Philmont Scout Ranch is a ranch located in Colfax County, New Mexico, near the village of Cimarron; it covers 140,177 acres of wilderness in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains. Donated by oil baron Waite Phillips, the ranch is owned and operated by the Boy Scouts of America. It is a National High Adventure Base where crews of Scouts and Venturers take part in backpacking treks and other outdoor activities. By land area, it is one of the largest youth camps in the world. During the season, between June 8 and August 22, an estimated 22,000 Scouts and adult leaders backpack through the Ranch's extensive backcountry. More than 1,130 seasonal staff are responsible for the Ranch's summer operations.
Philmont Scout Ranch camps are a group of backpacking camps located in Philmont Scout Ranch, a large property in Colfax County near Cimarron, New Mexico, owned by the Boy Scouts of America and used as a backpacking reservation. Philmont operates from one large Base Camp which includes camping headquarters, the Philmont Training Center and Villa Philmonte, the Seton Museum, fire response facilities, cattle headquarters, and an administration area. As of 2022, there are 71 trail camps and 36 staffed camps. Philmont's camps are generally set no more than a couple of miles apart. Old camps are closed or relocated and new camps are opened every few years. Some camp sites are closed due to changing safety protocols. For example, camps were once located on top of Urraca Mesa and in the Baldy Saddle but these are unlikely to reopen because the locations are at risk for lightning strikes.
Wildfire suppression is a range of firefighting tactics used to suppress wildfires. Firefighting efforts in wild land areas require different techniques, equipment, and training from the more familiar structure fire fighting found in populated areas. Working in conjunction with specially designed aerial firefighting aircraft, these wildfire-trained crews suppress flames, construct fire lines, and extinguish flames and areas of heat to protect resources and natural wilderness. Wildfire suppression also addresses the issues of the wildland–urban interface, where populated areas border with wild land areas.
The Zaca Fire was a wildfire that began burning in the San Rafael Mountains, northeast of the Santa Ynez Valley in Santa Barbara County, California. It was also the single largest wildfire of the 2007 California wildfire season. The fire started on July 4, 2007, and by August 31, it had burned over 240,207 acres (972.083 km2), making it California's second largest fire in recorded history at that time after the Cedar Fire of 2003. As of 2020, it is California's tenth-largest recorded fire in modern history. The fire was contained on September 4, 2007, with the fire being brought under control on October 29, 2007.
The Witch Creek Fire, also known as the Witch Fire and the Witch-Guejito–Poomacha Complex Fire, was the second-largest wildfire of the 2007 California wildfire season, and the largest one of the October 2007 California wildfires. Although the Witch Creek Fire was individually smaller than the Zaca Fire of 2007, burning 197,990 acres (801 km2) acres alone, after merging with the Poomacha and McCoy Fires, the Witch–Guejito–Poomacha Complex Fire had a total burn area of 247,800 acres (1,003 km2), surpassing the Zaca Fire to become the largest complex fire of 2007. Initially igniting in Witch Creek Canyon, near Santa Ysabel, the Witch Creek Fire rapidly spread westward, fanned by powerful Santa Ana winds, and consumed large portions of San Diego County. On October 25, the Witch Fire merged with the Poomacha Fire to the north, near Palomar Mountain, before also merging with the smaller McCoy Fire on the next day. The Witch–Poomacha Complex Fire was the second-to-last fire of the 2007 October wildfires to be extinguished, with the Poomacha Fire being contained on November 13. The last remaining fire, the Harris Fire, was fully extinguished on November 16. During its duration, 80–100 feet-high flames were reported by fire officials in the Witch Fire, and the Witch Fire exhibited the characteristics of a firestorm at its height.
Wildfire suppression in the United States has had a long and varied history. For most of the 20th century, any form of wildland fire, whether it was naturally caused or otherwise, was quickly suppressed for fear of uncontrollable and destructive conflagrations such as the Peshtigo Fire in 1871 and the Great Fire of 1910. In the 1960s, policies governing wildfire suppression changed due to ecological studies that recognized fire as a natural process necessary for new growth. Today, policies advocating complete fire suppression have been exchanged for those who encourage wildland fire use, or the allowing of fire to act as a tool, such as the case with controlled burns.
The 2009 California wildfires were a series of 9,159 wildfires that were active in the US state of California, during the year 2009. The fires burned more than 422,147 acres of land from early February through late November, due to Red Flag conditions, destroying hundreds of structures, injuring 134 people, and killing four. The wildfires also caused at least US$134.48 million in damage. Although the fires burned many different regions of California in August, the month was especially notable for several very large fires which burned in Southern California, despite being outside of the normal fire season for that region.
The 2011 Texas wildfires were a series of destructive wildfires in Texas that occurred in the 2011 fire season. During 2011 in Texas, around 31,453 fires had burned 4,000,000 acres or 16,190 square kilometres, 2,947 homes, and over 2,700 other structures. 47.3% of all acreage burned in the United States in 2011 was burned in Texas. The fires had been particularly severe due to the 2011 Southern US drought that covered the state, and was exacerbated by the unusual convergence of strong winds, unseasonably warm temperatures, and low humidity.
