active fire map site (Casper, Cody: homes, tornadoes, earthquakes)

[jody_wy]

Active Fire Mapping Program

[ElkHunter]

Yesterday afternoon, a fire started East of Buffalo. I am not exactly sure where it is at, but from what I was told, I am about 45 miles North of the fire. I took this picture about 7pm and the sun is partially blocked by smoke. Actually a very pretty sight, kind of a rainbow effect.

[Truth11]

How often do fires plague the west? I was looking at Wyoming and places out there to live.

[WyoNewk]

Originally Posted by ElkHunter

Yesterday afternoon, a fire started East of Buffalo. I am not exactly sure where it is at, but from what I was told, I am about 45 miles North of the fire. I took this picture about 7pm and the sun is partially blocked by smoke. Actually a very pretty sight, kind of a rainbow effect.

I was out that way yesterday, about 10-15 miles north/ne of Buffalo on Hwy 16. It was east of the highway, mostly it appeared to be just over the ridge to the east. There was also considerable smoke over the Big Horns. It appeared to me to be coming from the southern Big Horns, but it was far enough away that it was hard to tell. Lots of smoke in Buffalo. In fact, there was also smoke above the Big Horns further north, but it was higher and I was wondering if it might have been coming from the Tetons.

[ShesOnTheMove]

Originally Posted by Truth11

How often do fires plague the west? I was looking at Wyoming and places out there to live.

There are fires every year. Mostly depends on the amount of precipitation through the year- more precip means more resistance to cigarette butts thrown out the window, lightening strikes, arson, accidents, etc. This winter was warmer and drier than most- people were saying various things about it (yeah! boo!) but as early as February I remember hearing talk on the radio that it would not be looking like a good fire season.

It's a natural (or not) disaster that the West has to contend with much like other parts of the US deal with more severe earthquakes, or hurricanes, or flooding, or tornadoes, etc.

[WyoNewk]

Truth, not sure how to answer your question. Fires plague the west every summer, all summer long, usually beginning in late June and lasting until early fall. Certain conditions make it worse -- a wet spring followed by a dry summer is bad. This year it was more of a wet 2011 followed by a dry 2012. We've had record heat with low humidity and strong winds for the past week. It the "perfect storm".

If your question pertains to immediate danger to a typical resident's life or property, no. Fires are normally in more remote areas on the plains (grass, brush fires) or in the mountains (forest fires). We see and smell the smoke, sometimes the glow in the sky from the fire. Most of us rarely even see any flames, let alone be in eminent personal danger from them, if that's your concern.

But they do affect us. A few years ago while on a trip west I had to detour hundreds of miles because Interstate 90 was closed in western Montana due to a forest fire. On another trip I had to sit on Interstate 5 in Oregon for a few hours due to a fire along the road. We do a lot of camping, and campfires are often banned in July and August.

Colorado is currently experiencing their worst fire season on record, and we're not even into peak fire season yet. Thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes, and hundreds of people have lots their homes. A couple people have died. But percentage wise, unless you're a fire fighter, it's very unlikely that you would ever be in personal danger from a forest fire or range fire.

[Truth11]

Originally Posted by WyoNewk

If your question pertains to immediate danger to a typical resident's life or property, no. Fires are normally in more remote areas on the plains (grass, brush fires) or in the mountains (forest fires). We see and smell the smoke, sometimes the glow in the sky from the fire. Most of us rarely even see any flames, let alone be in eminent personal danger from them, if that's your concern.

Reason I ask is someone I know posted photos of them herding horses and animals down the road in evacuations...

[jody_wy]

bug killed timber , no logging and no rain and thunder storms and we in for one summer full of fire

[jody_wy]

InciWeb the Incident Information System: Fontenelle Fire

[juneaubound]

I traveled from Cody to Casper and back yesterday. Heavy smoke from just beyond Thermopolis and through the canyon, a brief break near Shoshone and then non-stop heavy smoke all the way to Casper. That was in the morning. By the time we headed back to Cody in the afternoon things had cleared out a lot.














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