Re: Yosemite Fire Update #9

Avalanche Fire: The lightning caused Fire is at 145 acres, with 60% of the fire perimeter active. Firefighters report the fire is most active to the north and south, with creeping and smoldering fire behavior. Fifty-seven firefighters and management staff are assigned to this fire. Smoke from this fire is visible from many locations in and out of the park. The most predominate views of the fire are: the Big Oak Flat Road from Big Meadow to Half Dome overlooks; and the Wawona Road past the Rostrum to Chinquapin. The air quality is being monitored from many locations throughout the park including: Yosemite West, El Portal, the Valley and Foresta. Yosemite Fire Mangers are working closely with Mariposa Air Pollution Control District. Visitors going out to Glacier Point will see observe active fire approximately one mile north of Chinquapin, at the Wawona Road junction. All drivers please use caution and adhere to all posted 25 miles/hour speed limit signs along the Glacier Point Road, as firefighters and fire equipment are working along the shoulders. Ground level smoke may at times be over the roadway, particularly at night and early morning. Please do not stop to observe the fire. Fire Information Officers are located at Chinquapin and other locations for information.

Has any one heard how acres the fire now covers?

oops should be how many acres

Something like 150 acres... but it looks like they are going to let it get VERY big (>5000).

Check out the temp webcam they put up:
http://ssgic.cr.usgs.gov/cgi-bin/camHist11.pl?camera=1_mobile_ynp_1&visible=false&date=20110809&frame=73

Also take a look at the regular cams and see how much smoke there is.

Fire good. Smoke Bad.
Sigh

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Thanks, I have friends that have places in Yosemite West and they are not there right now to report what is going on. That area needs some fuel reduction but I hope that they keep it from becoming a wildfire. I just looked at the cams and it appears that the smoke is blowing towards the Valley. Thanks for the website. Do you know the location of the cam? I have never seen that one before.

Well... technically it already is a wildfire.

It's a temp camera that is located at Crane Flat Lookout Tower.
(can guarantee you that looking at the picture)

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chick-on
Well... technically it already is a wildfire.

It's a temp camera that is located at Crane Flat Lookout Tower.
(can guarantee you that looking at the picture)

Technically you are right. Lets me rephrase it to a please no out of control wildfire . LOL I never saw that website before. Is the camera a temporary one just for this fire or is it there all of the time?

Temporarily permanent or permanently temporary?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/09/2011 08:01PM by szalkowski.

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szalkowski
Temporarily permanent or permanently temporary?

The last one?

It's the first one.

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parklover

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szalkowski
Temporarily permanent or permanently temporary?

The last one?

Since it is identified as a mobile unit and is conveniently pointed toward the fire, it seems reasonable to surmise that it has been placed there for the duration of that activity.

If you click on the pulldown box arrow next to the webcam name, you can interrogate numerous permanent cameras throughout the sate. (There's even one at Mineral King.)

ParkaLova ... ewe prolly dewing dis:

(I did say temp twice) temp = temporary

No worries... Da Marmuts prolly had to ask The Good Doctor...

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chick-on
ParkaLova ... ewe prolly dewing dis:

(I did say temp twice) temp = temporary

No worries... Da Marmuts prolly had to ask The Good Doctor...

The chikin is always running a temp(erature), so how was ParkaLova to know that he wasn't rambling on about that?
(TheShrinkWillSeeTheChikinNowly Yours)
The Marmots

So after 100 years the Forest Service has decided to play catch-up on forest management via fire? Wonderful. If this was just confined to Yosemite Valley and ruining all the vacations to the valley for the rest of summer, that would be bad enough. But it doesn't stay confined. I'm located 63 miles WNW of Yosemite Valley and I had smoke from the fire this morning. The smell of smoke was obvious. So everyone living in the foothills has to accept poor air quality every summer for the rest of our lives because of past forest mis-management?

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Calaveras
So after 100 years the Forest Service has decided to play catch-up on forest management via fire?

No, they've been doing this for many decades now.

This is a lightning caused fire. They are doing what they should be doing.... letting mother nature do her work.

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chick-on
This is a lightning caused fire. They are doing what they should be doing.... letting mother nature do her work.

And this is a lot better than suppressing all the fires until you end up with what happened in Yellowstone.

So you're saying the next time we have a lightning started fire down here at 2500' where I live they should let it burn and destroy everyone's homes? That would be natural, right? The only difference between here and the current fire location is elevation.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2011 07:58AM by Calaveras.

Uh. OK. Do you realize that they are actively "managing" the fire and keeping perimeters
around Badger Pass and Yosemite West?
Do you realize that by snuffing out ever single fire the fuel load keeps increasing and
you can end up with a monster fire that is incredibly difficult to put out?
(putting communities in much greater risk)
Do you realize that they DO put out wildfires when nearby structures, etc. are in danger?
Do you realize that you probably are required to have a defensible space around your home?
Do you realize that the NFS probably is either having controlled burns or is
cleaning up duff all around the NF where you live? (take a look next time you drive on 120 into
Big Oak Flat)

These are all rhetorical questions.

Have a nice day

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I didn't expect my point of view would be popular here. I posted to challenge the environmentalists who I'm sure are the majority here. And those aren't really rhetorical questions. I have far more defensible space around my home than most people do and it's a yearly battle against nature to keep it that way. I can't believe that fire is the only alternative to deal with high fuel loads. How about letting commercial interests in to harvest some of that? Even without researching it, there must be money to be made somehow that would also benefit the forest.

What really irks me is that in the winter we get a "no burn day" every time there's the slightest chance that air quality might be affected down in the valley. This can make it hard to meet the defensible space requirement. You can't burn while it's raining and as soon as we get a break they won't let us burn due to poor valley air quality. That makes no sense here. And if a neighbor complains about smoke the burn pile has to be put out. You could take all the private burn piles together and they don't produce the smoke that one of these summer management fires does. So we have extreme restrictions while the NFS does anything they want no matter what the impact to everyone else is all in the name of forest management.

I'm sure you remember the huge number of lightning started fires in June a few years back. I can't remember, but were any of those allowed to burn? I remember a gargantuan effort to put them out. Considering the vast area of California that could potentially burn, I have to wonder if these fires do much for future fire prevention. Brush grows back first and fast.

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Calaveras
How about letting commercial interests in to harvest some of that? Even without researching it, there must be money to be made somehow that would also benefit the forest.

Wow. If that is your stance... then count me as an Environmentalist.

Done w/this conversation.

Try to have a nice day

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Calaveras
So you're saying the next time we have a lightning started fire down here at 2500' where I live they should let it burn and destroy everyone's homes? That would be natural, right? The only difference between here and the current fire location is elevation.

Will it stop the whining about a little smoke?
(Inflammatorily Yours)
The Marmots

I'm sure your definition of a "little smoke" is my definition of a lot of smoke. I'm an astrophotographer and by my definition the sky has smoke in it almost everyday once we get into July. I rely on clear skies to do my work. There's a bunch of astrophotographers up here in the foothills seeking relatively dark skies. It's frustrating enough when we have all the human caused fires but at least an effort is made to put those out. It's more frustrating when these management fires are allowed to burn for months resulting in repeated lost nights due to smoke. I lost several nights last months to the Lion fire. As soon as the weather pattern switches back to a southeast flow, I expect to lose more nights. Both the Avalanche and Lion fires are southeast of here.

Without clear skies I can't do this:

http://astrophotography.aa6g.org/

and the November through May period is almost a complete loss because it''s almost never clear in those months.

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Calaveras
Without clear skies I can't do this...
and the November through May period is almost a complete loss because it''s almost never clear in those months.

Roughly five years ago, there was a news item about a U.K. woman who moved to a country village from London because she decided that she wanted the ambience of living in the countryside. After residing there for a time, she subsequently petitioned the local judge with a request that all the cows in the area be removed... because they didn't fit into her concept of what country living was supposed to be like. (They were unsightly creatures that ruined her view of the landscape.) The judge denied her petition.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/2011 03:27PM by szalkowski.

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Calaveras
I'm sure your definition of a "little smoke" is my definition of a lot of smoke.

Either way you are still whining.

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Calaveras
So you're saying the next time we have a lightning started fire down here at 2500' where I live they should let it burn and destroy everyone's homes?

Nobody said that. Please read the suppression policy before making such statements.

Not much you can do about, smoke goes where it goes. During the huge Station Fire along Angeles Crest Hwy, smoke blew all the way into eastern Utah and beyond. We had spent almost a week in Rocky Mt. National Park without hearing any news until we stayed in Moab on the way home. We went to the Needles section of Canyonlands NP and could not see a thing because of smoke. We went to the Visitor Center and asked if there was a fire nearby and was told that it was from the fire in Los Angeles.

I do feel bad for the visitors who will only see Yosemite once in a lifetime and can't see much of the icons because of smoke.