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New management team takes over Mill Fire, works on repairs
NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Repairs and assessments are continuing on the area burned this month by the Mill Fire, which scorched nearly 30,000 acres in the Colusa County side of the Mendocino National Forest.
The fire began on Saturday, July 7, near Upper Letts Lake and 10 miles west of Stonyford. It was 100-percent contained on Wednesday.
The costs associated with the fire were updated on Friday to $15,737,359, according to forest officials.
Mendocino National Forest, Type III Organization has officially taken command of the Mill Fire and the fire suppression repair process.
Approximately 254 personnel were assigned to the incident on Friday.
Mike Vandame, the team leader for the Burn Area Emergency Rehabilitation (BAER), and his team, have begun surveying the burn area to assess rehabilitation needs.
“Even after the last flame has been extinguished on the Mill Fire, potential threats to life, property and natural resources may remain,” he said. “These threats come from winter storms that fall on watersheds stripped of their protective vegetation. So, as suppression efforts wind down, the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management will begin to assess the potential threats.”
Vandame further indicated that the response team is currently gathering information on structures, roads, other improvements and resources that are within, nearby or downstream of the burned area.
“Each will be assessed to determine if post-fire conditions pose a significant threat,” Vandame said. “In cases where a threat exists, the team will determine if there is a practical, cost-effective treatment that can reduce the threat. If so, it may be proposed for funding under the appropriate agency’s emergency response program. Each agency has specific guidelines for what treatments qualify for funding.”
In addition, reducing some threats may require treatments that come under more than one agency’s authority, according to Vandame.
The team will try its best to keep affected people informed regarding the guidelines that apply to their situation.
The date will be announced for a public information meeting to be held, at the Stonyford Grange, to provide current information and introduce the primary agency contacts.
Another purpose will be to gather information from potentially affected people to help with the assessment.
“As each day goes by we have completed more of the work associated with the BAER assessments,” said Incident Commander Kipp Morrill. “There is a lot of fire line out there, but we are making progress while ensuring safety.”
As the days grow hotter, and the humidity decreases, residents will continue to see smoke within the fire lines, officials said. This is normal after a fire, and crews will be vigilant about response.
Resource management employees will continue to work on repairs and assessing long-term needs for forest health.
Public meetings will continue to be held at the Stonyford Grange, as deemed necessary by the team. Announcements will be posted as dates are determined.
REGIONAL: Two large quakes hit off coast of Northern California
\NORTHERN CALIFORNIA – Two large earthquakes were reported off the coast of Northern California on Friday evening.
The quakes measured 5.1 and 5.2 on the Richter Scale, according to the US Geological Survey.
The first quake, the 5.1 magnitude, occurred at 6:51 p.m. 64 miles west of Petrolia and 66 miles west of Ferndale, at just over a mile under the earth’s surface, the agency said.
The second quake, the 5.2, occurred several hours later at 11:04 p.m. It was reported at the earth’s surface, 50 miles west of Petrolia and 52 miles west of Ferndale, according to the US Geological Survey.
Both quakes appeared to have occurred along a portion of the San Andreas Fault, according to survey maps.
By 1 a.m. Saturday, 79 shake reports had been submitted on the first quake and 215 on the second, primarily from North Coast and Bay Area counties.
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Space News: Curiosity nears daring landing on Mars
NASA’s most advanced planetary rover is on a precise course for an early August landing beside a Martian mountain to begin two years of unprecedented scientific detective work.
However, getting the Curiosity rover to the surface of Mars will not be easy.
“The Curiosity landing is the hardest NASA mission ever attempted in the history of robotic planetary exploration,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “While the challenge is great, the team’s skill and determination give me high confidence in a successful landing.”
Curiosity is scheduled to land at approximately 10:31 p.m. PDT on Aug. 5 (1:31 a.m. EDT on Aug. 6).
The Mars Science Laboratory mission is a precursor for future human missions to Mars. President Barack Obama has set a challenge to reach the Red Planet in the 2030s.
To achieve the precision needed for landing safely inside Gale Crater, the spacecraft will fly like a wing in the upper atmosphere instead of dropping like a rock.
To land the 1-ton rover, an airbag method used on previous Mars rovers will not work. Mission engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., designed a “sky crane” method for the final several seconds of the flight.
