Wildfire 2021

[KQ]

[Kevo]

NIFC moved to PL4 today. Looks like some lightning events will be happening the latter half of the week across the west, followed by more extreme heat next week.

There are currently zero IHC and T2IA crews available for dispatch across the Great Basin, Rocky Mountain, Northwest and Northern Rockies. Out of dozens of crews in the SW, there is currently a single T2IA crew that is available in the entire region All other crews are already fighting fire or are on mandatory RR after timing out from fighting fire for 14 days in a row.

To put that in perspective, it means that there is currently one single 20 person handcrew with initial attack capabilities available for dispatch in the entire western US outside of California.

I don't know if I can ever remember seeing things stretched this thin this early.

[Jax]

Routt County went to Stage II today. It's the little things. Now to just get the word out. Rain (but also lightning) in forecast a few days out. Hoping for the best.

https://co.routt.co.us/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=438

[snapt]

Lightning chances steadily increasing through weeks end. They've been calling for an early monsoon this season and looks like that might be spot on. Inter-agency folks locally are saying our fuel moisture's are worse off at this point this year than in 88.

[neufox47]

All these triple digit days are doing a real nice job of eliminating the rest of the moisture in the vegetation around here…


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[ill-advised strategy]

NIFC moved to PL4 today. Looks like some lightning events will be happening the latter half of the week across the west, followed by more extreme heat next week.

There are currently zero IHC and T2IA crews available for dispatch across the Great Basin, Rocky Mountain, Northwest and Northern Rockies. Out of dozens of crews in the SW, there is currently a single T2IA crew that is available in the entire region All other crews are already fighting fire or are on mandatory RR after timing out from fighting fire for 14 days in a row.

To put that in perspective, it means that there is currently one single 20 person handcrew with initial attack capabilities available for dispatch in the entire western US outside of California.

I don't know if I can ever remember seeing things stretched this thin this early.

MS could probably correct if I’m wrong, but likely R3 will soon move from virga monsoons to wet, and that whole shitload of resources pops loose to head up your way.

[The Reverend Floater]

Lightning chances steadily increasing through weeks end. They've been calling for an early monsoon this season and looks like that might be spot on. Inter-agency folks locally are saying our fuel moisture's are worse off at this point this year than in 88.

Sorry, I'm an idiot. Does that mean actual rain or just lighting-friendly conditions?

We finally banned just about anything that burns over here, including exploding targets like the ones that started a sizeable burn last summer.

Still won't stop the dumbfucks.

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[Meadow Skipper]

MS could probably correct if I’m wrong, but likely R3 will soon move from virga monsoons to wet, and that whole shitload of resources pops loose to head up your way.

Hopefully. But there seems to be some dry lightning to deal with, before it gets wet. Typically around <knock wood> 7/10 or so.

Sorry, I'm an idiot. Does that mean actual rain or just lighting-friendly conditions?

Typically, dry lightning storms precedes the wetter storms, often by a couple weeks. That can be a real shit-show.

[summit]

Ski season, mud season, smoke season...

Time to order new HEPA filters...

100 years of wildfire mismanagement combined with climate change is gonna make sucking smoke all summer the new normal for the mountain west?

[MakersTeleMark]

Ski season, mud season, smoke season...

Time to order new HEPA filters...

100 years of wildfire mismanagement combined with climate change is gonna make sucking smoke all summer the new normal for the mountain west?

Yes, like construction and traffic.

[Meadow Skipper]

Yes, like construction and traffic.

And crowded trailheads.

The new west.

[bodywhomper]

Only some crowded trailheads if USFS and NPS close their lands or backcountry access when fire hazard reaches some sort of threshold, which occurred last year. Access to many of the western Sierra rivers are state or local lands and they remained open last year (even with Covid closures). The low flows this winter has meant that at least some rivers did not receive that annual flush that cleaned out the algae at all the summer recreational swimming holes (and deposits it in the terminal reservoirs). The water at summertime swimming holes is already gross.

[snapt]

Sorry, I'm an idiot. Does that mean actual rain or just lighting-friendly conditions?

