Fire or Cloud?

[Smokecreek1]

<br />I talked to a friend in McCloud this morning and he said there's a fire at Hat Creek and Hwy 89 is closed. I'm heading up there in the morning so I hope they get it taken care of.<br />
<br /><br /><br />

CR, they closed Butte Lake area and allot of the area around Old Station down, last I heard several of the small towns in the "Chips" fire" area were put on alert. The fire conditions and numbers of fires keep changing! The USFS large fire icdt site shows lots of fires on the Modoc Plat, near Cederville the Plumas and near Hat Creek and a whole bunch of fires in So. Or (Steens) and south of Via in Nevada. Might be an idea to check the both the Reno (KTVN, KOLO) and Chico TV (12) stations on the web-they have been tracking them. Some of them are BIG and the one in the Plumas keeps getting larger! It's getting smoky here again. Hope to be gone later this week, may have to head to the coast (although there is a fire there too) or into Central Nevada to excape! Luck in finding a none smoky place that's free of fire.

Good luck, I'll check in the morning and try to give an updated post of the fire conditions!

Smoke

 

[Smokecreek1]

Not many new updates, seems like the major worry here is the chance that the PG&E power lines into Plumas and Lassen Counties could be in danger in the Feather River corridor and they are bringing in power generators to use if the lines a cut! Still smoky and windy, fires all still burning away & will update if i hear critical type news.

Smoke

 

[craig333]

Been listening to my scanner here at home. Quite a few small fires that were extinguished quickly. A few larger ones that just weren't enough to make the news. No smoke here yet. Just hot. Glad I'm not on the fireline today.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Been listening to my scanner here at home. Quite a few small fires that were extinguished quickly. A few larger ones that just weren't enough to make the news. No smoke here yet. Just hot. Glad I'm not on the fireline today.


Craig, I'm so glad too, I'm (both of us) are not out there! My first fire was when I was in in the army, at Fort Huachuacha, Arz in 1964 , god I'm feeling old now. The National Guard during their training set everything on fire ---then left and went home. I was on post detail as a driver, and off we went into the fire, got jumped by it, and remember those things we called lifer fly swatters, (long poles with a rubber paddle on the end) trying to beat out the fire, anyway the fire jumped us, didn't burn up the my duce and half or our detail. We survived, and many years later starting in 1978, I started fighting fires all over again with BLM-seems like you can't win! Wanta talk fire stories and trying to learn about fire etc and the environment and how not to fight a fire; like let it run if, folks and property aren't in danger, resources and things have survived fires for thousands of years, easier to rehab than loose a life! Smoky here, part of that fire cycle- august is fire month here.

Smoke

 

[craig333]

Apparently I lied about the smoke. I just didnt notice myself. Very noticeable on the news. I'm inside way too much.

Swatting a fire. Never got to do that. Fire is good. We need to let more burn. But how when so many people have moved into the the forest? Not only do I not have the answer to that, I keep dreaming of moving out of the city and adding to the problem

 

[Smokecreek1]

Hey, ya tell a young army pfc to swat a fire--you do it!!! Moving is good, But we really don't want to many people out here. still glad I'm gone from today's BLM/FS, seems like what we did, working together and trying to solve the problems, and not doing things by the "My way or the hiway- one way " system or you are gone, worked---maybe it will again! Miss my job, but can't go back! Still smoky here!
Smoke

 

[craig333]

My sources have let me down. I read in todays paper theres a nearly 60k blaze going in Modoc southeast of eagleville. Not one word about it on tv or my internet sources. Chips fire is up to nearly 19k.

Inciweb and the others are nice, but for Northern California I like Yubanet.

http://yubanet.com/CAFires/Lost.php

 

[MarkBC]

Besides the one that's been going for a few days, you can see one in south-central Oregon, SW of Lakeview I think:

Lots of clouds that look a little like smoke-plumes, but I think my arrows are pointing at smokes.

 

[craig333]

Interesting the lost fire doesn't show up. I guess the terrain its burning just doesn't generate the plumes a forest fire does.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Hey, today is the worse day so far-ash is falling and were are starting to have power outages. I took some photos and will try to down load beore the next one-wish me luck! Heard fire aircraft a little while ago-love August in Susanville.


Smoke

 

[MarkBC]

Yikes! Not looking good for these 3 fires:

 

[Smokecreek1]

Yikes! Not looking good for these 3 fires:

Hey-10.00pm and the power is back on! Still super smoky, did the photos come out to you guys?Love the west???

Smoke

 

[MarkBC]

Damn!

Smoke from multiple fires in NE CA and southern OR merged and reaches as far east as the Tetons...maybe the Bighorns.

