We just returned from a 24 hour trip to the cabin to check on the Rim fire. It was a super interesting experience and well worth the effort. We left SJ at about 4 am and could really start seeing the smoke as we headed out of Sonora. The sun coming up was glowing orange. We drove straight to Roy and Anna's cabin becuase they were in the mandatory evacuation area. The police had the road closed but allowed us to walk into the closed area to Anna and Roy's place - which was just two lots in as they were on the edge of the evacuated zone. We checked out their place, which was fine and headed to our place.
Our place is across the lake and farther from the fire. Our place was fine but the smoke was so thick throught the entire community that it actually made me feel claustrophobic and the dogs were totally sluggish from it. We went to our house, fed the dogs, stretched our legs, ate some apple pie and then headed out.
We spent until 4 pm driving around checking out the fire from all different perspectives. We even tried to go down a dirt road to get into the closed area - not unsafely into it - just on the edge. The smoke was awe inspiring. Watching the helicopters was so cool.
We took a break to eat some Cochina Michocana for lunch and listened to the locals and the waitress who had been evacuated from their homes. And a group of the local high school students came in because school was cancelled.
At 7 pm, we went to the local elementary school for a briefing from the incident commander. Boy, was that interesting! Here were the highlights:
* The guy heading the operation is from the Southern part of the US and he manages the biggest and baddest fires in the whole country.
* As of last nite, they had lost 9 structures and saved 6000 (that number changed to 23 structures lost today)
* This fire is highly unusual in its behavior and is one of the fastest growing fires they have seen.
* Flames were 100 to 200 feet high
* They were down at the river taking rafts across to the other side to fight the fire. They lost the fight and had to retreat. That led the fire to climb quickly up the canyon and head into Buck Meadows where they had a "hell of a fire fight" but saved the community!
* Some jackass got all angry because they were knocking on doors to do the evacuation - he thought they should just rely on the reverse 911 system!?!?! The Sheriff responded and said, I can answer that simply by saying, "you are too important to rely on a phone system for evacuation"!
* People who live in super remote areas with no infrastructure (i.e. fire hydrants) want to know why they are not getting priority!!! Let's see.....protect one house that has no resources around it or protect 2600 that have fire hydrants, did fire abatement and have a lake full of water for fire drops???? Really???? What is wrong with people???? When you made the decision to live in a remote area, that is part of the deal.
* They turn off power so that power lines don't fall on fire fighters and kill or injure them. Sounds reasonable - right? NOPE - some of the people were complaining about it!
* They are setting up another base camp in Sonora that will house 1400 fire fighters in the next two days.
* Our community has been pretty well protected and they are currently doing mop up. If that goes well in the next couple days, the evacuation order could be lifted.
* 120 will be closed for at least 5 days due to the damage and the number of personnel in the area
We really enjoyed the meeting until it was time for questions and answers and the hillbilly trash came out of the woodwork. People wanted power back on, evacuation orders lifted, the evacuation procedure changed..... We finally got up and left. These firefighters are risking their lives saving our community and these jackasses are whining about being inconvenienced!
After the meeting, we got pizza and went home. We stayed the night and woke up to thick smoke again. We felt that things were stable so we packed up and headed home at 7:30 this morning. We took all our important papers....just in case!
We are heading back next weekend and hope to be able to drive around to see the damage.
It will be a very sad day when we get out to see Cherry Lake....
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| Dirt road we went down trying to sneak onto Ferretti Road - the evacuated area. |
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| Don Pedro this morning covered with smoke |
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| Our street when we were driving out this morning |
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| Fire trucks coming down 120 this morning |
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| View from Cresthaven yesterday afternoon |
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| View from up on Merrill Road yesterday afternoon |
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| Helicopter drops |
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| Info station at fire department in town.. Some jackass tried to tell them they were not using their resources right! |
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| Smoke from Marina yesterday afternoon |
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| Going to the Marina in the morning - you could not see across the lake! |
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| Smoke heading out of Oakdale and up to the cabin at 6:45 am |
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| Just a little bit of ash on the Pontoon Mama |
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| Walking up the road to Jim's folks house |
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| Closed road in front of Jim's folk's place |
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| View of smoke from our driveway |
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| View of smoke from the Marina in the afternoon |
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| Ahi was not impressed with the event! |
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