Angeles National Forest

[DPD1]

Dave,

It sounds like you need to acclimate as you increase in elevation, not do it all at once.

Yep, that's it... Headache, hypersensitivity where sharp noises sound like fireworks... Never had it before a few years ago. I just thought it was related to sinuses or something. Kind of afraid to fly unpressurized now.

 

[RobertW1]

Angeles Crest Hwy will open between Islip Saddle and Vincent Gap on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend.

 

[DPD1]

Cool... I was up above Tujunga this afternoon and noticed a nice new Sherriff's, what looked like an Excursion, coming up the opposite way. I think that's the first time I've seen any law enforcement up there in a long time. I'm sure they go, but it's rare for me to see them.

Do you know what the deal is with the construction at that dam? Are they making the reservoir larger or something? I noticed the water level is really low.

 

[RobertW1]

Since the “Big Rig” crashed into Foothill Blvd, coming down Angeles Crest Highway and killing two people last week, they are doing more patrols of Angeles Forest and Angeles Crest Highways to insure trucks are obeying the ban.

The Big Tujunga Dam is going through a seismic upgrade. The original base thickness of the dam was 73 feet. The new base thickness will be 140 feet. During construction, the reservoir has been lowered to the elevation of the lowest existing discharge valve (El. 2160’, reservoir storage 182 acre-feet) in order to minimize foundation seepage and construction dewatering.

 

[RobertW1]

Angeles Crest Hwy will open between Islip Saddle and Vincent Gap on Wednesday, May 20th, 2009. Just in time for Memorial Day weekend.

It is a good thing there are 5 weeks to go before Angeles Crest Hwy opens, in view of this report:

Dated 4-9-09

Be aware that Hwy 39, near Hwy 2 is impassable due to snow and
road conditions. Cal-Trans has advised all to stay off the road until
further notice. There is a serious danger of snow slides, and there
are large boulders/rocks on the roadbed. Thanks. Please pass this
on to all who may be affected.

Battalion Chief 21
Angeles National Forest

 

[DPD1]

Since the “Big Rig” crashed into Foothill Blvd, coming down Angeles Crest Highway and killing two people last week, they are doing more patrols of Angeles Forest and Angeles Crest Highways to insure trucks are obeying the ban.

The Big Tujunga Dam is going through a seismic upgrade. The original base thickness of the dam was 73 feet. The new base thickness will be 140 feet. During construction, the reservoir has been lowered to the elevation of the lowest existing discharge valve (El. 2160’, reservoir storage 182 acre-feet) in order to minimize foundation seepage and construction dewatering.

Oh, so that's it. That makes sense. That's an interesting place. I've seen the Sheriff copters make practice approaches to that pad down there a couple times. That would be a tricky approach.

 

[RobertW1]

Spent Saturday at the Wrightwood Wildfire and Disaster Awareness Day event. The Angeles National Forest - Big Pines had a booth. We had Smokey walking around and we had one of the busiest Booths at the event. Firefighters from Engine and Patrol 38 were there as well as those of us in Recreation.

We got some tips from the guys on Engine 38. Although I've been through Radio Training in the use of the Bendix-King Radio in the Angeles National Forest, this is the first time I was told about using Tone 8 (Frazier Mountain) whenever we use "Direct" (F1 or F3). One firefighter told me it will work anywhere, even if you can't reach your normal repeaters, even if you're in a canyon with steep rock walls, it will always work. I always thought Direct was radio to radio like TAC 2 on simplex, but apparently that is not the case. A repeater IS required to use "Direct".

Sure enough I was listening to a Forest Unit that was dispatched to a fire off of Interstate 5 just south of Smokey Bear Road. He arrived on scene and was trying to give Dispatch a size up of the fire. He was very scratchy and unreadable. After Dispatch asked him to repeat his traffic several time, indicating that they too could not understand him, she told him to switch to Direct "Tone 8". Instantly the unit came in loud and clear even on my side of the Forest some 50 miles away.

I got thinking about how it could be that Tone 8 when using "Direct" would work so well. After researching it, I discovered that Frazier Mountain sits at over 8,000 ft and is in direct line-of-sight of nearly anywhere on the North side of the San Gabriels and the SCMRRD district of the Angeles National Forest. I suspect that that is the "magic" of using Tone 8 on Direct in our part of the forest, but I'm not sure.

For any of you that work the LAARD or SGRRD, what Tone are you supposed to use when on "Direct" Firenet or Admin? I doubt there is anyway you would use Tone 8.

Here are some pictures of the gang from Area 12 off the Angeles National Forest who work out of Big Pines.

