InciNotes

04/19/2026

Baltimore County’s $3M investment would add 12 battalion chiefs, more than double the department’s current number of battalion chiefs.

More details: https://trib.al/jwh33L9

04/19/2026

‼️ SUMMER JOB OPPORTUNITY ‼️�

💰Looking for great wages and outdoor work for the season? Paid travel? A start to your career in wildland fire? This could be the best summer of your life!�

✔️Apply for Camp Crew by May 13, 2026!

* Camp Crew workers are hired-when-needed during wildfire emergencies to support firefighter base camps.
* Duties are basic – set up/take down temporary facilities, load/unload supplies, clean-up.
* Must be 16 years old by June 15, in good physical health, and able to pass drug and background checks to qualify.
Applications are available at Burns and Crane high schools, BICC Dispatch, and Silvies River Charter School. No experience necessary.�

ℹ️(541) 573-4545

04/19/2026

What does it take to protect drinking water for more than a million people? Smart forest management.

Discover how prescribed fire, thinning, and community cooperation are helping safeguard the Colorado Springs community for future generations. https://www.fs.usda.gov/about-agency/features/putting-fire-ground

Pikes Peak - America's Mountain
Green Mountain Falls/Chipita Park Fire Department
Manitou Springs Fire Department
Colorado Springs Fire Department

(Forest Service photo by Josh Cowden)

04/19/2026

Showers are possible at times overnight Monday, Tuesday into Wednesday for parts of Southern California. It won’t rain all the time - it’ll be showery in nature - but on and off rain is possible during this period. The heaviest rain falls in SB and SLO counties with very light rain down to SD county. The high-end totals for each county will be in the foothills and mountains🌧️⛈️

04/19/2026

04/19/2026

The Fire Lookout Who Radioed the Bomb, Oregon, 1945
Japan launched 9,300 fire balloons at the U.S. in 1944-1945. Hydrogen balloons with 35-lb bombs, riding the jet stream. Most landed in Canada or the Pacific. 6 people died — the only WWII combat deaths in the continental U.S.

May 5, 1945. Elyse Mitchell was 27, U.S. Forest Service fire lookout at Mt. Emily, Oregon. She was alone, 40 miles from the nearest road. At 11am she saw a white sphere drop into the woods below her tower. Then an explosion.

She had a crank radio. She called it in: “Balloon bomb. It’s down. I’m going.” Protocol said wait for Army. She didn’t. She took her .38, rope, and first aid kit and hiked 3 miles down.

She found it: 5 kids and their pastor’s wife from a Sunday school picnic. They’d tried to drag it. It exploded. All 6 dead. Elyse marked the site, took serial numbers off the bomb fragments, and hiked 3 miles back to radio it in.

The Army used her numbers to trace the ballast sand to a beach in Japan. It was the only balloon they traced to origin. She didn’t talk about it for 50 years. Her logbook says: “Found picnic. No survivors. 11:40am.”

"She was there to spot fires. She found a war. Six kids died before she got there. She hiked anyway. She wrote the numbers down. The Army found the beach because she did her job. Her log says ‘picnic.’"

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