On 5/27/2014 2:54 AM, Chuck Smallhouse wrote:
Even the Northern half (give or take)of lower Michigan has the fire
warning/(no outside burning)flying. The difference here is the altitude
and fuel. We do have pine and spruce, but in general they are quite
scattered. Most have died due to the pine beetles in the last 5 years
unless you spray them every year. We missed one season and row of 40'to
maybe 50 foot spruce are gone. Our wood is quarantined between
counties, but the Ash are gone in all around here so it makes little
sense. The Emerald Ash Borer can kill one of those big trees in about
two weeks.
Unoccupied land has very heavy under growth of brush and fast growing
trash trees. Much is the kind you can't walk straight through. So we
don't "normally" have fires moving as fast as you do out there, but fast
is a relative term. HOWEVER even with a light wind up a shallow grade
and it's faster than a high school kid can run. Might keep up with a
good road bike. Unless they've seen it, it'd difficult to get people to
believe how fast that fire moves which as I said is no where near what
some of them do out there and we don't get the Santa Ana winds.
Some years back, I was headed North from Midland at 3,000, just playing
around. I saw a column of smoke form quite a ways to the NNE,(just
measured at abt 40 miles) so I headed in that direction. (NW of West
Branch) I arrived overhead about the time the ground crew arrived. If
I had to guess, I'd say in about 10 minutes from start that fire had
already covered 3/4 of a sq mile. It appears a campfire got loose. (I
was traveling about 190 mph) 3000 MSL would have been about 1600 +/- AGL
so I was flying much slower over that rising heat which makes for a real
rough ride.
I have heavy brush up to back lot line which is about 75 feet of clear
space to the NW guy anchor and I doubt that it would survive.
73
Roger (K8RI)
Here in the Oracle AZ area, we're infamously known as being the most
susceptible wildfire area in N.A. The terrain, altitude and foliage
is almost identical to that of the area where the Darnell Hill fire
occurred (near Prescott AZ), where they lost 19 fire fighters last
year. Only we are rated more risky !
We are at a nominal elevation of 4500 feet (my QTH is at 5K') and the
vegetation is manzineta, small scrub oak,(< 16' tall) and bear grass.
I live on a N facing ridge and have chimney type terrain below me.
I've cleared all plants and other fuel for at least 50' around my all
cement block house with a cement tile roof. My "Antenna Support S
tructures", towers and 5M dish, are all freestanding or have steel
pipe braces.
Our community has the most active Firewise and CERT (of which I'm a
member) organizations of any in the state. We have had grants to
allow Hot Shot crews from DOC, and other communities, to clear ladder
fuels on private property, on a cost sharing basis, over the last
several years. Our vulnerability has been reduced considerably. My
biggest concern is the FS land adjacent to mine, which they refuse to
clean up. Our communities's main problem now, is with absentee
landowners, who won't clean up their property, some on large acreage.
We do have purposed state legislation, to penalize them, for this lack
of responsibility.
Our local FD has had their "Red Flag" flying all this last week !
Chuck, W7CS
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