Hwy 20 recloses & fire in Mazama

[pasayten]

WSDOT

As of 9 a.m. Wednesday, August 30 SR 20 has REOPENED in both directions between Newhalem (milepost 120) and the Silver Star Campground (milepost 171) after another multi-day closure due to the Sourdough and Blue Lake Fires. Thanks to our partners and maintenance crews, as well as the Incident Management Teams, the National Park Service and the US Forest Service for helping reopen the highway once again. Huge thanks also to all of the responders and firefighters involved in these fires and all travelers for their continued patience. Reminder: The road is open for through-travel only and drivers should refrain from stopping along the highway - as crews are still actively fighting the Sourdough and Blue Lake fires. A pilot car will direct traffic between Rainy Pass (MP 158) and Blue Lake Trailhead parking lot (MP 162) until further notice. The road will remain open when pilot car operations are not in place. Please check the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service websites for details about trailhead, camping and recreation closures. This remains an active fire area, so a reminder, the road CAN CLOSE AGAIN with little notice based on fire behavior firefighting mitigation strategies or weather. Folks are encouraged to plan ahead for unexpected closures and travel delays.

[pasayten]

Airfire was the first smoke modeling system, right; BlueSkyRains?

Yes

[PAL]

Burn out operation did get out of control however.

[mister_coffee]

I had suspected as much (heat signatures from the smoke plume). Though some of the errors were suspiciously consistent and looked (to me) like GIS coordinate displacement errors.

[just-jim]

.
Id forgotten you worked on ‘airfire’, Ray! i think we spoke about it a while back.

I recall talking extensively with Margaret Petersen (?) of that team….must of been about 2003….when we had some big fires in the Pasayten, and she was trying to tweak the models with the best info from the ground.

Airfire was the first smoke modeling system, right; BlueSkyRains?

[pasayten]

Jim...

You are correct that heat in plumes can cause "false positives" of suspected fire on the ground. Great for scanning large areas though, but do need human intervention and other data input sources for actual confirmation. Great for data to input into predictive fire/weather models.

I worked with the USFS Airfire Team in Seattle the last 10 years of my career at the USEPA. Project was called Bluesky and involved using models to map predictive smoke dispersion and weather components for the future 48-72 hours depending on scale. Very interesting work.

https://www.airfire.org/data/bluesky

Example of modeling and mapping of data output...
https://a.atmos.washington.edu/wrfrt/gfsinit.html
https://a.atmos.washington.edu/wrfrt/rt ... q.html#4km
https://tools.airfire.org/airtools/v1/p ... 9.5&zoom=6 (turn on HMS Smoke Plumes)

Smoke and AQI forecast...
https://wasmoke.blogspot.com/p/forecasts.html

[just-jim]

.
I haven’t kept up with the technology over the last few years,,,,

But, I did get to discuss mapping, IR photography, GIS, etc with a bunch of fire behavior and mapping experts in years past.

One reason the ‘on-line’ services like caltopo, etc don’t always get it right, and especially sometimes make fires appear larger, or more haphazard than they really are - or having ‘escaped’ when they really haven’t; they are using raw data layers from infrared satellite passes. This data haven’t been ‘truthed’ by any human eyes, I’d suspect.

One thing that happens is that the ‘heat signature’ of a satellite picture, depending on time of day, etc can pick up heat, ash, embers, etc that are entrained in the plume from a larger fire. Of course, the larger the fire, the higher chance there is that this is happening.

The BEST info, mapping and interpretation is done by actual Infrared flights. Nightly, during the western fire season, there are one or more twin-engined - or jet - aircraft that fly ‘major’ fires….at 20-30,000’ with IR cameras in their bellies. That data is then reviewed by human ‘IR interpreters’…and the fire perimeters, acreages, etc are forwarded on.

I recall coming into the Winthrop airport around 4 am on the morning of large fire and finding an ‘interpreter’ pouring over film negatives that had been taken, developed on board, and dropped here. Of course, now it’s a bit more sophisticated!

It used to be kind of a crap-shoot, too. They couldnt take pictures thru clouds, heavy rain, etc. When I was on a Incident Management Team (IMT), it’s was always a big disappointment to get up for an early morning briefing and hear the Fire Behavior person… “sorry, no new perimeter info - rain/clouds/too many other higher priority fires/mechanical issues with the a/c - we got no flight last night”

But, yeah…heat IS in smoke plumes…
.

[PAL]

Yes, this is true of Caltopo. Other sites showing alot of spotting on Whistler Mtn. Off to Incweb I go.
Inciweb verifies the "slop over" that occured yesterday. Fire perimeter bigger over there. 961 acres now for the total.

[mister_coffee]

...
The smoke & heat signatures can be misleading so best to wait for the official reports.

If by "misleading" you mean "displaced by hundreds of meters and sometimes displaced by kilometers" I agree with you.

[Rideback]

Caltopo doesn't work for me.
The smoke & heat signatures can be misleading so best to wait for the official reports.

[PAL]

Go to Caltopo. Looks like Blue Lk fire spotted over to the Rainy Lk area. On the trail to Rainy Lk. Hmm.

[Rideback]

From Fire Dist 6 FB page on the Mazama fire Sat.
Saturday evening just before 6 pm, firefighters from Mazama, Winthrop and Twisp responded to a reported structure fire spreading to trees on Emerson Road near the Mazama airport. The Mazama engine arrived first and quickly knocked down a fully involved 5th wheel trailer, a storage shed, 2 vehicles and burning trees next to the shed. More engines, water tenders and firefighters arrived, extinguishing the intense fire which completely destroyed the trailer and shed, plus destroyed the vehicles as well as everything inside.
The owner had noticed smoke, ran to the 5th wheel, opened the door to find the small kitchen on fire which quickly engulfed the ceiling, spreading throughout the interior. When he realized a garden hose was no match for the growing flames, he called 911.
There were no injuries but the owner's daughter, who had been staying in the trailer, lost everything except for what she was wearing, her two dogs and her vehicle. Due to quick action on everyone's part and very little wind at the time of the fire, it was confined to the area around the structures.

[PAL]

Facebook says it is contained and was limited to the structure.
In the meantime, looks like Blue Lk. fire spread a bit according to Caltopo and this. I don't have time to copy and paste the Caltopo that is posted. Just go to Caltopo. It's easy.

ALERT: SR 20 North Cascades Highway is now once again CLOSED between Newhalem (milepost 120) and Silver Star Campground (milepost 171, east end winter closure gate) as of 3:30 p.m. Saturday, August 26 due to multiple wildfires near the highway. There is no ETA for reopening. As we said the last few days, unexpected closures are always possible given the nature of these fires. Our crews in partnership with the Incident Management Teams are on scene as active firefighting continues. Please do not disregard closures, they are in place for your safety and the safety of our crews and firefighters. Cross state travel is possible using US 2, US 12 or I-90.

Additional info on Blue Lk. It jumped containment lines. Well, there was some wind at our place up Twisp River today.

[Rideback]

Hwy 20 has been reclosed, you can go to the WSDOT website/Cascade Hwy page for details

Also, reporting coming in on a structural fire in Mazama.

08/26/23 1808
WAOWF-607
Wildfire
LOC - EMMERSON
Okanogan Co., Lost River
48.648895,- 120.503879
Mazama Community Club Building will be open for anyone that needs a place to go!
Mazama, Winthrop, Twisp toned to Lost River Airport community, full structure fire and catching trees on fire.