iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

The US Forest Service can no longer manage one of the crown jewels of the wilderness system, but please tell us again how all the DOGE actions did not affect land management or incident response. 1/

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Erik Loomis @erikloomis.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

This Day in Labor History: September 28, 1874. The U.S. military defeated the Comanche in Palo Duro Canyon, south of modern Amarillo, Texas, largely by stealing their horse herds. This made previous Comanche ways of life, including their work cultures, impossible and forced them into a reservation!

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Pepitas editorial @pepitaseditorial.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

«Piroceno» presentado por su autor Stephen J. Pyne youtu.be/MiPo-yfDBUA * @sjpyne.bsky.social Piroceno Viejo y nuevo orden de los incendios forestales. Vivir en la Edad del Fuego Traducción del inglés de Salvador Cobo Coeditado con @biblioteca451.bsky.social www.pepitas.net/libro/piroceno

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Watching the USFS and Wildland Fire Service Facebook feeds, I'm seeing more mention of the regular non-fire employees who are have incident qualifications than ever before. These folks have always played a critical role in both direct response and support/logistics. 1/

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

“The destiny of the land, the nation, the South, the State, the County, was already whirling into the plunge of its precipice, not that the State and the South knew it, because the first seconds of fall always seem like soar.” ― William Faulkner

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Smart video about the pushed myth of looting and the related militarization of response by @phibi16.bsky.social. And yes, she is my daughter. Always makes a parent proud when a kid follows you into the family business--even if it is disasters. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Joch...

youtube.com

Out of Control Lawlessness, Looting, and Disaster Crime

YouTube video by the disaster gal

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

Mid-sept and the PNW is at PL3 and easing towards PL2 after a brutal 12 week stretch. Still a lot of work to close out some fires, but the wetter and cooler weather is helping greatly. Nationally, 2,459,142 acres have burned this year, with 1,811,254 of them in Oregon and Washington. 1/

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Michael Wara @michaelwara.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

An incredible article about the wildfire situation that was recommended on X by two fire chiefs I deeply respect and we all should listen to, Bobby Garcia and Kim Zagaris. California is lucky to have them both. Can we listen to what they and others are saying? grist.org/extreme-weat...

grist.org

America is losing its war against wildfire

Wildland firefighting is increasingly facing an intractable reality: We’re stuck in a vicious cycle. A doom loop.

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wes(is no longer)injapan @wesinjapan.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

In disaster research we talk about Pro-Social Behavior. There are certainly many examples of that during 9/11. We also talk about Elite Panic. 9/11 is a textbook example of Elite Panic that we have lived within for the last 25 years.

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Jonathan Coop @coopecology.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Our new paper asks the question: is there any precedent for recent, high-severity fires that have removed >100,000 acres of forests from northern New Mexico? Based on the locations of trees that recorded surface fires over the prior 500 years, the answer is, statistically speaking, "not a chance".

Formerly forested landscapes of the Jemez Mountains, NM. Burned in 1996 and 2011. Photo 2022.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

A "PANIC!" thread (mostly for responders): Academics and emergency managers/responders have long realized that people do not panic during disasters. What may look like panic to one person who understands the situation is another person acting on the best information they have. 1/

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Nice bit of insight/oral history about the wildland fire community’s response to the attacks and some of the changes the interaction with FDNY brought to both orgs. teamcast.missioncti.com/episode/21-t...

teamcast.missioncti.com

#21 The Story of Wildland Fire and 9/11 - Teamcast

Preston converses with ret. Chief Bob Maynes of FDNY and Chief Dan Oltrogge of Wildland Fire on the Southwest Incident Management Team at 9/11.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 06/09/2026

E.V. Debs quote for Labor Day: “The greedy, profit-seeking exploiter cannot see beyond the end of his nose... He knows nothing of the great throbbing world... He has no capacity for literature; no appreciation of art; no soul for beauty. That is the penalty the parasites pay...”

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

September 5 is a big day in Texas history: In 1836, Sam Houston was elected the first President of the Republic of Texas and in 2008, Hakeem Olajuwon entered the Basketball Hall of Fame.

Hakeem Olajuwon shoots over Patrick Ewing in the 1994 NBA Finals.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

OK, I just got blocked out of my gmail because of a redirect to a sign-up page to Gemini. I would appreciate any help that gets me back to regular old gmail without signing up for Gemini.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 04/09/2026

Some people call me the Space Cowboy. Some call me the Gangster of Love. Some people call me Jim. Only the DMV and the credit card solicitations that show up in my mailbox call me James.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

As I ease into that birthday that makes every senior discount mine & there is no more lying about still being middle-aged, I think I'll quasi-retire from my quasi-retirement. That means fewer posts & less attention to the daily fire/disaster news with more time doing fun stuff. Maybe. I'll try.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Excellent piece on what I've always called the "prevention problem." However, this is a much smarter bit of writing than I could ever put forth. Well worth the read.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 31/08/2026

Every time I watch a monster island film like Skull Island or Jurassic Park, I can’t escape the notion that fauna that large would quickly denude the whole place of vegetation. Yet all we see are lush landscapes. Not very realistic.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

Had a great assignment in Tok 20 years ago. Great people and all very kind. I feel for that whole community.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Happy Birthday to my old employer, the National Park Service. Born on this day in 1916, it's still one of our best ideas.

