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MtnDon
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# Posted: 4 Sep 2014 11:06pm - Edited by: MtnDon
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We have a managed burn going on in our neck of the woods. The latest fire info shows the closest point 2.01 miles from our cabin; according to Google Earth's measurement. That is close! Yes, we have had a wet July and August, but we were dry as tinder before that. Even now, in the last week their fire danger indicator has risen from the Low it finally dropped to after the rains, back to a Moderate. The pine needles on the ground were starting to crunch again last weekend.
This is the same FS division that had a controlled burn in 2000; the one that got away and destroyed several hundred homes and other damages to the tune of over 1$Billion. However, that was in May when it was much drier.
Search for the Pino fire. Started by lightning in the area that had been planned for the managed burn all summer. http://www.geomac.gov/index.shtml The View KML option will let a map overlay be opened in Google Earth.
It needs to be done, but nonetheless it is close
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Wilbour
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# Posted: 5 Sep 2014 07:26am
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We don't do managed burns around here but spent a week near Charleston SC last year and rode our bike through a post burn (still smoldering). That has to be the strangest trail ride ever.
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 5 Sep 2014 02:22pm
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Don, I dont blame you, many of those controlled burns have gotten "out of control" before. Hopefully, they have guys on hands watching and ready. They know whats around it and whats at stake, if a suprise wind blows in, that is usually how this turns bad. Otherwise, you should be fine.
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Smawgunner
Member
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# Posted: 6 Sep 2014 05:30pm
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check your insurance
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Legendstormcrow
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# Posted: 6 Sep 2014 06:33pm
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If I were you I'd clear an area around your home and water your yard often. Back home it was always a worry. Down here it is as well because until just this year it was so dry that we had constant fires for awhile. We were literally beating them out with branches. Oh, also keep your garden plants and such away from the house. Bad for your foundation anyways.
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KSalzwedel
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2014 12:26am
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We were 2 miles from the 200,000 acre kenai peninsula burn this summer. Not a controlled burn. Asked a firefighter for really fast firewise stuff we coukd do (since we hadn't been in the place long enough to get to that point. He suggested gravel instead of overgrowth for a minimum of 30 feet out from cabin, was happy with metal roof, and suggested clearing touching trees (remember this was quick firewise, and my husband doesn't have any heavy equipment). Helped with piece of mind, until winds hit 75mph!!!
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2014 08:46am
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Update, MtDon?
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2014 01:34pm
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No problems for anyone with the fire. We drove thru the area Friday night. It cleaned up a lot of the ground trash. On the downside there are still too many trees. What they did will never prevent or stop a crown fire which is our biggest concern. Better than nothing but they still need to do a mechanical thinning like they did on some of the forest a few years back.
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bldginsp
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2014 03:03pm
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Many 'environmentalists' are dead set against mechanical thinning of any sort because they are convinced that it is always just an excuse for loggers to log for profit, and because many believe that we should just 'leave nature alone'. But our western forests are not in a natural condition at present to begin with, because 100 years of fire suppression has allowed a much more dense forest to grow up than ever could in a natural fire ecology. So the consequence of inaction is that when a severe fire comes through, it kills all the trees as it sweeps through the unnaturally dense undergrowth and crown. How environmentally conscientious is it to allow that? I guess I'm just an evil Eco-terrorist apologist for lumber profiteers, or something like that. But the fires we've had here in CA the last few years have been unnaturally severe and destructive, and I don't want that to happen to my little parcel. Cancel my membership to the Sierra Club.
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MtnDon
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# Posted: 8 Sep 2014 03:18pm - Edited by: MtnDon
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Quoting: bldginsp many believe that we should just 'leave nature alone'.
If we had been doing that in the past century we'd all be happier today. As you point out, there is nothing natural about most of the forests we have today.
Most of the trees that were thinned here a few years back went to residential firewood permittees. Some was taken for building timbers. The contractor had to pay the FS for those. He did not take as much as the FS wanted him to because the FS set the timber price too high.
In any event we do have almost ten thousand acres of very nicely thinned forest to the west and SW of us. But there is a large band of overgrown forest that could still cause problems for us.
And since I am ranting, sort of, I have big issues with private land owners who can't see the fallacy of their "don't cut anything" viewpoint. I suppose that sounds very opinionated. ???
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