Gary-Summer: September 1-3, 2017

Friday, September 1, 2017

September 1-3, 2017 - Delilah Lookout

Title: September 1-3, 2017 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Extra Photo's : Animals

Hike Info:

Type: Lookout

Description:

September 1, 2017

The Delilah Bovine Greeters

Today we go up to Delilah Lookout. But first, we need to go to our OSHER book group-we discussed the book And When All Hell Broke Lose by Richard Engel. Got out about 11:15. Before heading on up, we get Steven and have lunch as Casa Queintero. By the time we leave Fresno, it is 1pm. So we arrive a little bit after 2:30. It is both hot and a bit smokey-not as smoky as what we will see in a couple of days. On the way up, Kathy calls us to make sure we are OK and to brief us on what is happening: mountain lion and smoke are the main two items. What she neglected to say was that we would meet up with some bovines along the road in-but we sort of expected that. Also we saw some folks from the road maintenance marking the paved part of the road for repairs-yeah!!

Once we got into the tower, the first thing we do is turn on the radio. Immediately we hear about a fire in Lake Isabella area. They already have a big one called the Pier Fire going on down there. Now to add this one. This one is just outside of Kernville. From the sounds of it, it is starting to take off, temporarily taking over channels 1 and 2*. The Pier Fire has taken over 3 and 4. It will be called the Caldwell Fire.

Where are the clear skies?

There is some serious concerns about the air quality and effectiveness we will have for the next couple of days because of the smoke. But we decide to stick it out and see if it gets worse or better. It is tolerable right now. After talking with Buck Rock about the situation and the lateness, we decide not to go In-Service, but to stay up in the tower, monitor the radio and continue to do our scans for smoke-seems a bit oxymoronic.

Evening

There is another fire which starts and is spotted by the Mt Tom Lookout. It is at the base of the San Joaquin River and Rattlesnake Lake. We hear the description: 1-2 acres, at the moment, but getting somewhat bigger. Smoldering and creeping through grass and brush with 4-5’ flames. It was a lightning caused fire on both sides of the river, mostly surrounded by granite rock, at the 4700’ elevation (37.29.276, -119.12.439). Sounds like a fun weekend.

For dinner, it is sandwiches. Did not need anything filling, just something. As much as I have noted the smoke in the air, one of the things which is wonderful are the sunsets. Just so colorful, so vivid.

Evening of the First Day

Something this tower, or any of our lookouts have is indoor plumbing. So when there is a call of nature, it is down 80’+, past any unseen mountain lions, through a swarm of flies to enjoy a few minutes into an outhouse. It is one of the better outhouses in the Sierra’s mind you-does not smell. Then it is 80’ back up. Sherri gets the twin bed, I get a pad on the floor. The moon shines in and off to sleep we go.

September 2, 2017

Morning breaks with first light a little before 6am. Such a good light too! With the thin layer of smoke the horizon turns orange. In turn, there is a pinkish orange cast over the landscape. This turns even the dead pine trees into something to gaze at. The sun comes out and the landscape gains the feel for a giant relief map.

White Deer and Oat Mountain

Time to get to our personal chores. Breakfast is oatmeal and granola and then time to clean up and pick up the cab area for the many visitors I am sure will come (sure, at Delilah where we get about 20 people a month?) At 0925 we go into service.

There is a lot of radio chatter about the Caldwell Fire and a smaller fire close to the Caldwell called the Cannell Fire--all outside of our vantage point. A couple of our patrols and an engine go over to the Ridge Fire to see if there is anything-nothing smoking, that is good.

Pyrocumulus from the Railroad Fire, 50 miles away

We get to thinking that just the chatter from the fires we are hearing about-Caldwell (Sequoia NF) and River (Sierra NF) is enough to keep you glued to the radio. So much involved, so many tactics. How you have to admire these people on the front lines. In Sierra they are talking about bringing smoke jumpers. Seems like both forests we report to are on fire. But nothing in our vision.

Even trees catch late light

In the meantime, we have a visitor from LA who is on a motorcycle. He wanted to go down into Davis Flat and cross the Kings River. But the road is still washed out from last winter’s storms. So he came up to visit us. First time we have had one in Delilah this year (others have had visitors.). We talk for awhile-he seems interested in how a lookout works, so we talk with him for about half an hour. After he leaves, about half an hour later a couple came up. They wanted to try out their new 4-wheel drive somewhere easy. They stay up in the tower for about 10 minutes. Later one a convoy of motorcycles and a jeep circle the tower and leave. And still later, two more pickups come by-a busy day.

Clouds, not smoke

Then to top it off, one of our patrols called for law enforcement assistance. The description? Around Big Meadow there is a army green Volkswagon with some sort of black emblem on the side. Four males bow hunting around a campground. So interesting what we hear on the radio.

