Explosive Wildfire Destroys Dozens of Structures, Threatens Hundreds More in N. Calif

Ponderosa Fire consumes 2,500 acres in hours

Ponderosa Fire Incident Information [Cal Fire]
Last Updated: August 30, 2017 9:09 am
Date/Time Started: August 29, 2017 1:16 pm
County: Butte County
Location: Ponderosa way and Lumpkin road, 2 miles NW of Forbestown, about 80 miles north of Sacramento
Acres Burned – Containment: 2,500 acres  – UNCONTAINED
Structures Threatened: 800
Structures Destroyed: 10 residences and 20 outbuildings destroyed, 5 residences and 10 outbuildings damaged

Evacuations: Evacuation Order and Evacuation Warning

US Wildfires

National Interagency Coordination Center
Incident Management Situation Report
Wednesday, August 30, 2017 – 05:30 MT

National Preparedness Level – 5  (on a scale from 1 to 5)

Number of new large fires: 12
Number of active large fires: 59
[Total does not include individual fires within complexes]

States currently reporting large fires: California (9), Colorado (1), Idaho (5), Montana (18), Nevada (3), Oregon (15), Utah (1), Washington (6), Wyoming (1)

Total Active Fires: 110
Cumulative Acres: 845,682
Crews: 481
Engines: 1,116
Helicopters: 167
Total Personnel: 20,924

Fires Year-to-Date: 45,981
Acres Year-to-Date: 6,851,908

Ten Year Average (2007 – 2016 as of today)
Fires: 49,011
Acres: 5,248,077

Canada Fires and Hectares
FIRES YEAR – TO – DATE: 4,837

HECTARES YEAR – TO – DATE:  2,968,679 [7,332,637 acres]

 

Large Fires Burning Across 15 US States

National Preparedness Raised to Level 4  (Scale of 1 to 5)

Total fires: 175 new fires
Cumulative Acres: 1,040,056
Fire Crews: 359
Engines: 1,180
Helicopters: 114
Personnel: 16,082

Number of Active Large Fires: 56

States currently reporting large fires:  15

Alaska (1), Arizona (10), California (9), Colorado (6), Florida (1), Idaho (2), Montana (7), Nevada (9), New Mexico (1), North Dakota (1), Oregon (3), Texas (1), Utah (3), Washington (1) and Wyoming (1).

Fires and Acres Year-to-Date

• TOTAL FIRES: 33,430
• TOTAL ACRES: 3,760,090

Ten Year Average (2007 – 2016, as of today): 36,288 Fires; 2,792,16 acres

Prescribed Fires and Acres Year-to-Date

• TOTAL FIRES: 61,118
• TOTAL ACRES:  2,873,85

Canada Fires and Hectares YEAR-TO-DATE

Hectares: 341,314  (1 Hectare = 2.47 Acres)

Source: NIFC

US National Debt and Wildfire Stats

National Debt of United States, as at Thursday, 29 June 2017, 17:22 UTC:

$ 19,892,741,305,482

Interest per Year: $442,565,594,766
Interest per Second: $14,034
Debt as % of GDP: 106.52%
GDP: $18,675,300,000,000
Population: 324,352,551
Debt per Citizen: $61,331
[http://www.nationaldebtclocks.org/debtclock/unitedstates]

US Wildfire Stats

National Preparedness Level 3 (June 28 at 2:00 pm MDT – on a scale from 1 to 5)

June 29, 2017. The National Multi-agency Coordinating Group at NIFC raised the national preparedness level to PL3 yesterday due to an increase in large fire activity, incident management team mobilizations, and resources commitments in multiple geographic areas.

Nine new large fires were reported. Arizona, California, Washington, New Mexico, Idaho and Nevada all have multiple large fires. Several of them are threatening homes and officials have evacuated residents. More than 8,400 firefighters and support personnel are assigned to wildfires across the country.

Daily statistics 6/29/17
Number of new large fires: 9
Number of active large fires: 29
Total number includes full suppression and resource managed fires.
Total does not include individual fires within complexes.

Acres from active fires: 207,345

11 States currently reporting large fires:
Alaska (1)
Arizona (5)
California (5)
Florida (1)
Idaho (3)
New Mexico (4)
Nevada (3)
Oregon (1)
Texas (1)
Utah (1)
Washington (4)

Year-to-date statistics 2017 (1/1/17 – 6/29/17)
Fires: 29,613
Acres: 2,768,931

Annual average prior 10 years [2006-2016]
Fires: 31,998
Acres: 1,966,971

[www.nifc.gov]