[UPDATE 3:40 p.m.: Forward Progress Stopped] Firefighters Converge on Escaped Controlled Burn on Ukiah’s South End
Smoke rises from the Fircrest Fire in this screenshot of the ALERTCalifornia Cow Mt. Camera
Originally report around 2:46 p.m. located in the area of Oak Knoll Road and Fircrest Drive, when firefighters got to the scene they described the fire as terrain driven, having a slow rate of spread, and between 1-2 acres in size.
By 3:10 p.m., the fire had been reduced to three-quarter acres in size and units were being asked to stage.
Firefighting fixed-wing aircraft were initially deployed by canceled as ground resources work to control the perimeter. A helicopter is above the fire actively observing its behavior.
The Mendocino County Sheriff’s Office issued the following situational awareness message to the community:
Situational Awareness: Wildfire in the Ukiah area, near Oak Knoll Rd and Fircrest Dr, No further action needed at this time, Use caution and avoid the area.
Screenshot from FlightRadar shows flightpath of the helicopter circling over the fire.
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.
UPDATE 3:40 p.m.: Firefighters stopped forward progress. They have gotten hose around the fire. Smoke is dissipating on the Cow Mt. camera.
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Jeez… controlled burn in June on a windy day. Who are the geniuses that sign off on this? It’s been known since prehistory that you burn in the fall when RAIN is coming. Not June.
Yea. Definitely not a good idea to burn in June.
Prescribed burns accomplish different goals at different times of the year. Late-spring/early summer burns target growing plants and typically need to be hot enough to kill small shrubs to be effective. Fall burns are more effective for dealing with debris that has had the summer to cure.
Both periods have challenges. In the Spring/early summer you have to time it to get the burn just after the grass and herbaceous plants have started to lose their moisture or it won’t burn but you want to get it in early enough that you don’t hit the peak of low humidities and winds with high temperatures of mid-late summer. If you wait until fall, the plants are dormant and you won’t have the same effect on them.
Prescribed fire is a challenge no doubt, but it’s an important tool with a number of risks involved — weather forecasts aren’t perfect, fuel conditions can be varied within the same burn area, and the people conducting the burns have different levels of risk tolerance or avoidance.
Bottom line, spring/summer burns are important to accomplish specific goals. This doesn’t sound like a major escape but every fire has a potential to get away from the prescription.
Not buying it. There is too much education and not enough common sense here, and maybe too much profit motive. I’m speaking generally about fire management.
The last few years we have had ‘fire fest’ here in willow creek. Huge camps of firefighters, mostly independent contractors, camping out and making big bucks from local fires. I know we all want to ‘support fire fighters’ and all that. But there is an inverse incentive being created, and it’s becoming obvious to many that the goal isn’t to put out the fires.
Put the control back into the local hands, make it a government business, take the profiteers out of the equation, and put the fires out quicker.
Are you that guy who thinks he can smell bigfoot?
You do not have to “buy it” for it to be true.
Get off the internet and educate yourself. As it stand you just sound like a fool.
What’s the weather been like around Ukiah? It’s been cloudy and rainy in much of humboldt. Perfect time for a controlled burn to take out some of the prodigious grass growth
Mendocino County has been consistently windy for at least 2 weeks.
Smokey says… “stupid is as stupid does forest!”
The time for “controlled” burns should be past.
Why is there no mention of whether or not there were people on scene monitoring this fire? Were all other conditions being met?
More information please
2nd !
Let’s hear some details of who planned what? Why it was done this time of year, and how this operation was planned and managed.
Donate to RBB and Kim will be able to put more time into investigations.
Controlled burns have a burn plan approved by CAL FIRE and a smoke management plan approved by NCUAQMD. Up in Humboldt these burns are mostly conducted by folks with lots of training and suitable equipment; most of them volunteering their time.
It only takes one mistake to create a lot of damage. I remember the one last year here that was done in 80 degree weather with winds rising and forecast to get worse. That was done against the national association
guidelines yet commenters were all over about the need for such burns. I supposed it was approved too. This is not about all or none. It’s about when and where. Approved or not, unless the person is there at the time, despite the expense and need, there should be such burns canceled.
What “national association guidelines” are you referring to? And which SPECIFIC prescribed burn “last year here” escaped during “80 degree eather with winds rising and forecast to get worse”? I do not recall an escaped prescribed burn in this area last year.
You mention a lot of vagaries but conveniently neglect to give details.
Prescribed fire is about the details.
The fire didn’t escape. That wasn’t said. And convenience had nothing to do with it. If you read to understand instead of assume you would have noticed that.
https://kymkemp.com/2022/07/18/prescribed-burn-tuesday-west-of-redway/ was a prescribed burn on a day of over 80° with humidity under 25% and winds that were forecast to go up to 21 mph in that area.
It was just done against the mentioned standards.
https://prescribed-fire.extension.org/weather-conditions-for-controlled-burns/
As with many other words in our contemporary lexicon, “controlled” doesn’t mean what it used to.
Things change. It’s controlled until it’s out of control. Not the first time.
Thank you, firefighters for jumping on that fire and getting it under control quickly. You snuffed out what could have turned into big wildland fire. Well done!!!