Engine 38, Patrol 38, VIS 34, REC 34 and the Volunteers:

Volunteers 340, 334 and 332:

 

[SCPD]

I really don't understand that direct tone 8 situation you are talking about. I will have to reread my notes of the Angeles radio system and handheld programming.

That guy on the right in the first picture looks very familiar but I can't seem to place him. I will probably be thinking about it so much that I won't get to sleep tonight.

What is the difference between the dark green pants and the light green pants? Are the darker ones nomex? When I started with the USFS in 1974 we had a darker khaki shirt and dark green pants. In 1979 the uniform was changed to lighter colors. The reason given was that dark colors tend to bring out negative reactions in people and by making everything lighter public contacts are supposed to be more positive. All I can say that if that worked it would have been hell wearing the old uniform as I had more negative contacts later in my career than I did when I wore the old colors. Then again, maybe the color change really didn't work. Each distinct I transferred to as my career developed was more heavily used and complex, along with more difficult management situations so that had a lot to do with the increasing difficult contacts, so that was a factor also.

I just heard a rumor that the guy on the right (the one I can't place) wore the Smokey costume on that day. He was a last minute stand in as the report goes. The story goes that the fan was not working. I do hope the outfit came with the ice vest. I wore the old costume sans fan and vest in a parade once with outside temps of 80-85 and was sweating so much that I lost 6 pounds in two hours. Its a good thing that Smokey is not supposed to talk as I had some serious cotton mouth. The Regional Office was not pleased either, due to the need to get the suit cleaned as soon as we returned it and you would not believe how much it costs to do that.

 

[RobertW1]

Exsmokey... You crack me up. Yes that fellow on the right is both your friend and mine, VIS-34. Actually he didn't wear the Smokey Costume on this day, but the Saturday before when there was a wedding held for a friend of his of American Indian decent on the other side of the forest. Todd says hello!

Yes the dark green pants are Nomex and are worn by the Firefighters and VIS-34. The rest of us are wearing the "Pickle Suit". :O) Us volunteers don't ever plan on being near fire and requiring our pants to be fire resistant even though we've been trained in the deployment of the fire shelter. Personally most of us Volunteers like the 5.1 Pants we were wearing before the internim District Ranger required us to wear official uniforms. I'm the second one from the left, Volunteer 334.

BTW, we have a new District Ranger. His name is Bob. He was the CEO of ReMax in Virginia. He has a lot of management experience but absolutly no Forestry experience. Word is he was looking for a challenge, as he has been so successful in all his other pursuits. This could be a good thing for our district. Time will tell. I hope he hasn't bitten off more than he can chew.

Smokey Bear was a definite crowd pleaser and was suited by two young volunteers, one being Mark, the son of John Lane, whos family goes way back in the Angeles National Forest. His grandmother was one of the first lookouts manning the Fire lookout Towers in the forest. He had to switch out with a friend quite frequently because as you mentioned, it gets really hot in that outfit. :O)

 

[RobertW1]

Marlene Martinez from Caltrans, is in charge of arranging the ceremony for reopening Angeles Crest Hwy 2. She said Hwy 2 will be open to public travel at noon on May 20th. There will be an "Opening Ceremony" at 9:30 am at Vincent Gap.

She said that the public can attend the ceremony and it was OK to post the flyer below.

 

[RobertW1]

Check out the time lapse video of the bridge construction (lower right of page)

Welcome to the State of California Department of Transportation, District 7, Los Angeles and Ventura Counties

 

[IanS]

"One firefighter told me it will work anywhere, even if you can't reach your normal repeaters, even if you're in a canyon with steep rock walls, it will always work. I always thought Direct was radio to radio like TAC 2 on simplex, but apparently that is not the case. A repeater IS required to use "Direct"."

The deal with Direct tone 8 is it utilizes the microwave in a manner that the repeaters can't. I have not worked on the ANF for a few years so I have forgotten the details. I'll make a call tomorrow and get the scoop.

 

[RobertW1]

The deal with Direct tone 8 is it utilizes the microwave in a manner that the repeaters can't. I have not worked on the ANF for a few years so I have forgotten the details. I'll make a call tomorrow and get the scoop.

Thanks! Please do. It sounds like you may have the information that makes sense of it all.

 

[DPD1]

I heard "Air Squad 9" working a call for a sick hiker... Anybody know who that would be? Is that one of those contract ones from Kern?

 

[KMA367]

I heard "Air Squad 9" working a call for a sick hiker... Anybody know who that would be? Is that one of those contract ones from Kern?

Ventura County SO has an "Air Squad 9."

"http://tinyurl.com/mdm9wk"

No offense DPD1, I just thought the link is funny. Though really more appropriate for newbies or people who aren't internet savvy! :roll:

 

[DPD1]

I have heard that one, but seems like they'd be kind of far from home.