----- Original Message ----- From: "Scott Wood" To: Sent: Sunday, May 19, 2002 4:42 PM Subject: Re: [Az-Geocaching] Prescott Fire: Caches affected or burned? > > I don't know if Fred has ever been there, but having a fire "crown" right > above you is something that you will never forget. I have had it happen > twice. Fortunately both times I was near a decent sized creek that we > could take cover in. Safety blankets are good for what they do, but during > a crown I will take water every time. > > > Scott > Team My Blue Heaven > www.myblueheaven.com/geocache Scott and all: Been there, seen it, done that.... Wyoming 1979, on Elk Mountain (the one just south of I-80, and west of Laramie--how many Elk Mountains are there in these United States anyway?), on my second ever fire as part of a hand crew working in a transistion zone between pine and spruce/fir had a crown fire put a bulge in our line. We had to retreat and regroup--once the wind event subsided it went back to being a ground fire. I remember three things very clearly: 1) What am I doing here-this is a hellva way to earn a living, 2) Thank goodness for the engine crews that were supporting us (they were providing a fog spray to cool us down--there was a lot of burning material falling from the sky--needles and small branches as the trees crowned), and 3) looking up, through the smoke and flame to see the bottom of a honest, to God B-17 make a drop of retardant to slow the fire until the hand crew (with me?!?) could get the line in again. Probably because I was experienced (?), the following encounters with crown fires weren't as frightening, but still quite impressive. Watching Santa Ana driven fires in SoCal is just as, or even more impressive than a crown fire. Watching these ground fires spread at rates of several hundred acres per hour (in some case over 1,000 ac/hr) gives one a deep appreciation for what the grunts do on the fireline. I'm almost happy to be over 50 and not doing that sort of thing anymore . It is truely a game for the young--I'll sit in fire camp and work on radios, or ride to mountain tops in a helo to place the portable repeaters and otherwise help out as I can. I do wonder if I'm expected to use the shovel and pulaski I carry in my Forest Service truck??? The fire shelter is a last resort item. It might actually work in a fast moving crown fire. I'm happy I've never had to find out. Another bit of trivia (reinforced by my annual safety training two weeks ago), contrary to the movies you don't want to soak your bandana in water and breath through it. Many deaths on wildfires come from breathing super-heated air and your airway and lungs burn and swell shut, however you can handle hot, dry air better than hot, moist air. If you deploy your shelter (and I don't plan on getting in those situations--see the previous para), the protocol is to dig a small hole/depression under you mouth/nose and breath through a dry bandana. The dry bandana will filter out much of the smoke particulates almost as well as a moist one. As Scott mentions a creek or stream is great, if it has enough water in it to help. However, I haven't seen many that would help since I moved to Tucson. Dry drainages on hillsides are not good places to be--they form natural chimineys. That's not the place I'd want to be in a wildfire. I appreciate the groups indulgence whilst Scott and I reflect on other times and other places. I guess I am growing old... --Fred Team Boulder Creek Tucson