Lazy Fire
October  3, 2022 Daily Update

Acres: 1,800
Containment: 80%
Start Date: September 29, 2022

Yesterday crews from Texas A&M Forest Service and several local volunteer fire departments worked together to patrol and extinguish any hot areas along the containment lines. Several hot areas were identified and worked by first cutting any burning wood apart, then soaking the area, and mixing the ash and water together. Mixing the ash and water often makes a cool mud that can be packed onto burning logs to extinguish the burning wood.

Today there is a crew from Texas A&M Forest Service continuing this work, slowly covering the entire fire perimeter. This work does take some time and will go on until there are no identifiable heat near the containment lines. While this work is ongoing other personnel from Texas A&M Forest Service are standing by, prepared for the next call for assistance across the state.

Members of the public can expect to continue seeing plumes rise from the area of the Lazy Fire as hot areas inside the fire burn themselves out. Another common site might be dust devils formed by winds picking up exposed ash and dirt from the burned area and forming a similar looking plumes. If you see something rise from inside the burned area fire departments do not need to be informed, however if you see something rising from a different area outside of the Lazy Fire perimeter please call your local fire department. 

Lazy Fire
October  2, 2022 Daily Update

Acres: 1,800
Containment: 75%
Start Date: September 29, 2022

Yesterday fire crews from Texas A&M Forest Service and local volunteer fire departments worked together to patrol and mop up the perimeter of the Lazy fire. This entailed smoothing the containment lines and driving around this line with fire engines. As areas of heat were identified around the fire, firefighters use water from their engines and hand tools to extinguish the heat and secure the line. This process is time consuming but by extinguishing all the heats around the edge of the fire we can reduce the risk of a fire jumping the containment lines growing larger. At the end of shift yesterday, much of the heavy equipment returned to their home units to prepare for the next fire.

Today firefighters are out patrolling the fire, looking for any heat or visible smokes. This patrolling will continue until the first 100 feet inside the containment lines is all cold around the entire fire. There will continue to be smokes rising from inside the burned area visible to the public, but they are not a cause for concern. As long as these smokes are rising from the same area they do not need to be reported, however if smoke begins to rise from a new area then that should be reported to your local fire department. Members of the public should continue to be cautious around the intersection of US-180 and Highway 16 as fire crews will be entering and exiting the road in that area.  

Lazy Fire
October 1 , 2022 Daily Update

Acres: 1,800
Containment: 65%
Start Date: September 29, 2022

Crews are continuing to improve the containment lines around the lazy fire and monitoring for any additional fire growth. Yesterday crews were able to widen and improve all the containment lines constructed during the initial attack of this fire. This process involves working around the fire's perimeter to identify any pockets of unburned fuel between the initial dozer lines and where the fire stopped burning. Crews worked to remove these pockets by either constructing new dozer lines next to the fire's edge or by burning the unburned fuel between the lines and the fire's edge. By removing those unburned fuels, the risk of fire jumping over the containment lines is reduced. 

Today firefighters will be working to smooth and improve containment lines so that engines can better access remaining areas of heat around the fire. This work involves removing any berms created by the dozers during line construction and regrading lines to allow for better vehicle traffic. Additionally this work will help to reduce the impact on the landscape by the dozers and allow for better long term recovery of the landscape. Crews will continue this work while also patrolling and monitoring the fire for any heat that could cause a chance of additional fire growth. 
 
 

Lazy Fire
September 30, 2022 Evening Update

Acres: 1,800
Containment: 55%
Start Date: September 29, 2022 
 
Texas A&M Forest Service dozers widen and improved control lines to allow fire engines to gain access to rough terrain areas around the perimeter of the fire.  Lazy fire showed active fire behavior this afternoon, the containment lines were able to hold the fire acitvity.  Fire engines patrolled and secured areas of concerns by cooling down any areas holding heat, while protecting public and firefighter safety.

This evening with increased humidity, the fire activity decreased with no signs of flare ups. The fire will be monitored overnight by local resources.  All Texas A&M Forest Service personnel has been released for the night and will return tomorrow morning to continue to monitor Lazy Fire. Texas A&M Forest Service personnel and Palo Pinto County continue to work in unified command.  
 

