Fire Dangers in the West - dead end roads

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Qxxx

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For people traveling in the west, especially California, this is proving to be a bad year for wild fires. Recently there were 3 "massive" fires encircling the San Francisco bay area. There is another huge one ongoing up towards Redding. It pays to check the wildfire websites when traveling.
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/

The worst thing you can do is drive down some deadend road which has only a single entry and exit point. If a fire starts you may not be able to get out. It happened this past Labor Day weekend on the Shaver Lake road east of Fresno. The Creek Fire started friday night and grew to 130,000 acres in just 3 days. It blocked the single access road and trapped 100s of campers back in the forest. The National Guard sent in helicopters to rescue them. Be careful out there. Use common sense.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/us/california-fires-tuesday/index.html
 
Yesterday, I woke to find the air filled with smoke being born in on a stiff breeze. Could embers and ash be far behind? The land where I've been staying is up a narrow mountain road, with few alternative routes out, and they are even less traffic-friendly. Although it's not a dead end, and there were no evacuation orders, I got out anyway. Plenty of people live up here, and I've no wish to be caught in an emergency traffic jam. Besides, my eyes and throat were bothering me.

Van keys. The simplest solution to many problems.
 
The same applies in Oregon. Two major north-south routes have closures due to fires, Interstate 5 is closed in Ashland, OR, (entire city on "be ready" alert) and Highway 97 is closed north of Chiliquin.
 
I avoid dead ends for other reasons too, like slides, washouts, fallen timber, and unsavory characters.
 
This is actually something I've been concerned about for the last decade or so.

In 2004 we moved out of the Phoenix metro area to a rural part of the county north of the suburb Surprise. We live here on an acre and a dirt road, in what the zoning for the area refers to as "Residential Ranch". A few years before, it had all been cattle grazing desert scrub, then subdivided for homes. Some are 5 acre parcels, and others like mine. Most are still undeveloped, so in the length of a typical city block, there is an average of only 5 homes, mostly with stables and corrals.

As a result, my area is heavily loaded with wildfire fuel; decades' worth of growth of mesquite bushes and Palo Verde trees and spring grass that is now brown and tinder dry. A fire in this area could be just as bad as the likes we have seen in the Malibu hills and such. My ever-lasting paranoid fear is to see smoke and flames on the near horizon upwind one day. How quickly could we pack? What would we pack? What to leave? Where to run?

Because it is a daily concern here, it has helped me be aware of similar risks whenever I'm camping up in the forests. Most recently, just last month, I was once again in Baca Meadow in northern AZ for an annual mass gathering of friends. It is the location of the worst ever wildfire AZ has experienced, the Chedeski Fire. Fortunately, Baca Meadow is just a few football fields away from where the fire stopped. But we get to see, 17 years onward now, a reminder of how as we sit there, we are vulnerable. One must know before panic occurs,...where to run? One of the reasons the group continues to enjoy Baca Meadow is that it has 2 ways in or out. One of which runs past a nearby lake that was a rally point during the big fire in 2003 for the helicopter water bombers, and likely would be again.

Every time I set up camp anywhere now,...I always have my escape routes identified. One is never enough, unless it is the wet season.
 
Pleasant Travels said:
...unless it is the wet season.
Click to expand...

Then we need to be aware of possible flooding, washouts, slides, mud...
 
Agree with both of Mr. N’s posts. Actually to me this summer has been mild for fires. July was the coldest I can remember in my lifetime other than last year. I live in a nice area by the ocean and we’re a fire zone due I suppose to the hills and canyons. I mean we border the LA Harbor not exactly rural. Pretty much the entire state is one big fire waiting to happen.
 
Qxxx said:
For people traveling in the west, especially California, this is proving to be a bad year for wild fires. Recently there were 3 "massive" fires encircling the San Francisco bay area. There is another huge one ongoing up towards Redding. It pays to check the wildfire websites when traveling.
https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
https://www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/

The worst thing you can do is drive down some deadend road which has only a single entry and exit point. If a fire starts you may not be able to get out. It happened this past Labor Day weekend on the Shaver Lake road east of Fresno. The Creek Fire started friday night and grew to 130,000 acres in just 3 days. It blocked the single access road and trapped 100s of campers back in the forest. The National Guard sent in helicopters to rescue them. Be careful out there. Use common sense.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/08/us/california-fires-tuesday/index.html
Click to expand...
Do not rely on a GPS to show you the way out. Here in VT I've been routed onto unused roads, known as Class 4 roads that may have had a vehicle on them 50 years ago. Class 4 here means the road is not maintained by the state or local governments only by the local users, if any.
 
I5 is back open, but 62, 97, 99, 138, and 199 all have significant closures due to fires in southern Oregon. Hazardous air quality in most of southern Oregon expected to last for days. Estimated 600 homes and 100 businesses destroyed in Phoenix and Talent Oregon alone, at least 2 dead.
 
Yeah because we usually get help from firefighters in Oregon, Washington, Arizona and Mexico (We also send help and I had the pleasure twice of driving old fire engines down to Baja since I speak Spanish) now most of them are dealing with their own fires. So we are having to be much more careful and better prepared ie closing everything. Someday they will no longer allow construction in fire zones. I taught at a juvenile facility that was a fire station and people lived there in the mountains. I actually quit because every day when it was hot I worried about my animals. I was married to a firefighter who moved up the ranks to lieutenant.
 
I also try to avoid dead ends for other reasons too, like slides, fallen timber and unsavory characters.
 
I drove through Phoenix and Talent from Ashland on my way to work in 2008. I still have two friends up there. I was considering moving back a few weeks ago. I love the no sales tax in Oregon and the low cost of registering your car!
Prayers to everyone in fire danger in Oregon and California.
Is the Universe trying to tell us that having a sticks and bricks stationary home might not be such a great idea? Native Americans had the right idea. Who doesn't love a tipi?
 
Both of my next-door neighbors lived in teepees. I left there it was too tense.

I thought that even a serious thread like this could use a smile:)

I’ve seen forest fires here in PA but never the number of acres and buildings and people lost like out West. I can’t imagine it. God bless the nomads, especially those of you out west.
 
Hoot said:
''FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., June 21, 2021 — Due to fire danger, dry conditions, and persistent wildfire activity during a time when firefighting resources are sparse, the entirety of Coconino National Forest will close for public safety, beginning Wednesday (June 23) at 8 a.m....."
https://www.fs.usda.gov/detail/coconino/news-events/?cid=FSEPRD924914
Click to expand...
Gone from stage II on June 11 to forest wide closure for the Coconino NF. Sounds like closure will last thru the summer, till cooling conditions reduce the fire risk. Thanks for the heads up Hoot.
-crofter

Link to news report, several fires burning.
https://ktar.com/story/4513427/coco...o-close-indefinitely-while-fire-risk-is-high/

The FS bulletin.
https://myemail.constantcontact.com...esday.html?soid=1132418723099&aid=22zf3vS_gOk
 
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