A view from 60 mi east of Yosimite

[Harter66]

God bless the fire fighters sticking it all out there.
Can we sue Ca for 2nd hand smoke ?

The winds have been out of the south for a week providing a much needed break from the smoke ,until yesterday . The winds shifted to come from WNW.
80007

The smoke is bad enough right now to give us a red moon.
80008

This is 1 of those rare times I'd rather have A/C than evaporative cooling aka a swampcooler.
tomorrow I'll have to sweep the smoke dust of the ceiling around the cooler vents.

[Love Life]

Man alive you should have seen it over here in Smith Valley/Wellington. It was super hazy and looked like dusk at 3:00 PM. What was odd, is over in pickle meadows, the sky was crystal clear from Highway 108 and south, yet the sky to the north was very dark. We could see the plume from the fire as we have eyes on the north end of Yosemite from the base.


Very interesting. The whole damn state of California is on fire right now. Good riddance.

[waksupi]

There is mop up on a fire about 4 miles south of me at the time. I have enough elevation here to be above most of the smoke, but the valley is sure socked in.

[Harter66]

Love Life ,
That wasn't very nice .............LMAO.....but not very nice. Have they threatened to have y'all humping water in yet?

The Yosimite fire jumped from 63k to 106K acres over night too . Rumors say the fire near Bodie is out or controled anyway.

[mroliver77]

Fires like that don't compute to an Ohio boy. People say how sad it is. I was at Yellowstone a couple years after the last big fire. Boy was it green and the grass eaters were a chompin it up! Onliest thing is it will cause global warming. :kidding:

Funny story about my Dad. He was very smart and read everything. He was a walking fact book! One time he said something about yo- si(like sid) - might park. Mom and I looked at him and giggled. He said "What?" We told him it was Yosemite. He was very embarrassed and admitted he thought there were two parks. We teased him a long time about it. I still laugh when I see it in print.
J
J

[3006guns]

Wait a minute.........one of the fires is near Bodie??? Good thing I took my 40 year old son there last summer so he could see and remember it (our family has a modest history there). Hope the rumors are true and the fire didn't get there.

[waksupi]

http://www.flatheadbeacon.com/e-edition/08_14_2013/#p=22

Hope that loads correctly. It covers some of the Glacier Park fire ten years ago. While that was going on, the adjoining North Fork of the Flathead was also going up in fire, and stretched well up into Canada. I remember driving Hwy.2 to the Blackfoot Rez, and on up into Alberta when it was burning. Downright spooky going through the fires in the park.
After I got up in Alberta, there were fires scattered at least 60 miles north, where I stopped. One by one, they were put out, while the fires in the states raged on. The Canadians are much better wildfire managers than the enviros in the states. In the states, they let firefighters get killed, rather than hurt a fish.

[sprinkintime]

Man alive you should have seen it over here in Smith Valley/Wellington. It was super hazy and looked like dusk at 3:00 PM. What was odd, is over in pickle meadows, the sky was crystal clear from Highway 108 and south, yet the sky to the north was very dark. We could see the plume from the fire as we have eyes on the north end of Yosemite from the base.


Very interesting. The whole damn state of California is on fire right now. Good riddance.

I know what you mean, we live in Washoe Valley and the smoke has been so thick for the last two days you can't hardly do anything,damn breathing is bad, Think like one of those Dems. in the bay area and we should start a class action on that second hand smoke. The 9th Circuit would go along with it, they are so far out of it. Have a great day. Sprink

[Harter66]

The smoke has lighted some . The mountain base is about 1/2 mile away as is the lake from the back porch ,I can just make out the beach line and the 1st ridgeline. At 730 you could still see the headlight beams.

[uscra112]

Smoke's been mighty bad over in the Wood River area in Idaho, too. There's the Beaver Creek fire, over 100K acres, then the McCan fire a little to the west that actually burned out a couple I know from visits out there. http://www.mtexpress.com/index2.php?ID=2005147649#.UhN_lLxifo0

It's been a rough fire season, and by all accounts it ain't over yet.

Reports are that they were using DC-10 tankers on the Beaver Creek fire. The cojones required to fly an airplane that big, loaded with 100,000+ lbs of water, across those ridges at 500 ft. AGL must weight tons.

[Harter66]

Having been a volonteer firefighter ,the brush stompers think the structure fighters are nuts and vis-a-vis and they both question the sanity of the guy that runs through the brush into a burning building for free. I concure flying into a fire does require a certain fortitude afforded by beach balls in 1s trousers, w/ a questionable level ofmental stability.

