Latest news with #FireWeather
Los Angeles Times
13-06-2025
- General
- Los Angeles Times
Female Hotshot firefighter brings California mega blazes to life in moving memoir
Fire changes whatever it encounters. Burns it, melts it, sometimes makes it stronger. Once fire tears through a place, nothing is left the same. Kelly Ramsey wasn't thinking of this when she joined the U.S. Forest Service firefighting crew known as the Rowdy River Hotshots — she just thought fighting fires would be a great job. But fire changed her too. In her memoir, 'Wildfire Days: A Woman, a Hotshot Crew, and the Burning American West,' Ramsey takes us through two years of fighting wilderness fires in the mountains of Northern California. She wrote the book before January's deadly Altadena and Pacific Palisades fires, and what she encountered in the summers of 2020 and 2021 was mostly forests burning, not city neighborhoods. But at the time, the fires she and her fellow crewmen fought (and they were all men that first year) were the hottest, fastest, biggest fires California had ever experienced. 'My first real year in fire had been a doozy, not just for me but my beloved California: 4.2 million acres burned,' she writes, in the 'worst season the state had endured in over a hundred years.' That included the state's first gigafire — more than 1 million acres burned in Northern California. The job proved to be the hardest thing she'd ever done, but something about fire compelled her. 'At the sight of a smoke column, most people feel a healthy hitch in their breath and want to run the other way,' she writes. 'But all I wanted to do was run toward the fire.' Ramsey's memoir covers a lot of ground, skillfully. She learns that being in good shape isn't enough — she has to be in incredible shape. She learns how to work with a group of men who are younger, stronger and more experienced than she is, and she figures out how to find that line between never complaining and standing up for herself in the face of inappropriate behavior. She also writes about the changes in her own life during that time: coming to terms with her alcoholic, homeless father; pondering her lousy record for romantic relationships; searching for an independence and peace she had never known. 'It wasn't fire that was hard; it was ordinary life,' she concludes. Sometimes her struggles with ordinary life threaten to take over the narrative, but while they humanize her, they are not the most interesting part of this book. What resonates instead is fire and all that it entails — the burning forest and the hard, mind-numbing work of the Hotshots. They work 14 days on, two days off, all summer and fall, sometimes 24-hour shifts when things are bad. They sleep rough, dig ditches, build firebreaks, set controlled burns, take down dead trees and, in between, experience moments of terrifying danger. Readers of John Vaillant's harrowing 2023 book 'Fire Weather' — an account of the destruction of the Canadian forest town of Fort McMurray — might consider Ramsey's book a companion to the earlier book. 'Wildfire Days' is not as sweeping or scientific; it's more personal and entertaining. It's the other side of the story, the story of the people who fight the blaze. Ramsey's gender is an important part of this book; as a woman, she faces obstacles men do not. It's harder to find a discreet place to relieve herself; she must deal with monthly periods; and, at first, she is the weakest and slowest of the Hotshots. 'Thought you trained this winter,' one of the guys tells her after an arduous training hike leaves her gasping for breath. 'I did,' she said. 'Thinking you shoulda trained a little harder, huh,' he said. But over time she grows stronger, more capable, and more accepted. In the second year, when another woman joins the crew, Ramsey is torn between finally being 'one of the guys' and supporting, in solidarity, a woman — but a woman whose work is substandard and whose attitude is whiny. 'Was I only interested in 'diversity' on the crew if it looked like me?' she asks herself. 'Had I clawed out a place for myself, only to pull up the ladder behind me?' But competence is crucial in this dangerous job, and substandard work can mean deadly accidents. For centuries, natural wildfires burned dead trees and undergrowth in California, keeping huge fires in check. White settlers threw things out of whack. 'The Indigenous people of California were (and still are) expert fire keepers,' Ramsey writes. 'Native burning mimicked and augmented natural fire, keeping the land park like and open.' But in the 20th century, humans suppressed fires and forests became overgrown. 'Cut to today,' she writes. 'Dense forests are primed to burn hotter and faster than ever before.' Ramsey's descriptions of the work and the fires are the strongest parts of the book. 'We could hear the howl — like the roar of a thousand lions, like a fleet of jet engines passing overhead — the sound of fire devouring everything,' Ramsey writes. Later, she drives through a part of the forest that burned the year before to see 'mile upon mile of carbonized trees and denuded earth, a now-familiar scene of extinguished life.' But she also notes that the burned areas are already beginning to green up. 'New life tended to spring from bitterest ash,' she writes. 'The forest wouldn't grow back the same, but it wouldn't stop growing,' she observes earlier. There is a metaphor here. Ramsey's memoir is a moving, sometimes funny story about destruction, change and rebirth, told by a woman tempered by fire. Hertzel's second memoir, 'Ghosts of Fourth Street,' will be published in 2026. She teaches in the MFA in Narrative Nonfiction program at the University of Georgia and lives in Minnesota.
