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John M
climber
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It was seriously smokey and hot in Oakhurst today. It got a little bad here in Wawona, but right now its cleared out.
I hope everyone makes it through this batch of fires. The heat is getting bad.
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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6:16 a.m., 8/2/14.It's going to be a scorcher here. I'm getting on the bus to the Lodge, going to check this smoke out.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Bummer, we've got most all of August and Sept. coming......yikes.
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Here's some morning news and notes from North Ops:
08/02/2014 0730
CA-KNF Little Deer: 600 acres, 10% contained.
CA-SHF Coffee Fire: 750 acres, 5% contained. Fire made significant runs upslope due to rollout and numerous snags. Heavy inversion settled over the fire during the night.
OR-ODF Beaver Complex: 11,623 acres, 2% contained. 4,645 acres are burning in California. Evacuation notices in effect for Copco Road area. Threat to Fallbrook water supply source for Yreka. Fire is in Unified Command with CAL FIRE.
CA-KNF July Complex: California IMT1 Team 1 (McGowan) assumed command of the complex at 0600 hours. Complex includes the White Fire, Log Fire and the Leef Fire. White Fire: 2,500 acres, 0% contained, rollout continued overnight with active backing. Log Fire: 350 acres, 0% contained, rollout continues to hamper containment efforts; fire is in Unified Command with CAL FIRE. Leef Fire: 17 acres, 90% contained. Minimal fire activity reported.
CA-KNF Beaver: 1,751 acres, 5% contained. Fire spotted across Beaver Creek, doubling the fire size. The fire made significant runs to the north east late into the night. Mandatory evacuations are in effect for the Beaver Creek area. Advisory evacuations are in place along the Klamath River.
CA-MEU Lodge Complex: 902 acres, 20% contained. Fire continued to spread in all directions. Steep terrain and potential for rolling debris is hampering containment efforts.
CA-Eiler Fire: 6,932 acres, 0% contained. Fire is under command of NorCal Team 1 (Minton). Fire made significant sustained runs yesterday. Fire has crossed Highway 89; Highway 89 remains closed in the fire area. Evacuations remain in place. Thousand Lakes Wilderness is closed.
CA-LNF Bald Fire: 17,977 acres, 5% contained. Fire is in Unified Command with CAL FIRE. Extreme fire behavior, with rapid rates of spread and long range spotting. Evacuations are in place for Little Valley Road. Burlington Northern-Santa Fe rail line remains shut down.
CA-LMU Day Fire: 12,500 acres, 15% contained. Fire continues to move with high intensity. Wind driven runs produced long range spotting up to 1/2 mile.
**08/01/2014 Effective 2030 tonight North Ops is moving to preparedness level 5.
**
http://gacc.nifc.gov/oncc/predictive/intelligence/news_notes/index.htm
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Another interesting link for fire weather geeks:
(Note this is for Northern California)
http://psgeodata.fs.fed.us/7day/action/forecast/10
* Dry with Gusty Southwest Winds East of Cascade-Sierra Crest Today *
* Thunderstorms Late Sunday Through Friday, Peaking on Monday *
The very hot/dry conditions at the surface have dried dead fuels down to critically dry levels in most areas. 1000-hr fuels are down to between 5-10% across most inland areas. In addition, live fuel moisture is down to between 75-110% in higher elevations (above 4000 ft), and 65-75% in lower elevations (with locally drier spots). These critically dry fuel conditions are now producing rapid fire growth. Abundant lightning, even combined with rainfall, Sunday night and Monday will likely lead to new ignitions. With resource drawdown at its current level, abundant new lightning is considered a HIGH RISK situation.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Mammoth is smoked out with little flakes of ash falling...It rained for a few minutes this evening after a few rumblings of thunder were heard...Flashflood warnings for tomorrow...
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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I spoke with Mr. Cliff today, an NPS firefighter, who was taking a day off at Glacier Point. Neither of us had been up there in quite some time and today, of all days, was unique because of the tremendous layer of smoke all over.
He had just yesterday taken a chopper flight to the top of one of the high points across from Glacier, like North Dome, someplace in the picture above, anyway. He'd been on the go since before the El Portal fire and was happy as heck to get this break.
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neebee
Social climber
calif/texas
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hey there say, ... thank you one and all... for the updates...
as to links, info, of fire, smoke areas, ash, and flooding areas, as well...
prayers for all...
and the oh my:
yep, still have all of aug, to go, and who knows, sept??
as to hot dry weather, as well???
used to be, when i was a kid, some of sept was occasionaly, like summer...
though, cool damp mornings, did set in...
