I spotted my first "fire" of the season at 05:30 this morning!

[DemoTex]

I spotted the smoke 3.9 miles north of the lookout at 5:30 AM. It was
at the Groundhog Butte sand pit recreation area. We had some problems
there late yesterday afternoon with a couple of improper campfires. I
knew that there were scores of campers in that area last night, so I
was half-expecting to see campfire smoke there when I got up this
morning.

But what I saw at 5:30 AM was a lot bigger than any normal campfire.
It was a nice white column of smoke like what one sees with a
lightning fire on a Ponderosa pine. It started to dissipate about 6:45
AM. That's when I remembered to get my camera and get a shot of the
scene. Later, it puffed back up to a nice white column again.

The dispatch center did not go into service until 7:30 AM, so I just
watched the smoke until I could make a radio call to them to file the
report. Had the smoke gotten any larger, or had I spotted any tree
torching or crowning, I would have called the duty officer at home (I
was glad I didn't have to do that on a Sunday morning).

When the crew finally got to the scene at about 8:45 AM, they
found a remarkable sight. Some campers had set fire to a huge
Ponderosa pine stump. They probably used some flammable liquid to get
the stump burning. No telling when they actually started the fire. The
fire commander reported that the group appeared to have had quite the
all-night party at their ersatz bonfire.

Photo info: Shot with a Canon 5D-MarkII


The fire at 06:46 AM (Canon 70-200 f2.8 Mk-II)


A vista looking northeast toward Pine Mountain about an hour ago (Canon 16-35 f2.8)


A vista looking south toward Fort Rock (Canon 16-35 f2.8)

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear DemoTex!

Wow, what a start to the fire season!

Must have been some party...;-)

You're doing your job.

Well done!

And of course I love the pictures!

:D

[DemoTex]

9. Hi Peg!

Bottom line in the Deschutes National Forest: You never know who is watching you. It might be Mac with his big 20X80 Pentax binocs! What happens at the campsite doesn't necessarily stay at the campsite!

I love my job!

:hi:

[gateley]

2. Incredible photos - I always look forward to your posts.

:hi:

Were the revelers still there?

[DemoTex]

5. Yeppers

Still drinkin' and stinkin'. It got cold when the fire crew doused their warmth. I hope they slept it off in their camp before they hit the road.

When I saw it at 5:30 AM I knew it was not a regular campfire. But because of where it was I knew it was likker-fueled (know what I mean?),

[gateley]

7. Ha! Yeah, I know what you mean! Good thing you've got the discerning eye!

[gratuitous]

23. Had to be man-made

We've had so much rain the last eight weeks, you couldn't start a fire with a blow torch and the collected works of Rush Limbaugh. I'm thinking of dropping an e-mail to the State Hydrologist: How are the levels now, Water Boy?

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Stupid campers!!!!

By the way locally we already had two brush fires... so yes the season is on, and early.

[DemoTex]

10. But it is wet as hell here!

It took an accelerant to get that stump a burnin'. But did it burn! Looked just like a lightning-struck Ponderosa smoke after a three day sleep!

Good for three hours of unexpected overtime! Yay!

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. Nah here it is getting dry

we went hiking oh a month ago, snow was still on the ground, but the Manzanita was already dry as tinder... it should be a hot season, no pun...

We will be going next weekend... only fire I'm starting is an emergency fire...

I know better.

Short hike and still carrying the essentials of survival...

I guess you can leave rescue work, but it will not leave you...

Yep, first aid kit, check, map, check, brand new compass, check, fire making supplies, check, emergency rations, check, water check... knife, check... whistle... check

And we are going on a WELL MARKED path... partly we are going to take map and compass to get some practice. I have not done any of that in fifteen years. Best place to practice land nav skills is where making a degree error will not lead to any danger.

[DemoTex]

12. I drove up China Hat Butte last week ..

The manzanita is so overgrown from all the moisture that it totally scratched both sides of my truck. I could not turn around! Then I got to the snow line ..