CBC
06-06-2025
- Climate
- CBC
Expert says Canada's current wildfire season could match country's most destructive year
One expert says Canada could be set to repeat its record-setting wildfire season from two years ago. The area that wildfires have burned so far this year matches the rate at which fires spread in 2023, said John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: The Making of a Beast, during an interview on CBC Morning Live on Thursday. By the end of 2023, more than 6,000 fires had torched an unprecedented 15 million hectares across Canada. "Just two years ago was the worst fire season in Canadian history by far, and what I'm really sorry to say … is 2025 looks like it's shaping up to be a repeat of 2023," said Valliant. "In terms of hectares burned by this date, we're on pace with 2023 right now." WATCH | Wildfire expert answers your questions on fire prevention, control: Wildfire expert answers your questions on fire prevention, control 17 hours ago Duration 16:38 John Vaillant, author of Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World, answers viewer questions on fire prevention, the resources needed to bring wildfires under control and why they're becoming more frequent and intense. Currently, Canada has three times the amount of land area burned from wildfires compared to the 10-year average, according to statistics from Natural Resources Canada. As of May 30, more than 1,400,000 hectares have been burned across Canada due to wildfires this year. Saskatchewan and Manitoba are the two provinces that have seen the most land burned by wildfires this year. As of May 30, Manitoba and Saskatchewan had almost five times and 10 times their average amount of hectares burned by wildfire compared to the 10-year average. June weather is crucial The extreme fire conditions can be attributed to an early heat wave in the eastern Canadian Prairie region, with temperatures hitting as high as 38 C in Manitoba, said Kyle Brittain, an Alberta-based weather specialist, in an interview on Edmonton AM this week. "If we look back through the month of May, it was warmer and drier than average through a huge chunk of the Prairie provinces where most of the bad fire situation has really been focused," Brittain said. "So anytime you have these extreme heat events that just really contributes to the drying of the forest fuels and then it's really hot, dry, windy weather on the day-to-day that can really contribute to these rapid rates of spread in the extreme fire behaviour that we've been seeing." Whether or not Western Canada will see its wildfire situation improve will depend on the amount of rain in June, said Brittain. "It's June, Western Canada's wettest month … If the rains show up, it can tilt the season either way. If they don't show up, we're almost guaranteed to have a pretty bad fire season persisting."
Winnipeg Free Press
20-05-2025
- Climate
- Winnipeg Free Press
Welcome to fire weather: there's more on the way
Opinion Last year I attended a talk given by author John Vaillant whose award-winning book Fire Weather documented the intense climate-driven wildfires that decimated the Alberta town of Fort McMurray. During his lecture, Vaillant made the ominous prediction that what happened there could easily happen again, in almost any given city in on the planet. Vancouver narrowly dodged the fire bullet just last year when buildings in two city neighbourhoods caught fire. According to Vaillant, the flames were so intense and spread so quickly that had the wind been just 10 knots higher, a significant portion of the city would have burned. Photo courtesy Manitoba Government A wildland fire burns in the RM of Lac du Bonnet on May 14. Then there were the January 2025 Los Angeles fires, which decimated more than 18,000 homes and burned through more than 23,000 hectares, leaving an estimated US$250 billion in damages. So, the question is — could the same thing happen in Winnipeg? Based on the recent Transcona grass fire which threatened both homes and businesses, it could indeed happen here. Thirty fire crews battled in the heat and high winds for hours before finally containing it. Had a nearby chemical plant gone up in smoke, who knows what might have happened? And Transcona isn't alone. As of May 14, a number of Manitoba towns like Libau were perched precariously on the edge of wildfires, evacuation orders had already been issued for Broken Head Ojibway Nation, and two people trapped by the wildfires at Lac du Bonnet had lost their lives. In addition to that, Nopiming provincial park was closed due to out of control wildfires, as was the Whiteshell. At Ingolf's Long Pine Lake, which borders the Whiteshell, water bombers, helicopter 'air tankers' and firefighters were still struggling after three days to contain a wildfire that exploded then raced across 23,000 hectares, 43 kilometres to the north, prompting evacuation warnings across the region. It was with the announcement of the Ingolf fire on May 12 that the ominous but still somehow abstract idea of 'climate-driven wildfires' suddenly hit home for me. Long Pine is where my grandfather, a railway machinist, started building his log cabin in 1919, and where my parents built ours in the early fifties. At the moment I have no idea whether either cottage is still standing. The circumstances that caused the Ingolf fire to explode with