UPDATE: I see it does extend well into central Wyoming:

 

[craig333]

Lost fire is 80% contained. Chips fire has grown to 30,000 acres and only 8% containment.

Glad to hear you got your power back on. Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. Maybe time to go put the kayak in the river.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Lost fire is 80% contained. Chips fire has grown to 30,000 acres and only 8% containment.

Glad to hear you got your power back on. Today is supposed to be the hottest day of the year so far. Maybe time to go put the kayak in the river.


That sounds like an idea- creeks here to low for that (Safely anyway), wonder how the creeks are like in the Sierras? Just got back from the store-I ran out of vodka last night-had to drink Jack D and beer-rough night. Lucky I didn't run down to the store for some more, guess the local cops and CHP were out and about checking for DUI's- another reason to be always stocked up on supplies around here. Sort of clear here now, but it's supposed to be the hottest day of the year with more smoke later on. Hopefully, can get out of town next week and find some nice spot out of the smoke-need to try some more of that fly "fishering" stuff again.

Smoke

 

[MarkBC]

Holloway Fire: At 250,000 acres so far it's engulfed most of the Trout Creek Mts, spanning the Oregon/Nevada border south and east of Steens Mt and the Alvord Desert.

Most of this area is sagebrush, other-brush, and grass, but there are -- or were -- some beautiful stands of mountain mahogany and cool old aspen groves, too. Maybe the relative dampness of the aspen areas -- the only place they grow -- might give them a chance to be spared. A lot of the sagebrush at the higher elevations (you can drive to over 8000') is of the very low-growing type that almost looks like, and functions like, heather in less-arid alpine areas.

 

[MarkBC]

Another huge spread of far-west fire smoke this morning.
I put together this mosaic from several zoomed-in views snagged from this satellite overview .


The smoke has spread across Idaho and southern Montana, as far as eastern Wyoming, down into Colorado a bit, and maybe even up north into southern BC via the Columbia Basin and then the Skagit. And down the Columbia past Portland to the west.

I think what happens -- why it's more-visibly spread in the morning than later in the day even though fires die down a bit at night -- is that lighter winds at low altitude at night don't dilute the smoke as much, so it hugs the ground undiluted and so is more visible as the prevailing winds gently blow it east.
I'm sure that other fires -- to the east of the NE-CA and S-OR fires -- contribute to it as it spreads east.

 

[MarkBC]

The Holloway Fire, spanning the OR/NV border, continues to spread -- 320,000 acres now, completely engulfing the Trout Creek Mountains and into surrounding lowlands.



For those who know Willow Hot Springs, the fire has spread to within maybe 5 miles to the south and 4 miles to the east.
Fires are a normal part of summer in the West...but it's sad when it happens to an entire mountain range, an entire ecosystem, that I know and love.

 

[Smokecreek1]

Ah, it's wonderful to go to bed smelling and seeing smoke, smell it all night and wake up to it too! Susanville is one of those valleys that attract and keep the smoke and that is one of the hazards of living in an otherwise neat place. Hey Mark-at least you showed us what the Trout Mountains looked like before the fires. With a little snow this winter that area and the others could rebound pretty fast if given a chance. I think that is what always amazed me was with a little care how fast they come back. If there is some $ out there, there will be allot of fence, salvage sales and seeding contracts over these next few years and even if the areas are just left alone, nature can do great things!

Smoke

 

[MarkBC]

....With a little snow this winter that area and the others could rebound pretty fast if given a chance. I think that is what always amazed me was with a little care how fast they come back. If there is some $ out there, there will be allot of fence, salvage sales and seeding contracts over these next few years and even if the areas are just left alone, nature can do great things!

Yep...2013 should be a banner year for cheat grass...

More about cheatgrass (if you're interested in depressing reading):
Living with Cheatgrass in the Great Basin Annual Rangeland
Cheatgrass and Wildfire
Cheatgrass: The Invader That Won the West

But aside from pessimistic predictions of pest-plant propagation...
Some 15+ years ago (more-or-less), at the eastern base of Steens Mountain a fire started at Pike Creek (according to local reports, started by a college kid camped there on a class field-trip, burning his toilet paper

). It burned from Pike Creek north for several miles -- burned it black. The next spring there was an amazing, phenomenal growth of sunflowers (a native species) and now the sagebrush and other natives are back -- along with plenty of cheatgrass. It's not obvious that a fire burned the vegetation down to the ground.

Still..the eastern base of the Steens is at 4000 feet, but the Trout Creek Mts rise to above 8000 feet...so I don't know what will regrow in that environment or how long it will take.