Wildfires burning across the western United States on Monday stretched local and national firefighting resources. Firefighters are responding to more than a dozen wildfires that are over 100,000 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.
Two were sparked over the weekend near Reno, Nevada — the Bug Fire and the Fred Mountain Fire — which have forced thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
Dozens of large fires
North of Reno, the overwhelming majority of the wildfires currently burning are concentrated in the Pacific Northwest, with over 30 in Oregon and over 20 in Washington. Hundreds of structures have been lost to blazes around Spokane. Nearby, in Idaho, 10 more fires rage and one more burns in Northern California, totalling over 3 million acres of active wildfires.
An additional 98 wildfires were reported in southwest Canada, the overwhelming majority of which are considered “out of control,” according to the British Columbia Wildfire Service.
The fires this summer have also taken the lives of several firefighters in Colorado and Utah.
Federal Preparedness Level 5, or PL5, is the highest activity and deployment level for wildland firefighters, according to the NIFC. Several areas in Mountain West states were at higher levels. The Northwest Interagency Coordination Center and Great Basin Geographic Area Coordination Center were both at that level. The Northern Rockies Coordination Center was at PL4, the two regions covering California and the Rocky Mountain Area Coordination Center were at PL3 and the Southwest Coordination Center was at PL2.
Some 29,000 personnel are assigned to fight fires across the country, 18,120 of whom are working for the Northwest Interagency Coordination Center on Monday.
The destructive fires near Spokane forced the evacuation of over 60,000 residents, as the counting of structures lost continues at more than 700.
Two firefighting pilots killed
Last week, a helicopter responding to the Widemouth 2 Fire in Utah's Fishlake National Forest crashed. It happened on Friday near Richfield, about 160 miles south of Salt Lake City, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Both members of the crew aboard were killed, according to the Sevier County Sheriff’s Office. Neither had been identified as of Monday.
Conditions were adequate for the helicopter — a Sikorsky S-64 “Skycrane” — when it crashed, according to Tyler Hecht with the Great Basin Incident Management Team, but the aircraft had been working in an area with steep terrain.
The two crewmen are the latest people involved in wildland firefighting efforts to die this year.
A growing death toll
In late June, members of the Rifle Interagency Helitack Crew were working on two fires on the Colorado-Utah state line when extreme fire activity, intensified by wind gusts of about 50 MPH, killed three firefighters.
They were later identified as:
- Helitack Squad Leader Emily Barker, 38.
- Crew member Nicholas Hutcherson, 27.
- Crew member Sydney Watson, 27.
U.S. Wildland Fire Service Chief Brian Fennessy said they “represent the very best the wildland fire community has to offer,” at a memorial service in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Weeks later, another firefighter on that team, Nathan Matthews, succumbed to his injuries.
And, a pilot involved in firefighting efforts near Gold Mountain in Colorado was also killed in July when his helicopter crashed in the Silver Jack Reservoir; Nicholas Dale of Sooke, British Columbia.
Evacuations in Reno
Two fires in Reno, Nevada — the Bug Fire and the Fred Mountain Fire — have forced the evacuation of over 5,000 people.
The fires grew rapidly since the weekend, when they went from 6,500 and 40 acres, respectively, to 17,000 and 1,400.
Evacuation shelters, including one for large animals, are nearing capacity, with the Reno Livestock Event Center already housing more than 300 animals, including horses, goats and pigs. Hotel-casinos in Reno are already offering discounted rates to those impacted by the fires.
