Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Officials: Firefighter died in blaze-formed tornado
SAN FRANCISCO — A firefighter who died while helping people evacuate a Northern California blaze was killed by a fire tornado that at one point reached a temperature of 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit, officials said.
Redding firefighter Jeremy Stoke died after he was enveloped in seconds by a fire tornado with a diameter of 1,000 feet and winds up to 165 mph, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection said in a report released Wednesday detailing his death and the death of a bulldozer operator.
Videos released with the report show the blaze burning in a populated area and sending a cloud of thick smoke up into the air with flames swirling up into the sky.
The tornado ripped roofs off houses and flung power line towers, cars and a shipping container into the air near the spot where Stoke was overtaken by the flames, according to the report.
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection officials said that on July 26, the 37-year-old fire inspector was driving his pickup down a Redding road, working on evacuating people. One minute later he radioed out a “mayday” call saying he was getting burned and needed help.
Stoke “identified himself by his radio call sign, and stated that he needed a water drop and was getting burned over,” the report said.
When an engine captain tried to contact him shortly after, there was no response, it said.
“Observations from witnesses and other evidence suggest that either several fire tornadoes occurred at different locations and times, or one fire tornado formed and then periodically weakened and strengthened causing several separate damage areas,” the report said.
Stoke, whose remains were found the next day, was one of eight people killed since the blaze started on July 23 with a spark from a vehicle driving on a flat tire.
The wildfire has destroyed nearly 1,100 homes. It was 71 percent contained as of Thursday.
The report also detailed the death of private bulldozer operator Don Smith, 81, of Pollock Pines, who was killed when his bulldozer was caught in the flames while trying to improve a fire line, defending a home during what the officials say were “extraordinary fire weather conditions.”
Smith was trying to improve a previously constructed fire line near the Buckeye Water Treatment Plant outside Redding after 5 p.m. July 26 when other firefighters noticed “a rapid increase in fire activity.”
Smith reported that he was cut off by the fire and was pushing on in his 2002 John Deere open cab bulldozer in an attempt to reach a safe area. He also requested water drops and four helicopters began dropping water through the smoke and flames around Smith’s last known location.
Once the smoke cleared, a pilot saw that Smith’s dozer had been engulfed in flames and there was no sign of the protective metallic tent that firefighters deploy as a desperate measure when they are about to be overrun by fire. After two attempts, a fire captain was able to reach the bulldozer two hours later and confirmed that Smith was dead.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s administration announced a new policy to fight wildfires, doubling down on its assertion that the best response is better forest management rather than focusing on climate change.
Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said Thursday that the U.S. Forest Service would increase the amount of logging and controlled burns on federal lands, to reduce the amount of fuel available to drive increasingly severe forest fires. He brushed off questions about whether climate change was making those fires worse.
“A lot of people, when you talk about climate change, they want to talk about what the causes are,” Perdue said. “What we’re trying to talk about is the impact.”
Ryan Zinke, the Interior Department secretary, said removing the dead timber that fuels the fires is the best approach. “Whether you’re a global warming activist or denier,” he said at the start of a cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday, it doesn’t matter if you have rotting wood in the forests.
Zinke acknowledged that global warming is contributing to wildfires. “Temperatures are getting hotter,” Zinke said, adding “of course” when asked if he accepted that climate change was part of the problem.
Arkansas State Forester Joe Fox said he’s glad the strategy emphasizes the relationship he feels the Arkansas Forestry Commission already has with federal agencies and private landowners.
He’s worked on partnerships with those groups before, including the recent Western Arkansas Woodland Restoration Project that thinned forests in western Arkansas and replaced loblolly pine trees with native shortleaf pine trees that allow more light to hit the forest floor. That, among other projects, can help prevent fires, he said.