Sunday, September 1, 2013

CALIFORNIA RIM FIRE A DANGER TO ALL AMERICA

Submitted by: Suzanne

United States Civil Defense Assoc.(USCDA) is on RED ALERT


United States Civil Defense Assoc.(USCDA) is on RED ALERT due to the California RIM Fire. USCDA A Team members on seen are asking for more support from USCDA members to help out at shelters and at fire camps to assist the fire fighters and hot shot teams resting between fire missions with water, ice and food. USCDA also has EMT’s on duty in the area..Members who cannot go to help out with the RIM Fire can still play a very important roll by calling companies large and small to ask them to please donate items for this major American disaster. Items needed: Water, Ice, army style cots, small one or two man tents, blankets, freeze dried foods, can foods and other dry food (Rice, Beans etc.) stuffs. You can order the freeze dried foods from Food Storagewww.foodstoragedepot.com
People can also donate money. All donated items including checks or money orders can now be sent to USCDA-HQ at 301 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach CA 92651. From here we will see to it that it gets where it is most needed.  Start making the calls now and make the arrangements now and try to obtain commitments and other pledges from possible donors. Be sure and let HQ’s know of any items being donated and being sent to us by donor. Inform us of all pledges. 

Many families are displaced due to the fire and smoke. Many have had to flee the fire and smoke. Hundreds have lost their homes and need the basics. Please help us get there needs met. Those members who cannot help directly because of work or what ever can help by going to
www.foodstoragedepot.com and order some freeze dried food and have it drop shipped to USCDA HQ’s at 301 Forest Ave, Laguna Beach, CA 92651.
Thank You! HQ.
#RimFire Central California ARES-RACES Volunteers Burning Up The Air #CaFire 08/30/2013
ARES-RACES volunteers in Central California now have been on duty for more than 10 days as part of the response to the gigantic Rim Fire in and near Yosemite National Park and the Stanislaus National Forest. The initial callout on August 19 responded to a request to assist the Red Cross in setting up an evacuation center at Tioga High School in Groveland, California, for residents leaving the fire zone from Buck Meadows in Mariposa County, said Tuolumne County ARES Emergency Coordinator Carl Groci, NI6Z. He and Grayson, KE6KYI, met Red Cross volunteers and evacuees at the school and established communication with the Red Cross office in Sonora, where ARES has a VHF station. The next day, shelter operations were secured and relocated to the Tuolumne County Fairgrounds in Sonora.
In Harm’s Way
In the meantime, Groci and his wife Melissia, KD6FFX, who live in Groveland, found themselves on a stand-by advisory evacuation notice. “We started making preparations to leave our home,” he said, “gathering up important documents, photos and other irreplaceable items.” By August 22, the smoke generated by the fire was more than the couple could take, so they packed up their two cats and headed to Sonora — some 20 miles to the northwest — where they took shelter with Paul, WA7AWC, and his wife Dean, KG6GBZ. They remained there until August 25.
Several Hats
Also on August 20, the Tuolumne County Office of Emergency Services requested Amateur Radio assistance to staff the Red Cross shelter at the Fairgrounds in Sonora and to the community information telephone system at the Tuolumne County emergency operations center. Groci and Tuolumne County RACES Officer Phil Fish, WB6GGY, handled the callout and soon had volunteers for both locations as well as some on standby.
“Here in Tuolumne County,” Groci explained, “the Amateur Radio community wears several hats — ARES, RACES, VIP and CERT. If needed, we can respond and change affiliations as conditions change.”
Croci said volunteers from Calaveras County ARES also have been pitching in. “We are still staffing the Red Cross Shelter and the community information phone lines with four ARES/RACES operators on the phones and two in the shelters,” Croci said at mid-week. The Red Cross was sheltering approximately 100 evacuees. Eight radio amateurs have been staffing the shelter, while another 12 handle the community information telephones at the EOC.
Fish has described the fire terrain in Tuolumne and Mariposa counties as “very, very, very rugged.”
Fresno County ARES
To the south, Fresno County ARES was put on alert August 19 by the Central Valley Red Cross. “We were asked to relay information from their shelter,” said Fresno County EC Dan Pruitt, AE6SX. “We had our volunteers operating from home, monitoring the Mariposa 146.745 repeater at Mt Bullion.” Mariposa County ARES staffed a shelter at Greeley Hills Community Center, ready to pass traffic to Red Cross Headquarters. “This continued for about 24 hours before the shelter shut down from a lack of clients,” Pruitt said.
A few days later, on August 25, ARES was reactivated, due to more evacuations and the need for a shelter. Volunteers set up the next day at the Red Cross office in Fresno, where they installed a station capable of operating on emergency power. “We made contact with Mariposa County ARES at the Greeley Hill shelter,” Pruit said. “We passed traffic until we were asked to shut down for the night.” Volunteers returned early the next day. They dismantled the station on August 27. Pruitt said eight volunteers turned out for the activation.
Digital Impresses
During the activation, Fresno County ARES used Fldigi and Flmsg — a forms management editor — on PSK125 to pass traffic from the shelter and the Red Cross Headquarters. “We found that the faster speed and wider signal [resulted in] fewer errors.” Pruitt said, adding that the Red Cross “was very impressed” with their ability to send and receive traffic in the Incident Command System general message form (ICS-213), filled out and printed.
Still a Threat
According to the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), the Rim Fire as of August 29 covers nearly 200,000 acres, with almost 7000 acres burned over in the past 24 hours. The Rim Fire, 32 percent contained, has now has claimed more than 110 structures — including a few houses — and the cost of fighting it is approaching $50 million. The communities of Tuolumne City, Twain Harte, Long Barn, Pinecrest and the Hetch-Hetchy watershed are threatened, as are power lines in the region. Evacuations and road and area closures are in effect. The Rim Fire is not expected to be fully contained for another 10 days or so.
More info 
series of time-lapse images has been posted that offer a perspective of the Rim Fire's rapid growth
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Smoke Report: The Rim Fire May Burn For Many Months #CaFire #CaAQ #CaSmoke Posted: 30 Aug 2013 12:23 PM PDT