A backpack with retro-rockets controlling descent speed will lower the rover on three nylon cords just before touchdown.
During a critical period lasting only about seven minutes--also known as “the seven minutes of terror” – the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft carrying Curiosity must decelerate from about 13,200 miles per hour (about 5,900 meters per second) to allow the rover to land on the surface at about 1.7 mph (three-fourths of a meter per second).
“Those seven minutes are the most challenging part of this entire mission,” said Pete Theisinger, the mission’s project manager at JPL. “For the landing to succeed, hundreds of events will need to go right, many with split-second timing and all controlled autonomously by the spacecraft. We’ve done all we can think of to succeed. We expect to get Curiosity safely onto the ground, but there is no guarantee. The risks are real.”
During the initial weeks after the actual landing, JPL mission controllers will put the rover through a series of checkouts and activities to characterize its performance on Mars, while gradually ramping up scientific investigations. Curiosity then will begin investigating whether an area with a wet history inside Mars’ Gale Crater ever has offered an environment favorable for microbial life.
“Earlier missions have found that ancient Mars had wet environments,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Program at NASA Headquarters. “Curiosity takes us the next logical step in understanding the potential for life on Mars.”
Curiosity will use tools on a robotic arm to deliver samples from Martian rocks and soils into laboratory instruments inside the rover that can reveal chemical and mineral composition.
A laser instrument will use its beam to induce a spark on a target and read the spark’s spectrum of light to identify chemical elements in the target.
Other instruments on the car-sized rover will examine the surrounding environment from a distance or by direct touch with the arm.
The rover will check for the basic chemical ingredients for life and for evidence about energy available for life. It also will assess factors that could be hazardous for life, such as the radiation environment.
“For its ambitious goals, this mission needs a great landing site and a big payload,” said Doug McCuistion, director of the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters. “During the descent through the atmosphere, the mission will rely on bold techniques enabling use of a smaller target area and a heavier robot on the ground than were possible for any previous Mars mission. Those techniques also advance us toward human-crew Mars missions, which will need even more precise targeting and heavier landers.
“The chosen landing site is beside a mountain informally called Mount Sharp,” McCuistion added. “The mission’s prime destination lies on the slope of the mountain. Driving there from the landing site may take many months.”
“Be patient about the drive. It will be well worth the wait and we are apt to find some targets of interest on the way,” said John Grotzinger, MSL project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. “When we get to the lower layers in Mount Sharp, we’ll read them like chapters in a book about changing environmental conditions when Mars was wetter than it is today.”
In collaboration with Microsoft Corp., a new outreach game was unveiled Monday to give the public a sense of the challenge and adventure of landing in a precise location on the surface. Called “Mars Rover Landing,” the game is an immersive experience for the Xbox 360 home entertainment console that allows users to take control of their own spacecraft and face the extreme challenges of landing a rover on Mars.
Information about many ways to watch and participate in the Curiosity’s landing and the mission on the surface of Mars is available at: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate .
Dr. Tony Phillips works for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Clearlake home destroyed in Friday night fire
CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A Clearlake woman lost her home to a fire on Friday evening.
The singlewide mobile home, located at 4203 Cedar Ave., was reported on fire at about 6:10 p.m., according to radio reports.
Lake County Fire Chief Willie Sapeta told Lake County News that the structure was fully involved by the time firefighters arrived on the scene minutes after the incident was dispatched.
Initially, there also were concerns that the fire could extend into nearby vegetation, with a full wildland dispatch of Cal Fire engines requested, according to radio reports.
Sapeta also had reported over the radio that there were multiple power lines down, and he requested that Pacific Gas & Electric respond to the scene.
Lake County Fire responded with two engines, a water tender, medic units, a battalion chief and Sapeta, while Cal Fire sent two additional engines.
Sapeta said the fire was contained to the structure, despite some concerns about wind that might have helped it spread.
The structure was a total loss. Sapeta said the fire’s cause is still under investigation.
The woman who lived in the home suffered smoke inhalation and was transported to St. Helena Hospital Clear Lake for treatment, he said.
Sapeta said Red Cross was offering the woman housing assistance due to the loss of her home.
About an hour of mop up and overhaul was required after the fire was extinguished. Radio reports indicated firefighters cleared the scene at about 8:30 p.m.
Email Elizabeth Larson at
