Important Takeaways:
- A California utility shut off power in 12 counties in the northern part of the state as a major “diablo wind” — notorious in autumn for its hot, dry gusts — spiked the risk of power lines sparking a wildfire.
- About 13,000 customers woke up without electricity Friday after Pacific Gas and Electric shut off power.
- The “diablo wind” is forecast to cause sustained winds reaching 35 mph (56 kph) in many areas, with possible gusts topping 65 mph (104 kph) along mountaintops, according to the National Weather Service.
- The strong winds are expected to last through part of the weekend.
- A total of about 20,000 customers could lose power temporarily in the next couple of days, PG&E said in a statement Thursday.
- “This could end up being the most significant wind event for this year so far,” said meteorologist Brayden Murdock with the service’s Bay Area office. “We want to tell people to be cautious.”
- During a diablo wind, common in the fall, the air is so dry that relative humidity levels plunge, drying out vegetation and making it ready to burn.
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Important Takeaways:
- The Aug. 8, 2023, fire claimed at least 102 lives and destroyed over 2,000 structures in the historic town of Lahaina — making it one of the deadliest wildfires in U.S. history.
- The blaze, fueled by high winds and dry vegetation, rapidly spread as chaos overtook the town, sending some residents fleeing into the ocean and trapping others in their vehicles.
- In a nearly 300-page report released Wednesday from the County of Maui Department of Fire and Public Safety (MFD) and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), officials said the devastation was caused by a single fire that was believed to be extinguished but later reignited.
- “In sum, the origin and cause of the Lahaina fire is clear: the re-energization of broken power lines caused sparks that ignited unmaintained vegetation in the area,” MFD Chief Brad Ventura said during a news conference Wednesday.
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Important Takeaways:
- More than 100,000 people are under evacuation orders as several blazing wildfires continue to tear through parts of California.
- Apocalyptic scenes continue in San Bernardino County where the Line Fire has already caused 6,000 residents to flee.
- Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency after several days of triple-digit temperatures stoked the wildfire that burned so violently it created its own thunderstorm-like weather systems.
- As of Monday night, the Line Fire had charred more than 23,000 acres, with more than 36,000 structures under threat.
- Firefighters have been working in steep terrain and challenging conditions in temperatures above 100 degrees, limiting their ability to control the blaze.
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Important Takeaways:
- A dangerous heat wave will continue into midweek in much of the West as large wildfires burn out of control in several states, particularly California, Oregon and Washington.
- The heat wave has triggered warnings for millions in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Idaho. In addition, red flag warnings are in effect in many areas for dangerous fire weather conditions.
- The National Interagency Fire Center was tracking 60 uncontained large wildfires as of Sunday afternoon, most of them in the Northwest and Southwest.
- Several have exhibited extreme fire behavior, which makes them more difficult for firefighters to control. The Durkee Fire in eastern Oregon burned nearly 60,000 acres on Saturday alone, according to the National Interagency Fire Center, bringing its total to more than 100,000 acres.
- In California, the Hawarden Fire burned homes in Riverside, about 55 miles east of Los Angeles, prompting evacuations.
- All-time temperature records have been set or tied in the Northwest Territories, with other milestones falling in British Columbia as well.
- Extreme wildfire events during the past two decades more than doubled in frequency and magnitude globally, with the six worst seasons occurring during the past seven years, a study published last month found.
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Important Takeaways:
- More than two dozen are still missing in New Mexico wildfires as residents allowed to return
- As the search for more victims continues, residents of Ruidoso, New Mexico, were allowed to enter the village Monday for the first time since a pair of wildfires converged on the community, causing massive destruction.
- Two people were confirmed dead and 29 identified as missing as of Monday, Crawford said. A large section of the village where searches continue has been designated a “no entry” or “exclusion” zone, he added.
- The South Fork and Salt Fires, which began last week, have destroyed more than 25,000 acres, with the South Fork Fire 37% contained and the Salt Fire 7% contained, according to the Southwest Area Incident Management Team. More than 1,000 firefighting personnel are battling the wildfires, and FBI special agents are helping figure out what started them.
- The fires keep burning as the nation grapples this week with more extreme heat – the deadliest form of weather globally and one that makes wildfires more likely and destructive.
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Important Takeaways:
- Homes now threatened as LA wildfire grows to 15,000 acres and 1,200 are evacuated
- The blaze, nicknamed the Post Fire, started on Saturday afternoon in Gorman, an hour north of Los Angeles, and quickly rose to a 3rd alarm brush fire as it engulfed 500 acres and threatened structures. By Monday morning, the blaze had grown to 15,610 acres, with some 50 homes being threatened.
- Over the weekend, authorities evacuated residents who live in Hungry Park Lake, as crews worked to construct perimeter fire lines around the blaze.
- Airtankers were also working to stop forward progress but had limited visibility as the fire moved southeast toward Lake Pyramid. The lake was subsequently closed as firefighters worked to battle the flames.
