The smoke inversion this morning lays down on us like one of those trendy "heavy" blankets they advertise making you feel cuddled and secure. Ironically the description of their blanket is diametrically opposite to what we are experiencing with our heavy blanket of "just wait and see what happens today" .
Val and I had a briefing with both the operations manager and the liaison to the upper fire management last night discussing the proposed plan for today. As we were discussing "fire management", I realized all too quickly that the term "fire management" is an oxymoron. One thing we agree upon is that fire will do what it wants no matter how hard we try to manage it! Reminds me of me!
As of yesterday afternoon, the fire crew now totals 22. Expectation is that they will be here for 7 days.
At present, they are running the sprinklers on our north flank behind the cabins and east above the guest corral area. The plan is keep them running for the entire day for the purposes of essentially creating a wet barrier with elevated humidity.
The crews brushed and cleared all the way around our hydro system penstock which is the delivery pipe for our power system. It runs up about 3300' to the head gate where we collect the water out of Blue Moon Creek. The penstock pipe has rubber fitting so our concern was that they would melt and our power and water system would collapse.
They are also assessing conducting a small black burn on our northern flank at the east end of the runway. Finger like roll outs of fire are penetrating's the "trigger point" magic line.
The crew will do what's called a "square up" backburn to even up the approach of the fire in case we need to commit to a full on backburn up the hill.
Lastly, the encroaching fire on the ground to our east is going to be headed off with hoses before the inversion lifts.
Lots of activity in hopes of clearing a majority of available fuels today.
Got a picture from Allen and Mary Dee Dodge of our once beautiful trail on the way to the creek crossing. Those of you who have had the pleasure of riding our 2 hour horse ride know this trail well.
Get used to it Kiere. This is my new reality!
Comments