The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded becoming one of the 10 largest California wildfires on record. 
 
Upper level winds can transport chemical matter (combustion products) emitted in a fire long distances, affecting air quality thousands of miles from the source. These model simulations of the transport of carbon monoxide from NASA, offer a clear illustration of the Rim Fire.
#RimFire progression slowed earlier this week when it moved from parts of the forest with thick underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to areas that had seen fire in the past two decades.
But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends this fall
"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
That means the smoke could continue to foul air north of Yosemite in the Lake Tahoe basin and neighboring Nevada for many months
The air quality index in the Reno area still had improved only to the "unhealthy" level, and in Douglas County, Nev., school children were kept indoors again when the index registered in the "hazardous" category.
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CFN - California Fire News 2013
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Rim Fire California National Guard Predator Drone Deployed - Will remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a time #CaFire
Posted: 30 Aug 2013 12:00 PM PDT
Predator drone now part of California wildfire battle
"My prediction is it will burn until we see rain," said Hugh Safford, a regional ecologist with the U.S. Forest Service.
 
General Atomics MQ-1 Predator
The #RimFire had burned about 301 square miles as of Thursday morning and remained 30 percent contained. It has cost $39 million to fight.

GROVELAND, Calif. (AP) — As crews advanced against a giant wildfire around Yosemite National Park, fire commanders said they would maintain use of a Predator drone to give them early views of any new flare-ups across in the remote and rugged landscape
Officials remained confident on Thursday about their efforts to corral the Rim Fire, which grew by a relatively modest few hundred acres overnight.
The fire had burned about 301 square miles as of Thursday morning and remained 30 percent contained. It has cost $39 million to fight.
"We remain very optimistic that our containment lines are holding, and we'll continue to strengthen lines around communities that are threatened around the fire," said California fire spokesman Daniel Berlant.
Fire officials said they expect to fully surround the blaze in three weeks, although it will burn for much longer than that.
View gallery."

Ice Cream: Firefighter Troy Drouin takes a short break before mopping up hot spots near Yosemite National Park
The California National Guard drone deployed Wednesday was being remotely piloted hundreds of miles away, allowing ground commanders to keep an eye out for new fires they otherwise wouldn't have immediately seen.
"The drone is providing data directly back to the incident commander, allowing him to make quick decisions about which resources to deploy and where," Berlant said.
Previously, officials relied on helicopters that needed to refuel every two hours.
While unmanned aircraft have mapped past fires, use of the Predator will be the longest sustained mission by a drone in California to broadcast information to firefighters in real time.
The plane, the size of a small Cessna, will remain over the burn zone for up to 22 hours at a time, allowing fire commanders to monitor fire activity, determine the fire's direction of movement, the extent of containment and confirm new fires ignited by lightning or flying embers
The drone is being flown by the 163rd Wing of the California National Guard at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside and is operating from Victorville Airport, both in Southern California. It generally flew over unpopulated areas on its 300-mile flight to the Rim Fire. Outside the fire area, it will be escorted by a manned aircraft.
"Officials were careful to point out the images are being used only to aid in the effort to contain the fire."
In 2009 a NASA Predator equipped with an infrared imaging sensor helped the U.S. Forest Service assess damage from a fire in Angeles National Forest. In 2008, a drone capable of detecting hot spots helped firefighters assess movement of a series of wildfires stretching from Southern California's Lake Arrowhead to San Diego.
The Rim Fire has destroyed 111 structures, including 11 homes, and posed a threat to ancient giant sequoias.

The fire also has threatened San Francisco's water supply at the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but Stratton said it was burning itself out as it approached and that crews were lighting back burns to push it back into the wilderness.
The Rim Fire started Aug. 17 and quickly exploded in size, becoming one of the 10 largest California wildfires on record. Its progression slowed earlier this week when it moved from parts of the forest with thick underbrush that had not burned in nearly a century to areas that had seen fire in the past two decades.
But it will burn for months, possibly until California's dry season ends this fall
Information sources: 

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