EISPIRATEN

The Sierra Pelona cam has it too.

Intense field report from KTLA's Wendy Burch.

Whoa. So what happens now? Is there brush in the desert?

HikeUp wrote: ↑Etch-a-sketch time...Screenshot_2020-09-17 Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map Flightradar24.png

He's doing this: https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/nirops/

dima wrote: ↑Whoa. So what happens now? Is there brush in the desert?

Yep. They'll try to contain it south of the 138. But it's being driven by wind now.

dima wrote: ↑

HikeUp wrote: ↑Etch-a-sketch time...Screenshot_2020-09-17 Live Flight Tracker - Real-Time Flight Tracker Map Flightradar24.png

He's doing this: https://fsapps.nwcg.gov/nirops/

Thanks Dima!

I feel very bad.

My buddy is working in the high desert. He works in LE. People evacuating near Littlerock. I’m numb feeling in regards to the fire reaching from the big city all the way to the high desert. Numb not because I don’t care, but because I didn’t think this would happen. So many places very special to me have burned. Now what, is it going to move east and hit Baden Powell, East Fork, Baldy, Wrightwood?

This will leave a scar on all of us along with the mountains that are so much a part of our lives. The last two weeks have created a hole that won't get filled. Realistically the big picture of mountain and forest history contains fire and all people in those areas have been affected, some to the point of mass migration just for survival.
It's a great thought, the special places in the shade of great old trees. Some day there will be great old trees for another generation to discover. Until that time we'll get to discover new places again.

This reminds me of the fires in 1968/69 that preceded major flooding in 1969.

Taco wrote: ↑ What happened at Glen Camp to start this? Why? I wish I knew. I wish I could go back to my special places in the shade of great old trees. I miss you.

Current speculation is SoCal Edison.

I feel like we are probably very different politically. I love LA, I love living in a city, I love seeing people wear masks.

That said, I'm feeling the same devastation you are. My wife and I are talking about leaving the city, leaving the state. The mountains were so important to us, and it feels like they are nearly gone now. We have family and friends here, too, and that makes it hard. But other than them, and a job, it feels like there isn't much left to keep us here now.

The San Gabes were my home.

A report from the LA Times:

The fire, which had been burning up in the San Gabriel Mountains, spread rapidly onto the desert floor Friday as winds arrived. Some residents had to flee as the fire jumped around, hitting some homes but sparing others.

Flames tore through stands of yucca and juniper, leaving behind piles of ash resembling leopard spots and transforming the landscape into a smoldering wasteland.

I think the solution to these devastating wildfires is radical fire control, by which I mean we let experts strategically log, clear or torch as much of the forest as necessary during optimal (midwinter) conditions, to prevent massive wildfires from happening at the worst times possible, when dry, hot and windy conditions turn fire into a catastrophic event for humanity.

We have done this to a large extent with wild floods. Instead of letting cities flood on a massive scale, we flood the mountain canyons behind strategically placed dams. Likewise, we need a radical policy of firing hillsides and canyons, before they become an existential danger to human life and property.

davidwiese wrote: ↑

Taco wrote: ↑ What happened at Glen Camp to start this? Why? I wish I knew. I wish I could go back to my special places in the shade of great old trees. I miss you.

Current speculation is SoCal Edison.

Oh, that's very frustrating. Hadn't seen that, but a quick search pulled up this report: https://www.edison.com/content/dam/eix/ ... 013653.pdf

Apparently USFS is looking at a "section of SCE overhead conductor in the vicinity of Cogswell Dam" as a possible cause. Was like 110 degrees that day, and you can't drive to Glenn/Cogswell... I'd think not that many people were going for bike rides and lighting fires, but who knows.

Pic from the dam looking east, there are power lines running right through the area where smoke first appeared:

I don't presume to have any idea what to do about the fires, but I was reading recently about the PG&E failures leading up to the Camp Fire—century-old unmaintained equipment, no record-keeping, cost-cutting, etc etc—and it doesn't give me confidence that this couldn't have been avoided.

Still hoping for the best...

The immediate cause doesn't really matter. Currently the conditions in all of the Western US are very favorable to fires, so if it wasn't Edison, it would have been something else. Lightning. Or a gender reveal. Or a vehicle. Better forest management and more rain would have helped...

Taco wrote: ↑I don’t know what I’ll do. I’m sorry, everyone, that our mountains are burning. The San Berdoos and Snow Creek as well. Fucking ridiculous, like a simulation, like a joke. I know you all love the SGs as well. What happened at Glen Camp to start this? Why? I wish I knew. I wish I could go back to my special places in the shade of great old trees. I miss you.

