dagblog - Comments for "Southwest Fire Behavior : Scary Biscuits"

Lets bring a few Harrier Jets

Resistance — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 03:40:59 +0000

In reply to The AZ Wallow fire is up to

Lets bring a few Harrier Jets in, redirecting the thrust, turning the flames back across the already consumed fuel?

I wish?

The AZ Wallow fire is up to

we are stardust — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 02:55:38 +0000

In reply to Southwest Fire Behavior : Scary Biscuits

The AZ Wallow fire is up to almost 240,000 acres; over two thousand firefighters on the scene, but zero % containment. No slurry bombers (air tankers) have been able to fly all week (old DC-10s and the like, very cumbersome to turn), and today the helicopters were grounded due to high winds. They hope the weather changes tomorrow.

The back-burns have helped, but the embers from the crowning trees blow long distances; more towns to the north of under mandatory evacuation.

Yeah; it happens sometimes;

we are stardust — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 14:04:40 +0000

In reply to "He struck a match in hopes

Yeah; it happens sometimes; it's terrible, but rare. I meant to say too that so many fires are caused by lightning, but they usually know that right away. Two-cycle-engine sparks, campfires not put out, cigs tossed outta car windows...careless stupidity.

The mountain on one side of the canyon we live in has some metal in the rocks that attracts it; we're phoning dispatch all the time to report them. And we have a good view of the La Platas and sometimes can tell dispatch which roads they need to take to get to the fires. Pretty wild, all in all.

"He struck a match in hopes

Resistance — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:48:40 +0000

In reply to Good of you to send them

"He struck a match in hopes of creating a job. It worked"

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0617rodeo-intro0617.html?&wired

"They called it "The Monster," as if a flame-throwing, smoke-belching thing had life - a force of nature writhing through Arizona's forest.

But the Rodeo-Chediski Fire, actually two blazes that merged, was hardly natural.

Rather, it was set intentionally by humans under the worst conditions of combustion. Five years ago this week - on June 18, 2002 - part-time firefighter Leonard Gregg left his home in Cibecue and hiked up into the junipers, where he struck a match in hopes of creating a job. It worked

On June 20, after being stranded and lost for three days in the forest, Valley resident Valinda Jo Elliott saw a helicopter approaching. She started a signal fire. She was rescued.

But the monster was loose, and there was no hope, no useful strategy for stopping it. It would become the most destructive wildfire in modern Arizona.

Thanks for the links

Don't you just love the tools we have available

Here's the Northern Rockies

we are stardust — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:48:27 +0000

In reply to Gaak! Last year they got

Here's the Northern Rockies Coordination Center; you can fool around with it, maybe track them. Looks like it's laid out differently than our center's site is. Under Dispatch, Crews, Sit 100 on the right. Resource status:

http://gacc.nifc.gov/nrcc/predictive/intelligence/resource_status.pdf

Crazy how different; Mr. Stardust dug it out for ya. ;o) Five in Alaska, two in CO.

Good of you to send them

we are stardust — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:16:26 +0000

In reply to I hope the best for your

Good of you to send them safety wishes. Can't think even greedy industry would be so stupid and evil. Most are caused by carelessness, thought there was a man who said God told him to start three othe AZ fires; delusional schizophrenic, it sounds like.

I saw a satellite photo of the areas on the planet that have been clearcut (Amazon for one) and are becoming quickly desertified. Bad, bad, bad.

Fire cause is still 'under investigation'.

Thanks for the link; we follow on a few sites like this, too. And this.

Gaak! Last year they got

we are stardust — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:01:25 +0000

In reply to The news sure liked that one

Gaak! Last year they got retardent dumped on them twice in one day, had to wear it for the next three. Bad shit it is, too. Protecting the houses: yep; last text we got from J they were doing that, and surrounded by a fire ring. (Some of that is a political decision wjhich gets tricky in terms of crew safety.) No thanks; fire scares the bejebus outta me.

We're 300 miles away, and the smoke is here; yesterday our mountains were hidden in smoke. Sunrise is blaze orange; the rocks are molten looking where the sun hits them.

Which hotshot crews are from your area? And blm or forest circus? Panhandle seems to be the Northern Rockies district...

Ah, go on and brag.

Prolly right there. Maybe he

we are stardust — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:51:44 +0000

In reply to Dunno if he'll win an Oscar

Prolly right there. Maybe he was saying: "Hey dudes; that slurry bomber is about to dump a load of retardent on us. Maybe we should end the meeting?"

Dunno if he'll win an Oscar

Donal — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 12:32:18 +0000

In reply to Shoot; the link above is one

Dunno if he'll win an Oscar for that performance ...

I hope the best for your

Resistance — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 07:51:17 +0000

In reply to Southwest Fire Behavior : Scary Biscuits

I hope the best for your loved ones.

I would sure like to know how the fire was started.

Hopefully it wasn't started on purpose to serve a cause.

Theres been a lot of excitement about land swaps and possibly one of the largest copper mines around the Miami/Superior area.

These types of operations take a lot of water; ..... water that would get sucked up by vegetation upstream; unless ...there was no vegetation?

Protect life at all costs and the structures as best they can and the fire rages up all of the canyons. (Tributaries)

Imagine the waters not being obstucted or slowed down by root growth and the massive amounts of water from future hydrological events; being channeled to where it could be used.

Maybe a mining operation could use this water? City of Phoenix and surrounding area?.

Water being more valuble than Trees?

What is the geological makeup of the area? Is the burn area heavily mineralized?

I would like to see an overlay of the region on fire, and a watershed map.

It may be a difficult assignment, one for an investigative reporter.

I am just that cynical to believe that Corporate interests could care less about trees or Bambi.

They're slash and burning the Amazon river area for farm land.

http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/watershed/water.html

http://www.fs.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsinternet/!ut/p/c5/04_SB8K8xLLM9MSSzPy8xBz9CP0os3gjAwhwtDDw9_AI8zPwhQoY6IeDdGCqCPOBqwDLG-AAjgb6fh75uan6BdnZaY6OiooA1tkqlQ!!/dl3/d3/L2dJQSEvUUt3QS9ZQnZ3LzZfMjAwMDAwMDBBODBPSEhWTjBNMDAwMDAwMDA!/?ss=110301&navtype=forestBean&navid=091000000000000&pnavid=null&cid=null&ttype=main&pname=Apache%20and%20Sitgreaves%20National%20Forests%20-%20Home

http://ag.arizona.edu/azaqua/watershed/ltlcolo.html