Lazy Fire

September 30, 2022 9:00am

Acres: 1,500
Containment: 20%
Start Date: September 29, 2022 
 
Overnight, heavy equipment from Texas A&M Forest Service continued to construct fire lines around the perimeter of the fire, while protecting public and firefighter safety. The Lazy Fire showed moderate fire activity with some tree torching, local fire engines conducted point protection, along with mop-up operations, cooling off any heat inside the lines.

This morning Lazy Fire shows active fire behavior along the control lines, with some creeping and smoldering in some areas.  Day crews from Texas A&M Forest Service dozers and local fire engines continue work together to suppress the fire while protecting public and firefighter safety. Texas A&M Forest Service dozers are widening and improving control lines. Local fire engines continue to extinguish any active fire along the control lines, cooling off any hot spots in areas of concern and providing point protection. Residents will continue to see fire crews for the next few days as this fire is lined and then monitored to ensure it stays inside the containment lines. Texas A&M Forest Service personnel and Palo Pinto County continue to work in unified command.  

Lazy Fire
September 29, 2022 9:00pm

Acres: 750
Containment: 10%
Start Date: September 29, 2022   
 
Texas A&M Forest Service personnel are working in unified command with Palo Pinto County to suppress the Lazy Fire. Heavy equipment, including 7 bulldozers and a motor grader, have been constructing fire lines around the Lazy Fire while fire engines have been working to knock down the fire and put out heat inside the lines. At this time 15 structures have been directly threatened by fire and have been protected by local fire engines and Texas A&M Forest Service heavy equipment. Due to the steep and rocky terrain crews have had to make indirect line, line not directly adjacent to the fire, to ensure firefighter safety. These indirect lines will be strengthened during the day when better visibility will allow for a safer operation. Crews will continue to work through the night to construct line, while protecting public and firefighter safety. Residents will continue to see fire crews for the next few days as this fire is lined and then monitored to ensure it stays inside the containment lines. 

Lazy Fire
September 29, 2022 

Highway 16 Reopened 
At this time Highway 16 has been reopened to all traffic between US-180 and Sportsman World Road. Fire personnel and equipment are still working around the road. Please take caution when driving through the area to ensure firefighter and public safety. 

MOSQUITO POST-FIRE BAER ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW PRESENTATION RELEASED

The Forest Service (USFS)—Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests (NF) completed the BAER post-fire assessment of the Mosquito burned areas and affected watersheds to determine their response, soil conditions, potential threats, and recommended BAER emergency stabilization measures and actions on National Forest System (NFS) lands. BAER emergency treatments and activities are designed to decreased possible impacts to critical values from the burned areas during rainstorm events such as: life and safety, property, critical natural resources, and cultural resources.

The BAER team’s assessment report describing the soil conditions, potential threats to critical values, and recommended stabilization treatment activities has been presented to both the Tahoe and Eldorado NF managers and staff. After their review and approval, the assessment report will be shared with the USFS Pacific Southwest Regional Office and its National Washington Office for review, approval, and funding of the recommended BAER treatments before the report is considered final and can be shared with the public.

In the meantime, we are sharing the BAER team’s assessment and findings overview presentation: NOTE: Attached below as “Related Information” is a PDF document called “Mosquito Post-Fire BAER Assessment Overview_PUBLIC”.

BAER SAFETY MESSAGE: Everyone near and downstream from the burned areas should remain alert and stay updated on weather conditions that may result in rain and increased water runoff. Flash flooding may occur quickly during rain events. Be prepared to act. Current weather and emergency notifications can be found at the National Weather Service website: www.weather.gov/sto/.

BAER Specialists Assess Mosquito Burned Area

After a large wildfire, special actions are often necessary to provide for public safety and protect critical cultural and natural resources. Some fires create situations that require special efforts to prevent additional damage after the fire is contained. Loss of vegetation exposes soil to erosion; water runoff may increase and cause flooding, sediments may move downstream and damage houses or fill reservoirs and put endangered species and community water supplies at-risk.

A Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team is assessing federal lands burned in the Mosquito Fire, with the goal of keeping visitors and employees safe while recreating and working in the Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests (NF). BAER team assessments focus on emergency actions that are necessary to protect human life and safety, property, critical cultural resources, and critical natural resources such as soil productivity, hydrologic function, and water quality. Emergency actions are intended to minimize any further damage during rainstorm events.

BAER hydrologists, soil scientists, geologist, road engineers, recreation specialists, biologists, botanists, archeologists, and GIS specialists are currently assessing the condition and response of the watersheds within the burned areas. These BAER scientists and specialists evaluate other critical values that could be at risk during major rainstorm events such as forest roads and trails, campgrounds, and other forest infrastructure.

BAER soil scientists evaluate the burned watersheds to determine post-fire effects to soil and watershed conditions. This includes testing whether the soil is hydrophobic – aka repels water, the amount of soil cover left, soil structure damage, and organic matter left in the soil. Post-fire burned areas of hydrophobic (water repellent) soils along with destruction of soil structure can act as a “tin roof” by reducing the infiltration capacity of soils, enhanced overland flow, and accelerated soil erosion.

This is important because the amount of hydrophobicity and soil structure damage are important components to determining how much increased water runoff we can expect after a fire. The hydrophobic layer is the result of a waxy substance that is derived from plant material burned during a hot fire. The waxy substance penetrates the soil as a gas and solidifies after it cools, forming a waxy coating around soil particles. Hydrophobicity repels water from soil and is considered when mapping watershed response to rainstorms after a wildfire.

Water repellency is only one of the many changes with the topsoil that happens in moderate and high soil burn severity. The biggest driver is lack of soil cover and soil structure. This is “why” soil burn severity is so important and “why” hydrophobicity is only one of the contributing factors. Soil texture also plays a role, coarse-grained soils allow hot gasses to penetrate deeper and tend to have deeper water repellant layers where fine-textured soils pore space is tight and does not allow gases to penetrate readily thus causing only surface water repellency.

In this photo below, Forest Service Soil Scientist Eric Nicita assesses soil hydrophobicity (water repellency), changes to soil structure, and maps the soil burn severity (SBS) in the Mosquito burned area.

BAER Engineers, Hydrologists, Soil Scientists, and Geologists evaluate the conditions of roads and watersheds within the Mosquito burned area for potential threats from flash flooding, sediment flows impacting drainage crossings and the overall infrastructure due to increased erosion, sedimentation, and water flows. They determine whether road culverts and other drainage structures within the burned areas have sufficient capacity to pass post-fire modeled increased water and debris flows—in particular, they look to see if they are clogged, collapsed, or could get clogged and if rock fall could occur after major rainstorm events. Roads are BAER critical values that need to be assessed for these threats. The BAER team recommends emergency stabilization treatments and actions to minimize those threats.

Critical drainage crossings are identified by BAER assessment team specialists. They evaluate the condition of existing drainage structures and road conditions for their BAER assessment report. The specialists also evaluate the burned area road culverts for risk of plugging during fall/winter storms. They inspect these crossings to prescribe the most effective BAER treatment to protect the road prisms from washing away during major storm events.

The next two photos show rocks and other debris in the roadway on Forest Service (FS) Road 14N25 in the Eldorado NF side of the Mosquito Fire on the way down to Oxbow reservoir. Rock fall zones can become more active post-fire and become hazardous when driving through the burned areas.

The next photo is a catch basin adjacent to a road with limited capacity for runoff along Forest Route 33 on the Tahoe NF in the Mosquito burned area on the way to the Grouse Falls area. The culvert will likely not be able to handle increased flow, and the catch basin may overtop and lead to road washout and erosion. Because of the fire, there is no vegetation to slow the flow of water or hold the sediment in place.

BAER hydrologists model post-fire watershed responses under typical storm conditions to determine if there is a risk of flooding or increased water flows that could undermine or damage the roads and/or result in dangerous situations for Forest visitors or employees.