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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rodger that Cragman...It is dark and feels like it's going to dump...an Early ride with rain jacket is in order..
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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Wonderful monsoonal pattern here in northern AZ. The moisture should slow down the fires in South Ops (Yosemite area and south).
khanom, your welcome. The GACCs have good information. Most folks reading this thread are interested in the South Ops Coordination Center. Intelligence and Outlooks page have lots of useful beta.
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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08/03 1215 National Preparedness Level has been elevated to PL 4.
The siege of 2014 begins...
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Ricky D
Trad climber
Sierra Westside
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We pulled out of Arnold Meadows the other day after the mandatory evac for the French Fire.
The northern head of the fire at the time was coming up the Chiquito Creek drainage from Mammoth Pool around the Wagners Store area. About 3 miles south of us as the embers fly.
Talked to my Bass Lake FD bud last night - they have staged 5 Engine Companies inside of our meadow with a dozer line being cut to our south from Lower Chiquito campground easterly to Minarets road near the FS Workstation.
Over the last 5 years - the local FS had done a lot of underbrush clearing around our area - hoping that work pays off. What concerns them and us the most is that Arnold Meadows has about 150 one acre lots - maybe 50 have houses or cabins with the rest being set up either for tent camping or covered with crap since the absentee owners haven't been up in years.
It's those crap lots that spook us the most - the one due south of me has 20 years of tree fall and understory trash trees that would go up like a bomb if fire hit. Dawny and I have over the years slowly "moved" into that lot - have probably cleared about 75 feet of it from our side - but that still leaves a couple hundred of feet still full of tinder.
But again, we have four owners who have a vested interest in their property plus the skills to do something about fire - one BLFD, one recently retired CalFire Captain, one active USFS Hotshot and another FD guy from the Valley.
Feeling better about the prospects but damn - that whole area is going to look like sh#t for years after this fire.
Ricky D and Charming Dawn
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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Mammoth is smoke free today...Cool , breezy , cloudy and waiting for rain..I heard it rained in Ojai all morning...
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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have probably cleared about 75 feet of it from our side That's a very good start.
As you probably know, CalFire likes 100feet of "defensible space"
Cut everything up to 8" diameter (except any special species, such as perhaps Pacific Yew)
In the Santa Cruz mtns it's Toyon, Buckeye and Madrone if it's sparse.
Remove all branches up to 10 feet.
Check with your CalFire for best reduction method: options are chipping, burn piles (a bit late for that this year) and lop and scatter.
Very likely you already know this.
Good luck
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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It's those crap lots that spook us the most - the one due south of me has 20 years of tree fall and understory trash trees that would go up like a bomb if fire hit. Dawny and I have over the years slowly "moved" into that lot - have probably cleared about 75 feet of it from our side - but that still leaves a couple hundred of feet still full of tinder.
yeah, that's my world, too. absentee owner, stacks of brush and ladder fuels.
at least you got the metal roof.
good luck, dude.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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call your local tree guy, folks.
they are your best friend,
and this is money well-spent.
we mimic the fire process
in a controlled and proactive process.
skirt the dead branches on those trees;
they look gosh handsome
and with no fire-ladder branches,
they very well could survive
a wild-burn process.
remove clutter.
aim for an independent canopy,
meaning you should see daylight
between the upper branches of adjacent trees.
with our successive droughts,
thinning out clutter trees
will not only reduce your
venerability to fire,
but will also provide
more water for the mature,
keeper trees (less competetion.)
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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One contrarian view on dropping dead trees.
From a friend who was ex CalFire fighter, chief, fire behaviorist and then resources manager of a major open space district in the Bay Area.
As fire behaviorist, Pat was the guy sitting in a trailer at the fire camp working with weather data, fuel load and topographic maps and computer models trying to work out what the fire was likely to do next.
Standing dead trees are often best left in place. With no green vegetation they don't spread fire quickly. They are great animal habitat (owls, bats, bugs, squirrels, etc). One tree can house dozens of critters of several species.
Obviously they are prone to coming down in a fire (or a storm) so don't leave them near anything you care about. Or power lines!
Our local CDCR inmate camp is spread thin. Our shaded fuel break project could only get one crew today. Most of the camp crews are out on fire lines.
We're having the first cool, moderate relative humidity day in nearly a month.
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