It's gotta be lookout mountain. That's where the fire zone is
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2024 11:00 pm
by Blaise
Table mountain across on the Northwest side of Wrightwood is burning. They're gonna need a miracle.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2024 11:20 pm
by Blaise
Lookout Mountain. Sunset Peak. The East Fork Narrows. Lupine. Pine Mountain. Iron Mountain. Bighorn Mine (it'll be a miracle if Tom Vincent's cabin survives). Even all the western slopes of Baldy and maybe soon to be more. All my favorite spots in the San Gabriels up in flames.
I've looked at the fire history maps before and wondered, how much more time do we have before this happens? The brush was so thick and it had been so long. Somehow each time a fire sprang up these areas were spared. I guess this was the time.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Tue Sep 10, 2024 11:33 pm
by nihaody
I'm so sad. I am only living here a year on a temporary assignment; I picked the job and the area for access to the San Gabriels.
Got here in May, suffered through this miserable summer - heat wave after heat wave (how do people stand it?) - looking forward to moderate temperatures and full days in the mountains in the fall - spring and now it's all gone or going.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 6:47 am
by Sean
ABC7 interview about the devastation in Wrightwood. Some buildings and homes have been lost. Mtn. High was hit hard. The fire is working its way into Pinon Hills.
Looks like it jumped Mt. Baldy Rd and is threatening the houses on Barrett-Stoddard road
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 7:59 am
by Blaise
Also is hitting Manker Flat and could overtake the everything along the Ski Hut Trail
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 9:43 am
by nihaody
Not sure if it's jumped the road yet. It looked pretty calm and clear down the canyon this morning around 0600 on my drive out of Claremont area. Far far less smoke than yesterday. Fingers crossed.
CURRENT SITUATION: Last night, the Bridge Fire continued to exhibit extreme fire behavior as it increased over 13,000 acres mainly on the north and east flanks. The top priority for firefighters remained in structure protection and defense within the communities of Wrightwood, Pinon Hills and Mount Baldy.
Numerous structures in the Wrightwood area have been impacted by the fire, with damage to power infrastructure reported. Once it is safe for damage assessment teams to evaluate, confirmed numbers will be released. Mountain High West and East Ski Resort were also affected by fire activity.
On the south end, the fire jumped Glendora Ridge Road up to Sunset Peak, which was highly visible at night from the inland cities below.
Despite the extreme fire behavior, lack of resources, and challenges firefighters had, they successfully defended homes, and no communication towers went down. Firefighters held the lines they had west of Mount Baldy Road, and they continued to prioritize securing contingency lines to the south. By the public heeding evacuations, firefighters were able to get in and engage in the structure defense they needed to.
As the fire continues to head into receptive fuels with little to no fire history, it could get established into drainages and have slope alignment, leading to the potential for large energy release that could create plume-driven fire behavior and column collapses which may send spot fires out ahead of the fire’s direction.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 10:06 am
by Tom Kenney
It crossed CA-2 late last night. iMTBTrails - Fire Season thread - Scroll to the bottom for some good/heartening news. Web cams on Table show unburned pines, so...fast understory whipper again? (fingers'n'toes crossed for luck!)
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 10:24 am
by Nate U
Good thing the fire had burned for a day southward from the East Fork before the explosion north we saw yesterday. If the explosion north had happened initially, hikers at Bridge to Nowhere, Iron Mtn, etc would have been in serious trouble. Maybe the Fork Fire burn scar is partially responsible for that delay.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 10:57 am
by Sean
Tom Kenney wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 10:06 am
It crossed CA-2 late last night. iMTBTrails - Fire Season thread - Scroll to the bottom for some good/heartening news. Web cams on Table show unburned pines, so...fast understory whipper again? (fingers'n'toes crossed for luck!)
