We carry four days worth of food regardless of the season…. Just saying
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Most of those old growth Sequoias have old burn scars. These “cat faces” have no bark on them. If the dry interior wood of the tree catches fire two things will happen. 1. Firefighters will be assigned to put them out (a big job) and 2. the likelihood of mortality for the tree goes way up.
And that’s why they chose to wrap these trees.
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Yeah, they have big burn scars because they have survived thousands of years without someone wrapping them in tinfoil. Seems like we have put these trees in a zoo and assume they can’t take care of themselves.
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AA is brining in heli-tanker to drop on General Sherman request. Report to Sherman Tree Protection Group.
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Imagine the uproar had no measures been taken, never mind the efficacy or necessity of the actions themselves. Sometimes you have to play to the grandstands to keep “fans” from throwing crap onto the playing field. I may not like it, but I don’t want to fool myself about the nature of the public arena.
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Thats where I’m at with it- it’s just for the camera. anyone with half a brain knows a foot of bark is better than .005 inches of foil. I think it’s going to start raising eyebrows when people find out how much structure wrap costs and start wondering why we can’t get these guys ice, drink or a decent meal.
edit: Super cool of those that are taking matters into their own hand to help our workers get some grub. I’m just concerned about where our tax dollars are going.
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Funny you says this but last year I dropped multiple retardant loads on, in, and around multiple groves on the castle complex. Drops were directed even directly on the trees.
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Sometimes it seems like it would just be better to try to educate people instead of doing ridiculous things. A well placed PIO could likely do just as much good towards that end instead of structure wrapping a tree. Like, perhaps reiterating the talking point that this tree was just fine with fire many, many years before it had a name.
Would also allow resources to get more work done in those reduced 14 hour shifts, just saying.
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Sherman Tree was not dropped on. Sent in 2 helitankers and both said could not see the tree nor the ground, just too smokey around the grove.
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Sad State Of Affairs when you can’t feed and water the troops! Not blaming anyone just sad times. When I ran crew we could go without food but water a must. When we ran out of water and none was sling loaded in or not delivered line cutting would end. Safety my friends, Safety. The last thing I needed was to turtle someone on the crew.
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Redwoods can not handle the high fuel loading that are forests currently have. Fires use to be a natural part of the echo system which reduced that fuel loading. Obviously that is not the case now.
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When I was on fires it meant a lot when Folks would feed us. Engine and Crew folks really appreciate it.
To all that are helping you and to anyone out there who is doing the same. Thank you for your generosity!
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As a “local” I agree with many on here. The NPS has done a great job of fuel reduction, control burns and other VMP’s around the Sequioa groves on both ends of the park. You can tell when you cross from the SQF into SEKI. The Rough Fire “skirted” around many areas in the Grant’s Grove due to the projects and the advantage they gave firefighters.
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Boils down to Cost. The FS in most cases doesn’t want to bare the cost of an MKU. Then there is the availability fact. The MKU’s are a CF resource intended to support the SRA. No different than what the state did with the S2’s and IA only in 2013 due to the wear and tear on the pilots and airframez
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There’s also the regulations when they hit the trigger point of meals, they must go with a National Caterer.
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Once again folks this is 9 days into the incident and ZERO logistical support- if it wasn’t for the 3-Rivers community coming together these folks would have been left to fend for themselves. I hear a lot of excuses but as soon as Cal Fire got involved mysteriously so did the logistical support- don’t get me wrong I enjoyed standing behind the BBQ this afternoon and cooking 500 pounds of pork loin to feed the troops but we all know this isn’t the way we handle business in the 21st century- carry on I’m not looking for a debate-
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Yep. Something went off the rails, but it sounds like mostly prior to the arrival of the IMT.
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What , have you been in a fire camp or on a fire , that’s ridiculous.
I don’t want to repeat myself and there has been a lot of excuses given for the lack of support up to now. A Type 1 IMT was assigned and they are supposed to be complex problem solvers.
The current issues that are being brought up are unacceptable in the IMT world. Orders should be placed and filled. The system is not drawn down to nothing.
Hope to see this fixed very soon.
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The system has been at drawdown for months. Especially in the mfsu arena. Along with that the caterers are having issues procuring groceries. It’s a different world out there.
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