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NORTH COAST, Calif. – Firefighters made additional programs on a two-fire complex burning in northern Mendocino County on Monday.
The lightning-caused North Pass Fires had burned 42,144 acres by Monday, with firefighters reaching 60 percent containment.
Cal Fire and US Forest Service officials anticipate the fires – burning near Mendocino Pass Road, 10 miles northeast of Covelo – will be fully contained by Monday, Sept. 10.
Firefighter and equipment resources gradually are being released from the incident, officials reported.
Fire personnel assigned on Monday totaled 1,372, including 54 engines, 14 fire crews, two airtankers, 14 helicopters, eight bulldozers and 30 water tenders, according to the Cal Fire and US Forest Service unified command.
On Monday firefighters continued to build containment line on the north end of the incident as it backed down the steep slopes to the Middle Fork of the Eel River. The fires have reached the Eel River on the northeast side and are remaining on the west side of the river.
Officials said fire crews have prepared several containment lines on the east side in case the fires move across the Eel River. Fire lines are holding along the south and west fire perimeter and crews have begun fire suppression repair in this area.
Evacuations remain in effect for some areas of Indian Dick Road (Forest Road M-1) and Mendocino Pass Road (Forest Highway 7), according to the report.
All areas of the Covelo Ranger District north of Mendocino Pass Road to the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forest boundaries also remain under a US Forest Closure order.
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As wildfires continue to burn throughout California, a new documentary video released by the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) takes viewers behind the scenes with the governor’s top emergency managers as they direct state resources and help firefighters keep one step ahead of the flames.
Officials say it’s not often that people get to see what’s happening behind the scenes when flames dominate news headlines at the most spectacular wildfires.
“It’s important for people to see what the top emergency management leaders are faced with, especially when there’s such a complex emergency management system operating behind the scenes,” said Kelly Huston, Assistant Secretary of Cal EMA and producer of the video. “Our goal was to take viewers along to see some of the inner-workings of incident briefings, strike team strategy and the state’s mutual aid system at work on a real incident.”
The video, titled “No Time to Burn,” includes breathtaking images of several of this year’s wildfires, including point-of-view aerial footage from specially-equipped California National Guard Black Hawk helicopters dropping hundreds of gallons of water on flames.
It also takes viewers along with Cal EMA Secretary Mark Ghilarducci, California National Guard General David Baldwin and CAL FIRE Director Ken Pimlott as they visit a special “helitack base” near the massive Ponderosa Fire in Tehama County.
There’s also footage from a strategy session with federal and state coordinators at a regional emergency operations center in Redding, Calif.
Officials also included an interview with two residents of Manton, Calif., who were evacuated from their homes, expressing the grim reality of destruction caused by the Ponderosa Fire.
Cal EMA is responsible for the coordination of overall state agency response to major disasters in support of local government.
The agency is responsible for assuring the state’s readiness to respond to and recover from all hazards – natural, manmade, war-caused emergencies and disasters – and for assisting local governments in their emergency preparedness, response, recovery, and hazard mitigation efforts.
Visit them online at www.calema.ca.gov or @calema on Twitter and get the latest news at www.calemanews.wordpress.com . Watch additional videos from Cal EMA – http://www.youtube.com/CalEMATV .
California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. has directed the California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA) to send personnel with specialized technical skills to Louisiana to help those impacted recover from the effects of Hurricane Isaac.
Three employees from Cal EMA and one from Department of General Services (DGS) with IT and telecommunications expertise are traveling to the Baton Rouge area today to setup computer banks that will enable displaced survivors to apply for various types of assistance.
The team from California will be working for the next 14 days setting up these systems in nine parishes in the region hit hardest by Isaac.
“Even though Isaac has passed, the effects will be felt for a long time by those who were forced from their homes by damaging winds and flooding,” said Cal EMA Secretary Mark Ghilarducci. “California knows all to well the impact of disasters on people’s lives and the importance of focusing on the long-term needs of those struggling to recover.”
Uncomfortably high temperatures above 100 degrees continue in much of Louisiana as thousands remain displaced, relying on dozens of open shelters for food, clothing and assistance.
Local, state and federal officials are now focused on long term recovery efforts and providing those impacted with greater access to services and assistance.
The deployment of California’s team came at the request of the Louisiana Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness – who will reimburse California for personnel, travel and other costs.
They requested personnel with experience in a variety of disciplines including PC LAN, mobile satellite systems, data configuration and support switches, laptop support, Metro E Connections, T-1 Lines and DSL wireless networks.
Louisiana’s request came through a special system setup for state-to-state requests for help. Requests such as this are facilitated through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC).
This compact offers assistance during governor-declared states of emergency through a responsive, straightforward system that allows states to send personnel, equipment and commodities to help disaster relief efforts in other states.
Benefits to deploying resources through EMAC allows credentials, licenses and certifications be honored across state lines and leverages federal grant dollars for reimbursement purposes, both of which assist in eliminating a level of bureaucracy that could significantly delay response time.
Since the dawn of the Space Age, mission planners have tried to follow one simple but important rule: Stay out of the van Allen Belts.
The two doughnut-shaped regions around Earth are filled with “killer electrons,” plasma waves, and electrical currents dangerous to human space travelers and their spacecraft. Lingering is not a good idea.
So much for the old rules. NASA has launched two spacecraft directly into the radiation belts--and this time they plan to stay a while.
NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes blasted off from Cape Canaveral on August 30th, 2012. Bristling with sensors, the heavily-shielded spacecraft are on a 2-year mission to discover what makes the radiation belts so dangerous and so devilishly unpredictable.
“We’ve known about the Van Allen Belts for decades yet they continue to surprise us with unexpected storms of ‘killer electrons’ and other phenomena,” said mission scientist David Sibeck, “The Storm Probes will help us understand what’s going on out there.”
When the radiation belts were discovered in 1958, they upended orthodox ideas.
Most people assumed the space around Earth was empty. America’s first satellite, Explorer 1, proved otherwise.
The tiny spacecraft was equipped with a Geiger tube for counting energetic protons and electrons. Circling Earth, Explorer 1 found so many charged particles that the counter registered off-scale most of the time.
Back in the 1950s the radiation belts had little effect on ordinary people. Today they are crucial to our high-tech society.
Hundreds of satellites used for everything from weather prediction to GPS to television routinely skim the belts, subjecting themselves to energetic particles that can damage solar panels and short-circuit sensitive electronics.
During geomagnetic storms when the belts are swollen by solar activity, whole fleets of satellites can be engulfed, imperiling the technological underpinnings of daily life on the planet below.
“The Radiation Belt Storm Probes directly address these down-to-Earth problems,” said Lika Guhathakurta, the lead program scientist of NASA’s Living with a Star Program, which manages the mission. “RBSP is a unique mix of pure science and practical application.”
One of the biggest mysteries of the radiation belts is the crazy way they react to solar storms. “Almost anything can happen,” said Sibeck.
When a storm cloud from the sun hits the radiation belts, they often respond in counterintuitive ways.
One possible outcome is that the radiation belts fill with energetic particles such as the potent “killer electrons” that worry mission planners.
However, just as often the opposite happens. A solar storm can cause the belts to lose their killer particles, temporarily making them a safer place. And sometimes nothing happens! The belts remain completely unchanged.
“The problem is, there is no unified idea of what phenomena are most important inside the belts,” said Sibeck.
He describes attending scientific conferences on the subject: “If there are 100 people at a meeting, there will be 100 different answers for every question. How are killer electrons energized? Some say plasma waves do it; others point to solar wind shocks; others favor diffusion. The list goes on and on.”
Researchers hope RBSP will narrow the possibilities. During storms, the probes can sample electric and magnetic fields, count the number of energetic particles, and detect plasma waves of many frequencies.
The inner workings of the Van Allen Belts will be an open book to the two spacecraft, providing data for predictive models that tell forecasters when it’s safe to enter the belts, perform spacewalks, and operate sensitive electronics.
“The Van Allen Belts are part of our home in space,” added Guhathakurta. “RBSP will help us learn how to live there.”
So much for the old rules, indeed.
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A video of the funeral service for a fallen Kelseyville soldier is available for viewing online.
The service for Sgt. Richard Essex, 23, was held Saturday morning at the Kelseyville High School football field.
An estimated 1,500 people attended the service to pay their respects to the young man.
Essex, who graduated from Kelseyville High School in 2008, was serving as a Black Hawk helicopter door gunner when his helicopter was shot down over Afghanistan’s Kandahar province on Thursday, Aug. 16. Ten others also died in the crash.
The video was produced by McKenzie Paine of Velocity Video, with contributions from John Jensen of Lake County News.
LAKEPORT, Calif. – A wildland fire complex burned nearly 500 more acres in northern Mendocino County on Sunday, with officials reporting that a helicopter was damaged during operations the previous day.
The North Pass Fires had burned a total of 41,340 acres by Sunday, with containment remaining at 58 percent, according to a report from the unified command of Cal Fire and the US Forest Service.
The two fires, caused by lightning and burning since early on Saturday, Aug. 18, are located in the Williams Valley 10 miles northeast of Covelo.
Containment is expected on Monday, Sept. 10, the US Forest Service reported.
A Sunday night US Forest Service report said a helicopter was damaged during a routine water drop on Saturday afternoon.
Due to smoky conditions, the helicopter hit a dead tree, damaging its rotor blades. The report said the helicopter remained operational and landed safely near Howard Lake. No one was hurt and the crew was flown out in another helicopter. The Forest Service said new helicopter blades will be flown in to repair the damaged aircraft.
The number of personnel assigned to the incident was rolled back by more than 400 to 1,275 on Sunday. Nearly two-thirds of the engines assigned were reduced, with 63 engines remaining on scene, along with 10 fire crews, two airtankers, 17 helicopters, 12 bulldozers and 29 water tenders, unified command reported.
Officials said the fire is backing down to the Middle Fork of the Eel River on the northeast side and slowly advancing downslope to the north in the Yolla Bolly Middle Eel Wilderness.
Damage assessment of private property is ongoing; so far 16 structures have been destroyed, according to the report.
Fire lines continue are continuing to hold on the south end of the fire and crews were conducting burnouts to improve fire lines. The Forest Service report said there was one small spot on the southeastern perimeter but firefighters were able to put it out with help from water-dropping helicopters.
Officials said evacuations remained in effect for all areas north of the Forest Service gate at Boardman Ridge Campground on Indian Dick Road (Forest Road M-1), and all areas east of Benchmark 2444 to Forest Road M-4 on Mendocino Pass Road (Forest Highway 7).
A closure order continues to cover all areas of the Covelo Ranger District north of Mendocino Pass Road to the Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forest boundaries.
Email Elizabeth Larson at