Websites for Wildfire Information

I thought I'd post this information here in case anyone had an interest. It's not motorcycle-related, but perhaps it will assist someone in the future with trip planning, or some other useful pursuit. These are two websites which I found last year when my sister who is a resident of Sonoma was facing the danger of wildfires there. I used these to track the pace of those fires and help her make decisions.

The first seems to be a Federal real-time database about wildfires anywhere in the US. The particular URL is focused on Thousand Oaks, CA, but it's easily moved to Maine or any other US location:

https://maps.nwcg.gov/sa/#/?/34.1106/-118.7868/8

The second seems to be a California topographical mapping system, and again, the URL I'm posting is for the Thousand Oaks, CA area:

https://caltopo.com/map.html#ll=34.14816,-118.75428&z=11&b=hyb&a=modis_mp

I hope someone finds this useful.

Thanks, John - a good friend lost his house in Paradise (both figuratively and literally), and I have a few friends in the Thousand Oaks thru Topanga areas - I'll share those sites around.
Paul

Woah!!!

I have a friend in Reseda and that looks wayyyyy to close.

Given the buildings in the area me thinks she is safe, but still. The smoke must be murder.

I'm a bit southeast of LAX, and the smoke is pretty significant, along with the high larger particulates. Everything is getting coated with a layer of grit.

When the AZ fires of 2002 broke out and again in 2005 and 2007, the smoke in NM was murder. The grit aspect i know well and am not fond of. Especially the smoke odor and the massive blockage of the sun. All I can say is to hold out a prayer for all.

I am just glad i am not there right now.

Wildfire Today is an on-line magazine for...well wildfires. They also have a lot of links too. They've posted information of smoke plumes, weather impact and other related info too. They're part of my daily morning read.

I did use Inciweb.com, which is the federal mapping database, but I guess they only update once a week now. And the revamped website isn't as useful as the old site.

CalFire has a statewide database, which is usually updated twice a day (morning & evening) for current events. They also list recent events.

But my experience is Twitter has the most current info. If you learn to filter out the crap & scammers, there is a lot of real time info there. Just make sure to follow the Fire, LEO, EMS and other agencies that service your area. Once you learn the name of a area fire/incident that you are concerned about, just follow that hashtag. Agencies will usually make multiple postings to twitter before up-dating websites. Newsies also post a lot of real time info there too.

Son is a Wildland FF for the Feds, so I have a special interest, besides living in a fire impacted area. I've had good results with Twitter. Just remember you don't have to post anything, you can just monitor for information. And it's free.

And did I mention the BMWMOA uses Twitter too?

r184 said:

Wildfire Today is an on-line magazine for...well wildfires. They also have a lot of links too. They've posted information of smoke plumes, weather impact and other related info too. They're part of my daily morning read.

I did use Inciweb.com, which is the federal mapping database, but I guess they only update once a week now. And the revamped website isn't as useful as the old site.

CalFire has a statewide database, which is usually updated twice a day (morning & evening) for current events. They also list recent events.

But my experience is Twitter has the most current info. If you learn to filter out the crap & scammers, there is a lot of real time info there. Just make sure to follow the Fire, LEO, EMS and other agencies that service your area. Once you learn the name of a area fire/incident that you are concerned about, just follow that hashtag. Agencies will usually make multiple postings to twitter before up-dating websites. Newsies also post a lot of real time info there too.

Son is a Wildland FF for the Feds, so I have a special interest, besides living in a fire impacted area. I've had good results with Twitter. Just remember you don't have to post anything, you can just monitor for information. And it's free.

And did I mention the BMWMOA uses Twitter too?

Click to expand...

I use that web page in the Assessor's Office so that we can map out the fire lines after the fact to re-appraise properties burned.
I have noticed that ALL of the Federal web sites have become more difficult to get data from and seemingly going to a lower level of interface and interaction rather than upward. less user friendly functions.

soocom1 said:

I use that web page in the Assessor's Office so that we can map out the fire lines after the fact to re-appraise properties burned.
I have noticed that ALL of the Federal web sites have become more difficult to get data from and seemingly going to a lower level of interface and interaction rather than upward. less user friendly functions.

Click to expand...

Public information doesn't seem to be much of a Federal priority anymore.

PGlaves said:

Public information doesn't seem to be much of a Federal priority anymore.

Click to expand...

True that!