Entrance sign to Yellowstone National Park.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

It's easing a bit in the PNW as we are now down to a mere 36 large fires with 4 possibly set to come off the books today. The number of assigned personnel across OR/WA dropped by 506 yesterday, but we still have over 16k deployed, 3,500 more than the rest of the country combined--and weeks to go.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 16/08/2026

I, a Rockets fan living in Medford, OR (not CA), was thinking about getting NBA League Pass. But I can't justify it because even though only Blazers games are weakly broadcast in my town, Golden State, Sacto, & Utah are blacked out too. Utah? Really? That's 14 unwatchable games, a month's worth.

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Lawrence Culver @lawrencecphd.bsky.social · 15/08/2026

“This gradual adjustment to a degraded environment has a name: environmental amnesia. "The real disaster we are witnessing today is not just the loss of biodiversity. It is also the incredible capacity we have for not remembering what it was like before.”

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

PNW Fire Update: 2 new large fires yesterday makes 55 large fires burning in OR (33) and WA (22). Good news: at least 4 are expected to be off the board today. Bad news: Conditions remain challenging and the lightning is coming this week is expected to be "highly efficient" east of the Cascades. 1/

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Ignacio Villaverde @wildlandfirefig.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

El atardecer de ayer deja una estampa que no recuerdo haber visto nunca: prácticamente la totalidad del territorio continental de los EEUU bajo el humo de decenas de incendios forestales en los estados de Oregón y Washington a los que se suman los de British Columbia (Canadá)

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

PNW Fire update: 52 large fires in OR/WA. High risk of fire today on the east side of the Cascades and the risk is elevated everywhere else. It'll be hot, dry, and windy. Energy Release Component numbers will reach the highest level of the year with multiple places hitting all-time records. 1/

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I’ve now seen two neighbors putting lawn mower gas into their cars. Not great.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The cowardice of dudes posing as "men" and "leaders" is becoming a real problem.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

I don't care what people say to sidestep their way around dealing with climate change--they feel it. If you're a rancher you feel it. If you're a farmer, you feel it. If you're a roofer, you feel it. If you do anything outside, you feel it. And you increasingly breathe it. 1/

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

One of the good things about waking up in Oregon is that I get to immediately read the flood of morning texts and emails written in dramatic style and all with the subject line, "My Decision." Even worse are the ones that are some pathetic plea built around the notion that "I'm losing."

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

I cannot say it has never happened before, but I don't remember a geographic area having to go to a fourth page to list all their large fires on the National Sit Report. OR and WA currently have 50 large fires going. www.nifc.gov/nicc-files/s...

nifc.gov

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

Been driving for a few days and just pulled into a hotel to see the news from Spokane. From what little I can piece together, it’s bad. Stay safe everyone and do the right things.

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Paul Collins @paulcollins.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Yikes: "Firefighters faced an especially dangerous situation in Vall d'Uixo... where the ground contains old ordnance from the Spanish Civil War that explodes when the flames reach the area, Chevi Bolumar, fire chief of the Valencian regional government, told public broadcaster TVE."

reuters.com

France and Spain race to curb wildfires before new heatwave arrives

About 220,000 people have been evacuated in France, while further south in Spain around 100,000 have been told to leave their homes or seek shelter.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

Saw The Odyssey last night & whew boy, did my theater have the volume turned up LOUD. With all the high-pitched sounds, it was too much. Of course, I'm an old, my hearing already sucks, & I did not want to relive a 1981 concert. Should have taken ear plugs or waited for cable. Otherwise, it's OK.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

PNW Fire Update: 3 new large fires popped up in WA, giving OR/WA 48 of the 95 large fires in the country. Existing fires grew by 387,976 acres. That makes 702,500 acres of growth (roughly 1,100 sq miles) on existing fires in the last 48 hours. 1/

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Saturday, the PNW saw 4 new large fires get established with a total size of 37,800 acres. Growth on existing fires was 314,563 acres. There are now 47 large fires in OR & WA. That's more than half of the reported 90 large fires nationally. 25,310 folks are currently deployed nationally. 1/

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Great discussion on the Iberian firescape.

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Daniel Swain @weatherwest.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

The extraordinary wildfire outbreak across Oregon, eastern Washington, and southern British Columbia has become even more alarming amid critical fire weather conditions. Over 500,000 acres have already burned in OR & WA alone, and that number could be >1 million acres by Mon.

An alarming snapshot from NOAA Wildland Fire Portal depicting numerous large smoke plumes and large heat signatures from many wildfires burning across Oregon, Washington, and British Colubmia.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

Conditions on a fire outside of Madrid.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

It was a rough Friday in Fire. A fourth member of the Rifle helitack crew, Nathan Matthews, died after sustaining burn injuries a month ago on the Knowles Fire. RIP Brother. 1/

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

No country can go it alone anymore. wildfiretoday.com/wildfire-sup...

Photo of Australian wildland firefighters who are being deployed to the United States. 74 men and women are standing in a semi-circle with the Australian flag held up by several people in the center.

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Jim Whittington🔥 @jimwhittington.bsky.social · 21/07/2026

If you missed it, the PNW is now at PL5 with 36 large fires as of this morning. Yesterday saw existing fires grow by 65,752 acres. On Wed, monsoonal moisture gets spun up this way & will bring lots of lightning. E of the Cascades and in SW OR, initial attack forces will be challenged. 1/

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