365Caws is now in its 14th year of publication, and was originally intended to end after 365 days. It has sometimes been difficult for me to find new material, particularly during the winter months, but now as I enter my own twilight years, I cannot guarantee that I will be able to provide daily posts. It is my hope that along the way I may have inspired someone to a greater curiosity about the natural world. If so, I can rest, content in the knowledge that my work here has been done.
Monday, August 31, 2015
Wrongside Up Larry
Day 322: Okay, okay...I admit it. I'm being unduly hard on Wrongside Up Larry. In fact, I even assigned him to the wrong agency. He really is a nice guy, and he's with the U.S. Forest Service. He's from Pennsylvania, and his tour of duty here is almost up. His preference for upside-down maps was backed up today by Fred, a USFS Safety Officer who also prefers to orient his map to the terrain. As I said yesterday, the camps are just about equally divided on this subject, and I just happen to be in the one which allows you to read the text without having to keep flipping the paper copy around.
They haven't done an infrared flight since before our windstorm, so the estimate of involved acreage still stands at 275. That said, those of us who have been watching the fire on a daily basis can see that it has progressed into the next drainage to the south. This is exactly what they want it to do: burn across the inaccessible terrain until it reaches an established firebreak where it can be managed. While you might think that they would have been happy for the recent rain and high humidity, the opposite is true. Rain and humidity aren't enough to put it out, and are only acting to keep it burning without allowing it to advance toward their dozer lines. I'm learning a lot about fire management from talking to these men, and that includes Larry, even if we do disagree about maps.
Labels:
Alder Lake Fire,
drainage,
fire management,
Larry,
Lillie Dale Road,
maps,
Reliance,
Stahl Mtn.,
USFS
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