Sometimes it's the only way - you've heard of fighting fire with fire? I could go on in detail, but you don't want to get me started.Quote:
Originally Posted by DasBlunt
For many years now.Quote:
Using prison inmates to fight fires too?
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Sometimes it's the only way - you've heard of fighting fire with fire? I could go on in detail, but you don't want to get me started.Quote:
Originally Posted by DasBlunt
For many years now.Quote:
Using prison inmates to fight fires too?
Benny, what's wrong? Your index shifter missing cogs again? You shit on the EC all winter, now you shit on the West all summer.
Yup. Saw it coming home from Sacramento last night. Didn't know if the rocky fire had jumped containment as it was coming from the same place, or if it was a new fire. Looking at the map, it pretty much doesn't matter. 12,000 acres and 0% containment with temps going up this week.Quote:
Originally Posted by bodywhomper
I also saw something coming from further south while on 80 westbound, in the direction of the delta/benecia. Couldn't tell if it was fog rolling in, refinery fire, or something down that way but I can't find any info about that. Looked as big as the Jerusalem Fire from my seat.
There were some weird clouds about yesterday at commute time. Don't know of any fires in CoCo/Solano at the moment (other than Wragg Fire, contained).
The national multi-agency coordinating group (NMAC) and the national interagency coordination center (NICC) set the national preparedness level at PL 5 - the highest level. Means we're pretty much out of stuff and the shit's pretty much hitting the fan.
Pretty big deal.Quote:
Preparedness Level V
Geographic Areas are experiencing major incidents which have the potential to exhaust all agency fire resources. 80 percent of Type 1 and 2 IMTs and crews are committed, as well as the majority of other national resources.
https://www.nifc.gov/fireInfo/fireinfo_prepLevels.html
Shit, that's seriously not good. El Nino's not kicking in until October, either... stay safe.
Hope everyone stays safe. Shit is going to hit the fan.
Drove from Tahoe to Boise and back recently. Drove there on US95 through eastern OR and southwestern ID through dry open range with cattle grazing. Drove back a week later through a scorched earth wasteland.
Interesting read.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/e...-looking-dire/
Everyone seems surprised by the scale of this year's fire season. I'm not. Didn't you guys notice all the fucking trees were dying? Why did millions of acres burn up in BC this year? Because entire pine forests are mostly standing dead thanks to the beetles. Have you ever spent time up at Togwotee Pass? Been up there lately? Do yourself a favor and go up to Togwotee Pass and see what happened. You'll see a preview for what is going to occur in the Tetons. Looks like about 70-80% of the trees on the south side of the pass are now standing dead. Soon, all those trees will be dead. It happened so fast the trees still have all their branches intact, Just a massive load of kindling and no possible human effort can stop a mountainside of tinder dry standing deads from blowing up once it ignites. Let it all burn and lets start over. There is nothing we can do to put the toothpaste back into this tube. We don't get a mulligan here folks, no do-overs. Let the loggers salvage what they can because the triple whammy of warming, beetles and 100 years of misguided fire suppression means we are totally fucked and there's nothing to do about it but let it burn. Fire is cleansing. That's how nature recycles sick forests. Get over it.
Benny, it's going to happen in the east so don't be so smug. The beetles are going to migrate east along the northern jack pine forest and then around and down past the great lakes. Welcome to the party.
We don't need no water let that mother fucker burn....
Let them big tits burn!Quote:
Originally Posted by neckdeep
While the beetle will likely make its way east, forests are much more fragmented there, and the steady year-round precipitation (many parts of New England average 45-50 inches of precip per year, and it's pretty evenly distributed throughout the year, unlike the west) will help to minimize the fire risk. Teton forests burning to the ground might be a blessing in disguise and bump down the ridiculous property values in the area.
errrr, once the needles are gone, that standing dead isn't really gonna carry fire as well til it's.... no longer standing dead.
as far as salvaging that stuff up by Togwotee..... there's LIVE timber sales up there that don't get any bids. there's scant chance anyone's gonna want to log the dead stuff.
Have you been up to Togwotee in the last year? It's changed. There isn't much live timber left to be sold on the south facing slopes; the Brooks Lake basin looks like shit. There was salvage logging going on. The trees still have all their small branches intact, many still have needles. IMHO, the trees have so much light fuels suspended in them that I think they'll carry fire very efficiently. Its just miles and miles of densely packed dead spruce trees. Last season, I visited the fire that burned north of Dubois in 2013 to look for morels. Moonscape. Not a tree left alive inside the perimeter. That fucker burned fast and HOT.Quote:
Originally Posted by Lone Star
hadn't seen it that recently--- crazy how fast it can change. hopefully something will rip through and clean all that stuff out and then lay down when it hits the perimeter of the handful of other fires in the area that have burned there in the past decade. Gonna be a great place for elks and mushrooms!!
Bark beetles function to recycle forests as well and are only a problem when mixed with human interest. Togwotee is fine. Might eventually open up some lines to ski
Oak Fire 100 acres a few miles from my house....
