How do they name these things?

[binny]

We are in a very active fire season right now.

As they show them on the news I cant help but wonder how they named some of them?


Some recent ones that have made me have been

The Chubby Spain fire
The 4 Wheel Drive fire
The Patticake fire
Burnt Fire
The Potato Fire ( ok duh on that one )
The Rattlesnake Fire



some of them make me and some of them just make me

 

[ceiligh1]

My DH actually was able to name a fire in OR once when he worked for the forest service he was the first responder to it. I think he said there was some rule about how it had to be named for the area it was found in. Like if it was on rattlesnake ridge then it was the rattlesnake fire, next to the pattycake stream ect. Not sure if that is just an oregon rule though. I forget what he named his fire but he had wanted to name it the grizzly fire.

 

[p-nut]

My DH actually was able to name a fire in OR once when he worked for the forest service he was the first responder to it. I think he said there was some rule about how it had to be named for the area it was found in. Like if it was on rattlesnake ridge then it was the rattlesnake fire, next to the pattycake stream ect. Not sure if that is just an oregon rule though. I forget what he named his fire but he had wanted to name it the grizzly fire.

That is how it is in Arizona as well.

 

[pperfectmom]

I am retired from being a forest ranger with the Ky Division of Forestry for 8 years and I worked for the Forest Service all over the country for 7 years. It's pretty much up to the Incident Commander to name the fire, as far as I know. I think it is either named for where it is or how it started. My personal favorite was the Chicken Fire in Idaho and I really have no idea how it was named-a burning chicken running through the beargrass perhaps ? I was also on a fire called the Dead Horse fire that I know was named that because of, you guessed it, the carcass laying on the ground!

 

[binny]

I understand the whole area thing but there are some that dont follow that rule.

for instance what brought on Chubby Spain?

 

[Golf4food]

I understand the whole area thing but there are some that dont follow that rule.

for instance what brought on Chubby Spain?

Having also worked at a large fire the summer I graduated from high school, I can say that there is probably a geographic feature nearby named Chubby Spain. The fire names don't just come out of nowhere. They are generally named for a swamp, creek, pond, ridge, mountain, town, residence, farmstead, rock formation, etc. So there is probably a creek or farm or something nearby named Chubby Spain...