We finally banned just about anything that burns over here, including exploding targets like the ones that started a sizeable burn last summer.

Still won't stop the dumbfucks.

Sent from my SM-N986U using Tapatalk

According to the BLM forecasts these will be a mix of wet and dry storms, but the wet ones will be moving fast enough that any rain likely won't extinguish strikes.

[anotherVTskibum]

Subject arrested and charges filed on Robertson Draw. Tl;Dr version: John Lightburn, 55, of Bridger is facing two felonies and one misdemeanor after experiencing mechanical issues while riding in an area closed to motor vehicles, spilling fuel, and then lighting it by attempting to confirm that his bike was still producing a spark.

https://www.kulr8.com/bozeman/man-ar...520acea26.html

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[Meadow Skipper]

From the NYT. I would have loved to be in on the training of these guys.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/u...a-big-sur.html

‘Fire Monks’ Defend Tassajara Zen Monastery From Wildfire
Eight monks protecting the Buddhist center near Big Sur, Calif., are relying not only on training from professional firefighters but also on their Zen practice.

By Michael Levenson
June 23, 2021, 7:54 p.m. ET

Eight Buddhist monks working to defend the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center near Big Sur, Calif., from a nearby wildfire have relied not only on the training they have received from professional firefighters but also on their Zen practice.

The crew of fire monks, as they are called, has been clearing brush and running a sprinkler system that the center calls “Dharma rain” to protect the monastery from the Willow fire, which has burned about 2,800 acres in Los Padres National Forest since it began on June 17.

As they prepare for the fire, the monks are mindful of a basic Zen tenet about the importance of meeting the moment as it is, not as you wish it were, said Sozan Miglioli, the president of the San Francisco Zen Center, which runs the monastery.

“These kinds of situations require equanimity and patience, a lot of the things we try to cultivate in our practice,” Mr. Miglioli said. “So it’s both a big service that these monks are doing for the Zen Center, and it becomes an expression of our practice.”

On Wednesday, the Willow fire was about half a mile from the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center and about 13 percent contained, according to the U.S. Forest Service. It was not an immediate threat to the monastery, according to Lynn Olson, a Forest Service spokeswoman, although she noted that conditions could change.

She said that the fire was being battled by more than 500 firefighters from various agencies, and that it had been slowed by DC-10 airplanes dumping fire retardants and water, and by cooler, humid weather in the area.

Ms. Olson said firefighters had been working in “a cooperative effort” with the monks to help the center prepare in case the fire advances. “They’ve been trained, and I’ve been talking to them on a daily basis, and they are feeling secure and safe,” she said.

The Tassajara Zen Mountain Center is regarded as the oldest Soto Zen monastery in the United States, and the first to have men, women and couples practicing together. It was founded in 1967, after Shunryu Suzuki, a Zen teacher from Japan, came to San Francisco in 1959, and helped start the San Francisco Zen Center.

Seeking a place in the mountains where Zen students could practice meditation and study, Suzuki and his students built the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the remote wilderness east of Big Sur, according to the center’s website.

The center is closed to guests this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic. But in a typical summer, it welcomes more than 8,000 guests who savor the fresh mountain air, bathe in the hot springs or join Zen students in work or meditation, Mr. Miglioli said.

The fire monks formed in 2008 after the Big Basin fire swept toward the center, and five monks defied evacuation orders to fight the blaze. Their story was chronicled in the book “Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire at the Gates of Tassajara,” by Colleen Morton Busch.

In a 2019 talk, one of the original fire monks, the Rev. Tenzen David Zimmerman, recalled pulling on gear and grabbing hoses to defend the monastery. He said the monks worked alone or in pairs, “as each new manifestation of the inferno dictated.”

Seeking a place in the mountains where Zen students could practice meditation and study, Suzuki and his students built the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center in the remote wilderness east of Big Sur, according to the center’s website.

The center is closed to guests this summer because of the coronavirus pandemic. But in a typical summer, it welcomes more than 8,000 guests who savor the fresh mountain air, bathe in the hot springs or join Zen students in work or meditation, Mr. Miglioli said.