Point is, those bad-bad fuels got a jump on growing. That will make the dry season much worse for wildfires!

mac

On edit: Manzanita, the West's answer to the South's Kudzu (or Wisteria)!

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. Yes, yes it will

and manzanita, though beautiful, is a very hot fire.

Locally we are at the beginning of the cycle... since the fires where we are going went through oh three years ago. So the forests are on recovery mode. And that is fascinating to watch, why we are also taking the camera.

[DemoTex]

16. If you like the beat poets (Kerouac, Whalen, Snyder, et. al.) .. read Snyder

Read Gary Snyder's "Back on the Fire" (2008). Snyder is probably the last surviving beat poet who was at the infamous reading by Alan Ginsberg of his work "Howl" at the Six Gallery in San Francisco in, what?, 1955.

Snyder has some interesting observations about the devil manzanita in this collection of fire essays. How does a beat poet segue to wildfire? Easy: Kerouac, Whalen (who became a Buddhist monk - dead now), and Snyder were all USFS fire lookouts in the northern Cascades in Washington state in the early 1950s!!!!! Kerouac wrote about his lookout experiences at Desolation Peak Lookout in "Desolation Angels" and "Dharma Bums". "Hozomeen,Hozomeen .. most beautiful mountain I ever seen!"

[depakid]

18. Sometimes, the wet seems to matter less than one would think

The 2008 Cold Springs fire near Mt. Adams occurred during a very wet year with near record snowpack.



http://www.fs.fed.us/gpnf/news/2008/20080713b-coldsprings-fire-1500hrs.shtml

Cause: smoldering logs from lighting strikes about 10 days earlier. That, plus beetle kill and hence, a lot of dry, dead timber.

[roamer65]

4. The nighttime sky must be amazing when its clear weather.

Perfect place for a nice telescope.

[DemoTex]

6. We have had 90-100% cloud cover for three weeks!

No night sky here.

[roamer65]

8. July and August will bring clearer skies I bet.

...and the increase risk of fire as well :(

[Catshrink]

13. I love your reporting...

too bad they couldn't cite the campers for endangerment.

I think it will be a bad season here in Arizona. Our idiot governor signed a law allowing fireworks. Here. In bone dry Arizona. Two kids already burned down their house and killed the family dog playing with fireworks. Some cities are hastily enacting laws to outlaw within their city limits but there are no such prohibitions out in the boonies. The neo-Libertarian legislature passed the law thinking we need less big brother. Oh brother.

Glad you got the CO thing fixed so now you are safe.

[DemoTex]

14. "Idiot Governor" is kind.

I've had governors named George Wallace, Lurleen Wallace, Lester Maddox, and George W. Bu$h - talking about idiots!

:hi:

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. The Guv, and the legislature

should be liable

GRRRR...

Ok I admit it, as a kid I played with them... even when Mom warned me about them and how damn dangerous they were... hey you could buy them in the street for Mexican Independence Day, just how dangerous could they be?

:sarcasm:

The biggest I ever blew up was a large one, triangular in shape, big boom, short fuse. I was lucky I never lost a finger or worst...

Well years later they had the common sense to ban it, and as a medic in Tijuana I got to manage a kid that was playing with one of them. The damn thing blew in his hand, taking off, I am not kidding half his fingers and a good portion of the hand. It was a mess.

Mom was right, and I was an idiot.

:-)

and your guv'ernor and the legislature should be sued for every one of those inevitable kids that will end up at the local trauma center. No won't happen, I can dream, can't I?

[Catshrink]

19. I felt really bad about the dog.

Poor pup! He died of smoke inhalation.

We used to play with sparklers when I was a kid - but that was in Seattle where we lucky to have a day that wasn't wet so the fire danger was much less. Here it's hot. But it's a dry heat. :rofl:

[Tuesday Afternoon]

20. good to hear that you are there to be on top of things. great photos.

I enjoy reading your entries. thanks.

[Codeine]

21. You are one of DU's treasures, sir. nt

[Union Yes]

22. The trees are lucky to have you watching over them! Great pics as always.

:fistbump:

recced