Lightning caused fires continue in Northern Mendocino County near Laytonville. While there weren't a lot of downstrikes, the downstrikes were strong in the early morning hours Tuesday July 29th...
Part of the fires are on BLM wilderness lands (with special fire fighting rules in designated wilderness areas), and some of teh fire(s) are on Mendocino Redwood Company lands.
The terrain is heavy timber interspersed with glades (mountain side grasslands)
4 separate fires are being called Lodge Branch 1, Lodge Branch 2, Lodge Branch 3, Lodge Branch 4. Some of the fires are in inaccessable areas where fire engines & bull dozers can't get in.
Smoke Jumpers from Klamath Falls were dispatched, but soon cancelled by fire managers because of the ruggedness of Branch 2...the fire was too large for the jumpers to handle, and no place for them to land...
A problem has come up: due to lightning caused fires in the Redding area, Air tankers and helitack choppers are now being sent to the Redding area as Priority #1, while the Lodge fires are Priority #3, which means it's hard if not impossible to get replacement aircraft & pilots, after they time out & must return to base...
Fire bosses are fearful the fires will combine, and are currently having a tough time keeping it from crossing a ridge. High temps, low humidity, and an 8mph breeze from the east are making it hard to predict, but fire bosses are making contingency plans, assuming the worse...
The statewide comm's coordinator is being requested to authorize an additional AM Victor (VHF) radio freq for the heli base landing & take offs. 118.0750 AM is authorized
CDF Commad 8 is the operations freq (151.445)
Yesterday I heard some air attack traffic on CDF Yellow (151.310), but mostly CDF Green (151.295) & CDF Blue (151.280)
Air to ground is CDF Red (151.220)
Tac 13 might also be in use (151.475)
Part of the fires are on BLM wilderness lands (with special fire fighting rules in designated wilderness areas), and some of teh fire(s) are on Mendocino Redwood Company lands.
The terrain is heavy timber interspersed with glades (mountain side grasslands)
4 separate fires are being called Lodge Branch 1, Lodge Branch 2, Lodge Branch 3, Lodge Branch 4. Some of the fires are in inaccessable areas where fire engines & bull dozers can't get in.
Smoke Jumpers from Klamath Falls were dispatched, but soon cancelled by fire managers because of the ruggedness of Branch 2...the fire was too large for the jumpers to handle, and no place for them to land...
A problem has come up: due to lightning caused fires in the Redding area, Air tankers and helitack choppers are now being sent to the Redding area as Priority #1, while the Lodge fires are Priority #3, which means it's hard if not impossible to get replacement aircraft & pilots, after they time out & must return to base...
Fire bosses are fearful the fires will combine, and are currently having a tough time keeping it from crossing a ridge. High temps, low humidity, and an 8mph breeze from the east are making it hard to predict, but fire bosses are making contingency plans, assuming the worse...
The statewide comm's coordinator is being requested to authorize an additional AM Victor (VHF) radio freq for the heli base landing & take offs. 118.0750 AM is authorized
CDF Commad 8 is the operations freq (151.445)
Yesterday I heard some air attack traffic on CDF Yellow (151.310), but mostly CDF Green (151.295) & CDF Blue (151.280)
Air to ground is CDF Red (151.220)
Tac 13 might also be in use (151.475)