Table and Mtn. High have significant brush and tree clearance, so I'd expect less forest damage in those areas. Also we're talking about some of the healthiest and strongest trees in the mountains, so many won't burn from just flying embers.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 1:22 pm
by Anthony
This is heart breaking. I have so many great memories in this area. If it was a naturally caused fire I wouldn't feel so bad. But at this rate we're going to burn our whole damn range down within 5 years. I wouldn't be surprised if some knucklehead started this one down by the river. They already caught a guy for the Line Fire.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 1:40 pm
by Blaise
Nate U wrote: ↑Wed Sep 11, 2024 10:24 am
Good thing the fire had burned for a day southward from the East Fork before the explosion north we saw yesterday. If the explosion north had happened initially, hikers at Bridge to Nowhere, Iron Mtn, etc would have been in serious trouble. Maybe the Fork Fire burn scar is partially responsible for that delay.
I was thinking about that. What about the prospectors who spend days and weeks at a time up there, or anybody at the campsites along the river? I wonder if anyone thought to warn them?
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Wed Sep 11, 2024 1:42 pm
by David R
This is prime bighorn habitat, this may devastate the population after a great rebound over the last twenty years.
51,167 acres this morning. The fire grew to the north towards Pinion Hills. It held in the Mt Baldy Village area with lots of resources prepared to ensure the fire does not cross the canyon to the east, which would allow for significant runs up towards Ontario Peak. Lots of containment work in Wrightwood with some heat near Wright Mountain. Interior elements of the fire near the point of origin show isolated spots of heat with the perimeter and no growth south and west other than a pocket near Sunset Peak, north of the Sunset towers and cam.
The LA Basin woke to a decent marine layer and cooler temps"
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2024 12:13 pm
by dima
The view this morning from the Table Mountain cams. To the N:
And to the S:
It's a bit hard to tell, but pretty sure "complete devastation" isn't what happened over there.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2024 7:32 pm
by Anthony
I wonder how big the post-fire closure zone is going to be. I imagine it might be quite big considering how much wilderness land is within the perimeter.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2024 7:40 pm
by JeffH
dima wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2024 12:13 pm
The view this morning from the Table Mountain cams.
.....
It's a bit hard to tell, but pretty sure "complete devastation" isn't what happened over there.
Just the fact that the cameras are still operating indicates it wasn't a disaster there. Plenty of other areas are now.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Thu Sep 12, 2024 11:22 pm
by dima
JeffH wrote: ↑Thu Sep 12, 2024 7:40 pm
Just the fact that the cameras are still operating indicates it wasn't a disaster there. Plenty of other areas are now.
I'm trying to take what I can get
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2024 6:34 am
by JeffH
Good news this morning, CalFire shows 3 percent containment and that's the first non-zero number.
Not as much fuel as it heads toward Pinon Hills plus that's downhill.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2024 9:24 am
by David R
The change in weather is the biggest advantage to getting control of these fires. With the terrain, this fire will be smoldering for a long time but hopefully they can get a perimeter around it. Also just because we know the perimeter doesn't mean everything in that perimeter was burned so we won't know the true damage for a long time as we're not getting in there for years.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Fri Sep 13, 2024 9:53 am
by dima
A descent from S Hawkins to Rattlesnake an/or the bridge is clearly in my short-term plan now. Would give a good sense of the extent of the damage
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Sun Sep 15, 2024 7:03 pm
by nihaody
Things are look a lot calmer at the base of Baldy Canyon. Hoping for rains tonight and greater containment.
Re: Bridge Fire
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 7:49 am
by Sean
Latest update: more progress on containing the fire, up to 11% now.
The fire has crept onto South Hawkins, which seems a little alarming. The latest report indicates hopefully it has stopped?? :
On the west flank, in the Sheep Mountain Wilderness's rugged and steep terrain, firefighting efforts successfully held the fire from advancing near Rattlesnake Peak by constructing dozer and hand lines.
Don't fuck with the crystal lake area, Bridge fire!!!! Off-limits!!!
What burned?
Posted: Mon Sep 16, 2024 3:36 pm
by dima
What burned?
Behold (click on the image; very un-exciting otherwise):
This is Sentinel images (from paid caltopo) before the fire and on Sat (after most of it was done). The fire wasn't done done yet, but that's the latest we have today. So... the East Fork has been stripped clean. The Crystal Lake basin is fine. Widman Ranch is still there probably. Anything else notable?