Topic: Fire in BB

[ultrapc40]

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Fire-Burns-San-Bernardino-National-Forest-308114521.html

It's getting big

[glamisdude72000]

Yea I saw that... Looks like it started right next to the Mountain Rendezvous site.... So its probably all burned up:(

[Ghost65]

1,500 acres and 5% contained...not looking good.

[JFanaselle]

The USFS put up a link to a 3rd party webcam that has live images of the fire every 30 seconds. Looks pretty gnarly. If you click on the "time lapse" link at the bottom, there is a really cool video of the fire since midnight last night. When you watch it, keep an eye on the main header of the fire after the sun comes up (the taller column of smoke in the background) and notice how it moves from the left to the right of the screen. The good signs are that 1) It's actually not moving that rapidly and 2) The fire is moving the opposite direction that the wind is carrying the smoke, which means it's not being driven badly by winds.

http://www.bensweather.com/benscamsang.php

[GreenGoon]

It shouldn't affect the Mt. Rendezvous too much. It's burning towards the San Gorgonio Wilderness so vehicles are not allowed there anyways. Most of the 4x4 trails are on the other side of the highway. There may even be a bit of a natural fire break because that face of San Gorgonio is pretty bare. The scary thing is there are over 20 summer camps in that area. The landslide hazard is going to be a problem for many of those camps for quite some time.

 

[Grizzly]

The Mountain Rendezvous site is basically at San Gorgonio, Barton Flats is next door and is the entry point for Mountain Rendezvous. I was up at San Gorgonio two weekends ago and there were two fires but the planes,  choppers and trucks scrambled and got it contained pretty quickly, although we did get a preliminary evac notice before they got it under control. This one sounds a lot worse.

[JFanaselle]

USFS updated the incident about 3 hours ago to 7500 acres, and they have a type 2 incident management team en route to assume command. This will be a big deal for at least a few more days.

http://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/4302/

[GreenGoon]

They evacuated the kids from my old Camp and sent them to their sister Camp in Fawnskin. With 38 closed the buses had to go down the hill then back up 330. Poor kids spent all day packing, riding a bus, and unpacking. But at least they are safe and will have one more great day at camp.

[Deadpilot]

Do they have updates on trails that are affected? Just something I was thinking about since we aren't that far from Oct and those trails may not be open in time for CANVAZ

[GreenGoon]

The link that Joe posted has a link for closures and maps. The trails in the Big Bear Valley are not affected other than you may be in for a smokey day. Most of the burn area is National Wilderness area that only allows primitive forms of travel. It's an area where the Forest Service does little to make a human impact, they will even avoid using power tools to maintain the trails and historic sites.

[Deadpilot]

OK good to know. So this shouldn't affect CANVAZ yet

[GreenGoon]

No, this would have to be a truly historic fire to make it to the Big Bear Valley.

That being said. The fire season is still very young. Hopefully this fire serves as a reminder for people to use caution as they enjoy nature.

[JFanaselle]

Just wanted to show off some photos I took yesterday at the helibase for this particular fire. Yesterday, the primary fire attack focus was on the northwest flank of the fire. The fire command wanted to fortify the northwest flank to make 100% sure the fire won't burn toward any of the populated ares on the mountain. During this operation, the east flank of the fire was allowed to continue burning east into the San Gorgonio Wilderness area, where it is moving at a fairly slow pace (only grew a couple thousand acres in size over the past 48 hours).

The sunset yesterday over Redlands Municipal Airport made for a great backdrop as the heavy type one helicopters came in to shut it down for the evening:

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Strangely enough, my little boy got an up close and personal look at one of the two "Siller Bros" air cranes last week out at Hemet Ryan Air Base (it didn't have the tank installed yet). They are both stationed there for the USFS on a contract for the Cleveland and San Bernardino National Forests. It's a shame they had to put them to use so early this year.

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

Fire in BB

[0317]

Great pictures

[GreenGoon]

Awesome pictures Joe!