Day Wildland Fire information websites

PaulYoes · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Pinon Pines

Here's some useful sites for the Day Wildland Fire.

http://www.inciweb.org/incident/475/
This is the official site and is updated about twice a day. Unfortunately they seem to have server problems right now as the site is down quite a bit.

http://geomac.usgs.gov/viewer/viewer.htm
This is the best site I've found. It's a Java based viewer that shows a better map of the fire perimeter than the Inciweb site. You can zoom in/out and it shows road in detail when you zoom in. It does take a few seconds to load, so be patient-- it's a lot of data to load.
After the viewer loads (you may get security warnings from your web browser-- just OK them), select "DAY CA" from the "Jump to Wildfire:" pulldown menu on the top right. It might take 10 seconds to load but you'll eventually get a map showing the fire perimeter in orange. On the "Map Layers" list on the right side, check the checkbox under "Visible" column for "MODIS Thermal Satellite" and then hit "Refresh Map" at the bottom. This will bring up the latest satellite thermal imaging and will show the active areas of burning and what's burned in the last 12 and 24 hours. This is a far better tool than the Inciweb site for seeing what the fire is doing.
NOTE: If you zoom in too far where the scale strip at the bottom is showing less than about 10-12 miles, the MODIS layer will dissappear. Just zoom back out a bit and it'll reappear.

http://sat.wrh.noaa.gov/satellite/satloop.php?wfo=lox&type=vis&size=1
This is a high resolution visible satellite loop of SoCal. it shows about the last two hours and for obvious reasons just shows black at night. This is really handy for seeing where the smoke is going.

http://www.met.utah.edu/cgi-bin/roman/meso_base.cgi?stn=CUUC1&time=PT
This site gives the weather at Chuchupate Ranger Station on Lockwood Valley road. The winds seem to be fairly indicitive of what the general winds are in the area. There are also other sites that provide this info as well so if you Google a bit, you can find it in different formats.

Hope this helps everyone out a bit. If anyone else has any other useful sites or info, please post 'em here.
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Paul Yoes

chaz · Joined: 26 Sep 2006 Posts: 2

Paul,
Thanks for your great web links regarding the Day fire. What's your thought about the direction of the fire and our community? I am getting really nervous...

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

I just called the Ventura County Sheriff who said that the fire has only jumped Lockwood Valley to the north and is heading towards boyscout camp road and is near the sheriff's substation out there. He said he didn't think it was too close to Pinon Pines and that they do have helicopters and fire fighters working on it out there.

I've overlayed the streets with the thermal imaging from the GEOMAC site. This is a little outdated now considering the fire has jumped Lockwood Valley road, but I made a red x near the sheriff's substation and a blue x where Pinon Pines is so you can kind of see how far it would be from Pinon Pines.

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~Melissa Yoes

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

This camera is on the west side of Cuddy Valley looking east towards Frazier Park. Frazier Park is in the notch in the mountains just to the right of the center of the image.

Click here: http://www.frazmtn.com/cuddycam/

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

There is a Precautionary Evacuation in place for Pinon Pines which means that you should pack your important things and be ready to evacuate if necessary. My neighbor just got back from the info center and was told that the fire is well established in the area near the boyscout camp road.
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~Melissa Yoes

PaulYoes · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Pinon Pines

http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Select RealTime at the top of the page then just look through the thumbnails to find the SoCal one. After you get into their viewer, select the 250m resolution on the left side. This is a fairly good image to work from and appears to be the most current data although it does not show the fire perimeter overlayed on the image.
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Paul Yoes

PaulYoes · Joined: 16 Jul 2004 Posts: 6 Location: Pinon Pines

We're getting quite a bit of ash falling including some that's 1/2"+ in size. All of it appears to be cold though. The smoke is over us but the fire appears to be moving along a southeast-northwest line and is currently to the southwest of us. This coincides with official information at the moment as wel.

So far it doesn't look like many people are leaving but many people (at least on the south side of Pinon Pines) have started loading important items into their vehicles. The general concensus among our immediate neighbors is that we'll stay unless the fire appears to be moving directly south of Pinon Pines.

