Horse Fire VIII

Around 12:30 PM this afternoon we saw a quickly growing column of white smoke suddenly pop up from behind Gaskill Peak (as seen from our yard). The CDF information number was back on a recorder (with a four hour old message), and there’s been no new satellite info since 7AM. We were worried, so we decided to do another reconnoiter.

On Sunday evening, the last time we did a reconnoiter, we made it to a roadblock at the red line on the map at right. From there, we had a great view of the valley that Barrett Lake is in, and north to Horsethief and Secret Canyons, where the fire was burning. This afternoon we only made it to the purple line, where a new roadblock was installed. My theory is that the CDF is using Lyons Valley Road for helicopter operations; my evidence is that we saw four fuel trucks leaving.

Our home is in the green splotch. The blue line is roughly the ridgeline that lies between us and the fire. We’re very fond of the ridgeline — not only is it a beautiful view from our home, but it’s also a very defensible line for the fire-fighters, should the fire start burning west of Lyons Valley Road.

On the way down Skyline Truck Trail, and on the part of Lyons Valley Road that we could drive, we saw helicopters very low overhead, and fuel trucks parked at several locations — probably staged for quick use when needed.

Right at the roadblock, we saw a CDF survey team pickup parked, with one crewmember trying to open the locked gate. I took advantage of the moment to talk with the driver, who was very informative. From her we learned:

— The Carveacre voluntary evacuations were ordered because the community is so difficult to evacuate, with just one twisty, steep dirt road for access. It’s not that Carveacre is immediately threatened.

— The fire is still entirely east of Lyons Valley Road. She gave us a good verbal description of where it’s burning on the western flank of the fire; I’ve shaded that area in yellow on the map.

— She confirmed that the CDF was making a stand on Lyons Valley Road, and had the objective of keeping the fire on the eastern side of it.

— She told us that all the ridgetops (being defensible and accessible to the planes) were being “painted” with fire retardant.

Then her crewmate got the gate open, and they took off to do some reconnoitering of their own. As we walked back to our car, we saw the most amazingly stupid thing I’ve seen in quite a while. A pair of cars was stopped in the middle of the road, with the two drivers talking to each other through their open windows. The road was narrow in this area, so they completely blocked it. Behind them was a line of 7 firefighting vehicles, trying to get out of the Skye Valley area (near Lake Barrett), including fuel trucks, crew operations trucks, and a helicopter logistics truck. These two idiots sat there with all this equipment held up behind them, just jabbering away. When I hollered over at them that they were gumming up the works, one of the drivers answered back with a rude comment about my ancestry. But they moved, finally.

Just before we pulled out to head back home, I took a good look at the visible smoke plumes. The biggest one, by far, seemed to be coming from further east, out toward Lake Morena. The closer in burn area, on the western flank and most concerning to us, showed much less smoke. We took some comfort from that…