2013 Fire & Smoke Reports

[tim]

Looks like from the article on the Tioga Rd closure they are going to try and stop the fire at Hwy 120, presumably including the White Wolf spur: http://www.inciweb.org/incident/article/3660/20959/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

At that point the Big Meadow burn area should help stop further spread to the south. But stopping it from going east may be more difficult.

[maverick]

Fire line is getting very close to Kibbie Lake and Laurel Lake, and unfortunately may
then continue up Kendrick to Edith Lake and the Vernon Lake areas.
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3660/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[giantbrookie]

Fire line is getting very close to Kibbie Lake and Laurel Lake, and unfortunately may
then continue up Kendrick to Edith Lake and the Vernon Lake areas.
http://www.inciweb.org/incident/3660/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Yes, the E edge had held for a couple of days then it really jumped eastward yesterday. Much of the area btw HH and Eleanor burned not all that long ago (late 80s? or even later) and the north shore of HH burned even more recently that that (Oct 2004, I recall, a rather dramatic arson-suicide conclusion to a major manhunt). The area around Edyth, in contrast, hasn't had a major fire in a very long time, judging from the huge trees there, so I hope the fire stops short of that area. It's getting pretty close to Laurel and Kibbie (has been close to Kibbie for awhile).

[Tollermom]

what link can I go to that will show me the most up-to-date satellite smoke plume on any given day? The internet seems full of sites...too many to dig through not knowing the science behind the different views. I registered on earthdata but it looks like the site is intermittently down for upgrades until Friday. I want to make sure I'm not driving in the wrong direction for hiking this weekend. Thanks.

[maverick]

Tollermom wrote:
what link can I go to that will show me the most up-to-date satellite smoke
plume on any given day?

http://www.firedetect.noaa.gov/viewer.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Use the controls on the left side to zoom in and then click the layers you want on the right.

[Tollermom]

thanks...I still seem to only be able to pull fire maps with smoke, not actual satellite real time photos. I'll keep banging away at it.

[maverick]

Hi Tollermom,

Try this: http://www.techland.time.com/2013/08/26 ... -wildfire/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[rlown]

quit being so tech. wind is SW.. guess where it hits. just go south.

[kpeter]

Looks like some good news. Higher humidity and the fire is no longer spreading very much in NW Yosemite.

It seems to have been stalled for several days on the ride south of Kibbie and is showing little sign of getting closer from that direction.

Then, after leaping east toward Laurel Lake and Beehive a few days ago, it seems to have stopped moving in that direction, and still has not quite cut the trail from Hetch Hetchy to Beehive.

The dramatic spread of the fire south of Hetch Hetchy a couple of days back may have been deliberate backfires from what I read. The perimeter maps do not show it getting any closer to Harden Lake than on the first day it spread along the south shore.

One place it has spread--it has completely surrounded the Shingle Springs trailhead next to Cherry Lake. The entire length of the road from Cherry Dam to Shingle Springs trailhead has burned. It has also burned up the hill to the intersection of the Kibbie Lake and the Kibbie ridge trail. That particular intersection was filled with about 30 deadfall north of the intersection last time I was over it. It probably was quite a bonfire. But the fire must be running into areas that burned not long ago and thus is probably burning mainly brush in that vicinity. I am concerned that it could spread up Kibbie Ridge and approach Kibbie Lake from a different direction than first expected.

[kpeter]

Well, despite the fire slowing down substantially, it does creep forward, and if it just creeps forever the final results will be just as bad.

The fire has now spread about half a mile north on the Kibbie Ridge trail. There is no particular reason it should not continue north towards Lookout Point, unless they are fighting it up there.

It also creeps along the ridge south and east of Kibbie lake, edging closer to point 7697. At this point it has erased some of the old trail between Flora and Kibbie.

Progress reports sound good--they have made much progress on the fire, but of course they are probably not fighting it in the wilderness but where it threatens structures.
"We are making good progress on the fronts that bump up against communities," said Daniel Berlant, a spokesman for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. But "the dryer conditions have the potential for the fire activity to pick up."

Weather reports are not good, and this could mean that the fire just burns and spreads and creeps along in the wilderness indefinitely.