The fire monks formed in 2008 after the Big Basin fire swept toward the center, and five monks defied evacuation orders to fight the blaze. Their story was chronicled in the book “Fire Monks: Zen Mind Meets Wildfire at the Gates of Tassajara,” by Colleen Morton Busch.

In a 2019 talk, one of the original fire monks, the Rev. Tenzen David Zimmerman, recalled pulling on gear and grabbing hoses to defend the monastery. He said the monks worked alone or in pairs, “as each new manifestation of the inferno dictated.”

“During the hours that the blaze was finally upon us,” he said, “the tracking of time gave way to the pure immediacy of the moments.”

But it quickly became apparent that five monks with “nominal firefighting skills” could not fully protect the center, he said.

“Our monastic training had taught us to simply offer our best, wholehearted effort, unattached to the results, yet still aware of our preference to save our spiritual homestead,” he said. “The fire, like any dedicated teacher, challenged us to constantly be attentive.”

When the fire was finally extinguished, he said, several buildings had burned, including woodsheds, a compost shed and a yurt. But the center itself was spared. “Everything was a sea of black and ash, as far as you could see — just Tassajara — a green, an oasis of green,” Mr. Zimmerman said.

He said that the Zen practice that had helped the monks confront the fire could help prepare anyone to be a fire monk for whatever blazes might threaten them.

“We don’t need to wait for a looming disaster to prepare the grounds of our heart-minds by letting go, and clearing out unhealthy attachments and harmful behaviors, which are ready fuel for the flames of our passions,” he said.

In recent years, the fire monks have been pressed into service several times as wildfires have approached the monastery with increasing frequency, Mr. Miglioli said. The monks come not only from Tassajara but also from the Zen Center in San Francisco and from the group’s third location, Green Gulch Farm, in Marin County.

In addition to the training they have received from professional firefighters, the monks are equipped with miles of hoses, masks, helmets and other gear — “everything that needs to be there to be able to engage with a fire,” Mr. Miglioli said.

The Monterey County Sheriff’s Office has issued an evacuation order for areas near the wildfire, but Mr. Miglioli said the center is working closely with the authorities to ensure that the fire monks are not in danger.

“We are very conscious of our level of training, which is a very good level of training,” he said. “If something is in a place where we don’t feel trained enough, safety is first. You need to leave.”

[KQ]

FIRE EXTINGUISHED
Concerned passing motorists on I-82 in Washington on the way to Tri-Cities put out a roadside blaze before the emergency crews they had called had responded.
PLEASE be careful. Dry conditions, winds, and heat mean fires will spread quickly. If you are a smoker, extinguish your cigarette in water inside your vehicle.
MYCB photos by Lowell Britt

[Meadow Skipper]

^ I laughed at that second picture, but I guess maybe it worked. Glad it wasn’t really windy.

[Skidog]

Ski season, mud season, smoke season...

Time to order new HEPA filters...

100 years of wildfire mismanagement combined with climate change is gonna make sucking smoke all summer the new normal for the mountain west?

Get a rake

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[telehacker]

Great info for the basin with a daily update
Wish they did this for ski season


https://gacc.nifc.gov/gbcc/outlooks.php

[bodywhomper]

Get a rake

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Obligatory response

https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/pos...?postnum=28855

(of course, not at this time of year)

[TBS]

From the NYT. I would have loved to be in on the training of these guys.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/06/23/u...a-big-sur.html

If attachment is the root of all suffering, why try to protect values at risk?

[Meadow Skipper]

If attachment is the root of all suffering, why try to protect values at risk?

I applaud this observation…with one hand.

[zion zig zag]

The Wasatch Front has had 15 red flag days so far in June. Fireworks go on sale today as the debate rages on about who can and who can't restrict or ban them and where.

[skifishbum]

the gov cant he took to much election donation money from them to ban them
least the mayor of slc has bigger ball than the cox

[ill-advised strategy]

The gross people who make and sell fireworks should be paying 100% tax for all the money the public spends dealing with the mayhem they cause.