160+ Campers caught in California fires

[flyflotrtim]

the campers trapped were in an area known as Crystal Basin. There are quite a few campgrounds in the area. Ash and smoke have been falling everywhere in CA but because of Covid, all the campgrounds remain full. There is only one paved road out of the area, it goes South from the area. The fire started very close to the most northern camping areas, its also an area with a lot of back-county hikers. I'd bet campers did not notice an increase in ash because it was already so widespread. My son left from a long weekend the day prior to the start of the fire.

Unfortunately CA remains reactive to the fires, citing lack of funding as the reason they can not be proactive.

[Scott V.]

Originally Posted by babock

And the el dorado fire is in the San Bernardino forest( my mistake). My house in Tahoe is in the el dorado forest...to make things confusing

I have multiple friends that work or retired from Cal fire and two friends who are retired USFS rangers. Get to hear all about who does what.

I caught the mistake but already had put one fire fighting boot in my mouth and was sure the other wouldn't fit, so passed on commenting. I'm retired 32 yrs FS fire. Been on a fire on every forest in CA expect the Inyo. Been on teams managing these situations, so I know what they are up against.

Can't fool Mother Nature. Years of drought, stressed vegetation, bark beetles take over killing millions of trees, hundreds of lightning fires at once and more than fire resources can handle in places they can't access, winds blowing at 60 mph. You can't prevent Mother Nature and there is very little that can be done to mitigate it on the large scale that this current situation has presented us. It doesn't matter how many acres were thinned, how many prescribed fires were conducted or how many fuel breaks were constructed, under the conditions that occurred, it was a run away freight train, whether it was due to the weather or the vast number of already existing fires and the lack of available resources to safely fight them.

[babock]

Agree with you completely. My friend was the fire captain in Monterey/Carmel and his wife just retired from Cal Fire. Learned a lot from them. My wife is on the board of directors for an agency that works with the NPS and USFS to help bring in extra funding.

Originally Posted by Scott V.

I caught the mistake but already had put one fire fighting boot in my mouth and was sure the other wouldn't fit, so passed on commenting. I'm retired 32 yrs FS fire. Been on a fire on every forest in CA expect the Inyo. Been on teams managing these situations, so I know what they are up against.

Can't fool Mother Nature. Years of drought, stressed vegetation, bark beetles take over killing millions of trees, hundreds of lightning fires at once and more than fire resources can handle in places they can't access, winds blowing at 60 mph. You can't prevent Mother Nature and there is very little that can be done to mitigate it on the large scale that this current situation has presented us. It doesn't matter how many acres were thinned, how many prescribed fires were conducted or how many fuel breaks were constructed, under the conditions that occurred, it was a run away freight train, whether it was due to the weather or the vast number of already existing fires and the lack of available resources to safely fight them.