Northern Blair County Forest Fire Crew

This year the crew was asked to put on a fire prevention display at the Alpha Fire Department's open house in State College. We set up our fire weather display, some firefigthing equipment and the help Smokey fire prevention game. The Alpha members made us feel welcome. Everyone that stopped by the display both community and fire company members had a lot of questions.

Farm City Days was Oct. 3rd in downtown Tyrone. The crew set up a display on fire weather again this year. We had a lot of people ask about fire weather. Smokey Bear made a vist to the event. We seen a larger group of kids this year and they enjoyed helping Smokey put out fires.

The crew made a stop at the Lowe's in Altoona for Safety Saturday. Fire companys from Logan Twp. and the Logan Twp. Police were on hand. Along with a smoke house from Allegheny Twp. Fire company. Even though we had rain the people still came out to see the displays. Smokey Bear was on hand to meet kids in the store.

With the kick off of Labor Day Weekend, Smokey made a visit to the Raystown Visitor Center. A vintage Smokey Bear movie was shown to visitors at the lake. A wildfire display was set up for people to view also.

Incident Overview

Image options: [ Enlarge ] [ Full Size ]

The Station Fire started off Angeles Crest Highway (SR 2) about one mile above Angeles Crest Fire Station around 3:30pm Wednesday August 26, 2009. Angeles Crest Highway, Tujunga Canyon and Big Tujunga Canyon roads are closed. As a result of extreme fire activity, and to protect public health and safety, Angeles National Forest officials implementinged an area closure for lands in the vicinity of the fire. This closure is in effect until cancelled. Please see "closures" for the complete closure order.

2 fire crew fatalities have been confirmed.

3 injuries have been reported. Be ready to evacuate if you are near the fire boundary. Do not hesitate to move to an evacuation center.

New evacuations - Little Rock Recreation Area, Mt. Emma and Cheeseboro Rd.

In La Canada/Flintridge homes east of Jenssen Drive, northeast of Los Amigos St. east of Castle Road and east of Ocean View Road. Also, Briggs Ave to Pennsylvania north of Harmony Place.

Rockdale area - Briggs north of Rockdale. Altadena - north of Loma Alta between Lake and Canyon Del Drive. Total residencies evacuated - 2000.

Effective Noon August 30, - West of Arroyo Seco to Palm Drive north of Olive Lane in La Canada.

Highway 14 - off and on ramps that have been closed are: Soledad Canyon in Canyon Country, Agua Dulce Canyon Road, Escondido Canyon, Red Rover Mine Road and Crown Valley Road.

Acton, All residences to the south of Soledad Canyon Road from Highway 14 to Crown Valley Road and all residences in Alison Canyon Road from Angeles Forest Highway to Soledad Canyon Road.

Please see "announcements" for other evacution locations and Evacuation Centers.

Horses from evacuations can be taken to Pierce College in Woodland Hills and to Hansen Dam. Small animals can be taken to La Canada High School.

Actions are to keep the fire west of Mt. Wilson and 2N45, south of Highway 14, east of Interstate 5 and north of Foothill and Alta Dena Drive.

Basic Information

Current Situation

Outlook

Current Weather

On August 4th the fire crew set up a fire prevention display at the Duncansville Night Out Against Crime. Smokey made the trip with the crew and rode in the parade. We had a large crowd that came to visit with smokey and view our display.

.

We got a chance to set up for night opps with our lighting.

The Northern Blair County Forest Fire Crew had a busy weekend  July 17th & 18th The crew put on a display at the Tyrone Community Awareness Night held at Reservoir Park in Tyrone. We had a fire weather display along with wildland firefighting equipment and games for the kids to play. Smokey made a visit to the night also.

On the 18th the crew headed to the Bellwood Library for a read-along of the story of Smokey Bear. Asst Fire Warden Mike Beckwith did the reading of the story and Smokey made a visit. 

That night the crew sent some members down to Dist 5 to help with Fire Pevention at Raystown Lake. We sent down the Help Smokey Prevent Forest Fire Game. Jr members Kaitland and Jamie Lynch helped the kids with the game.

We had a slow spring fire season, but we have had a busy fire prevention season. The crew took Smokey to the Tyrone Library Sat. June 20th. Asst. Fire Warden  Mike Beckwith had a read-along with the story of Smokey Bear. Jr crew members Jamie Lynch and Tyler Beckwith helped the kids to play games and made sure all the kids signed a birthday card for Smokey to help celebrate his 65th Birthday. At the end of the story Smokey came in and the kids presented Smokey his birthday card.

Pennsylvania Specialized Crew Camp was held May 28,29,30 & 31 at Camp K. This is the 26th year for the out of state fire camp training. This year the NBCFFC crew members helped out with a lot of support jobs. We assisted with the Medical unit, Communications unit, Supply unit, Crew Boss and Ground support units. The crew enjoys helping out with crew camp it gives us a chance to expand knowledge while utilizing our skills.

And as always we had The NBCFFC Shirt Shack open .