Smokey Sunset

At six, it is time to go out of service. Sierra does an evening lookout out checkout. We go out of service, but Buck Rock says they are staying in service-Sequoia NF has asked them too since there was activity around Big Meadow. We stay in service on that side until 7, doing some scans, but also eating our dinner. Things quiet down after 6pm. Since it is getting dark, we make our way down for our evening activity around the outhouse-no large mammals are seen on the prowl. The skies have been clouding over and it looks like it is starting to rain all the way around us, except in the west.

At 7:50pm, we see a flash of light to our south, about 160o. Then a few more. Procedures says that if it is less than a five miles, start closing windows and making the cab secure. Evidently lighting can travel the air currents. So we have a choice: to be stuffy for awhile or face the possibility of lighting inside of the cab. Even I can figure out what course to take. The flashes stay on the other side of Pine Ridge in the Pinehurst/Miramonte direction with a couple of Dunlap, about 10 miles away. The last flash is about 9:00pm. From there we go to sleep.

September 3, 2017

Is it smoky?

SMOKE! SMOKE! SMOKE! And this is at 3am. I look around and do not see sign of flames or even an orange glow. But that leaves the puzzle of what is the source? Should I be seeing it? Or is this smoke coming from the Pier Fire about 70-80 miles south of us? Cannot solve this problem now and nothing to report which is different than what everybody else know. Back to sleep.

Morning Sun

6:00am. Still is smokey and can smell and taste the smoke. Looks like it will be a long hot day. Smoke is all around the basins we sit on top of. Can just see across the Kings River, about 4 miles away and to the top of Mt Sampson, 3 miles away. As we began this time in the lookout, we are again not able to distinguish enough to even report a fire if it happens at Grant Grove. Sigh.

Breakfast is oatmeal, granola, and tang. Then to get cleaned up, start packing to get the lookout cab cleaned up for business-probably just Sherri and I will be here as we do not get much business.

How Smoky Is It?

At 9:25 we go in-service, with about 3 mile visibility. I suspect this may be optimistic. The lookouts around us are all 1-2 miles with Park Ridge less than one. All affected by the smoke. The only good thing about this is that instead of taking 10-15 minutes to do a scan, depending on my level of distraction, this is taking about 2-3 minutes. Normally we have 15-20 miles of visibility having us scan up to 700-1200 square miles. Today, it is 28 square miles.

With the lack of visibility, this morning has been pretty light. Talked with Park Ridge LO a couple of times before they took themselves out of service because of visibility. Now Buck Rock LO says they are having some rain. Us? We are seeing more and more of our territory.

A new fire starts up in Sierra National Forest called the Mission Fire. This also starts to get a lot of attention, enough so the River Fire has resources drawn away from it.

Rain in the distance

Around 1400, we hear a patrol, 334, call in from JO Pass. I get excited because I have been there and I can visualize what the patrol is seeing. There is a single tree burning, probably a lighting strike. It is right on the boundary (36o40’32.3”x-118o44’54.6”). There was a discussion about what to do? Move burnable materials away? Since this is wilderness area and the possibility for spread is small, the duty officer said to let it burn.

Then in a couple of minutes, that same patrol comes on the radio. A couple of campers report that someone at Jennie Lake has been hit by lighting. The patrol will be hiking back to the lake, about 20-30 minutes to confirm and render what aid he can. Further information is that it is a man and his two children have been hit. (Oh Wow!)

It was amazing hearing all which went into effect to get these three people off of the mountain and getting to medical care. The duty officer assumed lead, but acted as a coordinated more than a boss. He let each person do their part. Support was rounded up at Big Meadows; a helicopter was summoned from Orange Cove, along with an EMS; the patrol person made sure the victims got first aid and gathered information. I assumed that they pretty much just sent a helicopter up when there was a need. But first they found out what the need was, where could they land or did they need to in on a sling, how many people, what the condition was, were the victims conscious and could they walk and what was the weight. They figured out that two helicopters were needed for the weight.of the three.

Smoke and Clouds

And then there was the weather. For the time being there was a clear patch over Jeannie Lake. But this was a short window. We spotted a cell to the south of Big Baldy and advised Porterville of this. A few minutes later the people on the ground were told the helicopter would be a few minutes later because of the cell-we did our small part. By 1700, the children were on their way to the hospital and the father was coming along soon.

In the meantime, there was a new fire up in Sierra-land. It was called the Peak Incident near Bookjack (37o23.2’x-119o49.6’, T8S, R23F, Sec 29). Three pieces of excitement in one afternoon. Then Sierra said they wanted all fire units to stay on until 2000. But about the time we sign off of Porterville, our relief arrive. We have a nice discussion and then we leave. Dinner is in Fresno at Yosemite Falls Cafe. Tired, but feel like we have been part of the effort to keep our little section of the world from burning.