Wildfires in the American West

Thousands in Northern California told to flee Ponderosa Fire

Thousands of residents in three rural communities in Northern California have been told to leave their homes as a wildfire that has already destroyed four homes and scorched nearly 19 square miles now threatens their property, a fire official said Sunday.

USA Today,

20 August, 2012

About 3,000 homes in a rural area along the border of Tehama and Shasta counties were being threatened by the Ponderosa Fire, state fire spokesman Daniel Berlant said.

The fire was about 150 miles north of Sacramento and was near the towns of Manton, Shingletown and Viola, Berlant said.

The Ponderosa Fire, one of 14 major wildfires burning in California, was among a rash of Western wildfires scorching parts of that state, Washington, Idaho and Utah.

Idaho 

Residents around the town of Featherville, remained under a mandatory evacuation order as the Trinity Ridge Fire in the Boise National Forest continued to threaten their community.

About 100 permanent residents of the small mountain resort town had left their homes, said Chris Brun, a dispatcher with the Elmore County sheriff's office. Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Mallory Eils said, "The fire will make it to Featherville. It's just a matter of when."

About 1,100 firefighters were battling the blaze, which has charred some 82,000 acres and has been burning for two weeks.

Washington

Better weather conditions over the weekend helped firefighters gain ground on a fire that has scorched dozens of homes east of the Cascades.

That fire has burned across more than 23,000 acres in rural areas about 75 miles east of Seattle.

Utah

Evacuation orders were being lifted Sunday in Utah, where three wildfires had burned a total of 400 acres.

Colorado

In southwestern Colorado, firefighters were battling several new wildfires sparked by lightning over the weekend. The largest, the Burns Fire — about 12 miles southwest of Pagosa Springs — had grown to 120 acres by Monday. Three ground crews, two single engine air tankers and a heavy tanker are being used to fight the fire. No structures have been threatened

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection provides fire protection for about one-third of the state, and this year, firefighters have battled about 4,000 wildfires, 1,300 more than at this time last year, Berlant said. "That's all due to the fact that this winter we had so very little rain. Much of the ground, brush and timber is tinder-dry and all it takes is a spark or an ember for the fire to catch and burn very quickly and very aggressively."

Low Waters Close 11-Mile Stretch Of Mississippi River

An 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River was closed today because of low waters levels.

NPR,

20 August, 2012

The AP reports:

"Coast Guard spokesman Ryan Tippets told The Associated Press on Monday that the stretch of river near Greenville, Miss., has been closed intermittently since Aug. 11, when a vessel ran aground.

"Tippets says that the area is currently being surveyed for dredging and that a Coast Guard boat is currently replacing eight navigation markers. He says 40 northbound vessels and 57 southbound vessels are currently stranded and waiting for passage."

As The New York Times reported earlier today, the river's levels have plummeted under record droughts. To keep the river moving, the Army Corps of Engineers has been dredging up sediment to keep the river deep enough.

The Times explains that the last time the river experienced levels this low was in 1988, when authorities were forced to halt some traffic. The Times added:

"If the weather does not improve, the situation could get much worse, said David Busse, the chief of the engineering and construction division for the St. Louis district of the corps. If the rains do not come, the river will continue to drop. There will be a precipitous fall of about two feet at St. Louis toward the end of the year, when the reservoirs up the Missouri River, as scheduled every year, stop releasing water into the Mississippi.

"'Right now we have a problem, but we're managing it,' Busse said. 'What happens when they turn it off?'"

Quoting "industry sources," Reuters reports that the river has been closed since Friday.