[uscra112]

Still and all, the guys on the Beaver Creek fire got it done, and if they're crazy I bless them for it. The fire burned right up to Hailey from the west, but not into the main part of town. It burned right down Greenhorn Gulch, which I've spent a summer there. Must be thirty or forty homes in there and they only lost one. But nobody died. Out of a thousand personnel they had a coupla sprains and contusions is all. I feel awful for Bill and Faus - they hardly had two nickels to rub together. Bill drove a school bus in season, and sometimes slept in the back of it because it cost too much $$ for gas to go home every night.

Meanwhile the Blaine County sheriffs dept is collecting bandanas for the firefighters. http://www.blainesheriff.com/

This is a TV news photo of Greenhorn. Howdja like to see that in your back yard? That's the south side of the gulch on fire, just 400 yards or so from the house I stayed in. The south (north-facing) slope supports trees, since snow stays there longer, and they get dry as matchwood in summer. On the north side it's all just sagebrush. Many of the houses in there are nestled in those trees. Ironically, the house they lost was on the north side, in the sagebrush.

[Digger]

Yeah gentlemen .... smoke has been pretty thick in these parts of Gardnerville/Carson city area being down wind of Tahoe ..
It takes but just a few minutes to find ash on your car or truck with the smoke so thick.
Has anyone heard any thing lately about the Evergreen aviation 747 ? .... bunch of controversy about the feds not letting it be used , Politics ?
Check out the link , this baby can drop some serious loads !! , and there are other links out there on this subject.
http://chemtrailsplanet.net/2012/09/25/evergreen-air-b/

[Harter66]

This is the sunshine we had today, we barely had enough to cast a shadow midday.

80058

[leeggen]

Now what is California going to do, sense their cash crop is burning up. Hope the firefighters are careful of that poluted smoke. Hope non of the members are in the loss of proerty. Just a thought, maybe the gods are getting even with the politicians out there. Really hope all are safe, homes and property can be replaced lives can't,though sometime it just doesn't seem that way.

CD

[SP5315]

This is the view from the North Valleys of Reno. That's Fred's Mountain 3 miles in the background. This was taken about 2:00 PM
80070
Between the American Fire and now the Yosemite fire it's been looking like this for the past week and a half.

On another note I stopped in at Cabella's this morning and it looked like a U.S. Forestry/ BLM fire camp. The boys were taking a little break to do some shopping.

[mroliver77]

I have a question. Forgive my ignorance on forest fires as we dont have anything like that here.

House in the fire path burn. Is it possible to do some clear cutting and undergrowth clearing around the place? Could a water system (tower?) be set up with nozzles spraying the place down help? What about a brick or rock structure with fireproof shutters and the aforementioned precautions?

I am always amazed at destruction of homes businesses destroyed in a "natural disaster" when they are built in an area where this is going to happen periodically. Am I naive or are people too lax and depend on the gov to save them?

Like I said I have little knowlege on this subject and am only looking to better understand it.
J

[popper]

People pretty much ignore the risk until it happens to them.

[Love Life]

Yeah, the Bodie fire is out of control. I believe they are just letting it burn.

In the picture attached is a new fire just starting south of Mammoth. I took that picture on Friday the 23rd of August, 2013.

What is weird, is the smoke from the Bison fire in Nevada didn't even darken the sky at my house.

[Love Life]

I am always amazed at destruction of homes businesses destroyed in a "natural disaster" when they are built in an area where this is going to happen periodically. Am I naive or are people too lax and depend on the gov to save them?



People will live where they want to live. It's like people living in flood plains, tornado alley, and the hurricane zone.

You pick up the pieces after the disaster.

[Duckiller]

It is possible to build reasonably firproof homes. Site them well back from grade breaks, clear bush and vegetation with high oil (flamable) away from house, have no or little exposed wood. Box the eaves and coat with stucco. Install automatic inside and outside sprinklers. The area between Malibu and the 101 freeway, approx 20 mileswide regularly burns and people that properly fire proof their houses don't loose them. These are fast moving fires without heavy fuel. Years ago I talked to a fire crew that was outside working on their truck when they saw a fire start. They immediately called in the fire , piled on the truck and drove down Kanan Road , a fairly good Mtn rd, to get ahead of the fire. Fire beat them to Pacific Ocean and burn houses along the ocean. Los Angeles County Forester and Fire Warden (fire dept) has people that a very knowledgeable in siting homes and how they should be built to not burn. Such construction is often not pretty and rich people want pretty and don't want to listed to government employees. As a result they get burnt out and FEMA gives them your tax dollars to rebuild and get burnt out again.

