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Monday, November 30, 2009

Fire Destroys Single Family Dwelling, Compton







Compton Firefighters took about 20 minutes to knock down a single family dwelling near the intersection of 134 street and Wilmington in the City of Compton last night. Aggressive interior attack along with vertical ventilation halted the fire to the rear portion of the structure which sustained substantial damage. The initial attack force was under the command of Deputy Chief Marcel Melanson who is also the star of a new television series featuring the Compton Fire Department.

Photos by Jeff Zimmerman, CEO Zimmerman Media LLC
www.socalfirejournal.com

Saturday, November 28, 2009

House Fire 1737 Autumnmist, Palmdale






An early morning house fire caused substantial damage to both the structure and contents at 1737 Autumn Mist in Palmdale. Upon arrival Engine 24 reported fire through the roof of a two story single family dwelling. Aggressive interior attack halted the fire to the structure of origin. Cause is under investigation by LA County Sheriff and Fire Investigators.

Photos Jeff Zimmerman

Thursday, November 26, 2009

50-60 Acres Burn in Orange County




A fast wind driven wildfire was halted along the 241 and 91 Freeways last night. Numerous strike teams in place at the fire.

1980 Panorama and Inaja wildfires

Title: 1980 Panorama Fire

Date: Tuesday November 24, 2009

Notes: On this date in 1980 a Santa Ana Wind driven firestorm raged in the hills above San Bernardino.
Seventy to ninety mile-an-hour winds pushed the 23,600-acre fire down into the city killing four people and destroying 280 homes, damaging 49 homes, and damaging or destroying 64 other structures causing over $40 million in damage.

Title: November 25, 1956 Inaja Fire

Location: Cleveland National Forest, San Diego County
Notes: At 8:05 P.M. on this date in 1956, a Santa Ana Wind-driven brush fire in the Cleveland National Forest in the San Diego County backcountry experienced a blow-up in one particular canyon that contained a dozen and a half firefighters in it.

Although one USFS employee and six inmate firefighters escaped, eleven firefighters did not and were burned alive when they became entrapped.

Killed were three USFS employees, one state corrections officer and seven inmate firefighters.

Ultimately, 43,611 acres were consumed.

On an ironic side-note, the 2003 Cedar Fire started about 1.5 miles from the location where these firefighters died.

More Santa Ana winds predicted for Saturday.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Physical Rescue, South Bound 14 Freeway South of Ave L, LACOFD






Los Angeles County Firefighters responded to a vehicle accident on the South Bound 14 Freeway just South of Ave L this morning at approximately 7:30 am in the Antelope Valley. Upon arrival firefighters found a large big rig and a passenger vehicle had collided and careened off the freeway onto a steep embankment. The driver was found entrapped inside the passenger vehicle. Additional truck companies were summoned to assist with the extrication as firefighters used hydraulic spreaders and cutters to free the victim from the wreckage. The extrication took approximately 20 minutes to free the driver who was in critical condition.

Photos Essay: Jeff Zimmerman, Zimmerman Media LLC for www.socalfirejournal.com

Monday, November 23, 2009

Fire Weather Watch, NE Winds Through Thanksgiving Day

...DRY OFFSHORE FLOW THROUGH THANKSGIVING...

.DISCUSSION...A NORTHERLY FLOW PATTERN WILL REMAIN IN PLACE ACROSS
THE AREA THROUGH TONIGHT. THE NORTH WINDS ARE EXPECTED TO INCREASE
LATER THIS AFTERNOON AND EVENING...ESPECIALLY THROUGH THE SANTA
YNEZ RANGE AND THE I-5 CORRIDOR. WIND GUSTS TO AROUND 50 MPH CAN BE
EXPECTED IN THE WINDIER SPOTS THROUGH MONDAY MORNING.

