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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Right now, we are in pretty deep doo-doo with this fire.
The fire split, with the southern fork now breaching into the valley west of Red Rock last night - we could see active flames from our place in the Southwest.
The northern fork has breached over the ridge between Griffith and Charleston peaks...an area full of awesome high mountain meadows and 2000 year old Bristlecone pines. Really bummed about that.
The fire index is off the charts due to the record high temps, so the fire isn't even laying down at night that much. Added to that, it's in a wilderness area, so no dozers, trucks, or even chainsaws. Right now it's hard to say if it's going to go into Lee canyon, Kyle canyon, or both.
And all the big bombers are tasked in AZ and so far there hasn't been any news of one getting released, so we have a couple helos and a SEAT for aerial.
On top of all that, the plumes and smoke are driving me nuts, like an old war horse :-| I thought I was over the "I wanna go kill it" phase of my life.
Guess not.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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Added to that, it's in a wilderness area, so no dozers, trucks, or even chainsaws.
I hope you are wrong about that. Fighting fires is specifically exempted by the Wilderness Act. If managers are taking the position of not allowing the above,they should be fired, right now!
PROHIBITION OF CERTAIN USES
(c) Except as specifically provided for in this Act, and subject to existing private rights, there shall be no commercial enterprise and no permanent road within any wilderness area designated by this Act and, except as necessary to meet minimum requirements for the administration of the area for the purpose of this Act (including measures required in emergencies involving the health and safety of persons within the area), there shall be no temporary road, no use of motor vehicles, motorized equipment or motorboats, no landing of aircraft, no other form of mechanical transport, and no structure or installation within any such area.
SPECIAL PROVISIONS
(d) The following special provisions are hereby made:
(1) Within wilderness areas designated by this Act the use of aircraft or motorboats, where these uses have already become established, may be permitted to continue subject to such restrictions as the Secretary of Agriculture deems desirable. In addition, such measures may be taken as may be necessary in the control of fire, insects, and diseases, subject to such conditions as the Secretary deems desirable.
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Yeah Riley, they are super tough. You don't get to be 2k years old without getting hit by lightning or fire a time or 20, haha.
It's going to take forever for the meadows to regenerate though, and in most cases all that comes back is fire weed to fuel the next one even more. We were supposed to do a training hike to Griffith on Sunday but that's not going to happen for sure. Once this burns out I will get up there and take some photos.
Ken, thanks for adding that. My information is a bit outdated, and comes from when I was a wildland smoke eater 12 years ago. Looks like things have changed.
That being said, even if they could use saws, the fire is now on an extremely steep hill side in heavy timber with a ton of ladder fuels. I think it would be pretty dangerous to even attempt a line up there.
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Ken M
Mountain climber
Los Angeles, Ca
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The "10&18" should always apply, eh?
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Hey WML,
Right now I don't have a link for you, sorry. My info is coming from a Red Cross IC that I know personally, and my personal knowledge of the area.
Right now the SAR team I am on is on standby, we may end up going to the mountain in some form of a support capacity.
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Nope, Red Rock SAR.
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bmacd
Trad climber
100% Canadian
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Horrible news, such a beautiful area. Is it into the town site up there or just up high on ridge line. I was up there several times last year. Those bristlecones are amazing on the ridge between Charlston and Griffiths.
All those homes in that valley... Omg
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Deekaid
climber
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Any news on the cause? The Bristlecone Pine Forest of the White Mountains was the site of one of several of what I consider supernatural experiences in my life. A pretty powerful place.
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Deekaid
climber
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Nice briefing, thanks.
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HighTraverse
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Here's the direct link to the USFS fire page for this fire.
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3481/
Current status (12:20 today)
Basic Information
Incident Type Wildfire
Cause Lightning
Date of Origin Monday July 01st, 2013 approx. 12:00 PM
Location Fire location is one mile from Kyle Canyon
Incident Commander Marty Adell
Current Situation
Total Personnel 422
Size 10,935 acres
Fuels Involved
Pinyon Juniper
__Fire Behavior
Extreme fire behavior, long duration crown runs, spotting and rapid rate of spread.__
Significant Events
Fire continues to exhibit extreme behavior. Current command: Great Basin IMT 7 Type II Team (Marty Adell). Future command: Rich Harvey's Type I Team.
Outlook
Planned Actions
Trout Canyon community: access with escort. Kyle & Lee Canyons: Access with escort, residents only.
__Growth Potential
High
Terrain Difficulty
Extreme__
underlines are mine.
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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Drove out to look at the east side and south side of the fire today. Still very active but they now have 4 breaks in place to quarter the fire. The incident will go to Type 1 tomorrow.
4 heavy helos, 3 heavy tankers and a VLAT (DC-10) are now on the fire. Buddy of mine shared some video of a close in VLAT drop today that was pretty awesome, haven't figure out how to get it off FB or I would post it here.
The terrain continues to be a major obstacle, and the fire has been making crown runs in Kyle Canyon with small spot fires hitting the Rainbow housing division last night. The crews managed to deal with those.
Right now the concern is that the fire may break over into lower Kyle Canyon in the next 24 hours. If that happens I'm not sure what they will do - the fire is already burning down into Kyle from the top, and there is only one road in and out of there.
Slightly lower temps and lower winds seem to be helping the fire return to normal behavior - when I saw the south face tonight it was laying down. Hoping for the best.
Edit to add, I could have just clicked the link lol. My info was taken from friends on scene and personal observations.
If I still had my card, I could be up there right now. Won't happen again, going to get it back next year.
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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That Bison smoke cloud... it's burning good!
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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Bison doubled in size. Now at 17,000+ and still only 15% contained.
Good thing those NV fires are only a one day affair.
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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heres a wierd one,, our surface winds here at moundhouse are from the west 20 mph or so right now,, but the colum from the bison fire now bends to the west all the way into N tahoe area.. strange..winds aloft are heading west..?
It is called "coupled fire atmosphere dynamics." It is affected by increased air temperature, which leads to drier fuels, which leads to higher temperatures when it burns... regardless of what you say or believe.
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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Glad you are stuffing animals Ron. Keep up the good work.
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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Hmmm, NEVER experienced a fire of this magnitude? I wonder what could be going on... other than climate change, because we all know that is a hoax... and air temperature has ZERO effect on fire behavior.
Pretty sure they have been doing fuels treatments out there within the last decade, and I assume NV is a bit more aggressive with their fuels treatments than the Lake Tahoe Basin.
So if it isn't climate change, I guess it must just be bad luck. Oh well, can't do anything about that.
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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"fuels management" in the Pine nuts ROFLMAO!
Apparently being flat out Rong makes you ROFLMAO. That's awesome, because you are Rong more than anyone else, so you must be having a ton of fun.
Several fuels treatment projects going on in the Pine Nuts over the last decade.
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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Sorry WML, I just can't stand it when people spread misinformation... over and over and over and over... without correcting them.
I also think it is important for people to know what land managers are actually doing to reduce wildland fuels, like fuels treatments in the Pine Nuts. Too many idiots complain when they see trees cut down (like along Emerald Bay Rd), when in fact it helps the forest and protects humans if done correctly.
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Dr. Christ
Mountain climber
State of Mine
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Ron, it isn't my fault you are always wrong. Why do you get so up tight when you are wrong? I thought it made you laugh?
I don't really pray, but FWIW I also hope I never meet you.
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Vegasclimber
Trad climber
Las Vegas, NV.
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I'm hoping this thread gets back on topic, which is the Carpenter One fire in Las Vegas. If you want to talk about the Bison fire, or keep up with your Intardnet love fest, start another thread please?
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