Weekly Wildfire Update: Full Ops Update. Dragon Fire Finds Evidence in Missing Person Case. How Many People Disappear in Forests Each Year? A New Stadium Sized Fire Balloon. PANIC: Get Rid of It.
Weekly Wildfire Update: Full Ops Update. Dragon Fire Finds Evidence in Missing Person Case. How Many People Disappear in Forests Each Year? A New Stadium Sized Fire Balloon. PANIC: Get Rid of It.
Excellent segment on panic. Had a lesson on this on the Bond Fire in 2020. Found a good 100x100 safety zone at an intersection of forest roads, surrounded by grass and scrub oak. Fire looked like it was 15 minutes out, so I went to scout around the bend. Wasn't gone more than 2 minutes, when I pull back around and the fire had already blasted through and surrounded the TRA. Fire wasn't exactly raking over the road (light fuels), but it was wind driven, so the smoke was lying flat across the roads, zero visibility...guess Ima have to sit in here and wait for it to burn off. Then a Toyota comes SCREAMING down the road at 40mph and disappears into the smoke. "Damn, I guess the locals know these roads." I sure as hell wouldn't do that. Sure enough, a minute later, guy comes running/stumbling out of the smoke towards me, disheveled, soot all over his face. I call out to him to get in the truck. He's panicking seeing all the fire around us and screaming "oh my god! We're gonna burn up! We're gonna die!". I just calmly explained flame lengths and safety zones and said "we're solid here. We'll just let this burn off for a few minutes and we'll cruise outta here." He had crashed his car into a berm when he had lost visibility and had to ditch it. He had all of his cherished possessions in the car and he lost them all because he was attempting to evacuate in a panic. The awful part? I saw where his house was. Next door to a dirt softball field. His house wasn't even at risk. And even if it were, he could've just bumped his car out onto the infield and had a coke and a smile. Instead he panicked and lost his car and his treasures. Could've died, easily, or worse...run over some FF's who had to deploy on the road or something. You can't drive like that through no visibility. The impulse to EVACUATE NOW ain't always your friend, and often has people LEAVING the black and driving THROUGH the flaming front and into the green. I've seen many civilians who'd be way better off sheltering in place. Now, you might be tempted to blame his actions on panic, but obviously it was climate change.
For anyone interested in the segment on people disappearing in the North American wilderness, please see "The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wilderness" by Jon Billman. A compelling, haunting read on this subject.
Excellent segment on panic. Had a lesson on this on the Bond Fire in 2020. Found a good 100x100 safety zone at an intersection of forest roads, surrounded by grass and scrub oak. Fire looked like it was 15 minutes out, so I went to scout around the bend. Wasn't gone more than 2 minutes, when I pull back around and the fire had already blasted through and surrounded the TRA. Fire wasn't exactly raking over the road (light fuels), but it was wind driven, so the smoke was lying flat across the roads, zero visibility...guess Ima have to sit in here and wait for it to burn off. Then a Toyota comes SCREAMING down the road at 40mph and disappears into the smoke. "Damn, I guess the locals know these roads." I sure as hell wouldn't do that. Sure enough, a minute later, guy comes running/stumbling out of the smoke towards me, disheveled, soot all over his face. I call out to him to get in the truck. He's panicking seeing all the fire around us and screaming "oh my god! We're gonna burn up! We're gonna die!". I just calmly explained flame lengths and safety zones and said "we're solid here. We'll just let this burn off for a few minutes and we'll cruise outta here." He had crashed his car into a berm when he had lost visibility and had to ditch it. He had all of his cherished possessions in the car and he lost them all because he was attempting to evacuate in a panic. The awful part? I saw where his house was. Next door to a dirt softball field. His house wasn't even at risk. And even if it were, he could've just bumped his car out onto the infield and had a coke and a smile. Instead he panicked and lost his car and his treasures. Could've died, easily, or worse...run over some FF's who had to deploy on the road or something. You can't drive like that through no visibility. The impulse to EVACUATE NOW ain't always your friend, and often has people LEAVING the black and driving THROUGH the flaming front and into the green. I've seen many civilians who'd be way better off sheltering in place. Now, you might be tempted to blame his actions on panic, but obviously it was climate change.
For anyone interested in the segment on people disappearing in the North American wilderness, please see "The Cold Vanish: Seeking the Missing in North America's Wilderness" by Jon Billman. A compelling, haunting read on this subject.
https://music.apple.com/us/album/after-the-fire-is-gone/59422545?i=59422433