MMU- Telegraph Fire

[trooperdude]

16,000 acres, SouthOps has open requests for 70 strike teams.

http://www.fire.ca.gov/index_incidents_others.php

Threatening MMU ECC and towns of MidPines and Mariposa.

Telegraph Fire:
Last Updated: July 26, 2008, 8:00 pm
Date/Time Started: June 25, 2008, 3:15 pm
Administrative Unit: CAL FIRE Madera-Mariposa-Merced Unit
County: Mariposa County
Location: Telegraph Road and Sherlock Road in the Midpines Area.
Acres Burned: 16,000 acres
Containment: 0% contained
Structures Threatened: 2,000 residences in the communities of Midpines, Mariposa, Greeley Hill, Coulterville, Bear Valley, and Mt. Bullion Camp

Evacuations:

Evacuation order is in place for the Midpines community. Evacuation warnings are in place for residences in the immediate area of the fire.

An evacuation center has been established at the Mariposa High School.
Cooperating Agencies:

CAL FIRE, Mariposa County Fire, Mariposa Sheriffs Department, BLM, USFS, CCC, and California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Resources Committed :

884 Total Resources: 1 AirAttack, 4 AirTankers, 3 Helicopters, 94 Engines, 20 Hand Crews, 24 Dozers, and 3 Watertenders.

Conditions:

The fire is burning in the Merced River Drainage, on both sides of the river. The fire is burning with a rapid rate of spread. Accessibility problems due to steep, rocky and isolated terrain.

CAL FIRE Incident Command Team #8 has taken command of the fire.

 

[trooperdude]

MMU Thread with CalFire frequencies

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113186


Station81FirstAlarm

Calfire MMU is assigned the following channels:

Freq. Tone
Local - 151.460mhz 123.0hz
Command 1 - 151.355mhz 103.5hz
Command 2 - 151.265mhz 103.5hz
Command 4 - 151.400mhz 103.5hz
Tac 6 - 151.325mhz Open
Tac 7 - 151.340mhz Open
Tac 8 - 151.370mhz Open
Air Tactics 6 - 151.310mhz Open

 

[trooperdude]

Very good google-earth pictures here.

http://firefighterblog.blogspot.com/2008/07/telegraph-fire-from-1k-to-18k-acres-in.html

Pretty-much every frequency active.

I'm trying to find an MMU online feed.



July 26, 2008

Telegraph Fire: From 1k to 18k Acres In First 30 Hours

The Telegraph Fire is burning in an area that has no recorded fire activity. The fire has the potential to overrun communities. Midpines on Highway 140 and Bear Valley on Highway 49 are the most vulnerable overnight. No one is sleeping with both eyes closed in Mariposa tonight.

Power has been lost in Yosemite Valley.

This is a multi-headed fire with no containment. Resources are pouring in from all points to augment the force of 800 plus already assembled. 600 of the 800 on scene are Cal Fire personnel.
This is a State fire so Cal Fire will maintain command unless it moves into Federal land. Even if the Feds. assume command Cal Fire structure protection resources will stay as long as a threat exists.



From the updated 209-

Values at Risk: include communities, critical infrastructure, natural and cultural resources:
Next 12 hours: Communities of Midpines, Mariposa, Greeley Hill, Coulterville, Bear Valley, Mt. Bullion Camp 70kv transmission lines that feed the Yosemite Valley are out. Communication towers for television and radio, as well as repeater sites are threatened.

Remarks:
If the fire continues in the current paths, the communities of Mariposa, Coulterville, Greeley Hill, Midpines,and Bear Valley will be impacted. The Merced River BLM Wilderness Study area is threatened. The fire is moving toward the boundaries of the Sierra and Stanislaus National Forest. An evacuation center has been established at the Mariposa High School.


Above you can see the fire burning west towards Bear Valley. The fire will make a run downhill towards Bear Valley and try to cross Highway 49. The fire already breached the east side of Highway 140 near Midpines.

 

[Eng74]

Kern County sent a Type 3 Strike Team out at 1:00 A.M. Saturday morning to the fire.