The Fire Crew worked close with the District 6 staff this spring doing prescribed burns. We assisted with two burns, the first was at the Canoe Creek State Park in late April. The second one was on the Gallitzin State Forest, Laurel Run Tract in late May. The crew members enjoyed the opportunity to work with the district staff and learn more about using fire as a management tool.

More Canoe Creek RX Burn at 2009 pics

Laurel Run RX Brun

The 2009 Blair Division Fire Warden Meeting was held March 17th. The Northern Blair County Forest Fire Crew would like to congratulate the following members for receiving WHIP Awards (Wardens Helping In Prevention). 

The following members

Kermit N. Alwine 40, Kermit J. Alwine 19, Michael Glunt 19, David J. Lynch 15, Mike Beckwith 12, John Otto 8, Charles Wolfe 8, Kirk Pote 7 Keith Pote 6

Thank you for helping Smokey keep the forests safe from fire

PA-130  class was held at the Blair fire station this past March. The class ran March 4th, 6th, and 7th. It was attended by fire company members from all over Blair county. Thanks to all the fire companies that attended. 

Rain won’t douse drought

Article Photos

(Mirror photo by J.D. Cavrich)
The Rockton fire tower extends 90 feet into the sky over the Moshannon State Forest.

A weather pattern similar to last weekend may lead to an increased risk of wildfires across the region this weekend, a National Weather Service meteorologist said Monday.

The danger may be somewhat limited because of higher humidity and lower winds, meteorologist Aaron Tyburski said.

Temperatures are forecast to climb into the mid-70s by Friday with partly to mostly sunny skies.

"It will dry out, similar to last weekend. It will be a little less dry with a slightly higher humidity in the upper 20s to about 30 percent. The winds will be 10 to 15 mph Saturday and Sunday," Tyburski said.

Firefighters battled six wildfires last weekend, the largest being dubbed Sugar Run No. 1.

The Sugar Run fire scorched 297.9 acres. The cause of the fire remains under investigation, said Rick Meintel, a forest fire specialist supervisor for the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources' Bureau of Forestry.

The fire danger increases in the spring as the sun and wind dry out leaves and brush on the forest floor. It will lessen when "green up" or "leaf out" occurs with new leaves growing and blocking out the sunlight, allowing more moisture to stay on the forest floor.

"People should not be burning before leaf out occurs," Meintel said.

Wildfires still will occur after leaf out, usually the first or second week in May, but leaves and brush don't burn as readily, Meintel said.

A quick inch of rain over several days is good for the short-term, but changing wind directions, sunny days and low humidity can cause the fire danger to quickly recover.

"It doesn't take much to dry things out," Tyburski said.

The humidity Saturday dropped to less than 15 percent, Meintel said.

"We had extreme fire behavior on Saturday," he said.

Meintel said the fire crews did an outstanding job in handling the Sugar Run fire.

"We have a very large number of people who actively train. As the incident commander, I just saw all the training pay off. Everything just clicked. We did it safely. With 150 to 200 firefighters on scene, we didn't have an injury, not even a person injured in a log trip," he said.

Mirror Staff Writer Mark Leberfinger is at 946-7462.

Crews tackle brush fires

Article Photos

(Mirror photo by David Hurst)
Firefighters tackle three brush fires Saturday on an Allegheny Township mountainside.

DUNCANSVILLE - Fire crews from the region were busy Saturday trying to snuff out stubborn brush fires along an Allegheny Township mountainside.

They were still at it late Saturday, with crews confirming earlier that they were dealing with at least three fires - one of them "very large" - in the township, where thick, white smoke was visible as far away as the Gallitzin area.

Blair County 911 officials said firefighters from six stations were still on scene as of 10:45 p.m. and were expected to remain there overnight.

A 911 supervisor confirmed that as many as a dozen stations from Cambria and Blair counties responded to the fires earlier in the day.

In Allegheny Township, state Bureau of Forestry helicopters were used in an effort to extinguish the larger fires. They could be spotted flying overhead near Route 22, where a fire was smoldering above the Main Line railroad tracks, Sugar Run Road and not far from the Horseshoe Curve National Historic Site.

Responders at the scene had to haul their gear up miles of narrow, rocky dirt roads to get to the hot spots, adding to the challenge.

Firefighters from Allegheny Township and other crews referred questions to a state forestry fire inspector who was at the scene Saturday and could not be reached for comment.

There were several other reported brush fires across the region.

A Blair County 911 Supervisor said the department received a call about "a very large brush fire" at 2:54 p.m.

By 5:40 p.m., fire crews reported that more than 100 firefighters from about a dozen departments were battling the blazes.

The fire appeared to be concentrated in one area as of 11:30 p.m.

Officials from 911 said the cause of the fires was officially unknown, but weather may have been the primary factor. Much of Blair County saw temperatures into the mid-70s all day.

Spring is peak forest fire season.

State Department of Conservation & Natural Resources forest fire protection officials held a press conference in Clearfield County late last week, reminding residents to be cautious this spring. They said March to mid-May is their busiest time of year because of low humidity, and trees and brush are often dry.