Cow fire update 8/22/2019

Current Situation: The Cow Fire continues to burn in the Golden Trout Wilderness just south of Templeton Mountain. A night-flying aircraft with infra-red photography capabilities flew the fire area Tuesday evening. Infra-red photography captures heat signatures on the ground and is a much-desired tool used to map the size and location of wildfires. In this case, we learned that the Cow Fire has increased to approximately 190 acres. The fire is burning relatively slowly, consuming litter, duff and small shrubs under the forest canopy. This is a low intensity fire.

Firefighters are being resupplied tomorrow with a mule train and by helicopter. An additional wildfire module and a hotshot crew will be transported to the fire area on Friday.

What goes into wilderness fires: Many wilderness fires, such as the current Cow Fire, are in remote areas where fire engines and water tenders have no access - and in federally designated wilderness areas such as the Golden Trout Wilderness - motorized vehicles are not allowed even if they could get into the fire area. How to manage a wilderness fire? One answer is with "wildfire modules", specially trained crews that can monitor and manage backcountry fires. These wildfire module crews are made up of 7 -10 experienced wildland firefighters who are self-sufficient for weeks at a time in the backcountry. "This is what these crews are made for. They understand the wilderness esthetic, use natural barriers to contain/confine fire and can use fire to strengthen containment lines, but they are primarily data collectors: they take weather data, map the fire perimeter and collect fuel samples to determine fuel conditions. They are essentially technical specialists in the back country” said Todd McDivitt, Battalion Chief on the Mt. Whitney Ranger District. We currently have 2 wildfire modules working on the Cow Fire.

Closure Order: Several back-country trail segments have been closed for public safety and firefighter focus. All segments are on R35E T18S Section 31 and R35E T19S Sections 4,5,6,8,9,17 and 18 of the Templeton Mountain topo map. The segments are:

• 3507 from Templeton Cow Camp east to the intersection with 3412/3512 near Strawberry Creek
• 3510 from the intersection with 3512 near Strawberry Creek east to the South Fork of the Kern River
• 3512 from the intersection with 3510 (near Strawberry Creek) south to Schaeffer Stringer near Iron Spring
• 3511 from where it intersects 3512 south to where it crosses Schaeffer Stringer

A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place for the Cow Fire as well.

Inciweb: https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6529/ (note: this is listed as the “Cow”; another fire in Oregon is the “Cow Fire” on Inciweb)

Current Situation: The Cow Fire burning in the Golden Trout Wilderness has increased to 600 acres. This is part of the contain and confine strategy: 100-200 acres of new fire growth daily is expected as crews complete backfiring along control lines. Final fire size is anticipated to be about 2,000 acres in about 2 weeks, weather and crew availability permitting. The fire continues to burn on its own within established control lines. The main fuels are dead and down trees, branches and duff. The trees of this lodgepole pine and red fir forest are rarely catching fire; this is an understory fire. Areas of active burning are burning slowly, at low-intensity, allowing firefighters to keep the fire within the natural and augmented barriers of the planning area. Most of the smoke produced is from large down logs. Some of this smoke may be visible along Highway 395, near Olancha and in Kennedy Meadows and in the Kern River drainage.

The Cow Fire has reached a series of wet meadows and an unnamed creek on the western perimeter and is close to Schaeffer Stringer on the southeastern border. It is burning slowly towards the Long Canyon Trail (3511) that has been reinforced with handline on the fire’s eastern edge. The barriers on the northeast perimeter are farther away and firefighters are working to strengthen the natural fire lines of Strawberry Creek and Schaeffer Meadow.

There are 3 wildfire modules and one hotshot crew divided between 3 spike camps near the fire area. There has been at least one wildfire module on this fire for the last 30 days. The fire is being supported and managed from the Mt. Whitney Ranger Station in Lone Pine. “We are pleased with the fire effects on the ground; we’re getting a low severity fire” said Jason Wingard, IC for the Cow Fire.

Closure Order: Several back-country trail segments have been closed for public safety and firefighter focus. All segments are on R35E T18S Section 31 and R35E T19S Sections 4,5,6,8,9,17 and 18 of the Templeton Mountain topo map. The segments are:

• 3507 from Templeton Cow Camp east to the intersection with 3412/3512 near Strawberry Creek
• 3510 from the intersection with 3512 near Strawberry Creek east to the South Fork of the Kern River
• 3512 from the intersection with 3510 (near Strawberry Creek) south to Schaeffer Stringer near Iron Spring
• 3511 from where it intersects 3512 south to where it crosses Schaeffer Stringer

A Temporary Flight Restriction (TFR) is in place for the Cow Fire as well.

https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6529/