[waksupi]

I had my property logged some years ago for fire reduction. Also cleared highly flammable brush away. Sprinkler that completely covers the cabin. I also have Barricade to spray the buildings with, should a fire come close. Am I fire safe? I don't know. Everything is tinder dry here. A spark blown under the eaves, and it could still go. I would rather deal with fires, than tornadoes. You get a bit more warning with fires generally.

[Love Life]

Still and all, the guys on the Beaver Creek fire got it done, and if they're crazy I bless them for it. The fire burned right up to Hailey from the west, but not into the main part of town. It burned right down Greenhorn Gulch, which I've spent a summer there. Must be thirty or forty homes in there and they only lost one. But nobody died. Out of a thousand personnel they had a coupla sprains and contusions is all. I feel awful for Bill and Faus - they hardly had two nickels to rub together. Bill drove a school bus in season, and sometimes slept in the back of it because it cost too much $$ for gas to go home every night.

Meanwhile the Blaine County sheriffs dept is collecting bandanas for the firefighters. http://www.blainesheriff.com/

This is a TV news photo of Greenhorn. Howdja like to see that in your back yard? That's the south side of the gulch on fire, just 400 yards or so from the house I stayed in. The south (north-facing) slope supports trees, since snow stays there longer, and they get dry as matchwood in summer. On the north side it's all just sagebrush. Many of the houses in there are nestled in those trees. Ironically, the house they lost was on the north side, in the sagebrush.

I have seen that in my back yard!! I posted the photo's last year. We got lucky and the wind changed blowing the fire into Jack Wright pass and down into Smith valley.

[longranger]

32 years of putting out fires in CA has taught me a few things, If you build your dream home in the interface areas you are risking your dream.Fires are part of the ecology of the forest and it's your responsibility to provide adequate safeguards,such as roads that will accommodate a large fire truck,clear space around buildings, a water supply.
125 years of stomping out every fire that occurs has proven to be bad juju,now forest managers want to"let it burn" no controlling the immense under growth that has occurred in the past 125 years where nature would have taken out far less acreage if left to it's own design.
These fires will benefit wildlife for years to come,many species need these fires to propagate.
The deaths of those firefighters in AZ is disgusting,who was the brain surgeon that put those men on the mountain to save some trees and grass ?, they should be in jail.

[Linstrum]

It is possible to build reasonably firproof homes. Site them well back from grade breaks, clear bush and vegetation with high oil (flamable) away from house, have no or little exposed wood. Box the eaves and coat with stucco. Install automatic inside and outside sprinklers. The area between Malibu and the 101 freeway, approx 20 mileswide regularly burns and people that properly fire proof their houses don't loose them. These are fast moving fires without heavy fuel. Years ago I talked to a fire crew that was outside working on their truck when they saw a fire start. They immediately called in the fire , piled on the truck and drove down Kanan Road , a fairly good Mtn rd, to get ahead of the fire. Fire beat them to Pacific Ocean and burn houses along the ocean. Los Angeles County Forester and Fire Warden (fire dept) has people that a very knowledgeable in siting homes and how they should be built to not burn. Such construction is often not pretty and rich people want pretty and don't want to listed to government employees. As a result they get burnt out and FEMA gives them your tax dollars to rebuild and get burnt out again.

Hey, Duckiller, I grew up in the rural country inland from Malibu back in the 1950s and 1960s, and when a good 60 mile per hour Santa Ana Wind gets going in that country the only safety from the extremely hot metal-melting and fast-moving chaparral fires is to have a fireproof house and all the vegetation removed 200 feet away from it. The fast moving Christmas Day 1956 Malibu Fire burned all the way from Malibu Canyon to my place near Camarillo in one day, and all us farmers got together and went from farm to farm as the fire advanced to save houses. Later on I lived in the hills between Moorpark and Santa Paula for 33 years and without any help from the fire department survived every one of the brush fires that came through every few years because of taking care to have a fireproof roof on my stucco house plus a sprinkler system on the roof, and keeping all flammable stuff cleared away.