FOR MONDAY THROUGH THANKSGIVING...AN UPPER-LEVEL RIDGE WILL BUILD
OVER THE AREA WHILE NORTHEASTERLY FLOW DEVELOPS NEAR THE SURFACE.
AT THIS TIME...A WEAK TO LOCALLY MODERATE SANTA ANA WIND EVENT IS
ANTICIPATED WITH THE STRONGEST WINDS WEDNESDAY MORNING. AS THE
OFFSHORE FLOW DEVELOPS...TEMPERATURES WILL WARM TO ABOVE NORMAL
LEVELS EACH AFTERNOON THROUGH THANKSGIVING. AS FOR RELATIVE
HUMIDITY...THE OFFSHORE WINDS WILL DROP READINGS INTO THE TEENS
AND SINGLE DIGITS ACROSS INLAND AREAS...WITH POOR OVERNIGHT
RECOVERIES. THIS SITUATION WILL BE MONITORED CLOSELY AS CRITICAL
FIRE WEATHER CONDITIONS MAY BE POSSIBLE FROM TUESDAY THROUGH
THANKSGIVING. THE MAIN MITIGATING FACTOR WILL BE THE FUEL MOISTURE
WHICH HAS RISEN NOTICEABLY WITHIN THE LAST MONTH IN MANY AREAS.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Glendale Fire Academy Explorer Post 21 Graduates Sixteen Cadets








With the hope and dreams of becoming a professional firefighter, sixteen explorer cadets graduated Saturday from the Glendale Fire Academy. Class 21 faced rigorous challenges during their ten week academy. Team work and dedication was the theme of the day as the recruits proved their proficiency with live firefighting demonstrations in front of a crowd of approximately 100 family members. Applause rang from the crowd as each cadet received their certificate of completion.

On a sad not I was informed that my drill master Captain Bill Costello from the 1979 Glendale Fire Academy had passed away. These cadets however continue the excellent tradition that Captain Costello instilled in me 30 years ago at the very same training center: Honor, Respect and Devotion to Duty.

Special thanks to Kristen Kenefsky who shot digital images from the hydrant members position which allowed me to scale the tower and shoot from the roof of the drill tower.

Photos Jeff Zimmerman and Kristen Kenefsky:Copyright So Cal Fire Journal, Zimmerman Media LLC

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Traffic Collision Results in Two Acre Wildfire






A high speed traffic collision resulted in a 2 acre wildfire today in the Antelope Valley. A young female driver was reportedly driving at a high rate of speed when she lost control of her vehicle striking a power pole on Ave K at 90th street west. Upon arrival Engine 130 found a fast moving wind driven wildfire in grass resulting from the accident. Los Angeles County firefighters ordered a first alarm grass fire assignment and contained the fire in approximately 20 minutes. The driver was shaken as a result of the accident but was not transported to the hospital.

Photos Jeff Zimmerman

Monday, November 16, 2009

Wildfire Season Slowing in Calif:



A small wildfire was handled by LACOFD 131 today at 45 street east and Ave S.

HIGH PRESSURE CENTERED OVER THE GREAT BASIN IS SLOWLY WEAKENING BUT WAS CAPABLE OF BRINGING ANOTHER DAY OF VERY DRY RELATIVE HUMIDITIES ALONG WITH WEAK OFFSHORE WINDS TO MANY AREAS SOUTH OF PT. CONCEPTION TODAY. NUMEROUS STATIONS EXPERIENCED SEVERAL HOURS OF SUB-10 PERCENT RELATIVE HUMIDITY READINGS. FORTUNATELY LIVE FUEL
MOISTURES HAVE RISEN ABOVE CRITICAL LEVELS. NORTH OF PT. CONCEPTION ...NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES AND MORE TYPICAL ONSHORE BREEZES PREVAILED.

LAFD 26, House Fire 2300 Block of 12 Ave






LAFD Task Force 26 found a single family dwelling well involved upon arrival in the 2300 Block of 12 Ave. Firefighters made quick work of this fire.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Wildfire Los Padres National Forest



A fast moving wildfire was held to 7 acres today on the Los Padres National Forest near Lockwood Valley. Several helicopter and hotshot crews held the fire to the area of origin in the old Day burn. No structures were damaged. Two motorcycles were seen leaving the area of origin as crews arrived to attack the fire. The fire is suspicious in nature and is under investigation. Photos Jeff Zimmerman, Zimmerman Media LLC.

Climate Change and Fire Weather

Cave Study Links Climate Change To California Droughts:

Science Daily (Nov. 15, 2009) — California experienced centuries-long droughts in the past 20,000 years that coincided with the thawing of ice caps in the Arctic, according to a new study by UC Davis doctoral student Jessica Oster and geology professor Isabel Montañez.