such intensity were not unlike those in Fort McMurray — temperatures in the mid 30 C. range, extremely dry conditions and a relative humidity below 18 per cent. This when the May average is usually 19 C with a relative humidity of 48 per cent. This month's unusually hot, dry conditions are what create the perfect storm for bigger more intense wildfires that rapidly increase in size. Climate-warmed blazes that are a nightmare for firefighters, who are hard pressed to get boots on the ground, because the combined heat makes the conditions almost impossible to withstand. And if the carbon emissions driving climate change and global warming remain largely unchecked, those conditions are predicted to become the norm in Manitoba. Which means that our fire season will start earlier, the wildfires will be bigger and more intense, and the loss of life and property will likely escalate. To make matters worse, as vast tracts of forest burn, global CO2 levels will rise even higher. So what can we do to mitigate this? Well, the first thing our government should definitely not do is sell off so-called 'surplus' water bomber planes, as did the previous provincial conservative government. Then we need to ensure that the province adopts a multitiered approach to firefighting, which begins with a clear and achievable plan to reduce the emissions that are driving bigger more intense forest fires. Next up, the province and city need to look at ways to increase our resiliency by discouraging residential expansion near fire-prone forests and grasslands as well as setting higher standards for building codes that feature better fire resistant designs and materials. Even more obvious the province needs to beef up its firefighting and fire prevention capacity on all levels which may have finally begun with the recent repurchase of three new water bombers. Winnipeg Jets Game Days On Winnipeg Jets game days, hockey writers Mike McIntyre and Ken Wiebe send news, notes and quotes from the morning skate, as well as injury updates and lineup decisions. Arrives a few hours prior to puck drop. Other good ideas — assign someone to keep the province's fire tracking and alert websites up to date and create a climate resiliency portal where Manitobans can learn about and plan for the climate risks in their areas. Finally, developing recovery plans before fires hit and implementing those plans quickly is also key. In the meantime, all of us need to remember that the fires we're seeing now could happen anywhere given the right conditions. So let's ensure that our governments are protecting us by being as well prepared as possible. Erna Buffie is a writer and environmental activist. Read more @
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
NWS upgrade Fire Weather Watch to Red Flag Warining in Northern California
( — The National Weather Service issued a Fire Weather Watch for the Northern and Central Sacramento Valley on Thursday, but has since been upgraded to a Red Flag Warning. The warning will go into effect Sunday at 8 a.m. and expected to last until Monday 8 p.m. According to Chief Meteorologist Adam Epstein, the recent warm weather has dried out vegetation below 1000 feet in elevation. Grasses have become fuel for fires. If a fire starts, windy conditions on Sunday and Monday could quickly spread the flames. Cal Fire released a statement stating these conditions mean critical fire weather. NWS stated the humidity level will be between 15 to 25 percent, with the highest threat set to be in Central and Southern Sacramento Valley, along and west of the I-5 corridor, and the Northern San Joaquin Valley. NWS shares some Fire Weather safety: Proper disposal of cigarettes and matches Avoid power equipment that creates sparks Make sure no vehicle parts drag on growing, including towing chains Do not park your vehicle over dry grass and vegetation Starting next week, the Sacramento region can expect to experience consistent 90-degree high temperatures, according to the NWS. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
National Weather Service issues a Fire Weather Watch for Sacramento region
( — The National Weather Service has issued a Fire Weather Watch for the Northern and Central Sacramento Valley starting Sunday morning due to strong winds coming in from the north. The NWS stated that the watch will last until Monday at 8 p.m. According to Chief Meteorologist Adam Epstein, the recent warm weather has dried out vegetation below 1000 feet in elevation. Grasses have become fuel for fires. If a fire starts, windy conditions on Sunday and Monday could quickly spread the flames. Northerly gusts of 20-35 mph are forecast, with the strongest winds likely to occur on Monday. NWS officials said the Fire Weather Watch is being issued due to the combination of gusty winds and low humidity, which can cause fires to rapidly grow in size and intensity. Outdoor burning is not recommended while the Watch is in effect. NWS shares some Fire Weather safety: Proper disposal of cigarettes and matches Avoid power equipment that creates sparks Make sure no vehicle parts drag on growing, including towing chains Do not park your vehicle over dry grass and vegetation Starting next week, the Sacramento region can expect to experience consistent 90-degree high temperatures, according to the NWS. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