 

[animalrescue]

Domestic Animal Situation for Telegraph Fires?

Does anyone have information on the animal evac./SR/sheltering situation for this fire?
Spoke to a Mariposa local friend last night who is volunteering for Red Cross. She said the animals are being taken to the fairgrounds but could not provide further information.
Is there a need for additional animal help with SR and/or sheltering for the fire at this time?

 

[kg6yll]

I'm currently relaying a live scanner feed for this fire at my website. http://incidentfeed.com

KG6YLL

 

[trooperdude]

Does anyone have information on the animal evac./SR/sheltering situation for this fire?
Spoke to a Mariposa local friend last night who is volunteering for Red Cross. She said the animals are being taken to the fairgrounds but could not provide further information.
Is there a need for additional animal help with SR and/or sheltering for the fire at this time?

County Sheriff handles animal control for the county
http://www.mariposacounty.org/sheriff/Animal Control Main Page.htm , but I found a Mariposa SPCA which may be less busy.

http://www.mariposaspca.org/

 

[trooperdude]

I'm currently relaying a live scanner feed for this fire at my website. http://incidentfeed.com

KG6YLL

Just heard a tone out for another Immediate Need Type 1 Strike team.

MMU specific relayed feed:

mms://dallas.thenet411.net/mariposafire

 

[trooperdude]

134.875 is air-air for the air attack handoff briefings.

 

[scankid2591]

I know they've been releasing resources from the Basin Complex so I'm sure many of them are gonna be on their way up to this incident...

I saw a LPF Type III ST on 101 NB today JNO Salinas... I bet they're heading that way.

 

[landonjensen]

Verdugo sent a OES Strike Team from Area C.......

 

[SCPD]

I heard the mutual aid dispatch for this fire on Friday afternoon on the Sierra National Forest Emergency Net of 172.225, on Shuteye Peak (Tone 5 Input, 82.5 Output). The initial dispatch was for Engine 12 out of Midpines and Engine 12 out of Westfall. A second dispatch for a couple of engines from south of the San Joaquin River (High Sierra Ranger District) soon followed. Mutual aid dispatches between CDF and the Sierra are very common so I did not expect to hear the second dispatch so soon after the first. We have had some real strong winds Saturday and Sunday afternoons, mainly from the west and west southwest. This morning we are really smoked in to our east, but Mammoth Mountain, to our west looks fairly clear, so we must have more of a southwest wind starting. My eyes are really stinging so I won't be doing my usual morning road bike workout.

So far the Inyo National Forest has been the asbestos Forest this year. Only 5 fires for 0 acres for the year so far. Of that 2 human caused and 3 lightning, with 3 "Wildland Fire Use" fires for 1,237 acres. Wildland Fire Use fires are those that are allowed to burn for resource benefit and the largest of these three was on the Kern Plateau in a fairly remote location. This is unusually quiet for the eastern Sierra and I can't help but think it won't stay that way for long. The start of the traditional heavy fire season for California begins this weekend and I would hope we can make it through August and September without major destruction.

Arizona and New Mexico seemed to have dodged the bullet for this year as their main fire season is in May and June. The monsoon is giving them a pretty fair amount of precipitation over a wide area. The surprise for this year is the continuing fire season in the southeastern U.S. I can't remember such a great amount of activity continuing this long into the year there. Normally their fire season is winding down in late May and they are still breaking new fires almost every day there.

EDIT---The Mt. Bullion electronic site is just southwest of the point of origin on this fire. There is a lot of expensive equipment located at that site and I hope none of it gets damaged. Bullion is the major electronic site for Mariposa County, one of the smallest counties in California south of Donner Pass. I found an L.A. Times article on the fire that indicated the fire start was the result of some people shooting at rocks with a rifle on their own private land. Fuel moisture for light fuels (10 Hour) at 4% at Jerseydale (Sierra NF fire station located near the fire's origin) and 3% at Mariposa. Thousand hour fuels (3-8" in size) is at 7% for both locations. Lumber leaves a kiln and ready for shipping to market at 12%.