Quartz Gulch Fire
9 Aug 2001
 

 A Scrapbook

   

Fire threatens Saragossa from start in well-managed BLM land!

Lightning struck in popcorn-dry well-managed BLM timber land last Thursday evening and overnight a small fire fed relentlessly on abundant fuel in Wagner Gap. The BLM land was cleared to perhaps five trees an acre, a sparse population. As if to contradict all we think we know about thinning and forest managment, Nature's bolt struck the best tree in the area to start a fire. It spread to 60 acres by Friday morning and 3000 acres by Saturday evening. We watched with butterflies in our stomachs as helicopters carried water dipped from a neighbor's pond to aid ground crews.
     Like armored infantry, four hundred firefighters with a dozen Caterpillar tractors struggled to line the fire's sides and guide it away from populated areas. Acquaintances of ours abandoned their home in Dog Fork as the fire crept south and east along the ridge it had reached Friday night. As much as we'd like to help fight the fire, we've been told to stay out of the area, to keep the roads clear for trained firefighter teams which we hear passing on the road below every few minutes. The sky glowed bright salmon-red at night until the cooling air brought the smoke down into Waters Gulch, blotting out the sky.
     In the morning stillness, the smell of smoke is stifling. It burns our eyes, irritates our throats and stings our nasal passages. Flies and yellowjackets are noticably absent. Except for two high-flying crows and some noisy stellar jays, the normally playful birds sit in quiet groups on lower branches. Visibility is about a half mile. Through the thick veil of smoke, the sun is a dull red disk like you see on the Space Weather page, sunspots clearly visible to the naked eye (don't stare at it!). Light ash powders the deck railings. Shadowy forms of helicopters roar through the smoke a couple of hundred feet above our heads, then their sounds fade and surge, bouncing off canyon walls as they wind cautiously through the gulches toward the fire area.

Sunday 12th: Sunset turns the smoke to a roiling rusty pillar. We see sparkling lights below the column, and reach for the binoculars. Several times a minute, foliage of exploding trees vanishes in flashes of yellow-white flames, seeding the forest with sparks. The fire has reached an open upwards slope. In less than 15 minutes a blackening red wave sweeps across the grassy ten-acre clearing into the lower limbs of more trees at it's upper edge. It crowns almost immediately, using trees as matches. We imagine the shock and anguish we would feel if our place went up as has our neighbor's in Dog Fork. It's a very unpleasant feeling.

Wednesday 15th: Last night we watched the usual evening increase in fire suppression activity with much less trepidation. The fire has moved away to between five and six miles from us up the gulches to the south and east. Incident Commander Greg Gilpin told us of possibilitis for flareups and loss of control in already-burned areas during the Monday 13th meeting in which he also explained how it started, so we aren't completely out of danger yet. Even if the flames of this particular fire are put out, the fire "season" has just begun, and it is almost certain there will be more fires when the thunderstorms typical of this time of year begin in higher frequency. Out of thirteen lightning strikes in the last storm, seven started fires, an unusual ratio resulting from the unusually dry forest conditions because our yearly precipitation is only 40% of the region's average. Tonight we will attend a "Make Your Home Defensible" lecture by the Forest Service, again at Ruch Elementary School at 7PM.

Tuesday 21st: No fires were visible last night. Barely visible smoke columns filter up from the distant Red Mountain slopes to the southeast, now, and the ODF site reports 75% containment with 100% possible by tonight. Less and less aircraft pass our way. It's been down to 44 degrees F these last couple of nights, and we've had heavy dew in the mornings. There are a few needs still unmet for some folks in Dog Fork - please visit http://www.grayback.com to see if you can help out.

Wednesday 22nd: An appraisal of conditions surrounding us, using the education we got last Thursday, shows us how much danger we are in, and how much work there is to be done. All we can do now, though, is cross our fingers no fires start near us this season, for it is too dry to be working with power tools. I use a long-poled pruning saw to limb up some conifers near the house, hoping that might prevent a grass fire or blown embers from igniting them from below. I'm old and out of shape and it takes the better part of a day.

Friday 31st: The Quartz fire is 100% "contained" but that just means that the perimeter has been closed. Small fires may still be burning. Ground work continues, but traffic on Yale Creek road is nearly back to normal. There are still signs of light smoke filling the southern reaches in the mornings, but I saw no helicopters yesterday. ( March 1, 2002: Looking back over old tapes to see if I could re-use them, I found some shots taken that Thursday in August during the lightning storm that preceded the fire! )

Gallery:

(approx. 30kb ea.)

Maybe the flash that started it?
Sideways strike!
Mile and a half away...
Friendly bomber attack!
Smoky gulch (See the ghostly 'copter?)
Acrid air
Bucket chopper
Looking for a target...
Heliport on Little Applegate Rd.
Sunday sunset
Sunday closeup

Wednesday smoldering

Some of the Aftermath:
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from grateful residents...

• Map of the fire and vicinity...
  (The "SHW" in the upper left are the Staging area, Heliport, and Water source stations set up at the mailboxes on Yale Creek at Little Applegate Rd.
  Each square is a mile on a side.
  The red line surrounds known burned areas.)
  
  
• Notes of August 13th meeting at Ruch Elementary School