These next two photos show the beginning of a road edge failure along FS Road 13N48 above Pilot Creek. The side of this dirt road drops sharply off into the creek. BAER Engineers will recommend emergency stabilization actions and treatments to ensure that the roads do not wash away or fail. The treatments also need to reduce the amount of sediment entering the waterways, as well as maintain the road width for driver safety.

These two photos below show a smoldering tree stump hole along FS Road 13N48 near the Blodgett Experimental Forest in the burned area. Stump holes can be a big road hazard since they are often much deeper and wider than they look on the surface and are prone to caving in. These stump holes were at least three feet deep.

This next photo was taken by BAER Aquatic Biologist Dan Teater during his assessment of the Mosquito burned area. The photo shows Ralston Afterbay Dam located on the Middle Fork of American River and is showing signs of elevated turbidity from ash and sediment because of the rain the burned area received in September. Rain events occurring during a wildfire can impact water quality and the feeding behavior of fish and frogs occupying rivers and streams. Water quality and TES (Threatened and Endangered Species) are also BAER natural resources critical values that are evaluated for post-fire impacts.

These two photos show Dan Teater, assessing California red legged frog critical habitat that was burned over by the Mosquito Fire.

This next photo shows Forest Service Environmental Geologist Rick Weaver assessing the California red legged frog habitat near Big Gun Diggings Hydraulic Mine located on the American River Ranger District on the Tahoe NF.

BAER assessment teams sometimes need to bring in hazardous materials (hazmat) specialists to assist in evaluating hazardous areas that were burned over during a wildfire.

In this photo below, Forest Service Abandoned Mine Specialist Jeremy Olson is recording information at a hazardous mine opening near the Western States Trail in the Mosquito burned area.

In this next photo, Rick Weaver is assessing an abandoned mine opening near the Gorman Ranch Road. This mine was previously unknown and is now considered a threat to public safety.

These next four photos show a burned over mine shaft that Jeremy Olson and Rick Weaver assessed in the Mosquito burned area. The shaft was previously closed by a polyurethane foam (PUF) plug. The heat from the fire melted the PUF plug. The BAER team will recommend an emergency stabilization treatment to mitigate the hazard to provide for public safety. The BAER specialists temporarily surrounded the mine shaft with colored flagging to warn anyone who comes upon it.

Along with roads, trails are also a BAER critical value that are assessed for potential threats from flash flooding, debris flows impacting drainage crossings and the overall trail prisms and infrastructure due to increased erosion, sedimentation, and water flows. Forest Service Recreation Specialists evaluated trails within the Mosquito burned area. They will include their trail evaluations in the BAER assessment team report along with BAER emergency stabilization treatment recommendations to minimize threats from potential rainstorm threats.

This photo below shows BAER Trails Specialist James Wood assessing the burned Western States Trail in Eldorado Canyon.

Here BAER Archeology Tech Jacob Batisky is assessing the Loop 6 motorcycle trail on Codfish Ridge as shown in this photo below.

The next two photos BAER Hydrologist Tori Stempniewciz and Jacob Batisky assess the Loop 6 motorcycle trail in the Mosquito burned area.

This next photo below shows Tyler Segura assessing Grouse Falls Overlook, which unfortunately burned in the Mosquito Fire.

And this last photo for all you “BAER” fans, if you look closely, you will see bear paw prints that BAER Civil Engineer Nicole Thompson found close to Michigan Bluff on the Tahoe NF side of the Mosquito Fire area.

NOTE: For bigger view of each of the above photos, please go to the Photos Tab of this InciWeb page: Mosquito Post-Fire BAER Photographs - InciWeb the Incident Information System (nwcg.gov) 

BAER SAFETY MESSAGE: Everyone near and downstream from the burned areas should remain alert and stay updated on weather conditions that may result in heavy rains and increased water runoff. Flash flooding may occur quickly during heavy rain events – be prepared to act. Current weather and emergency notifications can be found at the National Weather Service website:  www.weather.gov/sto/.