Where I am now in south central New Mexico, people have their houses right in dense conifer forest with the tree limbs over the houses, and when that burns there is no way the house can be saved, much less save themselves if they are foolish enough to attempt to save the house. I have been close to a crown fire in 60 foot tall pine trees, and the radiated heat alone sets everything on fire that will burn for a distance of about 200 feet from the flames, including the plastic parts of cars like tail light lenses and fender skirts. Fires with flames shooting 200 to 300 feet up in the air are incomprehensively powerful in the radiated heat damage they can cause at a great distance, which for those who haven't witnessed such an awesome thing is difficult to understand. I watched my neighbor's clothes and broad brim felt cowboy hat catch on fire from radiated heat when a 125 foot tall blue gum eucalyptus tree exploded into flames. He had been under the tree putting out a grass fire when the flames got into the leaves and branches and crowned while he was running away. He didn't get burned because his jacket and hat shielded him from the radiated heat, and once he got away from the intense heat his clothes quit burning.

Like a lot of things, taking preventive measures before a fire starts is the most effective way to avoid harm.

rl 1,169

[GabbyM]

I had my property logged some years ago for fire reduction. Also cleared highly flammable brush away. Sprinkler that completely covers the cabin. I also have Barricade to spray the buildings with, should a fire come close. Am I fire safe? I don't know. Everything is tinder dry here. A spark blown under the eaves, and it could still go. I would rather deal with fires, than tornadoes. You get a bit more warning with fires generally.

If you haven't done it yet. You need a way to close soffit and roof vents during a fire threat.

[Harter66]

At times like this I pretty happy to live in an area that has 6000 acre dead terminus lake and scrub sage 10 ft apart.

The Tahoe regional planning agency and another agency there have rules in place that garantee major loses to homes. Among other things are rules that prohibit tree triming beyond limbs that are/will cause immediate damage to buildings and only dead or heavily diseased may be removed. You can be fined 10,000 per tree for illegal removal, a guy got caught salting trees a few years ago, they gave him a break at just 5000 a tree because he was able to prove they were threatening his foundation.

If I had a home in a fire likely area a gas water pump pylon rainbirds and a sisturn would be high priority.

[opos]

Thoughts are with all of you affected....I live in San Diego and that's enough said about fire. Our problems here are when the wild fires get fanned by the Santa Ana winds and come roaring out of the mountains toward the ocean...all the houses are between the mountains and the ocean....scariest thing we've ever been through...more than once.

[waksupi]

Forest Service mis-manages the forest across the west. They have nearly eliminated logging in most areas. They have went with the greenie let it burn policy. This is not a natural way to control what we have. As was said, we have over a hundred years of unnatural fire suppression. So, when things do burn, the fuel over load creates a much hotter fire. A much better management practice would be to selective log an area, then have a low burning ground fire in the area, rather than the crown fires we now have. As it is, the large fires sterilize much of the soil, allowing noxious weeds to establish. Logging not only uses the marketable timber, but allows necessary fire suppression when needed, and allows what fires that do pass to regenerate the natural growth as it should.

[Duckiller]

Assorted tree hugger types have all but eliminated proscribed buns to reduce fuel loads. At least in So. Cal. Now whenever there is a wildfire Fire People create a fuel break well away from fire for containment purposes. Once the fire is contained and in mop up mode anything inside the fuel break is burned. At least that is what I think is happening. Because of "Public Safety" the general public is kept well away even after the fire is out. It is the only way they can reduce the fuel load in the forest. Of course kids smoking and playing with fire in the late spring when there is a reasonable moisture content in live brush can set off fires that turn into nice fuel breaks. They just aren't well planned out.

[Love Life]

Sitting here at Pickle Meadows we have the north end of Yosemite in view. It was clear this morning, but it has been super hazy since about noon. I'd say visibility is down to 1 mile. We took a trip up the Sonora pass and the ashfall is pretty gnarley.

[Harter66]

We cleared out some over the weekend , I wasted that in Carson City in 1.5 mile visiblity . we've had honest 10 mile visiblity for about 3 days but it all socks in overnight. Ive got smoke lines on the ceiling around all the cooler vents again too . Thoughts go out to all who are still in the soup and fighting its source.

[Blammer]

cheese cloth is your friend around the vents for helping control dust and stuff.

[Love Life]

Clear skies in Smith valley and Pickle meadows this morning. Around 1300 the wind picked up, blew the smoke in, and we have had less than 1 mile of visibility ever since. I live in a giant camp fire...

[Harter66]

It rained here for a couple of hr, some of those famous mile wide thunder cells. I hope some of them hit on the fires before they blew over the hill.

Blammer I'm running a Master Cool w/the honeycomb pads about 24 tall x36 wide x12 deep . I'd thought about burlaping the inlet side but so far we've been able to vaccuum dust the vents a splash of foofoo soap every other day seems to be keeping the smoke smell at bay(my GOD how the truck reeks).