Awatchfire

San Bernardino County, California

Bell Fire

Burning 4.3 miles north-east of Victorville and 5.9 miles north of Mountain View Acres, since Monday 31 August.

Map of California. The Bell Fire burns 360 miles from Sacramento, and 360 miles from the state capital, Sacramento.
The fire sits 360 miles from Sacramento.

0

acres burned so far

44

days burning so far

—

no share of the perimeter reported held yet

The picture as of 9:09am today

The Bell Fire is still listed as active, and has not been looked at lately. Nothing has given off fresh heat for 860 hours.

No fresh look at this fire for 860 hours. Everything on the map below was seen before then.

Shaded relief map of the Bell Fire. Amber flames mark every place that gave off heat in the last day; the shading is the shape of the ground.
Heat in the last day Higher ground pale, valleys dark Where another fire is recorded

860hours

since anything was last seen giving off heat — about 1:40pm on Wednesday, local time.

67% less

energy in the last 6 hours of the record than in the 6 before them — the fire was cooler when it was last seen.

5.5miles

is how close the heat has come to Victorville at any point in the record. In the last day the nearest heat has been None miles from it, and the closest this fire has come to Mountain View Acres is 7.5 miles, None in the last day.

3.0miles

is the furthest any heat has been seen from the point on the official record — the width of the ground involved so far.

Three other fires are burning inside the same view. Mtz/Bdc/Stoddard Fire started 1111 minutes before this one, 2.6 miles south, and has reached 0 acres. Mtz/Cbt/82A Fire started on Sunday 4 October, 1.6 miles south, and has reached 0 acres. Stoddard Fire started 933 minutes before this one, 3.0 miles south-east, and has reached an unrecorded size. Their heat is counted against them, not against this fire, and the pale rings on the map mark where they are recorded.

Smoke has been recorded lying over this ground two times so far. The thickest of it was thin between 1:10pm and 4:30pm local time. The last of those windows closed 185 hours ago, so what is overhead now is not known.

Where the heat is

No cluster large enough to call a separate front. The heat is in one piece.

Conditions measured 8.0 miles from the fire: 65°F, air at 28% humidity, a 4 mph wind out of the north.

How it got here

Ten days of record on a day-46 fire

The record here begins at 1:45am on 31 Aug and runs to 1:38pm on 9 Sep — 228 hours, 42 readings of heat. The fire is on day 46, so the first 36 days are missing: nothing showed up from above until the fire was large enough and the sky over it clear enough for it to be seen.

Animated map of the Bell Fire across the whole record, with a time bar along the bottom showing energy released and the local date.
The whole record, 79 frames at 3 hours a frame. The bar along the bottom is energy released; the moving line is the clock.

Day by day 10 days of record

  1. Map for Mon 31 Aug: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Mon31 Aug

    First readings

    • 6 heat readings
    • Heat from 1:45am to 3:45am
    • Spread 3.0 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  2. Map for Tue 1 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue1 Sep

    Holding

    • 3 heat readings
    • Energy 40% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:32am to 3:28am
    • Spread 2.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  3. Map for Wed 2 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed2 Sep

    Holding

    • 4 heat readings
    • Energy 1.2 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:13am to 3:11am
    • Spread 2.9 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  4. Map for Thu 3 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Thu3 Sep

    The fiercest day

    • 7 heat readings — the most of any day
    • Energy 1.9 times the day before
    • Heat from 1:54am to 3:34am
    • Spread 2.9 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  5. Map for Fri 4 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Fri4 Sep

    Holding

    • 5 heat readings
    • Energy 15% down on the day before
    • Heat from 2:11am to 3:51am
    • Spread 2.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  6. Map for Sat 5 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sat5 Sep

    Holding

    • 5 heat readings
    • Energy 18% down on the day before
    • Heat from 1:54am to 3:34am
    • Spread 2.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  7. Map for Sun 6 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Sun6 Sep

    Cooling off

    • 1 heat readings
    • Energy 78% down on the day before
    • Heat from 3:34am to 3:34am
    • Spread 2.9 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  8. Map for Mon 7 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Mon7 Sep

    Flaring up

    • 3 heat readings
    • Energy 3.5 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:20am to 2:16pm
    • Spread 2.7 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon
  9. Map for Tue 8 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Tue8 Sep

    Holding

    • 4 heat readings
    • Energy 1.1 times the day before
    • Heat from 2:02am to 2:56am
    • Spread 2.8 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn
  10. Map for Wed 9 Sep: flames mark every place that gave off heat that day.

    Wed9 Seplatest

    Today so far

    • 4 heat readings
    • Energy 1.1 times the day before
    • Heat from 3:21am to 1:38pm
    • Spread 2.9 miles from the recorded point at its furthest
    • Burning through the pre-dawn and afternoon

How the record has moved

Each step is a change on the interagency incident record — acreage, containment or crews — with the date it was reported. No satellite reading is involved.

  1. Monday 31 August

    First reported

  2. Monday 31 August

    0 acres on record

    0 ac

No containment figure has been reported for it yet. No crew count has been published for it yet. It has grown from 0 acres when it was first written down to 0 now. Nothing has looked at it for 860 hours, and the record still lists it as active.