The finding, which comes from analyzing stalagmites from Moaning Cavern in the central Sierra Nevada, was published online Nov. 5 in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

The sometimes spectacular mineral formations in caves such as Moaning Cavern and Black Chasm build up over centuries as water drips from the cave roof. Those drops of water pick up trace chemicals in their path through air, soil and rocks, and deposit the chemicals in the stalagmite.

"They're like tree rings made out of rock," Montañez said. "These are the only climate records of this type for California for this period when past global warming was occurring."

At the end of the last ice age about 15,000 years ago, climate records from Greenland show a warm period called the Bolling-Allerod period. Oster and Montanez's results show that at the same time, California became much drier. Episodes of relative cooling in the Arctic records, including the Younger Dryas period 13,000 years ago, were accompanied by wetter periods in California.

The researchers don't know exactly what connects Arctic temperatures to precipitation over California. However, climate models developed by others suggest that when Arctic sea ice disappears, the jet stream -- high-altitude winds with a profound influence on climate -- shifts north, moving precipitation away from California.

"If there is a connection to Arctic sea ice then there are big implications for us in California," Montañez said. Arctic sea ice has declined by about 3 percent a year over the past three decades, and some forecasts predict an ice-free Arctic ocean as soon as 2020.

Oster's analysis of the past is rooted in a thorough understanding of the cave in the present. Working with the cave owners, she has measured drip rates, collected air, water, soil and vegetation samples, and studied what happens to the cave through wet and dry seasons to determine how stalagmites are affected by changing conditions.

Oster collected stalagmites and cut tiny samples from them for analysis. The ratio of uranium to its breakdown product, thorium, allowed her to date the layers within the stalagmite. Isotopes of oxygen, carbon and strontium and levels of metals in the cave minerals all vary as the climate gets wetter or drier.

"Most respond to precipitation in some way," Oster said. For example, carbon isotopes reflect the amount of vegetation on the ground over the cave. Other minerals tend to decrease when rainfall is high and water moves through the aquifer more rapidly.

Oxygen-18 isotopes vary with both temperature and rainfall. Measuring the other mineral compositions provides more certainty that the changes primarily track relative rainfall.

The stalagmite records allowed Oster and Montañez to follow relative changes in precipitation in the western Sierra Nevada with a resolution of less than a century.

"We can't quantify precipitation, but we can see a relative shift from wetter to drier conditions with each episode of warming in the northern polar region," Montañez said.

Other authors on the paper are Warren Sharp, a geochronologist at the Berkeley Geochronology Center, and Kari Cooper, associate professor of geology at UC Davis. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.


Adapted from materials provided by University of California - Davis.


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Pioneer Smoke Jumper Dies at Age 98

One of the first smokejumpers dies at 98:
Earl Cooley, who made the first parachute jump on a wildfire in 1940 passed away Monday at the age of 98. Here is an excerpt from an article in the Missoulian.

Pioneer smokejumper Earl Cooley once told a newspaper reporter the only bad part of parachuting into a forest fire was the walk home.

Considering that his chute nearly failed to open and he landed 140 feet up a spruce on the Forest Service’s first-ever jump on a wildfire, it’s fair to wonder why the practice of smokejumping ever got a second chance.

But Cooley and fellow jumper Rufus Robinson had their fire under control by the next day when a team of ground-pounders finally arrived. Then they all hiked the 28 miles back to the ranger station.

Sixty-nine years after he made that historic jump into the Nez Perce National Forest on July 12, 1940, Cooley died in Missoula on Monday at the age of 98. He left behind plenty of “silk stories” from his days as a smokejumper, U.S. Forest Service district ranger and Missoula real estate broker.

“There wasn’t the safety consciousness there is today,” author John Maclean recalled of the man his father, Norman Maclean, interviewed extensively for the book “Young Men and Fire.” “You took the risks, and nobody paid attention to that anyway until Mann Gulch. Smokejumping didn’t need to be sold because it worked. There were lots and lots of fires you couldn’t get to and you had to get to.”

Cooley’s smokejumping career included the Mann Gulch tragedy, where he was the spotter for 12 jumpers who later burned to death when the fire overran their escape route. Danger was part of the job for the men who established the techniques later used by the U.S. Army Airborne troops in World War II.

“He was acutely aware of his place in the history of smokejumping,” Maclean said of Cooley. “By the time my dad started investigating the Mann Gulch fire, there was a dwindling number of primary sources. We are all better off because Earl put down on paper that early history. No one else could have done it.”