Philmont Scout Ranch is located in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains of the Rocky Mountains of New Mexico. Philmont is about 12 miles (19 km) across at its widest point, and about 30 miles (48 km) long. There are no mountains to the south or east of Philmont. The interior of the ranch is mountainous but a small part of the eastern area is prairie.
The October 2007 California wildfires, also known as the Fall 2007 California firestorm, were a series of about thirty wildfires that began igniting across Southern California on October 20. At least 1,500 homes were destroyed and approximately 972,147 acres of land was burned from Santa Barbara County to the U.S.–Mexico border, surpassing the October 2003 California wildfires in scope, which were estimated to have burned 800,000 acres (3,200 km2). The wildfires killed a total of 14 people, with nine of them dying directly from the fires; 160 others were injured, including at least 124 firefighters. At their height, the raging fires were visible from space. These fires included the vast majority of the largest and deadliest wildfires of the 2007 California wildfire season. The only wildfire in 2007 that surpassed any of the individual October 2007 fires in size was the Zaca Fire.
On the morning of June 27, 2015, heavy rain occurred in a great portion of the Scouting reserve Philmont Scout Ranch, which is near Cimarron, New Mexico, United States, causing a flash flood. The flood also affected some other nearby areas in Colfax County that morning, including highways and small towns around Philmont. One youth Scout, Alden Brock, who was situated in a campsite within the staff camp Indian Writings, drowned while being swept away by the flood. The flood also had a significant impact on many individual crews and treks and significantly damaged some campsites. The 2015 flash flood is the largest documented flood in the history of Philmont, and is the only flood at Philmont that has ever caused the death of a person.
In 2016, a total of 7,349 fires had burned an area 669,534 acres (2,709.51 km2) in California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
The Ute Park Fire was a wildfire one mile east of Ute Park, New Mexico in the United States. The fire started on May 31, 2018. The cause remains under investigation. The fire burned a total of 36,740 acres (149 km2) and was contained on June 19, 2018. It threatened the communities of Cimarron and Ute Park, with mandatory evacuations in place from June 1 2, respectively, until June 8th: when both were lifted. The fire destroyed 14 buildings and threatened over 750 structures.
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season in California history. It was also the largest on record at the time, now second to the 2020 California wildfire season. In 2018, there were a total of 103 confirmed fatalities, 24,226 structures damaged or destroyed, and 8,527 fires burning 1,975,086 acres (799,289 ha), about 2% of the state's 100 million acres of land. Through the end of August 2018, Cal Fire alone spent $432 million on operations. The catastrophic Camp Fire alone killed at least 85 people, destroyed 18,804 buildings and caused $16.5 billion in property damage, while overall the fires resulted in at least $26.347 billion in property damage and firefighting costs, including $25.4 billion in property damage and $947 million in fire suppression costs.
The Taboose Fire was a wildfire burning in Inyo National Forest, southwest of Big Pine and northwest of Aberdeen in Inyo County in the state of California, in the United States. The fire started September 4, 2019 and on October 7, it had burned 10,296 acres (4,167 ha) and was 75 percent contained. The cause of the fire was lightning. Select trails, campgrounds and roads in Inyo National Forest, Sequoia National Park and Kings Canyon National Park had been closed due to the fire. The community of Baxter Ranch was under mandatory evacuation.
White Draw Fire was a wildfire in South Dakota, United States, that started on Friday, June 29, 2012. The fire burned a total area of 14 square miles, mainly the U.S. Forest Service land. The fire did not harm any civilian population or livestock; however, a military C-130 MAFFS air tanker crashed in the Black Hills during firefighting.
Martin Fire was a wildfire in northern Nevada, United States, that started on Monday, July 05, 2018. The fire burned a total area of 439,230 acres. It was the largest fire in Nevada's history, and one of the biggest in the U.S. The blaze destroyed six ranches, grazing land, and animal habitats.
The Creek Fire was a large wildfire which started on September 4, 2020, near Shaver Lake, California. The fire burned 379,895 acres (153,738 ha) and was declared 100% contained on December 24, 2020. The fire burned mostly in the Sierra National Forest. The Creek Fire was the fifth-largest wildfire in modern California history, and the second-largest single fire not part of a greater complex. The fire necessitated the rescue of hundreds of people by National Guard helicopters. Evacuations were issued in North Fork, Bass Lake, Big Creek, Shaver, Huntington Lake, Tollhouse and Auberry, California. Half the homes in Big Creek were reported to have been destroyed by the fire. The Creek Fire destroyed at least 856 buildings and cost over $193 million in fire suppression costs, while the total property damage is currently unknown.
The Zogg Fire was a wildfire that burned in the towns of Igo and Ono in southwestern Shasta County, California and northwestern Tehama County in the United States. The fire burned 56,338 acres, with four deaths and 204 buildings destroyed.