"Sir, this is a Wendy's"

My apologies for taking this off topic. I should keep my thoughts to myself from now on. Hi Joe, I hope you’re doing well up there. You guys had it rough. I have people up there as well. Cheers all.

Taco wrote: ↑My apologies for taking this off topic. I should keep my thoughts to myself from now on. Hi Joe, I hope you’re doing well up there. You guys had it rough. I have people up there as well. Cheers all.

Taco...the last thing anyone wants is for you to keep your thoughts to yourself. Hardly off topic if you ask me.

So speak up.

Taco wrote: ↑My apologies for taking this off topic. I should keep my thoughts to myself from now on. Hi Joe, I hope you’re doing well up there. You guys had it rough. I have people up there as well. Cheers all.

Yeah dude I'm just joking. Totally on topic.


Effing insane fires everywhere.

We had basically a month straight of poor air quality.

We always want to assign blame, it's human nature. I think the reasons are clearly multifactorial.

Certain fire suppression / controlled burn techniques probably would help. I don't know, is this a political issue? I don't even know who is for or against it.

But the warmer dryer weather certainly contributes to more aggressive fires IMO. In addition, more freaky weather patterns occurring also contributes. The fires up here were caused by thousands of lightening strikes. I've never heard thunder like that here before, let alone without any precipitation. Is that just a one-off? Maybe.

Obviously that's become a political issue.

In my opinion it would be best to improve on all actions that probably would help in the long term,especially if there aren't any big downsides.

There's a lot to be upset about. On top of everything else, the Punchbowl and the nature center burned.





Before fire...

Hey, Taco,

Personally, I'm so glad you spoke from the heart and gave voice to what I'm sure we're all feeling to one degree or another.

Probably goes without saying that everyone who follows this forum is extremely passionate about our local mountains and also deeply believes in the restorative power of nature provided by them - All of which makes life in Los Angeles so much better than it would be otherwise.

Watching so much of our favorite spots go up in flames day by day, minute by minute, is devastating. At some point watching this thread, the catalog of place names that were overrun just had me in a state of shock. But I also observed that even though I had never personally been to some of these hard-to-reach spots, it was in large part thanks to this forum and all of the trips that everyone has shared over the years that I felt a personal connection to almost every fold of the terrain... I probably will never go all of these places that y'all have been, but thanks to this conversation we've been having here, I feel enriched in my own knowledge of it.

So I wanted to say thanks to y'all and especially Taco and Sean for building and keeping alive this high-quality, deluxe, safe space for San Gabriel Mountains freaks. Peace out!

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

On top of everything else, the Punchbowl and the nature center burned.

Jesus, another fond memory up in flames...

Does anybody remember the owl that used to live on the porch there?

Sean wrote: ↑..... Likewise, we need a radical policy of firing hillsides and canyons, before they become an existential danger to human life and property.

Or we could make a radical policy of not building homes in areas that are prone to burning.

JeffH wrote: ↑

Sean wrote: ↑..... Likewise, we need a radical policy of firing hillsides and canyons, before they become an existential danger to human life and property.

Or we could make a radical policy of not building homes in areas that are prone to burning.

I'm guessing the price of fire insurance has jumped in the last few years, so we'll be going in that direction. Better late than never.

I dug up this unique towercam image thanks to info from a Wayne Lam post on Twitter. It shows a meteor above Mt. Wilson during the fire.

Sean wrote: ↑I dug up this unique towercam image thanks to info from a Wayne Lam post on Twitter. It shows a meteor above Mt. Wilson during the fire.

1600137712~2.jpg

So we can blame aliens?

Station fire: 160,000 acres
100% containment after 7+ weeks (Aug 26 to Oct 16, 2009)

Bobcat fire: 94,000 acres
15% containment after 2 weeks

My impression is that this fire has expanded much more rapidly than the Station Fire - hard to say what will come...

My recollection is that the Station Fire exploded in size on day 2 or day 3, and then just kept slowly going for a month. The last few weeks were in the San Gabriel Wilderness somewhere, so they weren't trying too hard to put it out. The bobcat fire... TBD!

Fingers crossed the Bobcat doesn't continue to burn east into the high country. Looks like it is spilling east and west down in the high desert now.

So I came upon this post on Twitter.

It has a link to a FB group with footage from various High Country locales including Charlton Flats, Mt Waterman area, Islip Saddle. Maybe the destruction was not as complete as what we may have thought up there. Looks like Buckhorn Campground is okay for now. Ski area buildings on Mt. Waterman okay for now. This gives me hope.

HikeUp wrote: ↑ So we can blame aliens?

Sure. Aliens with meteor bombs.

But whatever you do, don't blame Bigfoot! He hearts wildfire prevention and would never abandon a campfire or work for the power company.