Caught it:Quote:
Originally Posted by telemike
http://wildfiretoday.com/2015/09/09/...-at-100-acres/
http://www.mymotherlode.com/news/loc...oad-opens.html
50% containment. Good air show.
Pretty good plume on the Tenaya Fire yesterday when we drove through Yose. I'll try to get some photos up after work.
Attachment 169478
Tenaya Fire photo from Fresno Bee.
Article on Oak Fire.
http://www.uniondemocrat.com/News/Lo...acres-scorched
A lot of deer on the move through my area from the fire last two days. I've seen easily more than a hundred moving through, including a group of 30+ last night. Just saw another dozen in the last few minutes.
A lot of deer have a second set of fawns this summer. New babies born recently.
Amador.....
Good observation. I saw a few very young fawns yesterday.
The little buggers are everywhere around here.
Butte Fire not looking good.
Didn't get Tenaya photos up yesterday. Butte fire blew up to 4,000 acres already. Evacuating Mokelumne Hill.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer...Y.kL8bcwq6cP8g
Butte Fire, surprised more people haven't gotten hurt chasing photos/video of fire.
https://twitter.com/kcraBrianHickey/...68105968021504
Wow. I've seen that guy's coverage of other fires (big one in Lake County earlier this summer comes to mind), but, wow.Quote:
Originally Posted by markb
Butte Fire not looking good.
View from my buddy's house off Hwy 4 just below Forest Meadows looking across the Mokelumne River canyon.
Attachment 169515
I just read that they ordered 45 type 3 engine strike teams and 26 type I crew strike teams. Plus overhead.
That's ~2000 people.
Yes.
This has big potential. Think Rim Fire. We got away with one on that. Hudge fire but relatively little "loss".
Man. Started yesterday. 4,000 acres by this morning. 14,000 acres by this evening.
EBMUD (my water purveyor) must be shitting a brick with all their infrastructure in that drainage.
Here are a couple of photos from the Tenaya Fire on Tuesday. Was about two minutes too late to get a really good shot of the helicopter dipping right off the road.
https://www.tetongravity.com/images/...__enlarged.jpg
https://www.tetongravity.com/images/...__enlarged.jpg
^Damn homes, that thing is rolling.
F'ing CAL Fire hasn't put anything about it on Inciweb yet. :cussing:
Amazing how shitty CalFire's reputation remains amongst us Fed folks.
I remember the CCCs giving those guys shit in camp 20 years ago.
Engine puppies....
I gotta say, though, the inmate crews are legit. Those guys get some crazy shit done. I always loved working with inmates. They gave a shit cuz it mattered to them for a lot of reasons. I always fucked off the rule of not fraternizing. They need to be treated like people.
I resemble that remark.Quote:
Originally Posted by telemike
Totally agree, but cons often asked me for weed back in the day. Yeah...no, I don't want to get on your crew.Quote:
I gotta say, though, the inmate crews are legit. Those guys get some crazy shit done. I always loved working with inmates. They gave a shit cuz it mattered to them for a lot of reasons. I always fucked off the rule of not fraternizing. They need to be treated like people.
Story time: I was a division supe on one of the Yellowstone fires back in '88, and a CDF strike team leader on my division was overseeing a couple of east coast Type 2 crews. One day this kid from out east was bugging the shit out of the CDF guy telling him how badly he wanted to work for him on his crew next season. After listening to the kid babble for a while the CDF guy told him,"Okay, come out to California, rob a liquor store, and I'll see what I can do." The CDF guy was a con crew captain back home. LMAO.
^^^ That's funny.
Butte Fire is not. 32,000 acres this morning. Insanity.
big potential for growth today.
It's up on InciWeb
Butte, Amador-El Dorado Unit, Cal Fire. Cal Fire IMT 1 (Gouvea). One mile north of Mokelumne Hill, CA. Timber, chaparral and tall grass. Extreme fire behavior with short crown runs, group torching and spotting. Numerous structures threatened. Evacuations, road and area closures in effect.
September 11, 2015 at 10:54 AM
Fire behavior forecast:
The north side of the fire will continue to be lower activity as it backs up slope against the wind. The fire in the Mokelumne River will continue to flank at a slow rate of spread to the east. The southern portion of the fire, south of Highway 26 will continue to spread to the south at a rapid rate of spread with the north wind. Flame lengths in these areas will be 30 to 100 feet depending on the vegetation. Medium range spotting can be expected from torching trees and short dependent crown runs. In the evening the wind in the valleys and slopes will become variable with the approaching front. This will direct the fire up and downs canyon, contributing to fire spread to the east and west.
September 11, 2015 at 10:51 AM
Control objectives for today. Keep the fire:
North of Murray Dale and Mountain Ranch Roads
South of Hwy 88
East of Hwy 49
West of Railrod Flat Rd and the Community of Lynn Park Acres
Interesting system coming in early-mid next week. Potential for some moisture and temps below seasonal averages.
Colleague who lives somewhere out near Jackson and the Butte fire said she was evacuated. I am short on details.
Evacing east of 49 between hwy 4 and 26. And north of hwy 4 to Avery.
Doesn't match exactly with what is published, but that is a huge area.