The Rough Fire finally contained

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limpingcrab
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

Post by limpingcrab »

Were those lines built knowing that the fire was going to go by them (maybe to slow it down?)?
Those lines were to stop the fire but this fire had some strange behavior and just kept crossing the lines. That said, they do start with fire lines further back and build additional ones closer to the fire so that if the closest lines are crossed there are already backup lines ready to go, so the closer lines aren't usually as fortified.

I'm friends with several of the firefighters who worked the fire so here are some insights into what happened.

-More dead trees than usual this year increased "crowning," when the fire moves through the treetops and this crosses fire lines more easily than ground fires and sends embers further.

-The terrain, as you know, was extremely rough in many of the places so there was more roll out, when burning logs or rocks carrying embers are released as the ground level vegetation burns, sending them rolling downhill and igniting things along the way, often across fire lines. Much of this was caused by the Yucca in the particular fire, they started calling them "Yucca Bombs" or something like that.

-The terrain and heat also creates its own small weather patterns with extremely strong winds that push the fire in difficult to predict directions.

-Sometimes they ignite fire along the fire lines to burn toward the main fire and use up the fuel before it arrives. On at least two occasion for sure, and perhaps another that was unconfirmed, the back burns crossed the fire lines themselves and helped the fire progress.

-The rough terrain also often prevented fire lines from being completed as desired so they were still weak when the fire arrived, this was a major problem along the south bank of the kings river as it moved by the Boole Tree and towards Dunlap.

All of this together helped the fire cross more lines than many of the firefighters had ever seen in any other fire and gave it quite a reputation. They basically chalked it up to luck that the fire stopped where it did and didn't burn the Snowline Lodge and Dunlap, it was essentially a miracle aided by prevailing winds and some small changes in the weather. I guess that was probably a longer response than you wanted, sorry. It was quite the fire to watch and I'm glad it didn't get our cabin in Wilsonia! I actually have a collection of the briefing maps that I would get after the AM briefings from the southern command that I will post in the cabin and use to talk to my students about fire ecology.

Hope that helped a bit!

-Daniel
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chulavista
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

Post by chulavista »

Thanks Daniel! Great explanation.
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kpeter
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

Post by kpeter »

Thank you Zac. The first PDF to the side of that link gives the trails report, with some photographs and maps. They are quite concerned about the fire exposing old logging roads that had been concealed and rendering them passable again.
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sekihiker
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

Post by sekihiker »

Fortunately, most of the fire damage in the north part of the fire area is west of the trail heads leading out of the Wishon Reservoir area. The Spanish Mountain OHV trail, however, sustained major damage if you have ever depended on it to get into the back country. Most of the damage was to trails at lower elevations. I can hardly wait to see the trail to Spanish and Geraldine Lakes with hopes that the fire burned down and dead wood that was blocking it in many places.
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limpingcrab
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

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I can hardly wait to see the trail to Spanish and Geraldine Lakes with hopes that the fire burned down and dead wood that was blocking it in many places.
I went to Spanish and Geraldine Lakes two weeks ago and it was surprising how little change there was. A few spots got completely torched but for the most part it looked like it was a regular forest fire moving through the forest floor. Some of the trails that firefighters had used for access were much better because they cleared them but some trails were worse as the fire caused many trees to fall but didn't stick around long enough to fully burn them.
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sekihiker
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

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"some trails were worse as the fire caused many trees to fall but didn't stick around long enough to fully burn them
That's a shame. Several trails in the area appear to be no longer maintained by the FS. There seems to be extra heavy traffic on the trail out of Little Rancheria Creek and it appears that the Crown Valley Trailhead is not getting much use. This summer, I saw no tracks going to or from Crown Valley Trailhead where it meets the cutoff from the Little Rancheria Creek trail. Sometimes I get the feeling that the FS doesn't want people in the area. Based on the damage reported in the Rough Fire BAER Report, I would guess the FS will shut down the Spanish Peak OHV road unless it sustains minimal damage from next spring's runoff.
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zacjust32
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

Post by zacjust32 »

sekihiker wrote:Several trails in the area appear to be no longer maintained by the FS
Earlier this summer me and a partner were en route to Spanish lake when we lost the trail and winded up at Garlic Meadow and the OHV trail before looping back around to the lake.
sekihiker wrote:Sometimes I get the feeling that the FS doesn't want people in the area.
I meant to write them a strongly worded letter after finding the trailhead 30 minutes after dark (was fully prepared for it though).

The Spanish Mountain OHV trail is sponsored by Fresno 4x4 I think so I doubt it'll be closed soon if they have anything to say about it. Half a dozen picnic tables and a nice pit toilet at the top of the trail show their dedication, along with yearly trail clearing with FS before it opens to the public.
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sekihiker
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

Post by sekihiker »

zacjust32 wrote: The Spanish Mountain OHV trail is sponsored by Fresno 4x4
I hope they don't have too much trouble cleaning things up next year.

By the way, I get a lot of wilderness permits from the Clovis FS office and they seem to be oblivious about trail conditions. I realize that they are clerks just doing their job, but it would be nice if the folks responsible for trail maintenance would let them know about conditions and closures.
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limpingcrab
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Re: The Rough Fire finally contained

Post by limpingcrab »

The trail from the Crown Valley trailhead is extra nice now, thanks to the firefighters. It goes back to the usual after Statham Meadow though.

One really annoying thing about the fire is that they're going to leave the entire Big Meadows and Buck Rock area of Sequoia National Forest closed until next summer so you can't snowshoe/snowmobile/ski out there all winter. At first they said it was to keep hunters from falling into ash pits and hot spots but those are obviously gone now. I think the current reasoning is they have to inspect any hazard trees near the road, but it still sucks. Thank you to everyone who sues over falling trees while they're camping...
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