A new start on the Inyo National Forest, Mammoth Ranger District, located two miles southeast of the Town of Mammoth Lakes. It appears to be human caused and is under investigation. The point of origin is near the west shore of the series of lakes called Sherwin Lakes. The name of the incident is "Sherwin." Size as of 1900 Sunday was about 50-60 acres. The fire is burning in heavy fuels of manzanita, jeffrey pine, lodgepole pine, white fir, and western Juniper on a bench overlooking the town. The north facing slope below the bench has significant tree mortality, much of it in the white fir type. A strong southwest breeze pushed the fire to the northeast yesterday afternoon. The fire was spotting prolifically even after sunset. If the wind shifts to a southeast or east direction this fire would threaten the town.
The YMCA camp, located southeast of town was evacuated. I don't have confirmation yet, but I believe Sherwin Creek campground has been evacuated as well. Sherwin Creek road is closed as is the Laurel Lake road.
Resources included two helicopters (Bridgeport Ranger District ship and the call-when-needed helo brought in due to the use of Helicopter 525 on an off Forest assignment), about 7 air tankers, a SEAT (single engine air tanker), air attack (Air Attack 15 from the Sierra National Forest), lead plane (Lead Bravo 5 a BLM ship stationed at Fox Field), two CDF hand crews, one water tender (Mammoth Lakes FD WT-3381 filling helo buckets), 3 Forest Service engines, and 1 BLM engine. For the engine crews this is a walk in show, so portable pumps have been set up to pump water out of the lakes and onto the fire. A staging area for ground resources was set up at the Mammoth Motocross area.
Frequencies in use:
Command - 168.125 Tone 3 - Glass Mountain
Tactical - 168.200 NIFC Tac 2
Air-Air Tactics - 166.675 National Air Tactics 1 - pre-assigned to the Inyo
Air to Ground - 170.000 National Air Tactics 4 and Region 5 air to ground
Air to Air AM - 135.975 - being used occasionally for helicopter coordination - pre-assigned to the aircraft dispatched from Bishop
Incident commander is the Fire Management Officer of the Mammoth Ranger District and was a Type 4 organization as of 2300 last night. I would imagine that it will transition to a Type 3 for the day shift today, but that is unconfirmed.
Two helitankers (Type I) have been ordered and will be on the fire at 0800 Monday, one from the San Bernardino NF and one from the Los Padres NF. The Bishop air tanker reload base could not be staffed yesterday because of the lack of qualified personnel to run it. The reload base manager is off on an off-Forest assignment managing the USFS Martin.
Factors complicating the response to this fire include the lack of experienced dispatchers working the fire in the Owens Valley Interagency Communication Center in Bishop, the call-when-needed helicopter having to respond from the Kern Plateau where it was working another fire, lack of a back up qualified air tanker base manager on the Inyo National Forest, hand crews, both Forest Service and CDF, on out of area assignments, two Inyo National Forest engines not staffed for the last 3-4 years, presumably due to a lack of funds, and possibly the 300 vacant positions in fire management in Region 5 that cannot be filled due to a shortage of applicants. The preceding is my opinion based on my own observations and in listening to the listed radio frequencies. It can in no way be consided an official position of the USFS.
One plus, due to the National Fire Plan, is the existence of call-when-needed helicopters, brought in to fill behind when the primary helicopter on a jurisdiction is sent to out of area assignments. The response by the first helicopter was delayed, but at least it was on the Forest and available for diversion to this higher priority incident.
The YMCA camp, located southeast of town was evacuated. I don't have confirmation yet, but I believe Sherwin Creek campground has been evacuated as well. Sherwin Creek road is closed as is the Laurel Lake road.
Resources included two helicopters (Bridgeport Ranger District ship and the call-when-needed helo brought in due to the use of Helicopter 525 on an off Forest assignment), about 7 air tankers, a SEAT (single engine air tanker), air attack (Air Attack 15 from the Sierra National Forest), lead plane (Lead Bravo 5 a BLM ship stationed at Fox Field), two CDF hand crews, one water tender (Mammoth Lakes FD WT-3381 filling helo buckets), 3 Forest Service engines, and 1 BLM engine. For the engine crews this is a walk in show, so portable pumps have been set up to pump water out of the lakes and onto the fire. A staging area for ground resources was set up at the Mammoth Motocross area.
Frequencies in use:
Command - 168.125 Tone 3 - Glass Mountain
Tactical - 168.200 NIFC Tac 2
Air-Air Tactics - 166.675 National Air Tactics 1 - pre-assigned to the Inyo
Air to Ground - 170.000 National Air Tactics 4 and Region 5 air to ground
Air to Air AM - 135.975 - being used occasionally for helicopter coordination - pre-assigned to the aircraft dispatched from Bishop
Incident commander is the Fire Management Officer of the Mammoth Ranger District and was a Type 4 organization as of 2300 last night. I would imagine that it will transition to a Type 3 for the day shift today, but that is unconfirmed.
Two helitankers (Type I) have been ordered and will be on the fire at 0800 Monday, one from the San Bernardino NF and one from the Los Padres NF. The Bishop air tanker reload base could not be staffed yesterday because of the lack of qualified personnel to run it. The reload base manager is off on an off-Forest assignment managing the USFS Martin.
Factors complicating the response to this fire include the lack of experienced dispatchers working the fire in the Owens Valley Interagency Communication Center in Bishop, the call-when-needed helicopter having to respond from the Kern Plateau where it was working another fire, lack of a back up qualified air tanker base manager on the Inyo National Forest, hand crews, both Forest Service and CDF, on out of area assignments, two Inyo National Forest engines not staffed for the last 3-4 years, presumably due to a lack of funds, and possibly the 300 vacant positions in fire management in Region 5 that cannot be filled due to a shortage of applicants. The preceding is my opinion based on my own observations and in listening to the listed radio frequencies. It can in no way be consided an official position of the USFS.
One plus, due to the National Fire Plan, is the existence of call-when-needed helicopters, brought in to fill behind when the primary helicopter on a jurisdiction is sent to out of area assignments. The response by the first helicopter was delayed, but at least it was on the Forest and available for diversion to this higher priority incident.
