Smoke gets in your eyes

RobertN · Oct 16, 2004

It's more than just town fire fighters /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif E25 runs from Placerville, with E225 (our old Shingle rig) as backup and Volunteer engine. From Shingle, there's E28. E228 is designated as a strike-team engine, for it's size and manueverability. E49 is a different distric, but responds, as does it's sister engines E249, E46, E48, and other volunteer based engines.

You may even get Cameron Park engines up there. When the fire was in El Dorado Hills a couple years ago, while I still worked in the Shingle Springs station, we had coverage all the way down there(E228 covered Station 85).

There's some good folks up here, with a mix of both full time and volunteers. A lot of them are up on the fire up the hill right now.

What you mentioned is really important; it is good to have a defensible space, and access. Very important...

v8dave · Oct 16, 2004

Yeah, I know it's lots of communities' firefighters--poor choice of words. I meant town as in firefighters that fight municipal/structure fires. The municipal firefighters don't fight the forest fire, they are there to protect the structures as the forest fire rolls through.

When I lived in San Jose we had local engines go and help in big forest fires.

The previous place we had, a little further out, was smack dab in the middle of a heavily forested area on a private road. We were one mile in--that place absolutely was not defensable.

slydog · Oct 16, 2004

Yep, Coloma! That's it. We may have driven right by your house. Do you ever go panning for gold or did they mine it so deep, far, and wide that there isn't a trace of it left anywhere out there? I guess I have always been curious if somewhere out there, you might just bust open a big rock and find a large vein of gold in the center of it? Does that ever happen?

v8dave · Oct 16, 2004

( Yep, Coloma! That's it. We may have driven right by your house. Do you ever go panning for gold or did they mine it so deep, far, and wide that there isn't a trace of it left anywhere out there? I guess I have always been curious if somewhere out there, you might just bust open a big rock and find a large vein of gold in the center of it? Does that ever happen? )

You drove within a half mile of my place travelling between Coloma and Placerville.

I haven't panned for gold anywhere since we've moved here. We have an always flowing stream through our property and I've often wondered if there is any gold there for the picking /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. But, I've never investigated it. I haven't heard of anybody finding gold on their property.

California · Oct 17, 2004

( Do you ever go panning for gold or did they mine it so deep, far, and wide that there isn't a trace of it left anywhere out there? I guess I have always been curious if somewhere out there, you might just bust open a big rock and find a large vein of gold in the center of it? Does that ever happen? -Slydog

We have an always flowing stream through our property and I've often wondered if there is any gold there for the picking . But, I've never investigated it. I haven't heard of anybody finding gold on their property. -v8dave )

Dave, Slydog,

Gold panning today is like going fishing. Its a great way to enjoy the outdoors, especially packing back into some remote area. But the old timers picked the Sierras clean.

First came the 49ers. Then big commercial companies like modern coal mining companies (they built the flume network that today feeds P.G.E. powerhouses) then teams of Chinese stonemasons who got laid off after building the transcontinental railroad, and finally during the Depression the hills were full of unemployed people who hoped to make $5 a day. Only the first two groups had a chance of making good money, but all of them eventually concluded they werent recovering their cost of production.

Its amazing that you will find relics such as tin cans and even cast iron stove parts in the most unimaginably remote canyons.

I've had a mining claim in Plumas County (Northern Sierras) for 30 years and even with the quantity of stream gravel I pull through a 4 inch suction dredge I have hardly extracted enough gold to pay for the gas to drive up there. Its mostly just summer recreation for family and guests.

It's fun to pan out the dredge tailings at the end of the day and see 'color', gold dust. Its the occasional find of nuggets the size of canned-corn kernels, or more likely several pieces the size of rice, that keeps us going. But we average a day like that maybe once a year. My 'production' all goes as Christmas presents for the guests who helped me pack the gear in.

Dave, I don't think you are missing any great bonanza in the back yard.

( ...bust open a big rock and find a large vein of gold in the center of it? )

Not likely. Gold forms (or is injected into) tiny crevices where other rock has rotted away. So the native shape is usually fine lace. After millions of hours of labor since the 49ers there have only been a few notable large nuggets, potato size up to phone book size as the largest. In fact the only large one in the modern era was found in Australia.

johnday · Oct 17, 2004

Dave; Think I'll stick with th weather problems in Michigan as well. Hope YOU don't catch fire! Looks like you've got some nice scenery to enjoy when you can see it. But you do have a problem. That SD in your drive is guilty of improper color etiquite. Shame on you!!!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Phils · Oct 17, 2004

Dave,

HOORAY!! RAIN! Finally! This should not only help douse the fires but clean up the air too. It's been at LEAST as smokey here as your photos.

I'm a native of this area, but lived for awhile in Virginia Beach, VA, and went through a hurricane. Later on, living near Charleston, SC, we got hit by a tornado.

I've been through many earthquakes and too many nearby forestfires. However I'll take those risks because unlike hurricanes and tornados, it is possible to 1) have defensible space for the fires and 2) in an earthquake, if you can get outside you are probably safe. (heck, for most of the quakes around here, some people don't even feel them). You can't build a "defensible" space for either hurricanes nor tornados, and running outside when they hit isn't a sound strategy either.

And now the blessed rain has finally returned. What a nice sound ... what's it been? June since we last had some?

Phil

_RaT_ · Oct 17, 2004

Just to let you know, this is the first time we have ever had this much smoke. Three different fires, no wind except the prior 3 days of the fire when it was a dry North wind. Just did not want you to get the idea that this happens every year in the same spot. After two days of smoke its gone and over. We will be getting rain today as we did several weeks ago.

Dave, I forgot how long you said you have been in Placerville. I recall you moved in from San Jose. Wait till you see how much rain you get in the foothills. Over here on the North side of things, we almost double that of Sacramento.

johnday · Oct 17, 2004

Phil; I didn't know you shouldn't go outside when there is a tornadoe. How else are you supposed to see it? /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

Bird · Oct 17, 2004

( You can't build a "defensible" space for either hurricanes nor tornados )

Sure you can. They call'em cellars. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif