New fire south of Idyllwild

if it started right off the highway maybe a cigarette from a passing car... you see people do it all the time

Growth Potential
Extreme

Unfortunately, the fire flanked to the north this morning and hit the wilderness area North of Tahquitz Rock.

Mountain Fire Update - Evacuation Notice is in effect for Fern Valley, Idyllwild, and adjacent communities east of Highway 243.

I've been studying pine beetle kills. Turns out they don't increase fire severity. A dead tree is harder to ignite than a dry live one with lots of volatile oils. A researcher from Colorado did an extensive study about fires and beetle kills and found, although they look bad, the effect on fires is quite counter-intuitive.

5:15 P.M. UPDATE: The mandatory fire evacuation order is for the Idyllwild area east of Highway 243 including Fern Valley, Mt. San Jacinto State Park Wilderness, U.S. Forest Service Wilderness and Campgrounds, according to Chris Gaulding, public information officer for the Mountain Fire.

This is not a soft evacuation order now.

It is pretty hard to look at one's place and try to pick a few things that might remind us of good times, good years etc and to have this sinking feeling, that everything will be gone in a day or two.

they must have every CDF crew in CA.

They will give up their lives to do such acts.

Per Forest Service newser, the fire is of man made origin, arson investigators on scene.

So some as#@&%e set this blaze out in the middle of the forest with all that wood to burn.

Think about it the next time you "rip" a cd. Sorry for the OT, but that picture belongs to the photographer and could have financial value.

Ripping CDs you own is perfectly legal. So is pinching pictures under the Fair Use Doctrine.

it just seems irrelative and pointless given what is going on to piss about ripping CDs.

which may drive it over the ridge, and down into Humber park.

Whatever. Climbing in Idyllwild is roots for me, any one who knows me knows that. Sorry if the OT post bothered you.

I hope for the best possible outcome here.

Even if the fire were 100% extinguished right now, the aftermath will be super grim. Climbing up there won't be the same.

The anticipated rain and thunderstorms materialized early morning, brining 1.5 inches of rain as measured at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway. With diminished fire activity, fire crews continued to work towards further containment through line construction particularly along the east side towards Palm Springs. Although conditions were hazardous and some crews were taken off the line due to severe weather, firefighters continue to fight the fire aggressively where possible. Today’s priority for fire operations is focused at the northern most part of the fire with crews at the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway constructing direct hand line at the fire’s edge to reduce the threat to Idyllwild and surrounding communities.
The Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and Mount San Jacinto State Park are currently closed because of unhealthy air quality. Fire crews will be working around the Aerial Tramway to prepare structural defense preparations.

Changing Weather: Rain is forecasted to continue throughout the day with rain increasing and thunderstorms possibly developing in the afternoon. Thunderstorms could bring strong downdraft winds and lightning. A flash flood watch is in place and firefighters remain alert to the changing weather conditions.

Equipment on-Scene:
2,678 firefighters, including 89 engines, 16 helicopters, 10 fixed wing aircraft, including two DC-10s (Tanker 910 and 911), 68 hand-crews, 28 water-tenders, and 14 dozers.

The email said: "C130 near Suicide Rock SBNF".

Question: are the affected people now going to demand reasonable and adequate preventive measures to forestall the next conflagration? Or are they going to put themselves at the mercy of weather, again, should they live so long?

Just NOT in wilderness areas.

Domelands was a place of incredible beauty when the Cannels ranched it, logged it and took care of it.

Then they were bought out and it declared "wilderness". 30 years or so of neglect later it was a brushy, choked and unhealthy forest that one day exploded.

it's just cutting down the biggest trees and leaving a bunch of flammable remnants on the ground when you're done.

Then they were bought out and it declared "wilderness". 30 years or so of neglect later it was a brushy, choked and unhealthy forest that one day exploded.

I remember thinking ten years or so ago while camped near saddle junction that controlled burns were needed in the SJ wilderness. Not the conventional type, but basically controlled bon fires where the dead wood is marshaled to "fire pits"

What is it that they are not doing that they could be? I'm not familiar with whatever yard clearing policies they may have up there. I have a place where they now monitor and ticket to see if your lot has been cleared to 100 ft. of the structure, which is usually done by burning or hauling away the detritus. However, in the same community, there is a push for "thinning", which I see as double speak for logging, which would create some cash for the community but do nothing to prevent or limit the scope of a fire should one pass thru the town itself.

^isn't the policy (at least on FS lands) to let naturally started fires burn (other than structure protection) and suppress man-caused fires?

At low altitudes in the Rocky Mountain region, large areas of Ponderosa pine and Douglas fir had an open park-like structure until the 1900s. In California's Sierra Nevada area, frequent fires kept clear the understory of stands of both Ponderosa pines and giant Sequoia.[9]

At the end of the day, the forest will grow back if allowed to naturally progress. I don't buy the conventional wisdom that suggests these big wildfires are so hot as to literally leave behind scorched, infertile ground. I've seen it play out too many times, now. Seen it first hand... the ecosystem returns and does so in a fairly well understood progression. It IS part of the fire cycle.

Theoretically, this seems to be a useful strategy, but it doesn't seem to be a very practical solution.