Cooley also helped found the National Smokejumper Association and served as its president for three years. In 1984, he chronicled much of the Forest Service’s early smokejumping history in his book “Trimotor and Trail.”

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Fire Weather Watch for Sunday and Monday

Today will be mostly sunny and cool, with high temperatures in the upper 60s. But the National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch for drought-plagued Orange County, effective Sunday morning, due to the expected combination of dry Santa Ana winds, low relative humidity and temperatures in the mid-70s. The advisory lasts through Monday afternoon.

The advisory says, “Northeast winds of 15 to 25 mph, with gusts to 40 mph, will develop below the Cajon Pass and in the Santa Ana Mountains and foothills Sunday morning, then shift south and east into portions of inland Riverside and San Diego counties during the day.

“Local gusts in excess of 50 mph are possible at times in the windiest locations. The humidity will drop below 15 percent or less for several hours, mainly in the valleys and on the lower coastal mountain slopes. The gusty winds will continue on Monday with inland humidities dropping below 10 percent at the lower elevations.

“A fire weather watch means that critical fire weather conditions are forecast to occur. Listen for later forecasts and possible red flag warnings.”

A fire weather watch is also in effect for Los Angeles County for Northeast winds to 45 MPH gust Sunday and Monday.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Up, Up, and Away!



Hot air balloonists Dan and Wendy Walsh land safely in Palmdale after circling above the Antelope Valley on Veterans Day near the intersection of Challenger Way and Sierra Highway. Leah Barnum age 4 looks onward with her Grandmother as the hot air balloon lands.Clear Skies with little wind made for a nice early morning flight.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Wildfire, 14 Freeway and Technology Drive, Palmdale




The Los Angeles County Fire Department received multiple calls of thick black smoke near the 14 Freeway and Technology Drive in the city of Palmdale, 5 engines and one chief officer were dispatched to the reported fire. Upon arrival firefighters found a 1/4 acre brush and large trash fire in the vacant field. Two engines from Palmdale Stations 24 and 37 and squad 37 took 30 minutes to control the fire.

Photos Jeff Zimmerman, www.socalfirejournal.com www.zimmermanmedia.com

Fire Destroys Home In Palmdale








The Los Angeles County Fire Department responded to multiple calls of a house on fire, 2121 Moonlight Dr in Palmdale last night. Upon arrival Engine 131 found a two story single family dwelling well involved with fire . The fire originated in the garage and quickly extended into the other portions of the home. Numerous companies were called in to assist with the fire.

Photos Jeff Zimmerman, www.socalfirejournal.com

The Great Bel Aire Brentwood Wildfire

Title: 1961 Bel Air Fire

Date: Friday November 6, 2009


Location: Bel Air-Brentwood/Santa Monica Mountains/Los Angeles County
Notes: On this morning in 1961 Santa Ana Winds blew embers out of a rubbish pile in Sherman Oaks and into brush where they became an inferno that was then pushed all the way over the Santa Monica Mountain and into Bel Air and Brentwood where it consumed 484 homes, including those of many famous Hollywood actors and actress.

Burt Lancaster and Zsa Zsa Gabor lost their homes to the fire while Fred MacMurray fought flames at his house and saved it although it was damaged and Maureen O'Hara fought the flames at her house and saved it from any damage as did Richard Nixon at a house he was renting at the time on North Bundy Drive (yes, the Bundy Drive of O.J. infamy).

190 other structures were destroyed and 6,090 acres were charred. There were no deaths or major injuries associated with this fire.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Vehicle Accident With Fire, 14 Freeway at Pearblossom Highway, 1 Critical Injury





Los Angeles County Fire Department, Sheriff's Department, two AMR ambulances and CHP responded to a reported vehicle accident on the South Bound 14 Freeway at Angeles Forest Highway/Pearblossom Highway on ramp. Upon arrival one vehicle was fully involved with fire in the HOV lane and it was determined there were 4 injured patients, 1 critically. Additional firefighting resources including a paramedic helicopter were ordered to transport 1 critical patient to Holy Cross Providence Hospital. An infant was assessed at the scene and was not transported to the hospital. The south bound 14 freeway was shut down for approximately 30 minutes until the accident could be cleared.

Photos Jeff Zimmerman