Reno meteorologist part of small team helping saving lives in western wildfires

RENO, Nev. (KRNV & KRXI) — There's a small crew deployed to large wildfires that has one of the biggest jobs. They're in charge of predicting the weather and how the terrain will impact the fire's behavior. The whole purpose of this team is to save peoples' lives -- both firefighters and people who live near the fire.

Alex Hoon is a National Weather Service Meteorologist in Reno who also works as an incident meteorologist at wildfires. For typically two weeks at a time, he's on scene forecasting the weather on the fires.

"We’re here to make sure that the fire crews know what’s coming whenever the weather changes and they know what the fire behavior is going to do on the ground," Hoon said. "There’s three things that actually influence how the fire behaves. You’ve got the weather, you’ve got the topography, and you have the fuels. "

His job is to make sure the weather doesn't push the fire in a direction that the fire crews aren't expecting.

"It’s those specific times when you make a call and these guys they pull off the line or whatever and then the fire blows up, those issues, those times win, those firefighters will come up to you afterwards and be like 'Man, that was a great call. Thank you. It was amazing.'"

Tamarack Fire posed unique challenges

Hoon spent the past two weeks on the Tamarack Fire. It's burned more than 68,000 acres and at least 23 buildings south of Gardnerville.

"On this fire specifically we’ve seen some incredible winds, and fire behavior, the way the fire burned so quickly. The way it ran all the way to 395, it was pretty intense," Hood said.

The terrain can make fighting the fire challenging, from the valley floor near 395 at about 5,000 feet to the mountain tops at about 9,000 feet. The winds are much different at the higher altitude and so are the temperatures. One day last week there was a rain shower that moved through and there was a 40 degree difference between the two elevations.

What's the fire's behavior?

Hoon works in tandem with a Fire Behavior Analyst that monitors the terrain and the dryness of the vegetation.

On the Tamarack fire, Hoon teamed up with Glen Lewis who traveled from Southern Colorado.

"Ground firefighters today are so knowledgeable versus what they were even 10, 15 years ago. Really, we’re looking for the unusual. We’re looking for those things that are unique," Lewis said.

Once the Incident Meteorologist and the Fire Behavior Specialist spots an immediate concern, they'll notify the operations supervisor.

"Absolutely they are critical," said Pat Seekins, the operations section chief on the Tamarack Fire Incident Command. "We base our tactics every morning from these guys’ fire weather forecast and fire behavior."

If it's a time-sensitive concern, Hoon said they'll hop on the radio and talk directly to the fire crews on the fire lines. That happened last week and Hoon was watching on wisp of smoke from a camera. He noticed the smoke was trailing straight up, then started to lay down. He was worried the winds picked up and thunderstorms were brewing in the area.

Hoon honored for saving lives

Hoon's lifesaving skills did save lives at the Carr Fire in Northern California in 2018. He forecasted that the winds would be significantly higher than first predicted. That forecast got the sheriff's deputies to evacuate 40,000 people from the town of Redding. They got out before the firestorm, when a fire tornado blew through that area, destroying about 1,000 homes. The Secretary of Commerce honored Hoon with a Silver Medal for providing that critical weather forecast and helped save lives in the Carr Fire.

Hoon and Lewis work behind the scenes and aren't looking for glory. But they know they play an important part of the bigger team of fire crews.

"When we see the signs and they say 'thank you firefighters' and 'thank you first responders' it’s like I know they’re talking about us too," Hoon said.