, etc.).   

SAFETY:
A temporary flight restriction is in place over the fire. Wildfires are a No Drone Zone. Visit Know Before You Fly: knowbeforeyoufly.org.

COOPERATORS:
Los Angeles County Fire Dept.
Los Angeles County OEM 
City of Monrovia
City of Bradbury
City of Sierra Madre
Community of Altadena
City of Duarte
City of Pasadena
City of Los Angeles Fire Dept.
American Red Cross Los Angeles 
Disaster Management Area C & D
Caltrans
California Highway Patrol
Los Angeles County Public Works
Southern California Edison

Bobcat Fire Information
Inciweb: inciweb.nwcg.gov, search "bobcat"
Facebook: @angelesnationalforest
Twitter: @Angeles_NF
Public: 626-574-5208
Media: 626-671-2065

[Wrightwood]

[Wrightwood]

[RennMan]

Here is a link to the ABC7 Eyewitness News Los Angeles report:

https://abc7.com/sce-utility-equipment-eyed-as-possible-source-of-bobcat-fire/6524096/

[Wrightwood]

Jim Emery
@_JimEmery
28m
Helo dipping in #JacksonLake on 9/23/2020 #BobcatFire

https://video.twimg.com/ext_tw_video/1308875546135113728/pu/vid/1280x720/vG0NuzBvyxPDSzMz.mp4?tag=10

[Joe Schmoe]

Here is a link to the ABC7 Eyewitness News Los Angeles report:

https://abc7.com/sce-utility-equipment-eyed-as-possible-source-of-bobcat-fire/6524096/

Officials said a lack of resources allowed the Bobcat Fire to make a run through the mountains in the initial hours after it started. They say by the time staffing ramped up, flames were already deep in an old-growth forest where the fire had plenty to burn.

https://abc7.com/lack-of-resources-old-growth-forest-helped-bobcat-fire-spread/6518084/

No mention of parking aircraft.  What about the inversion layer and mylar balloons? 

My industry also uses the phrase "lack of resources"...in long form it's essentially admitting that they did not allocate their resources where the demand/fire danger was the greatest.  They are fully aware of fire danger areas, and should have been aware of weather conditions.  You use that to distribute your workforce.  By moving people out of an area and leaving so few resources you cannot stop a fire in a big fire liability area (apparently being defined by the FS as any kind of old growth forest), you in effect, allow any fire start to  grow out of control.  Having not enough people to stop a fire from getting out of control is the same as having no one to stop a fire start from growing out of control.  Even my company learned it's lesson and does predictive, forecasted workforce distribution based on a number of factors.  This information is easily available to the FS's GIS staff.   GIS people specialize in disaster prediction/planning - there are companies that do nothing but.  Now, I have also seen holidays catch leadership on "vacation mode" during disasters, and it slowed our response to natural disasters.  I'd look closely to see if anyone "checked out" for the holiday weekend.  And if the FS admits that they moved so many people out they could no longer stop a fire start in an old growth forest, did they reach out to their inter-agency partners to cover the imbalance *before* the fire started?  Did they station their remaining resources closer to danger zones, like the bottom of the now-gone old-growth Bear Canyon?  Did they shut down the forest pre-emptively?  Did they communicate their low-staffing to power companies so that they may issue pre-emptive power shut offs in the most dangerous areas?

SCE: The Bobcat Fire was reported in the vicinity of Cogswell Reservoir/Dam in the Angeles National Forest on Sunday, September 6, 2020 at 12:21 p.m. The Jarvis 12 kV circuit out of Dalton Substation experienced a relay operation at 12:16 p.m. on September 6, 2020. The Mt. Wilson East camera (wildfirealert.org) captured the initial stages of the fire with the first observed smoke as early as approximately 12:10 p.m., prior to the relay operation

And here is Edison's first opportunity to have their cameras pay off.  I've looked for a reference, but my understanding is that a "relay operation" is a temporary power cut to a circuit due to some kind of "disturbance" in the circuit.  A disturbance in this context can be a fire (smoke creates a path for electricity to travel and can cause arcing between lines), things like large birds, mylar balloons, branches, transformer failures, wind causing wires to bump each other, etc.  The key here is that SCE has video proof of smoke before their equipment was disturbed.  That, and the fact that there is a well travelled hiking trail where the fire started, on a holiday weekend in Azusa Canyon no less, leads me to believe Edison will win any kind of legal action.

Lastly, you can't tell me that with all of the foot traffic in the West Fork of Azusa canyon at noon on a holiday weekend that there is no video.  A buttload of people go there and no one has a cell phone and filmed any of it? In 2020?  A PERSON started that fire.