Title: August 3, 2020 - Delilah Lookout
Hike Info : Description : Background : Extra Photo's
Trail head: Delilah Lookout
Got up at 0600 and did my lightning report-none as expected and none expected the next week or more. Went down and tried to unscrew the screws on the repeater box. No success. Somebody more proficient than I am will need to do this job.
Went for my morning walk, but not feeling very energetic. Only went as far as the Delilah saddle before deciding that was enough for today. Got back and had my granola breakfast. Then finished up a couple of tasks: finished cleaning the windows and completed the inventory. The latter is not really a lookout duty, more as a service so that Mich knows what is on hand.
Took the weather and saw that the RH was between 16 and 19%. This is getting low. When I went in-service, reported as such.Buck Rock also had 19%. Mich from Buck Rock and I had a discussion about that and about the tone 8 issue. More of letting each other know the status and conditions.
Later Park Ridge and Buck Rock had a discussion. Park Ridge’s RH was in the 30’s. I think he was feeling about what is going on. Both Delilah and Buck Rock had low RH and he just wanted to make sure that we knew he did take his reading. I know how this is. When everybody around you sees something and you are going, where is this thing? Where is this smoke? You wonder, particularly as a volunteer, am I picking up what I should pick up? Most of the time, the answer is yes. Buck Rock noted the differences in locations and environments are probably the reason for the differences.
1000 comes and goes. The weather and staffing are reported. I am so glad to pick these up online. Mich calls me and lets me know that the techs-one from Sequoia and one from Sierra NF will be here tomorrow. Oh good. I get to pick their brains. Then Greg calls and we talk about the situation and am I up to doing all four days. I do not think I mentioned this. The person who was going to be up here Tuesday had to cancel out. So I will pick up the day as well.
We also talked about the viability of the electronics shed as an emergency shelter. Can we radio out? Is it smoke tight? What about lights? Can we see out? Will it get too hot? This would be the shelter of last resort.
And now back to regular lookouting. Sometimes being a lookout is portrayed as a lonely and pretty isolated time. With all of the modern technologies, it seems like I am always in communication with someone. I listen to the radio. Phones can reach me, as well as texts. Then there is the Internet. And along with that we can even lightly Zoom. This is definitely not a let's get away from everything gig, even if I am physically isolated.
One of things which I have been missing the last two days are clouds. There has not been any. Two Christmas’ ago, Sherri got me Garvin Pretor-Pinney’s The Cloudspotter’s Guide and its companion book, The Cloud Collector’s Handbook. I had misplaced the handbook until this past week. So I have been excited to start using it. But no clouds until today. I think what I am seeing are cirrus fibratus. Sort of nice to be able to put a name to it and maybe be right.
Sherri and I talk a bit more. She is thinking she will be coming down. I have my lunch while I talk with her. She will let me know what she will be doing. So it is back to scanning. It has been a pretty calm day for the most part. Just enough to keep things interesting.
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| Beginnings of the Trimmer Fire |
Did I say it has been calm? At
1245 I finished my scan, looking in the Tivy/Pine Flat. area last. I
set down and get ready to write up a few things. At 1248 Sierra tones
out a wildfire at Trimmer
and Big Creek. What??? I just checked over there. I look over there
and no smoke still. I tell Sierra this. Whatever it is, it sounds
big. My initial hearing of the legal location was off by about 10
degrees, but even with the correction, I am not seeing smoke. The
Trimmer ICT asks if the lookout has seen anything-negative. About
about 10 minutes later there is increased haze in the area. I call it
in. I am afraid I did not sound as succinct as I would hope to be in
these situations. But at least they got the information.
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| Mystery Chopter |
For the rest of the afternoon I observe and communicate with our own people about the Trimmer Fire. Actually once Sierra has their people going and the air support comes in, it is more of a monitoring, making sure there is not anything which they cannot see. But the planes should have a pretty good view of what is going on. Since they are closer, they have a better idea. Park Ridge and I talk some. He sees it as a very light smoke. As the afternoon goes on, the smoke becomes more evident. It goes from being thick haze in that direction to definite smoke, not really a column, just very evident. Maybe billowing is the right word. Yeah looking at some pictures, that is the right word. I get a ring side seat, well, maybe in the nosebleed section. Only thing that ridge which Oat Mountain sits on blocks my view of the aerial action.
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| Gives an idea of steepness of the terrain the fire was being fought on. |
Also on the base radio, I have the Air to Ground channel going. I think that is too many things for my mind to listen to. So the Tuesday thing will be to figure out how to bring order to that chaos. But it is interesting, particularly the talk between the aircraft and the ground.
After 1800, I have dinner, and listening and scan for additional smoke.Dinner: Same as last night, a beerock. That seems to work out real well when I being a bachelor it at Delilah. Nothing exciting. At 1840, Sierra’s Battalion Chief 32 calls up. He asks about the status of tone 8-it is still down, but there is scheduled work to be done in the morning. We talk for a few minutes, he mentions he was going to check the webcam for the smoke. I sent him some pictures I took throughout the day. He is appreciative. Maybe I am redeeming myself from some of my less than stellar reporting of the smoke earlier.
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| Full Moon |
After the meeting ends at 2100, Sherri and I talk for a while. It is after 2200 before we end the call and I turn in. It is full moon night. While this washes out the stars it is one which makes that wonderful. One disappointment on this trip is that I have not been able to see Comet NEOWISE. But all of this makes me think that if we are the stars how God’s light washes out all of our good deeds.
Background
Trimmer Fire. As the day goes on, it sounded like the crews and aircraft were getting a handle on it. It started out with an estimate of 10-15 acres with a potential of 100. When \I talked with the Sierra Battalion Chief, he said it was up to 150 acres, but they seemed to have a handle. Tuesday morning when I looked over, I did not see any smoke and none all day. But talking with Wendy on Thursday, she said that it had exploded to 600 acres. I did not here the why, but guess that wind came up driving the fire up Sacata Ridge.
IC. An IC is the Incident Commander. That person is responsible for coordinating resources, including aircraft. Where do you attack the fire, how many people is needed and sizing up the fire.
Extra Photo's
 Mystery Helicopter |
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| Mystery Helicopter |
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