^^^ true. But ... I thought MMI required crating or day care? When we bring the dogs, unless we are RVing it, we rent this cute cabin in June Lake. It's a bit of a drive but it saves $$$
Good question, but I'm afraid only time will tell.
Your point about decreasing fuel with elevation gives me hope. The distance however doesn't mean much to me. Dixie has sustained a vastly longer march so far and is not atypical. Also, so long as they can fly, Kirkwood has a good sized lake right there and good access by road obviously. I am optimistic firefighters would be able to make a stand and protect the area. They probably wouldn't consider protecting the upper roundhouses, but those are largely vegetation free anyway.The fire would need to burn through a lot of miles to do so. If the fire did reach that far east that is unlikely, it would only threaten Kirkwood if winds were extra strong blowing embers because at higher elevations forest tends to be sparse or bare rock except down in stream canyons. To reach Sierra-At-Tahoe the fire would need to move far up the SF of the American River canyon however because the major US50 highway routes all the way up that canyon with many perpendicular spur roads, firefighters would have excellent access to stop movement east the whole way. If things got bad they could set backfires late at night when breezes usually reverse moving down canyon. During days breezes usually move up due to day heating in the Central Valley heating and expanding air that then pushes up canyons. Also the general global air flow at these temperate latitudes is west to east. Look at the amount of vegetation on this satellite map:
CalTopo - Backcountry Mapping Evolved
caltopo.com
More ominous is the possibility early next week given a forecast change in winds to east to west, for the large numbers of structures to the west below national forest boundaries within combustible forest. During the last few decades the lower hot dry elevations given proximity to Sacramento has seen a great amount of development. Anytime I drive those secondary roads looking at all the trees and vegetation around homes and ranchettes I wonder how those areas could survive a serious wind driven fire.
I hate to be the one to raise this question, but is Kirkwood (and/or Sierra) in danger from the Caldor fire?
Over the last few days, the Caldor fire has grown to more than 50,000 acres prompting the USFS to order the closure of the Eldorado National Forest. The order prohibits the use of areas, roads, and trails until the closure is lifted. With our resort located on national forest land, we cannot allow access for any hiking or biking at this time. While we are not currently in the evacuation area, we are monitoring the situation closely and taking precautionary measures to protect the resort.
Here are a few resources where you can stay informed on the status of the fire, the forest closure, evacuation orders, shelters and assistance for those affected.
Caldor Fire | CAL FIRE
www.fire.ca.gov
We'd like to extend our immense gratitude to the firefighters and emergency response crews involved. And to our friends and family who have been affected, we're here for you and offer our support in any way we can. Please stay safe and be prepared.
#SierraAtTahoe #CaldorFire
The most up to date and detailed information is to be found on two sites:I found a good resource for getting a high level on all these fires/ fire activity is caltopo.com (free) which is a backpackers/hiking online mappingservice.
o https://inciweb.nwcg.gov is the most user-friendly and has both maps and narrative updates.
The pattern with several other big fires this year has been that even modest winds will sometimes lead to very rapid downwind spread, including jumping lines by up to several miles in a matter of minutes. It's been the combined effects of exceptionally dry fuels and wind-driven events. These haven't even been unusually strong winds. You can see the effects by looking at how the Dixie Fire has spread over time. First there were big fingers moving north, then moving east, then moving south, depending on shifts in prevailing winds.I hate to be the one to raise this question, but is Kirkwood (and/or Sierra) in danger from the Caldor fire? About 12 miles from the front of the fire. In 2017 the Tubbs fire covered that distance in . . . 4 hours. Those were extraordinary conditions (hurricane force winds in particular). I don't think Caldor is seeing anything like that. But, just a little worried . . .
My take on things is that the chickens are really coming home to roost. I think that we're in huge danger of losing most of our forest cover in the northern California dry forests, Sierra Nevada, northern Coast Ranges, Klamath Mountains, and Cascades. Deadly for the giant sequoias, too. A hundred years from now, the Sierra Nevada might resemble today's Great Basin desert ranges. And climate models are pointing to a likelihood of a loss of 95% of the Sierra Nevada snow pack by the end of the century, so you can forget about skiing.
The most up to date and detailed information is to be found on two sites:
o https://inciweb.nwcg.gov is the most user-friendly and has both maps and narrative updates.
o https://ftp.wildfire.gov/public/incident_specific_data/calif_n/ is basically an FTP site, but has very detailed maps in PDF and KML formats, if you know where to find them. Hunt around the directories, find the directory for the individual incident of interest to you, and look for an "IR" subdirectory.
I just read that the Dixie fire has become the first ever to cross the Sierra crest and burn on both sides. Sigh.The pattern with several other big fires this year has been that even modest winds will sometimes lead to very rapid downwind spread, including jumping lines by up to several miles in a matter of minutes. It's been the combined effects of exceptionally dry fuels and wind-driven events. These haven't even been unusually strong winds. You can see the effects by looking at how the Dixie Fire has spread over time. First there were big fingers moving north, then moving east, then moving south, depending on shifts in prevailing winds.
With respect to SSSDave, one can no longer assume that a fire's spread will be limited to any particular pace. Again, the most dramatic events have included fires suddenly jumping lines by miles.
We've been seeing considerable burning even of sparse, high elevation forests in rocky terrain. It's fair to expect that the devastation won't be as complete as it can be in denser stands, and terrain will generally protect pockets of forest from being burned. Foresters speak of a "mosaic" pattern of burning. With Kirkwood having a lot of rocky ground and wetlands breaking the fuels up into isolated blocks, I would hope for the loss of forest cover to be limited, if fire were to reach the area. But make no mistake, it would still be a considerable threat to homes and other structures. The base of Sierra at Tahoe is in an exceptionally beautiful old growth forest. Unfortunately, this high elevation old growth has been proving vulnerable to devastation under the "right" weather conditions, so keep fingers crossed.
My take on things is that the chickens are really coming home to roost. I think that we're in huge danger of losing most of our forest cover in the northern California dry forests--Sierra Nevada, northern Coast Ranges, Klamath Mountains, and Cascades. Deadly for the giant sequoias, too. A hundred years from now, the Sierra Nevada might resemble today's Great Basin desert ranges. And climate models are pointing to a likelihood of a loss of 95% of the Sierra Nevada snow pack by the end of the century, so you can forget about skiing.