Let's all hope the wind stays light or better yet starts coming from the northwest to blow the fire back on itself.
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Paul Yoes

chaz · Joined: 26 Sep 2006 Posts: 2

Does anyone know if any home/structure has been damaged by the fire in the Lockwood area?

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

Our neighbor who was working on the fire line out in Lockwood Valley said that a barn burned but he didn't know of any thing else having burned. He also said that the fire is just around the corner past the TXI plant. His opinion was that it wouldn't reach Pinon Pines tonight. Maybe in the next day and a half. It's heading more towards PMC.
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~Melissa Yoes

mimi · Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Posts: 3 Location: pinion pines

Hello neighbors~
We moved up here from Santa Clarita on labor day and we dont know anyone up here yet. Is anyone still at home? From what it looks like, most of the residents on our block have evacuated. Just trying to get an idea of whether it is still safe for us here. If things worsen, will a sherrif come to the area, or is this the "final call" for people to leave?
Hoping to meet the members of this community soon- we were active with our HOA in Santa Clarita and plan on doing the same here and getting to know everyone once this fire situation is remedied.
Mimi

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

Hi Mimi, We're at 808 Sutter Ct. here (feel free to come by later) I know of one family that left. But we're still here along with our neighbors ready to do what we can if the fire comes closer. We've packed and rigged up sprinklers to hose down any sparks that might land on our wood decks. The roof should be fine since it's tar.

I know there was a lot of panic and rumours spreading yesterday but our neighbor who was working on a fire break down in Lockwood Valley said he didn't think it would get here untill possibly later today, tomorrow, or maybe not at all depending on how the winds are of course.

There are a lot of good links posted previously here that my husband found to help you see what's going on. I also called the sheriff to get better info. We never actually had someone come to our door to tell us to evacuate... or on our street for that matter, but I kept hearing that they were doing that.

We'll probably stay untill it gets too smoky or too many embers. We've got a pretty good view from here and this morning it's calm again. I'm sure it will pick up in a few hours but hopefully with the smoke blowing away!

Don't worry, It's not usually this exciting here Wink

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~Melissa Yoes

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

The sheriff just came by to give the Recommended Evacuation. We signed a paper so that they know we were notified. We're still staying here along with our neighbors. They recommended that if we do leave to leave a note on the door with our cell phone numbers in case they need to contact us.
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~Melissa Yoes

mimi · Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Posts: 3 Location: pinion pines

Thanks for the reply, Melissa, A sheriff just drove past our house to the end of our cul de sac (snowbird). I have a feeling they're going gdoor to door here too. What a scary situation to be in. I'll post if they come by.
Thanks Again~ Mimi

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

We're relieved to have our own fire crew and engine on our street now. The wind is still blowing away from Pinon Pines towards the South West. Wind higher up is blowing the opposite way which is causing the smoke to start to creap over again.
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~Melissa Yoes

mvaughn · Joined: 15 May 2004 Posts: 32 Location: Pinon Pines

Please tell everyone you know about the "What Does It Mean To Come Home?" Meeting at 10:00 a.m. tomorrow, Saturday, at Frazier Mountain High School. We need to spread the word widely and quickly. Last night, Day Fire Incident Command Staff and the Mountain Communities Town Council asked The Mountain Enterprise to help arrange a meeting and to get the word out. You can help. Please forward this to your friends, family, neighbors and colleagues. And please come so you can ask your questions and help inform others.

The fire is NOT OUT as it enters its 25th day. It will not be out for quite some time yet. Below is a satellite map of the Day fire Thursday night, at 9:30 p.m.. You can see containment about 5 to 7 miles from Pine Mountain, Pinon Pines, Lake of the Woods and Frazier Park, but with some active burning inside the perimeter. Recommended evacuation has been downgraded to precautionary. What does that mean for your return Please come to the meeting at 10:00 a.m. Saturday to ask your questions. [Frazier Mountain High School is on Peace Valley Road, right turn from Flying J, then right again at Falcon Way; there is ample parking].

Thank you for your help. Let's get the word out...then let's plan the "Welcome Home" party!
Patric Hedlund

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~Melissa Yoes