- By Monday, authorities reported that the fire was eight percent contained. No fatalities have been reported in connection with the blaze but one person has been injured.
- An evacuation order remains in effect for Hungry Valley Park and Pyramid Lake
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Important Takeaways:
- Texas earthquakes and wildfires are rivaling those of California
- February was a wild time for Texas, with potentially record-breaking earthquakes in South Texas, record-setting fires blazing the Texas Panhandle while snow blanketed the region, and dry and unseasonably warm conditions for much of the state.
- In just the last month, Texas saw two earthquakes reach a Magnitude 4 or higher. In fact, the February 17 earthquake that shook South Central Texas — there were reports even in San Antonio despite the epicenter being tied to Falls City — was a Magnitude 4.7
- Rubinstein told MySA this would be the largest human-induced earthquake in U.S. history if it’s tied to the fracking industry. That determination could take up to six months to make.
- While wildfires certainly get a lot more attention in California… Texas really has much larger and more frequent wildfires according to data compiled by their respective state agencies.
- According to data compiled by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, there were about 137 wildland fires so far this year, which have burned a total of 265 acres, and a total of 235 in last year which ignited 89 acres. This pales in comparison to the sheer volume of fires burning Texas plains in February alone
- As of Friday, March 1, the deadly and devastating Smokehouse Creek Fire has nearly ignited 1.1 million acres in the Texas Panhandle, breaking not only the record for the largest fire in Texas history but surpassing California’s largest fire on record — the August Complex Fire which burned 1,032,648 acres in 2020, according to data from Reuters.
- And that’s not the only notable fire that ignited in February.
- In fact, data from the Texas A&M Forest Service shows there were a whopping 12,411 wildfires in Texas in 2022 that burned more than 650,000 acres. In 2023, there were 7,530 that charred over 205,000 acres.
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Important Takeaways:
- Out-of-control wildfires scorch Texas Panhandle and briefly shut down nuclear weapons facility
- A series of wildfires swept across the Texas Panhandle early Wednesday, prompting evacuations, cutting off power to thousands, and forcing the brief shutdown of a nuclear weapons facility as strong winds, dry grass and unseasonably warm temperatures fed the blazes.
- Republican Gov. Greg Abbott issued a disaster declaration for 60 counties as the main blaze, the Smokehouse Creek Fire, swelled into the second-largest wildfire in the state’s history. The main facility that disassembles America’s nuclear arsenal paused operations Tuesday night but said it was open for normal work on Wednesday.
- Authorities have not said what might have caused the blaze, which tore through sparsely populated counties set amid vast, high plains punctuated by cattle ranches and oil rigs.
- The National Weather Service issued red flag warnings and fire danger alerts for several other states through the midsection of the country, as high winds of over 40 mph (64 kph) combined with warm temperatures, low humidity and dry winter vegetation to make conditions ripe for wildfires.
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Important Takeaways:
- Tenerife firefighters stabilize huge wildfire after nine days
- Firefighters have stabilized a huge wildfire that has burned for 10 days on Tenerife, ravaging thousands of acres of woodland on the largest of the Canary Islands, authorities said late on Thursday.
- There was a risk that hotspots inside the fire’s perimeter, which spread to around 90 km (56 miles), could still reignite, “especially in the central hours of the day,” the island’s emergency services said on the social platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Teams were working to contain those.
- The fire, which started on Aug. 15, has destroyed about 15,000 hectares (37,000 acres)
- Elsewhere in Europe, firefighters have been tackling devastating blazes in Greece, Italy and Portugal, driven by searing temperatures and dry and windy conditions…
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Important Takeaways:
- Maui County Sues Hawaiian Electric for Causing Wildfire Through Negligence
- President Joe Biden’s administration has explicitly blamed climate change for the blaze, with senior “clean energy” adviser John Podesta going further and touting Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act as the solution. But it turns out that the spread of alien, invasive grass species on abandoned farmland was a major factor in providing fuel for the blaze that destroyed the town of Lahaina, and local authorities are placing immediate blame on the local power company.
- The Wall Street Journal reported:
- Maui County filed a lawsuit … in state Second Circuit Court in Hawaii against Hawaiian Electric and its subsidiaries on Maui, alleging the company failed to maintain the electrical system and power grid during a windstorm that lashed the island, resulting in three different fires that erupted on Aug. 8.
- The lawsuit claims that the utility, known as HECO, acted negligently by not pre-emptively cutting power despite a warning the prior day from the National Weather Service of high winds and temperatures, along with low humidity—prime conditions for a wildfire. It also says HECO’s failure to maintain its system led to energized, downed power lines causing the fires.
- The utility has also been faulted for spending money on “green” energy alternatives rather than in improving the safety of its transmission network, which had been identified as a potential source of wildfire risk in the recent past.
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