[UPDATE 1:22 p.m.] New Fire East of Fort Bragg
Smoke from the Bragg Fire rising through haze. [Image from an AlertWildfire Cam]
A number of firefighting resources were dispatched to the scene and the Incident Commander confirmed a fire is burning. It is currently 3-4 acres in size, burning in timber, and moving at a slow rate of spread.
The fire is specifically burning near Road 490A, a rural road alongside Highway 20
The Incident Commander first requested a hand crew from Willits attend to the fire and if unable, a mutual aid request will be established to bring in a hand crew from a nearby county.
But, a little after 11 a.m., additional resources from nearby fire districts including Mendocino Fire and Albion Fire were requested to respond to the Bragg Incident. The Incident Commander called for a water tender and a water tender driver.
Please remember that this story is unfolding. Information is being reported as we gather it. However, some of the information coming from witnesses and initial official reports could be wrong. We will do our best to get the facts but, in the case that something is inaccurate, we will update with correct information as soon as we can.
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In this ‘extreme fire danger’ year… they should roll Cal Fire on all wild land fires.
IMHO #1: Don’t fool around, call more fire support.
If you don’t need it… that’s fine, in that case, the fire crews just got a nice scenic drive.
Bozo in almost all cases of vegetation fires in California they do roll Cal-Fire on initial dispatch especially if it is in the State Responsibility Area or SRA… in rare cases they don’t its because it is in the Local Responsibility Area or LRA inside a Fire protection district or municipality. Or in the Federal Responsibility Area such as National Forest National Park or BLM land. but most of those have agreements to send the closest resource and then get their own engines and hand crews coming.
This is a good thought, but is not practical in the real world. In August of 2020, there were thousands of lightning strikes, that ignited roughly 700 wildfires throughout Northern California, of which about 80-90 were very large. There was not enough to go around, meaning administrators had to place resources where they were needed the most.
There were so many wildfires burning during this period, some were just left to burn. I’m sure there were a handful of wildfires so far out in the wilderness, that they were not even discovered right away.
They need to land on these fires like they were an illegal cannabis grow.
We got lucky this time but I remember seeing a fire race from Algua Dluce to Porter Ranch, a distance of almost forty miles in less than four hours.
These are some of the worst fire conditions I’ve ever seen. So bad I’ve made a spark arrestor for my charcoal chimney and I’ll be putting 5lb fire extinguishers in each of our vehicles.
I have relatives that are fire fighters. Forty miles in under 4 hours is impressive but if you throw in high winds, it can spread as fast as you can drive, and start spotting ahead of you.